Rumi's Masnavi - When suddenly you commit an act of (legal) impurity in the ritual prayer, it (the prayer) says to you, “Go speedily to purify yourself”;

When suddenly you commit an act of (legal) impurity in the ritual prayer, it (the prayer) says to you, “Go speedily to purify yourself”;

چون حدث کردی تو ناگه در نماز ** گویدت سوی طهارت رو به تاز

And if you go not, you will be moving (exerting yourself) in vain; verily your prayer is gone beforehand (already), O misguided man! 3520

ور نرفتی خشک جنبان می‏شوی ** خود نمازت رفت بنشین ای غوی‏

Go to them that are your mates, (them) that are enamoured of your discourse and thirsting for it.

رو بر آنها که هم جفت تواند ** عاشقان و تشنه‏ی گفت تواند

One who keeps watch is superior to those who slumber: the (spiritual) fish have no need of one who keeps watch.

پاسبان بر خوابناکان بر فزود ** ماهیان را پاسبان حاجت نبود

Those who wear clothes look to the launderer, (but) the soul of the naked hath (Divine) illumination as its adornment.

جامه پوشان را نظر بر گازر است ** جان عریان را تجلی زیور است‏

Either withdraw (and turn) aside from the naked, or like them become free from body-garments.

یا ز عریانان به یک سو باز رو ** یا چو ایشان فارغ از تن جامه شو

And if you cannot become wholly naked, make your garments less, so that you may tread the middle path. 3525

ور نمی‏تانی که کل عریان شوی ** جامه کم کن تا ره اوسط روی‏

How the dervish excused himself to the Shaykh.

عذر گفتن فقیر به شیخ‏

Then the dervish told the Shaykh how the case stood, and coupled excuses with the discharge of that obligation.

پس فقیر آن شیخ را احوال گفت ** عذر را با آن غرامت کرد جفت‏

To the Shaykh's questions he gave answer good and right, like the answers of Khadir—

مر سؤال شیخ را داد او جواب ** چون جوابات خضر خوب و صواب‏

(Namely) those answers to the questions of Moses which Khadir, (inspired) by the all-knowing Lord, set forth to him,

آن جوابات سؤالات کلیم ** کش خضر بنمود از رب علیم‏

(So that) his difficulties became solved, and he (Khadir) gave to him (Moses) the key to every question (in a way) beyond telling.

گشت مشکلهاش حل و افزون زیاد ** از پی هر مشکلش مفتاح داد

The dervish also had (a spiritual) inheritance from Khadir; (hence) he bent his will to answering the Shaykh. 3530

از خضر درویش هم میراث داشت ** در جواب شیخ همت بر گماشت‏

He said, “Although the middle path is (the way of) wisdom, yet the middle path too is relative.

گفت راه اوسط ار چه حکمت است ** لیک اوسط نیز هم با نسبت است‏

Relatively to a camel, the water in the stream is little, but to a mouse it is like the ocean.

آب جو نسبت به اشتر هست کم ** لیک باشد موش را آن همچو یم‏

If any one has an allowance of four loaves and eats two or three, that is the mean;

هر که را باشد وظیفه چار نان ** دو خورد یا سه خورد هست اوسط آن‏

But if he eat all the four, it is far from the mean: he is in bondage to greed, like a duck.

ور خورد هر چار دور از اوسط است ** او اسیر حرص مانند بط است‏

If one has appetite for ten loaves and eats six, know that that is the mean. 3535

هر که او را اشتها ده نان بود ** شش خورد می‏دان که اوسط آن بود

When I have appetite for fifty loaves, and you for (no more than) six scones, we are not equivalent.

چون مرا پنجاه نان هست اشتهی ** مر ترا شش گرده هم دستیم نی‏

You may be tired by ten rak‘as (of prayer), I may not be worn thin by five hundred.

تو به ده رکعت نماز آیی ملول ** من به پانصد در نیایم در نحول‏

One goes bare-foot (all the way) to the Ka‘ba, and one becomes beside himself (with exhaustion in going) as far as the mosque.

آن یکی تا کعبه حافی می‏رود ** و آن یکی تا مسجد از خود می‏شود

One in utter self-devotion gives his life, one is agonised at giving a single loaf.

آن یکی در پاکبازی جان بداد ** وین یکی جان کند تا یک نان بداد

This mean belongs to (the realm of) the finite, for that (finite) has a beginning and end. 3540

این وسط در با نهایت می‏رود ** که مرا آن را اول و آخر بود

A beginning and end are necessary in order that the mean or middle (point) between them may be conceived in imagination.

اول و آخر بباید تا در آن ** در تصور گنجد اوسط یا میان‏

Inasmuch as the infinite has not (these) two limits, how should the mean be applicable to it?

بی‏نهایت چون ندارد دو طرف ** کی بود او را میانه منصرف‏

No one has shown it to have beginning or end. He (God) said, ‘If the sea were to become ink for it (the Word of God)…’

اول و آخر نشانش کس نداد ** گفت لو کان له البحر مداد