Rumi's Masnavi - If at midnight I say, “I am near you: come now, be not afraid of the night, for I am your kinsman,”

If at midnight I say, “I am near you: come now, be not afraid of the night, for I am your kinsman,”

گر بگویم نیم شب پیش توام ** هین مترس از شب که من خویش توام‏

These two assertions are to you reality, since you recognise the voice of your own relative. 3575

این دو دعوی پیش تو معنی بود ** چون شناسی بانگ خویشاوند خود

Nearness and kinship were (only) two assertions, but both (of them) were reality to the good understanding.

پیشی و خویشی دو دعوی بود لیک ** هر دو معنی بود پیش فهم نیک‏

The proximity of the voice gives him (the hearer) testimony that these words spring from a near friend;

قرب آوازش گواهی می‏دهد ** کاین دم از نزدیک یاری می‏جهد

Moreover, (his) delight at (hearing) the voice of his kinsman has borne witness to the truthfulness of that dear relative.

لذت آواز خویشاوند نیز ** شد گوا بر صدق آن خویش عزیز

Again, the uninspired fool who in his ignorance does not know a stranger's voice from a kinsman's—

باز بی‏الهام احمق کاو ز جهل ** می‏نداند بانگ بیگانه ز اهل‏

To him his (the speaker's) words are (mere) assertion: his ignorance has become the source of his disbelief; 3580

پیش او دعوی بود گفتار او ** جهل او شد مایه‏ی انکار او

(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.

پیش زیرک کاندرونش نورهاست ** عین این آواز معنی بود راست‏

Or (for example) one whose mother-tongue is Arabic says in Arabic, “I know the language of the Arabs.”

یا به تازی گفت یک تازی زبان ** که همی‏دانم زبان تازیان‏

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.

عین تازی گفتنش معنی بود ** گر چه تازی گفتنش دعوی بود