Again, the uninspired fool who in his ignorance does not know a stranger's voice from a kinsman's—
پیش او دعوی بود گفتار او ** جهل او شد مایهی انکار او3580
To him his (the speaker's) words are (mere) assertion: his ignorance has become the source of his disbelief;
پیش زیرک کاندرونش نورهاست ** عین این آواز معنی بود راست
(But) to him of keen insight, within whom are the (spiritual) lights, the very nature of this voice was just the (immediate evidence of its) reality.
یا به تازی گفت یک تازی زبان ** که همیدانم زبان تازیان
Or (for example) one whose mother-tongue is Arabic says in Arabic, “I know the language of the Arabs.”
عین تازی گفتنش معنی بود ** گر چه تازی گفتنش دعوی بود
The very fact of his speaking in Arabic is (evidence of) the reality (of his assertion), although his saying (that he knows) Arabic is (only) an assertion.
یا نویسد کاتبی بر کاغذی ** کاتب و خط خوانم و من ابجدی
Or a writer may write on a piece of paper, “I am a writer and a reader, and I am a most accomplished person.”
این نوشته گر چه خود دعوی بود ** هم نوشته شاهد معنی بود3585
Although this written (statement) itself is a (mere) assertion, still the script is evidence of the reality (of the assertion).
یا بگوید صوفیی دیدی تو دوش ** در میان خواب سجاده به دوش
Or a Súfí may say, “Last night, while asleep, you saw some one with a prayer carpet on his shoulder.