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پس اگر گویی بدانم دور نیست ** ور ندانم گفت کذب و زور نیست
- Therefore, if you say “I know,” ’tis not far (from the truth); and if you say, “I do not know,” ’tis not a lie and a falsehood.
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گر کسی گوید که دانی نوح را ** آن رسول حق و نور روح را
- If some one say (to you), “Do you know Noah, the Messenger of God and the Light of the spirit?”—
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گر بگویی چون ندانم کان قمر ** هست از خورشید و مه مشهورتر
- And if you reply, “How should not I know (him)? for that (spiritual) Moon is more celebrated than the sun and moon:
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کودکان خرد در کتابها ** و آن امامان جمله در محرابها
- The little children at school and all the Imáms in the mosques
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نام او خوانند در قرآن صریح ** قصه‌اش گویند از ماضی فصیح 3645
- Recite his name distinctly in the Qur’án and tell plainly his story (as it has come down) from the past”—
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راست‌گو دانیش تو از روی وصف ** گرچه ماهیت نشد از نوح کشف
- You, veracious man, know him by way of description, though the quiddity of Noah has not been revealed (to you).
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ور بگویی من چه دانم نوح را ** همچو اویی داند او را ای فتی
- And if you reply, “How should I know Noah? (Only) one like him can know him, O youth.
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مور لنگم من چه دانم فیل را ** پشه‌ای کی داند اسرافیل را
- I am a lame ant. How should I know the elephant? How should a gnat know Isráfíl?”—
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این سخن هم راستست از روی آن ** که بماهیت ندانیش ای فلان
- This saying (answer) is also true in regard to the fact that you do not know him in his quiddity, O so-and-so.
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عجز از ادراک ماهیت عمو ** حالت عامه بود مطلق مگو 3650
- To be unable to perceive the quiddity, uncle, is the condition of common men: do not say it absolutely,