M6:4297 — عشوه‌ها در صید شلهٔ کفته تو / بی ملولی بارها خوش گفته تو

Translation: O you who, in the hunt for (a woman), lavish charms and open-handedness in your shala-ye kofteh (open vulva, i.e., sexual seduction) / Without weariness, many times you have spoken sweetly. Meaning: Rumi uses this verse to criticize those who tirelessly repeat sweet words for worldly deceit and seduction, yet grow weary of hearing spiritual truths.

Here, I discern Mowlana at the peak of his polemical wit, a polemic that compels the reader towards self-reflection and the root-cause of their spiritual weariness. Mowlana, with evident sarcasm, addresses the reader, saying: "O you who, in the pursuit of seducing a heart or entrapping a woman, engage in coquetry and open-handedness in your shala-ye kofteh—how many times you have uttered sweet, enchanting words without any weariness!"

"Shala-ye kofteh" is an expression not commonly used in modern Persian, but within Mowlana's discourse, and as I have explicitly stated in my previous lectures, it carries a direct, sexual connotation; it refers to female genitalia, an allusion to sexual deception and relentless enticements for worldly and carnal purposes. Mowlana questions: how is it that on this path—which is undoubtedly shallow and deceitful—you not only feel no weariness, but rather, "you speak with burning zeal, a hundred times warmer than the first"? It is here that the veil of inner hypocrisy is lifted: we grow weary of divine truth, deeming it stale, yet we repeat these "burning and swift" deceits and lustful acts a hundred times, without a trace of fatigue entering our souls.

Mowlana's central point, reiterated throughout the Masnavi, is that weariness does not stem from the "repetition of words" but from an inner "lack of hunger" (bi-jowʿī) and "indigestion" (roudal-kardegī). When the soul is hungry for truth, every word is fresh, just as barley bread is sweeter than sugar for the famished. Our weariness of truth is not a flaw in truth itself, but a flaw within us; a flaw that causes us to feel no weariness "from the shop and bargaining and clamor, in deceiving people?" and "how is it that sixty years of backbiting and devouring people's flesh has not satiated you?"

Mowlana explicitly tells us to seek the root of our weariness within ourselves. If we tire of divine discourse, yet remain tireless in backbiting, slander, or worldly deceptions, then we must "find the fault within yourself." This is an invitation to self-knowledge and inner examination; an invitation to see "why it does not satiate you, why it is not the food for your soul, yet these absurdities, trivialities, backbiting, and slanders make you robust and cheerful?" He wants us to understand that the newness of the world and the newness of words arise from a gaze born of jowʿ (spiritual hunger), not from a shop displaying goods with trickery and deceit.

Key takeaways

• Mowlana sharply critiques the tireless pursuit of deception and carnal desires.
• The phrase "shala-ye kofteh" here alludes to sexual seduction and relentless enticements for worldly ends.
• A contrast is drawn between weariness of hearing truth versus tireless engagement in deceiving people and backbiting.
• The root of spiritual weariness, according to Mowlana, is not in the repetition of divine words, but in the soul's "lack of hunger" (bi-jowʿī) and "indigestion."
• Mowlana challenges the reader to find the source of their spiritual weariness within themselves and their choices.