Original Persian Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün (as given in the edition)

‘Aḳılân merdem be-nefseş vâḳıf est
Âferîn bâyed ki ḥakrâ ‘ârif est

In English

1. The wise man is acquainted with his own self; but praise is due to the one who knows God.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Reason and Gnosis

The wise man is praised, but the real praise is kept for the one who knows God: “‘Âḳılân merdem be-nefseş vâḳıf est / Âferîn bâyed ki ḥaḳrâ ‘ârif est”. Following directly on the previous two Persian couplets, this single one is again printed apart in the edition under the heading “Beyit”. The Persian couplet in the book's thirtieth piece has the same structure: there too the dervish who possesses reason was praised, but superiority was given to the one who always worships God.

The thought of the first line is related to the saying “He who knows himself knows his Lord”; yet here the poet seems to separate two kinds of knowledge. To know one's own self is the work of reason; to know God is a different gnosis, and it is this that deserves real praise. This distinction accords with the book's general attitude towards those who set out without a master and trust in their own reason.

Two choices were made in reading it, and neither is certain: the edition's “ḥakrâ” has been taken as the Persian “Ḥaḳ râ”, God (as object), and “‘âḳılân merdem” as “the wise man”. The edition offers no meaning for the Persian, so the responsibility for the rendering is ours.

Bibliography

Online sources