M6:1775 — بس بجوشیدی درین عهد مدید / ترک‌جوشی هم نگشتی ای قدید

Translation: In this long age, you boiled and toiled much, Yet you did not even become half-cooked, O dried meat!

Meaning: Mowlana here chastises someone who, despite a long and active life, has undergone no spiritual transformation or ripening, remaining raw and unyielding, like dried meat that hasn't even been partially cooked.

This particular couplet, in which Mowlana adopts a tone of reproach and admonition, is highly indicative of his inner state and his criteria for human perfection. The phrase "بس بجوشیدی درین عهد مدید" refers to the myriad long-term activities, ceaseless strivings, and commotions of a person throughout their life. Mowlana questions the ultimate value of all this effort. The individual addressed has spent a lifetime in earnest pursuit and endeavor, but to what end? "ترک‌جوشی هم نگشتی ای قدید" — you haven't even become half-cooked, O dried meat!

Qadīd (قدید) literally means dried, aged meat, serving as a potent symbol for something that has lost its freshness and vitality, lacking the pliability and readiness for transformation. It represents a soul that, despite a long existence, has never achieved spiritual maturity or true change. Turk-jūsh (ترک‌جوش) was a type of semi-cooked meat dish, signifying a minimal, rudimentary level of preparation or transformation. Mowlana laments that the individual has not even reached this basic stage of ripeness; they remain utterly raw and unready. In other words, all their boiling and striving have been fruitless and unproductive.

As I have noted elsewhere, Mowlana himself uses the phrase "ترک‌جوشی کرده‌ام من نیم‌خام" (I have made a half-cooked mess), implying an unfinished or halfway state. But here, the situation is even more dire: not even that minimal, half-baked chaos has been achieved. Mowlana's tone of reproach is that of a compassionate physician, not a envious detractor. He is concerned for the state of this qadīd who has squandered life's opportunities.

This couplet follows previous verses where Mowlana speaks of the "tales of lovers" (fasāneh-ye ʿishq-bāzān) and advises those who seek rare stories to instead read the narratives of love. This admonishment is directed at those who, instead of engaging with love and being cooked in its fire, have merely busied themselves with superficialities and shallow narratives, oblivious to their own inner depths. Indeed, in the subsequent verses, Mowlana continues this rebuke: "دیده‌ای عمری تو داد و داوری / وانگه از نادیدگان ناشی‌تری" (You have witnessed justice and judgment for a lifetime, yet you are rawer than those who have seen nothing). He then adds: "هر که شاگردی‌ش کرد استاد شد / تو سپس‌ره‌تر رفته‌ای ای کور لد" (Whoever served an apprenticeship became a master; you have gone backward, O blind enemy of truth). This underscores Mowlana's profound emphasis on learning from experience and taking heed from time, but not just any experience—rather, an experience that leads to maturity and genuine transformation.

This verse resonates deeply with a story from Manāqib al-ʿĀrifīn (Biographies of the Gnostics) where Mowlana encounters an old monk. Mowlana asks him: "Are you older, or your beard?" The monk replies: "I am twenty years older than my beard." Mowlana then sorrowfully chides him: "O wretched one, that which came after you (your beard, which turned white and appeared ripe) has ripened, yet you remain as you were, in darkness, corruption, and rawness. Woe to you!" This qadīd is precisely that old monk whose beard has whitened, yet his heart remains raw and unripe. As Mowlana himself articulated: "ای بسا ریش سفید و دل چو قیر / ای بسا ریش سیاه و دل چو شیر" (Many a white beard with a tar-like heart / Many a black beard with a lion-like heart).

Key takeaways

• Futility of Aimless Activity: Long-term striving and commotion are worthless if they do not lead to inner transformation.
• Unripened Maturity: Qadīd symbolizes a soul that, despite the passage of time, remains unripe, dry, and immature.
• Importance of Transformation: Mowlana considers inner ripening and change as the primary criterion for perfection, not merely longevity or activity.
• Compassionate Reproach: Mowlana's chiding stems from a heartfelt concern for the squandering of life's opportunities for spiritual maturity.