1Cademy - دفتر چهارم - بخش ۵۰ - آموختن پیشه گورکنی قابیل از زاغ پیش از آنک در عالم علم گورکنی و گور بود / Book Four - Section 50 - Cain Learning the Craft of Grave-Digging from a Crow Before the Science of Grave-Digging and Graves Existed in the World

Learn Before

مثنوی معنوی: دفتر چهارم / Masnavi: Book Four

Poem

دفتر چهارم - بخش ۵۰ - آموختن پیشه گورکنی قابیل از زاغ پیش از آنک در عالم علم گورکنی و گور بود / Book Four - Section 50 - Cain Learning the Craft of Grave-Digging from a Crow Before the Science of Grave-Digging and Graves Existed in the World

Original content

کندن گوری که کمتر پیشه بود
کی ز فکر و حیله و اندیشه بود

گر بدی این فهم مر قابیل را
کی نهادی بر سر او هابیل را

که کجا غایب کنم این کشته را
این به خون و خاک در آغشته را

دید زاغی زاغ مرده در دهان
بر گرفته تیز می آمد چنان

از هوا زیر آمد و شد او به فن
از پی تعلیم او را گورکن

پس به چنگال از زمین انگیخت گرد
زود زاغ مرده را در گور کرد

دفن کردش پس بپوشیدش به خاک
زاغ از الهام حق بد علم ناک

گفت قابیل آه شه بر عقل من
که بود زاغی ز من افزون به فن

عقل کل را گفت مازاغ البصر
عقل جزوی می کند هر سو نظر

عقل مازاغ است نور خاصگان
عقل زاغ استاد گور مردگان

جان که او دنبالهٔ زاغان پرد
زاغ او را سوی گورستان برد

هین مدو اندر پی نفس چو زاغ
کو به گورستان برد نه سوی باغ

گر روی رو در پی عنقای دل
سوی قاف و مسجد اقصای دل

نوگیاهی هر دم ز سودای تو
می دمد در مسجد اقصای تو

تو سلیمان وار داد او بده
پی بر از وی پای رد بر وی منه

زانک حال این زمین با ثبات
باز گوید با تو انواع نبات

در زمین گر نیشکر ور خود نیست
ترجمان هر زمین نبت ویست

پس زمین دل که نبتش فکر بود
فکرها اسرار دل را وا نمود

گر سخن کش یابم اندر انجمن
صد هزاران گل برویم چون چمن

ور سخن کش یابم آن دم زن به مزد
می گریزد نکته ها از دل چو دزد

جنبش هر کس به سوی جاذبست
جذب صدق نه چو جذب کاذبست

می روی گه گمره و گه در رشد
رشته پیدا نه و آنکت می کشد

اشتر کوری مهار تو رهین
تو کشش می بین مهارت را مبین

گر شدی محسوس جذاب و مهار
پس نماندی این جهان دارالغرار

گبر دیدی کو پی سگ می رود
سخرهٔ دیو ستنبه می شود

در پی او کی شدی مانند حیز
پی خود را واکشیدی گبر نیز

گاو گر واقف ز قصابان بدی
کی پی ایشان بدان دکان شدی

یا بخوردی از کف ایشان سبوس
یا بدادی شیرشان از چاپلوس

ور بخوردی کی علف هضمش شدی
گر ز مقصود علف واقف بدی

پس ستون این جهان خود غفلتست
چیست دولت کین دوادو با لتست

اولش دو دو به آخر لت بخور
جز درین ویرانه نبود مرگ خر

تو به جد کاری که بگرفتی به دست
عیبش این دم بر تو پوشیده شدست

زان همی تانی بدادن تن به کار
که بپوشید از تو عیبش کردگار

همچنین هر فکر که گرمی در آن
عیب آن فکرت شدست از تو نهان

بر تو گر پیدا شدی زو عیب و شین
زو رمیدی جانت بعد المشرقین

حال که آخر زو پشیمان می شوی
گر بود این حال اول کی دوی

پس بپوشید اول آن بر جان ما
تا کنیم آن کار بر وفق قضا

چون قضا آورد حکم خود پدید
چشم وا شد تا پشیمانی رسید

این پشیمانی قضای دیگرست
این پشیمانی بهل حق را پرست

ور کنی عادت پشیمان خور شوی
زین پشیمانی پشیمان تر شوی

نیم عمرت در پریشانی رود
نیم دیگر در پشیمانی رود

ترک این فکر و پریشانی بگو
حال و یار و کار نیکوتر بجو

ور نداری کار نیکوتر به دست
پس پشیمانیت بر فوت چه است

گر همی دانی ره نیکو پرست
ور ندانی چون بدانی کین بد است

بد ندانی تا ندانی نیک را
ضد را از ضد توان دید ای فتی

چون ز ترک فکر این عاجز شدی
از گناه آنگاه هم عاجز بدی

چون بدی عاجز پشیمانی ز چیست
عاجزی را باز جو کز جذب کیست

عاجزی بی قادری اندر جهان
کس ندیدست و نباشد این بدان

همچنین هر آرزو که می بری
تو ز عیب آن حجابی اندری

ور نمودی علت آن آرزو
خود رمیدی جان تو زان جست و جو

گر نمودی عیب آن کار او ترا
کس نبردی کش کشان آن سو ترا

وان دگر کار کز آن هستی نفور
زان بود که عیبش آمد در ظهور

ای خدای رازدان خوش سخن
عیب کار بد ز ما پنهان مکن

عیب کار نیک را منما به ما
تا نگردیم از روش سرد و هبا

هم بر آن عادت سلیمان سنی
رفت در مسجد میان روشنی

قاعدهٔ هر روز را می جست شاه
که ببیند مسجد اندر نو گیاه

دل ببیند سر بدان چشم صفی
آن حشایش که شد از عامه خفی

English translation

The digging of a grave—a lesser craft— when could it have come from thought, scheme, and deliberation? If this understanding had belonged to Cain, when would he have placed Abel upon his head? Saying: "Where shall I conceal this slain one, this one steeped in blood and soil?" He saw a crow, a dead crow in its beak, that had taken it up and was coming swiftly thus. It descended from the air and, by skill, became a grave-digger to instruct him. Then with its claws it stirred up dust from the earth, and quickly placed the dead crow in the grave. It buried it, then covered it with soil— the crow was made knowing through God's inspiration. Cain said: "Alas, shame upon my intellect, that a crow was more skilled in craft than I!"

