Oh, there is much gold made black with smoke, that it may be saved from (falling into) the hands of every envious thief.
ای بسا زر سیه کرده بدود ** تا رهد از دست هر دزدی حسود
Oh, there is much copper gilded with gold, that he (the counterfeiter) may sell it to (those of) small understanding.
ای بسا مس زر اندوده به زر ** تا فروشد آن به عقل مختصر
We, who see the inward (reality) of the whole world, see the heart and look not on the outward form.”
ما که باطن‌بین جمله‌ی کشوریم ** دل ببینیم و به ظاهر ننگریم
The cadis who are concerned with the outward form (the letter of the law) give judgement according to outward appearances.2175
قاضیانی که به ظاهر می‌تنند ** حکم بر اشکال ظاهر می‌کنند
When he (the suspected person) has uttered the profession of the Faith and has shown some (formal sign of) true belief, at once these people (the cadis) pronounce him a true believer.
چون شهادت گفت و ایمانی نمود ** حکم او مومن کنند این قوم زود
There is many a hypocrite who has taken refuge in this out ward form and has shed the blood of a hundred true believers in secret.
بس منافق کاندرین ظاهر گریخت ** خون صد مومن به پنهانی بریخت
Endeavour to become old in intelligence and religion, that you may become, like the Universal Intelligence, a seer of the in ward (reality).
جهد کن تا پیر عقل و دین شوی ** تا چو عقل کل تو باطن‌بین شوی
When the beauteous Intelligence unveiled its face (revealed itself) from non-existence, He (God) gave it a robe of honour and a thousand names.
از عدم چون عقل زیبا رو گشاد ** خلعتش داد و هزارش نام داد
Of those sweet-breathing names the least is this, that it (the Intelligence) is not in need of any one.2180
کمترین زان نامهای خوش‌نفس ** این که نبود هیچ او محتاج کس
If the Intelligence display its face in visible form, day will be dark beside its light;
گر به صورت وا نماید عقل رو ** تیره باشد روز پیش نور او
And if the shape of foolishness become visible, beside it the darkness of night will be radiant,
ور مثال احمقی پیدا شود ** ظلمت شب پیش او روشن بود
For it is darker and more murky than night; but the miserable bat is a buyer (seeker) of darkness.
کو ز شب مظلم‌تر و تاری‌ترست ** لیک خفاش شقی ظلمت‌خرست
Little by little accustom yourself to the daylight, else you will remain a bat deprived of splendour.
اندک اندک خوی کن با نور روز ** ورنه خفاشی بمانی بیفروز
He (the bat-like person) is the lover of every place where there is difficulty and perplexing doubt, and the enemy of every place where there is the lamp of (spiritual) felicity2185
عاشق هر جا شکال و مشکلیست ** دشمن هر جا چراغ مقبلیست
His heart seeks the darkness of perplexity in order that his acquirements may seem greater (than they are),
ظلمت اشکال زان جوید دلش ** تا که افزون‌تر نماید حاصلش
So that he may preoccupy you with that difficult question and make you oblivious of his own evil nature.
تا ترا مشغول آن مشکل کند ** وز نهاد زشت خود غافل کند
The marks of the wholly intelligent and the half-intelligent and the whole man and the half-man and the deluded worthless wretch doomed to perdition.
علامت عاقل تمام و نیم‌عاقل و مرد تمام و نیم‌مرد و علامت شقی مغرور لاشی
The intelligent man is he who hath the lamp: he is the guide and leader of the caravan.
عاقل آن باشد که او با مشعله‌ست ** او دلیل و پیشوای قافله‌ست
That leader is one who goes after his own light: that selfless traveller is the follower of himself.
پیرو نور خودست آن پیش‌رو ** تابع خویشست آن بی‌خویش‌رو
He is the one that puts faith in himself; and do ye too put faith in the light on which his soul has browsed.2190
مومن خویشست و ایمان آورید ** هم بدان نوری که جانش زو چرید
The other, who is the half-intelligent, deems an (entirely) intelligent person to be his eye,
دیگری که نیم‌عاقل آمد او ** عاقلی را دیده‌ی خود داند او
And has clutched him as the blind man clutches the guide, so that through him he has become seeing and active and illustrious.
دست در وی زد چو کور اندر دلیل ** تا بدو بینا شد و چست و جلیل
But (as for) the ass who had not a single barley-corn's weight of intelligence, who possessed no intelligence himself and forsook the intelligent (guide),
وآن خری کز عقل جوسنگی نداشت ** خود نبودش عقل و عاقل را گذاشت
(Who) knows neither much nor little of the way (and yet) disdains to go behind the guide,
ره نداند نه کثیر و نه قلیل ** ننگش آید آمدن خلف دلیل
He is journeying in a long wilderness, now limping in despair and now (advancing) at a run.2195