M6:3530 — وقت بدرودن گه منجل زدن / روز پاداش آمد و پیدا شدن

Translation: The time for harvesting has arrived, the moment for wielding the sickle; The day of recompense has come, and all shall be revealed.

Meaning: This verse speaks to the ultimate consequence of human actions in this world, viewing it as the farm of the hereafter. Every deed sown here will, in the other world, come to fruition, with its truth and recompense made manifest on the Day of Judgment.

This couplet unveils a fundamental truth within Rumi's worldview: our world is one of concealment, nurturing our deeds and storing their outcomes for another realm. Rumi has previously spoken of the 'curtain of heedlessness' (پرده غفلت) which, if lifted, would shatter the world's order; of 'individual vices' that paradoxically become 'collective virtues'; and of the 'pot of suffering' (دیگ محنت) that must be fully cooked for people to reveal their true nature in the test of pain. This beyt represents the climax of this discourse, indicating that all these concealments and sufferings are merely preludes to a grand manifestation.

I firmly believe that this world functions as the 'farm of the hereafter' (مزرعة الآخرة), a cultivation ground for the next world. Here, we sow the seeds of our actions—some good, some ill. Rumi states: 'The day of planting, the day of concealing, / Is the scattering of seeds upon dusty ground.' This implies that this is the place for planting and hiding, not for harvesting and revealing. Yet, this concealment is not eternal. A season will arrive for reaping, and this verse describes that time: 'The time for harvesting has arrived, the moment for wielding the sickle' (منجل being the Persian word for sickle). This metaphor vividly portrays the consequence of actions, illustrating that no deed is lost, and every seed will eventually bear fruit.

This 'time for harvesting' is, in essence, 'the day of recompense has come, and all shall be revealed.' Recompense not merely as punishment or reward, but as the manifestation of the hidden results of our deeds. What we planted in secret now becomes manifest. This is the truth exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) when, having given away all but one leg of a slaughtered lamb, he declared: 'This leg is gone, but the rest remains.' What we give in God's path, seemingly lost, actually remains and is preserved, whereas what we keep for ourselves is perishable. Mulla Sadra, in his Asfār, philosophically elaborates on this permanence of action.

From Rumi's perspective, this world is merely a 'curtain': 'This world is but a curtain, and that world is the very essence.' The true reality and essence reside in the other world, and this world is but a thin veil over that eternal truth. As the famous hadith states: 'People are asleep; when they die, they awaken.' This awakening is precisely the lifting of the curtain and the 'manifestation' of absolute truth. Our world, to use the phrase from Nahj al-Balagha, is a 'marketplace' (تجارت‌خانه) which, despite all its 'sufferings' (آزار), is a field for earning spiritual profit. We endure pain and strive with the hope of making a 'profit' and finding the recompense of our deeds 'manifest' in the hereafter.

This insight also manifests in behavior. Rumi states in Book Three of the Masnavi: 'Whoever is certain of permanence becomes generous in giving' (من تیقن بالبقاء جاد بالعطیه). Our stinginess stems from perceiving giving as a loss of wealth, rather than its preservation and storage for the day of recompense and manifestation.

Key takeaways

• This world is a farm for sowing, and the hereafter is the time for harvesting the fruits of our deeds.
• Every good or bad action performed in this world does not remain hidden and will be revealed on the Day of Recompense.
• The truth of all things is concealed in this world and will be unveiled in the next; this world is a curtain over reality.
• What we give in God's way does not perish but remains, returning to us on the Day of Judgment.
• Humans in this world are in a slumber of heedlessness, awakening to the truth of existence and the outcomes of their actions upon death.
• Certainty in the permanence of rewards for good deeds fosters generosity in humans, freeing them from stinginess.