M6:4296 — چون ز غیبت و اکل لحم مردمان / شصت سالت سیریی نامد از آن

Translation: Since sixty years of backbiting and devouring people's flesh Have not brought you satiety, how have you not wearied of that? Meaning: Rumi, through a rhetorical question, challenges the listener: how is it that one never tires of engaging in harmful, vain activities like backbiting, yet feels weary and melancholic when exposed to spiritual truths?

This verse by Mowlana, delivered with a hint of biting irony, uncovers a profound contradiction within the human psyche. I have often emphasized that true melancholy, or malāl, does not stem from the repetition of words but from the stagnation and spiritual inertia of the soul. A person who fails to renew themselves daily, to perceive the world with fresh eyes, inevitably succumbs to weariness. This principle, captured in the verse, "Every moment, a new form and new beauty, / So that from new seeing, weariness may vanish," is a cornerstone of the Masnavi. Paradise, for the believers, is never boring because it offers fresh manifestations at every instant, prompting the Quranic phrase, "They desire no change from it."

Similarly, spiritual hunger, much like physical hunger, must renew itself constantly for the soul's nourishment—the word of truth—to remain fresh and appealing. If one is spiritually sated, even the finest spiritual food will taste bland and seem stale. It is here that Mowlana challenges his audience with pointed intensity: "O you who claim to be sated by my words, finding them repetitive, how is it that you never grow weary of market chatter, haggling, deceit, and misleading people?" This question directs the fault back to the seeker's own disposition.

The verse at hand sharpens this inquiry, making it even more poignant. Mowlana asks: "You've spent sixty years engaged in backbiting and 'devouring people's flesh' (a Quranic metaphor for slander); how is it that you have never grown sated or felt weariness from such acts?" This is not merely a moral indictment but a profound spiritual diagnosis. People sometimes find themselves 'fattened' by gossip and defamation in their gatherings, relishing in it. It becomes their primary 'topic of conversation,' without which their lives feel incomplete. They find vivacity in these destructive vanities and trivialities, yet grow quickly bored and weary when confronted with genuine spiritual insights or the word of truth.

The essence of Mowlana's challenge is this: If the word of truth leaves you listless while backbiting invigorates you, then you must re-examine your spiritual 'taste' and 'appetite.' You must discern where the problem truly lies: is it with the divine word, which fails to quench your thirst, or with your own soul, which is ailing and seeks its nourishment in falsehood? This verse serves as a potent wake-up call for introspection, urging us to purify our spiritual palate so that we may distinguish what is genuinely sweet and fresh from what is bitter and stale.

Key takeaways

• True weariness and melancholy stem from spiritual stagnation and a lack of self-renewal, not from the repetition of truth.
• Mowlana, with irony, highlights a paradox: people never tire of falsehoods, yet grow weary of truth.
• Backbiting and slander, though inherently destructive, become a form of psychological nourishment and social currency for some.
• If we find spiritual discourse tedious, we must scrutinize the 'appetite' and 'taste' of our own souls.
• A failure to be nourished by divine knowledge, coupled with an attraction to trivialities, indicates a spiritual ailment or distorted taste.