M1:214 — بر منست امروز و فردا بر وی‌است / خون چون من کس، چنین ضایع کی‌است؟

Translation: Today, retribution is upon me, and tomorrow it will be upon him. How can the blood of someone like me be so utterly wasted? Meaning: The poet speaks of his blood, unavenged today, but promises that tomorrow the oppressor will face the consequence of his deeds. It articulates the principle of retribution and the return of actions.

This verse, uttered by the hapless goldsmith, the victim of the king's machinations, pivots on the principle of makāfāt-i ʿamal (retribution for deeds) and the return of actions. Immediately following this verse, Mevlana introduces the image of the mountain and the echo to express this law in the clearest possible terms: "This world is a mountain, and our deeds are the call; the echoes return to us" (Mathnawi 1:215). This explanation is, precisely, the answer to the question, "How can the blood of someone like me be so utterly wasted?" Undoubtedly, no blood, no deed, and no suffering is ever truly wasted; whatever emanates from us will return to us. This requital, whether good or ill, is an integral part of existence.

I have told you before that Mevlana, in his own stance, refrains from complaining about the crookedness of the world. He believes that the world is "paradise in my view" if our vision is straight and avoids distortion. But here, this lament and this question about the wasting of blood are expressed through a character, not by Mevlana himself. This is crucial; Mevlana is the narrator and the storyteller, not the complainer. He shows us the distressed heart of this goldsmith, who, in his heedlessness, was drawn towards suʾ al-qazā (ill fate) and now sees his blood as wasted. Yet, the wisdom of the Mathnawi transcends this momentary, superficial view; wisdom promises the return of the echo.

This promise of return is, in essence, a hidden solace within suffering. The goldsmith suffers today, and his blood remains unavenged, but he is certain that tomorrow retribution will fall upon the oppressor. This 'today and tomorrow' is an allegory for cosmic time and patience; divine justice may not manifest immediately, but it will manifest. No power, not even that of an absolute monarch, can prevent deeds from returning to their doers. This is an inviolable law of existence that Mevlana emphasizes throughout the various layers of the Mathnawi: every seed you plant, you will harvest, and every wind you sow, you will reap a whirlwind. This is the true nature of existence, wherein nothing is truly lost.

Key takeaways

• The law of retribution (makāfāt-i ʿamal), where actions return to the doer, is a fundamental ontological principle in Mevlana's thought.
• No blood or suffering is truly 'wasted'; divine justice, though sometimes delayed, is inevitably fulfilled.
• Mevlana distinguishes between the lament of his characters and his own philosophical stance, which transcends complaint in favor of wisdom.
• Our deeds are like calls that echo in the mountain of the world, and their reverberations return to us.