پیش تو خونست آب رود نیل ** نزد من خون نیست آبست ای نبیل

پیش تو خونست آب رود نیل ** نزد من خون نیست آبست ای نبیل 855

To you the water of the river Nile seems blood; to me it is not blood, ’tis water, O noble one.

در حق تو آهنست آن و رخام ** پیش داود نبی مومست و رام

In regard to you, that (object) is iron or marble, (but) to the prophet David it is (soft as) wax and tractable.

پیش تو که بس گرانست و جماد ** مطربست او پیش داود اوستاد

To you the mountain is exceedingly heavy (solid) and inanimate, (but) to David it is a master-musician.

پیش تو آن سنگ‌ریزه ساکتست ** پیش احمد او فصیح و قانتست

To you the gravel is silent; to Ahmad (Mohammed) it is eloquent and making supplication (to God).

پیش تو استون مسجد مرده‌ایست ** پیش احمد عاشقی دل برده‌ایست

To you the pillar of the mosque is a dead thing; to Ahmad it is (like) a lover who has lost his heart.

جمله اجزای جهان پیش عوام ** مرده و پیش خدا دانا و رام 860

To the vulgar all the particles of the world seem dead, but before God they are possessed of knowledge and submissive (to His commands).

آنچ گفتی کاندرین خانه و سرا ** نیست کس چون می‌زنی این طبل را

As for your saying, ‘There is nobody in this house and palace: why art thou beating this drum?’—

بهر حق این خلق زرها می‌دهند ** صد اساس خیر و مسجد می‌نهند

(I reply that) this (Moslem) people are giving (large) sums of gold for God's sake, founding hundreds of pious institutions and mosques,

مال و تن در راه حج دوردست ** خوش همی‌بازند چون عشاق مست

And, like intoxicated lovers, gladly risking their property and lives on their way to (perform) the distant Pilgrimage:

هیچ می‌گویند کان خانه تهیست ** بلک صاحب‌خانه جان مختبیست

Do they ever say, ‘The House (Ka‘ba) is empty’? Nay, (they know that) the Lord of the House is the Spirit invisible.