Of the Universal Intellect it is said: "Mā zāgha l-baṣar"—the sight swerved not; the partial intellect looks in every direction. The intellect of mā zāgha is the light of the elect; the intellect of zāgh (the crow) is the teacher of the graves of the dead. The soul that flies in the wake of crows— the crow leads it toward the graveyard. Beware! Do not run after the ego like a crow, for it leads to the graveyard, not to the garden. If you go, go in pursuit of the heart's ʿAnqā, toward the Qāf and the Masjid al-Aqṣā of the heart. A fresh sprout every moment from your longing breathes forth in the Masjid al-Aqṣā of your heart. Like Solomon, render it its due; follow its track; do not place a rejecting foot upon it. For the condition of this stable earth tells you back the various plants it bears. Whether sugarcane or bitter herb is in the earth, the plant that springs is the interpreter of each soil. So the soil of the heart, whose plant is thought— thoughts reveal the secrets of the heart. If I find a word-drawer in the assembly, I bloom like a meadow with a hundred thousand flowers. If I find a word-drawer who breathes for hire, the subtle points flee from the heart like a thief.

Every person's movement is toward an attractor— the attraction of truth is not like the attraction of falsehood. You go—sometimes astray, sometimes in right guidance— the thread is not visible, yet that which draws you exists. You are a blind camel whose halter is pledged— see the pull; do not look at your halter. If the attracting force and the halter were perceptible, this world would no longer remain the House of Delusion (dār al-gharār). You have seen the unbeliever who follows a dog, becoming the plaything of a stubborn demon. When would you have followed him like a coward? You too would have withdrawn your footsteps from the unbeliever. If the ox were aware of the butchers, when would it have followed them to that shop? Or it would have eaten bran from their hands, or given them its milk out of flattery. And if it ate, how could the fodder have been digested, if it were aware of the purpose behind the fodder?

So the pillar of this world is indeed heedlessness— what is fortune, that this running comes with a kick at the end? First you run and run; at the end receive the kick— the donkey's death occurs nowhere but in this ruin. You earnestly take up a task at hand— its flaw is concealed from you at this moment. That is why you are able to give yourself to the work: the Creator has veiled its flaw from you. Likewise, every thought in which you are fervent— the flaw of that thought has been hidden from you. If its flaw and blemish had appeared to you, your soul would have fled from it as far as the two easts (baʿd al-mashriqayn). Now, in the end, you repent of it— if this state had been at the beginning, when would you have pursued it? So it was first veiled from our soul, that we might do that work in accordance with Divine Decree. When the Decree brought its judgment to light, the eye opened until repentance arrived. This repentance is another Decree— leave this repentance and worship God. And if you make a habit of it, you become one who swallows regret, growing more repentant still from this repentance. Half your life passes in distraction, the other half in repentance. Abandon this thought and distraction— seek a better state, companion, and occupation. And if you have no better work at hand, then what is your repentance over what is lost? If you know the way, worship the better path; and if you do not know, how will you know that this is at hand? You cannot know the bad until you know the good— opposites are known through opposites, O youth.

Since you were helpless to abandon this thought, you were also helpless before the sin at that time. Since you were helpless, why the repentance? Seek out helplessness again—from whose attraction does it come? Helplessness without capacity in the world— no one has seen it, and it does not exist; know this. Likewise, every desire you pursue— you are veiled from its flaw. If the defect of that desire had shown itself, your soul would have fled from that pursuit of its own accord. If the flaw of that work had shown itself to you, no one would have dragged you in that direction. And that other work from which you recoil— it is because its flaw has come into appearance. O God, Knower of secrets, sweet of speech, do not hide from us the flaw of evil deeds. Do not show us the flaw of good deeds, lest we grow cold and wasted on the path.

In keeping with that custom, the noble Solomon went into the mosque amid the light. The king sought the rule of each day, to see a new plant in the mosque. The heart sees the secret with that pure eye— those herbs that remain hidden from the common folk.

Updated 2026-06-30

Contributors are:

Who are from:

References