1Cademy - بخش ۶ - التمثیل فی شأن من کان فی هذه اعمی فهو فی‌الآخرة اعمی جماعة العمیان و احوال الفیل / Section 6 - The Allegory regarding Whoever is blind in this world will be blind in the Hereafter: The Group of Blind Men and the States of the Elephant

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حدیقة الحقیقه و شریعة الطریقه / Hadiqat al-Haqiqah (The Walled Garden of Truth)

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بخش ۶ - التمثیل فی شأن من کان فی هذه اعمی فهو فی‌الآخرة اعمی جماعة العمیان و احوال الفیل / Section 6 - The Allegory regarding 'Whoever is blind in this world will be blind in the Hereafter': The Group of Blind Men and the States of the Elephant

Original content

بود شهری بزرگ در حد غور
واندر آن شهر مردمان همه کور

پادشاهی در آن مکان بگذشت
لشکر آورد و خیمه زد بر دشت

داشت پیلی بزرگ با هیبت
از پی جاه و حشمت و صولت

مردمان را ز بهر دیدن پیل
آرزو خاست زانچنان تهویل

چند کور از میان آن کوران
بر پیل آمدند از آن عوران

تا بدانند شکل و هیآت پیل
هریکی تازیان در آن تعجیل

آمدند و به دست می سودند
زانکه از چشم بی بصر بودند

هریکی را به لمس بر عضوی
اطلاع اوفتاد بر جزوی

هریکی صورت محالی بست
دل و جان در پی خیالی بست

چون بر اهل شهر باز شدند
برشان دیگران فراز شدند

آرزو کرد هریکی زیشان
آنچنان گمرهان و بدکیشان

صورت و شکل پیل پرسیدند
وآنچه گفتند جمله بشنیدند

آنکه دستش بسوی گوش رسید
دیگری حال پیل ازو پرسید

گفت شکلیست سهمناک عظیم
پهن و صعب و فراخ همچو گلیم

وانکه دستش رسیدی زی خرطوم
گفت گشتست مر مرا معلوم

راست چون ناودان میانه تهیست
سهمناکست و مایهٔ تبهیست

وانکه را بد ز پیل ملموسش
دست و پای سطبر پر بوسش

گفت شکلش چنانکه مضبوط است
راست همچون عمود مخروط است

هریکی دیده جزوی از اجزا
همگان را فتاده ظن خطا

هیچ دل را ز کلی آگه نی
علم با هیچ کور همره نی

جملگی را خیالهای محال
کرده مانند غتفره به جوال

از خدایی خلایق آگه نیست
عقلا را در این سخن ره نیست

English translation

There was a large city in the region of Ghor, And in that city, the people were all blind. A king passed through that place, He brought his army and pitched his tent on the plain. He had a large and majestic elephant, For the sake of rank, majesty, and power. A desire arose in the people to see the elephant, Out of curiosity for such a formidable creature. A few blind men from among those people Came toward the elephant from among those destitute ones, So that they might know the shape and form of the elephant, Each one rushing in that haste. They came and rubbed it with their hands, Since they were sightless in their eyes. Each one's hand fell upon a limb, And through touch, they became informed of a part. Each one formed an impossible image, Binding their heart and soul to a fantasy. When they returned to the people of the city, Others gathered around them. Every one of them desired to know, Those misled and ill-faithed ones. They asked about the form and shape of the elephant, And they heard all that was said. The one whose hand had reached the ear, When another asked him of the elephant's state, Said: 'It is a huge, terrifying shape, Broad and hard and wide like a carpet.' And the one whose hand reached the trunk Said: 'It has become known to me; It is exactly like a pipe, hollow in the middle, Terrifying and a source of destruction.' And the one whose touch of the elephant Was its thick leg, full of creases, Said: 'Its shape, as it is determined, Is exactly like a conical pillar.' Each one had seen only a part of the parts, And so they all fell into the error of opinion. No heart was aware of the whole, Knowledge was not a companion to any of the blind. All of them held impossible fantasies, Like a jumble packed into a sack. Creation is not aware of Divinity; The wise have no path in this discourse.

Updated 2026-07-02

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