Poem

دفتر چهارم - بخش ۱۰ - مثال دنیا چون گولخن و تقوی چون حمام / Book Four - Section 10 - The Example of the World as a Furnace-Room and Piety as a Bathhouse

Original content

شهوت دنیا مثال گلخنست
که ازو حمام تقوی روشنست

لیک قسم متقی زین تون صفاست
زانک در گرمابه است و در نقاست

اغنیا مانندهٔ سرگین‌کشان
بهر آتش کردن گرمابه‌بان

اندریشان حرص بنهاده خدا
تا بود گرمابه گرم و با نوا

ترک این تون گوی و در گرمابه ران
ترک تون را عین آن گرمابه دان

هر که در تونست او چون خادمست
مر ورا که صابرست و حازمست

هر که در حمام شد سیمای او
هست پیدا بر رخ زیبای او

تونیان را نیز سیما آشکار
از لباس و از دخان و از غبار

ور نبینی روش بویش را بگیر
بو عصا آمد برای هر ضریر

ور نداری بو در آرش در سخن
از حدیث نو بدان راز کهن

پس بگوید تونیی صاحب ذهب
بیست سله چرک بردم تا به شب

حرص تو چون آتشست اندر جهان
باز کرده هر زبانه صد دهان

پیش عقل این زر چو سرگین ناخوشست
گرچه چون سرگین فروغ آتشست

آفتابی که دم از آتش زند
چرک تر را لایق آتش کند

آفتاب آن سنگ را هم کرد زر
تا بتون حرص افتد صد شرر

آنک گوید مال گرد آورده‌ام
چیست یعنی چرک چندین برده‌ام

این سخن گرچه که رسوایی‌فزاست
در میان تونیان زین فخرهاست

که تو شش سله کشیدی تا به شب
من کشیدم بیست سله بی کرب

آنک در تون زاد و پاکی را ندید
بوی مشک آرد برو رنجی پدید

English translation

The desire for the world is like a furnace-room, from which the bathhouse of taqwā is made warm. But the muttaqī's share from this furnace is purity, for he is in the bathhouse, in cleanliness. The wealthy are like dung-carriers, for the bathhouse-keeper's sake, to stoke the fire. God has placed greed within them so that the bathhouse may remain warm and well-supplied. Abandon this furnace-room and enter the bathhouse; know that abandoning the furnace is the very bathhouse itself. Whoever is in the furnace-room is like a servant to him who is patient and resolute. Whoever has entered the bathhouse, his countenance is revealed upon his beautiful face. The furnace-room workers' countenance is likewise plain from their clothing, their smoke, and their dust. If you cannot discern him by sight, take his scent; scent has become a staff for every blind man. If you lack a sense of smell, draw him into speech; from new discourse, know the ancient secret. So a wealthy furnace-worker will say: "I carried twenty baskets of filth before nightfall." Your greed is like fire throughout the world, each tongue of flame opening a hundred mouths. Before reason, this gold is as vile as dung, though like dung it fuels the fire's glow. A sun that breathes fire renders wet filth fit for the fire. The sun turned even that stone to gold, so that a hundred sparks might fall into the furnace of greed. He who says, "I have amassed wealth"— what does it mean but: "I have hauled so much filth." This speech, though it multiplies disgrace, is a source of such pride among furnace-workers: "You hauled six baskets by nightfall; I hauled twenty baskets without distress." He who was born in the furnace-room and never knew purity— the scent of musk brings him only distress.

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Updated 2026-05-16

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