The ass-half, indeed, inclines to that which is low; the other half inclines to that which is rational.
نیم خر خود مایل سفلی بود ** نیم دیگر مایل عقلی بود
Those two classes (the angels and the beasts) are at rest from war and combat, while this Man is (engaged) in torment (painful struggle) with two adversaries.
آن دو قوم آسوده از جنگ و حراب ** وین بشر با دو مخالف در عذاب
And, moreover, this (race of) Man, through probation, has been divided: they (all) are of human shape, but (in truth) they have become three communities (families).1505
وین بشر هم ز امتحان قسمت شدند ** آدمی شکلند و سه امت شدند
One party have become submerged absolutely and, like Jesus, have attained unto the (nature of the) angel.
یک گره مستغرق مطلق شدست ** همچو عیسی با ملک ملحق شدست
The form (of such a one is that of) Adam, but the reality is Gabriel: he has been delivered from anger and sensual passion and (vain) disputation.
نقش آدم لیک معنی جبرئیل ** رسته از خشم و هوا و قال و قیل
He has been delivered from discipline and asceticism and self-mortification: you would say he was not even born of a child of Adam.
از ریاضت رسته وز زهد و جهاد ** گوییا از آدمی او خود نزاد
The second sort have attained unto (the nature of) asses: they have become pure anger and absolute lust.
قسم دیگر با خران ملحق شدند ** خشم محض و شهوت مطلق شدند
The qualities of Gabriel were in them and departed: that house was (too) narrow, and those qualities (too) grand.1510
وصف جبریلی دریشان بود رفت ** تنگ بود آن خانه و آن وصف زفت
The person who is deprived of (the vital) spirit becomes dead: when his spirit is deprived of those (angelic qualities), he becomes an ass,
مرده گردد شخص کو بیجان شود ** خر شود چون جان او بیآن شود
Because the spirit that hath not those (qualities) is vile: this word is true, and the (perfect) Súfí has said (it).
زانک جانی کان ندارد هست پست ** این سخن حقست و صوفی گفته است
He (the man of animal nature) suffers more anxiety than the beasts, (for) he practises subtle arts in the world.
او ز حیوانها فزونتر جان کند ** در جهان باریک کاریها کند
The cunning and imposture which he knows how to spin— that (cunning) is not produced by any other animal.
مکر و تلبیسی که او داند تنید ** آن ز حیوان دیگر ناید پدید
To weave gold-embroidered robes, to win pearls from the bottom of the sea,1515
جامههای زرکشی را بافتن ** درها از قعر دریا یافتن
The fine artifices of geometry or astronomy, and the science of medicine and philosophy—
خردهکاریهای علم هندسه ** یا نجوم و علم طب و فلسفه
Which are connected only with this world and have no way (of mounting) up to the Seventh Heaven—
که تعلق با همین دنیاستش ** ره به هفتم آسمان بر نیستش
All this is the science of building the (worldly) stable which is the pillar (basis) of the existence of (persons like) the ox and the camel.
این همه علم بنای آخرست ** که عماد بود گاو و اشترست
For the sake of preserving the animal for a few days, these crazy fools have given to those (arts and sciences) the name of “mysteries.”
بهر استبقای حیوان چند روز ** نام آن کردند این گیجان رموز
The knowledge of the Way to God and the knowledge of His dwelling place—that only the owner of the heart knows, or (you may say) his heart (itself).1520
علم راه حق و علم منزلش ** صاحب دل داند آن را با دلش
He (God), then, created in this composite fashion the goodly animal and made him familiar with knowledge.
پس درین ترکیب حیوان لطیف ** آفرید و کرد با دانش الیف
That (bestial) class (of men) He named “like the cattle,” for where is the resemblance between waking and sleep?
نام کالانعام کرد آن قوم را ** زانک نسبت کو بیقظه نوم را
The animal spirit hath naught but sleep (ignorance): the (bestial) class of men possess inverted sense-perceptions.
روح حیوانی ندارد غیر نوم ** حسهای منعکس دارند قوم
(When) waking comes, the animal sleep is no more, and he (the enlightened man) reads the (former) inversion of his senses from the tablet (of his clairvoyant consciousness)—
یقظه آمد نوم حیوانی نماند ** انعکاس حس خود از لوح خواند
Like the sense-perceptions of one whom sleep has seized: when he awakes, the inverted quality (of his sense-perceptions whilst he was dreaming) becomes apparent.1525
همچو حس آنک خواب او را ربود ** چون شد او بیدار عکسیت نمود
Necessarily, he (the bestial man) is the lowest of the low. Take leave of him: I love not them that sink.
لاجرم اسفل بود از سافلین ** ترک او کن لا احب الافلین
In exposition of the following Verse: "and as for those in whose hearts is a disease, it (each new Súra of the Qur’án) added unto their uncleanness (wicked unbelief)"; and of His Word: "thereby He letteth many be led astray, and thereby He letteth many be guided aright."
در تفسیر این آیت کی و اما الذین فی قلوبهم مرض فزادتهم رجسا و قوله یضل به کثیرا و یهدی به کثیرا
(The bestial man is the lowest of the low) because he possessed the capacity for transforming himself and striving (to escape) from lowness, but (afterwards) lost it.
زانک استعداد تبدیل و نبرد ** بودش از پستی و آن را فوت کرد