M6:1026 — از منش وا خر چو می‌سوزد دلت / بی‌منت حل می نگردد مشکلت

Translation: Buy him from me, since your heart burns for him, Your problem will not be solved without recompense.

Meaning: Bilal's owner tells Abu Bakr that if he truly feels compassion for Bilal, he must pay to free him, as mere sympathy will not resolve the situation. The verse emphasizes that practical action and a tangible price are necessary to address deeply felt concerns.

This couplet, spoken by Bilal's pagan or Jewish owner to Abu Bakr, conveys a crucial point about the nature of agency and the efficacy of compassion. The owner, with a frank and pragmatic tone, tells Abu Bakr that if his heart truly burns for this oppressed slave and he is moved by his suffering, mere empathy is insufficient. "Your problem will not be solved without recompense" (bi-minnat ḥall naygardad mushkilat) implies that the knot of his concern—Bilal's freedom and Abu Bakr's peace of conscience—will not be untied without a price being paid, without a 'favor' or 'cost' (maʿūnat).

In this story, whose climax is Abu Bakr's transaction to free Bilal, Mevlana is depicting the contrast between inner feeling (sūz-i dil – burning of the heart) and outer action (vā-kharīdan – buying back). Bilal's owner, being a 'form-worshipper' (ṣūrat-parast) with a heart as hard as stone, views the world through the lens of material exchange and transaction. For him, Abu Bakr's compassion is an abstract emotion that will have no real-world impact unless it translates into a material value (money). This perspective precisely mirrors a worldview that sees reality solely in terms of forms and material determinations, expecting every problem to have a tangible, material solution.

Yet, the deeper insight is that this statement, though uttered by a 'Jew' (in Mevlana's phrasing), contains a truth more universal than its immediate narrative context. Many of our problems, whether individual, social, or even spiritual, are not solved by 'burning of the heart' alone. This burning must transform into a movement, a sacrifice, and a payment. In essence, Mevlana uses this pragmatic language to convey that even on the spiritual path, the rare commodities of union (wuṣūl) and certainty (yaqīn) are not without a price. The price Abu Bakr pays is not just money, but the exchange of his most valuable possession—a slave who is 'white-skinned and Jewish'—which, in effect, embodies a spiritual insight into the true value of human beings: a dark skin and luminous heart versus a white skin and dark heart. Here, the transaction elevates from the material to the spiritual, yet the principle of 'paying the price' remains.

Key takeaways

• Compassion without action and sacrifice is ineffective; the 'burning of the heart' must lead to 'paying the price'.
• Solving real problems, whether material or spiritual, requires tangible action and sacrifice.
• Mevlana illustrates the contrast between a form-oriented worldview (material transaction) and inner insight (spiritual transaction).
• This couplet emphasizes that even on the spiritual path, union and certainty come with a price that must be paid.