Rumi's Masnavi - Not such a death that you will go into a grave, (but) a death consisting of (spiritual) transformation, so that you will go into a Light.

Not such a death that you will go into a grave, (but) a death consisting of (spiritual) transformation, so that you will go into a Light.

نه چنان مرگی که در گوری روی ** مرگ تبدیلی که در نوری روی

(When) a man grows up, his childhood dies; (when) he becomes a (fair-complexioned) Greek, he washes out the dye (swarthy colour) of the Ethiopian. 740

مرد بالغ گشت آن بچگی بمرد ** رومیی شد صبغت زنگی سترد

(When) earth becomes gold, its earthly aspect remains not; (when) sorrow becomes joy, the thorn of sorrowfulness remains not.

خاک زر شد هیات خاکی نماند ** غم فرج شد خار غمناکی نماند

Hence Mustafá (Mohammed) said, “O seeker of the mysteries, (if) you wish to see a dead man living—

مصطفی زین گفت کای اسرارجو ** مرده را خواهی که بینی زنده تو

Walking on the earth, like living men; (yet he is) dead and his spirit is gone to heaven;

می‌رود چون زندگان بر خاکدان ** مرده و جانش شده بر آسمان

(One) whose spirit hath a dwelling-place on high at this moment, (so that) if he die, his spirit is not translated,

جانش را این دم به بالا مسکنیست ** گر بمیرد روح او را نقل نیست

Because it has been translated before death: this (mystery) is understood (only) by dying, not by (using one's) reason; 745

زانک پیش از مرگ او کردست نقل ** این بمردن فهم آید نه به عقل

Translation it is, (but) not like the translation of the spirits of the vulgar: it resembles a removal (during life) from one place to another—

نقل باشد نه چو نقل جان عام ** هم‌چو نقلی از مقامی تا مقام

If any one wish to see a dead man walking thus visibly on the earth,

هرکه خواهد که ببیند بر زمین ** مرده‌ای را می‌رود ظاهر چنین

Let him behold Abú Bakr, the devout, (who) through being a true witness (siddíq) became the Prince of the Resurrected.

مر ابوبکر تقی را گو ببین ** شد ز صدیقی امیرالمحشرین