In Farid al-Din Attar's *Asrar Nameh*, the tale of a dark-faced man who looks into the water and mistakes his own reflection for an ugly demon serves as an allegory for human ignorance and the projection of one's own spiritual faults. Attar uses this narrative to illustrate a key Sufi concept: the afterlife or ultimate reality acts as a mirror for one's earthly actions. Just as the man was terrified by his own reflection without recognizing it, the soul upon death will look into the 'water of deeds' (آب اعمال) and see its true, unvarnished nature. If the soul is spiritually 'black-faced' (sinful or ignorant), it will be confronted with darkness; if pure, it will experience radiance. This teaches that a person's experience of the divine and the afterlife is a direct reflection of their inner moral state.

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## Original content
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سیاهی کرد در آبی نگاهی 
بدید از آب رویی پرسیاهی
چو رویی دید نامعلوم و ناخوش 
از آن زشتی دویدش بر سر آتش
چنان اندیشه کرد آن مرد دل تنگ 
که هست آن مردم آب سیه رنگ
زفان بگشاد گفت ای صورت زشت 
کدامین دیو در عالم ترا کشت
برآی از آب ای زشت سیه تاب 
که در آتش همی پایی نه در آب
چو بر بیهوده بسیاری سخن گفت 
ندانست و همه با خویشتن گفت
تو هم در آب رویت کن نگاهی 
ببین تا خود سپیدی یا سیاهی
چو مرغ جان فروریزد پر و بال 
ببینی روی خود در آب اعمال
سیه رویی سیاهی پیشت آرد 
سپیدی در فروغ خویشت آرد
چو جان پاک در یک دم بدادی 
قدم حالی در آن عالم نهادی
ز دنیا تا به عقبی نیست بسیار 
ولی در ره، وجود توست دیوار
ترا بانگ و خروش و گریه چندانست 
که این نفس دنی هم صحبت جانست
اگر با نفس میری وای بر تو 
بسی گرید ز سر تا پای بر تو
وگر بی نفس میری پاک باشی 
چه اندر آتش و در خاک باشی
ترا چو جان پاکت رفت و تن مرد 
نباید خویش را با خویشتن برد
که هر گاهی که تو از پیش مردی 
بسا کس را که گوی از پیش بردی
زبانت هرچ بر خود می شمرد آن 
چو زیر خاک رفتی باد برد آن
از آن پس عالم خاموشی آید 
مقامات ره مدهوشی آید
برون پرده آید شور ایام 
درون پرده خاموشی ست و آرام
تو اینجایی ز خود آگاه از خویش 
که آنجا آگهی برخیزد از پیش
چنان مستغرق آن نور گردی 
که زآن لذت ز هستی دور گردی
و گر داری ازین برتر مقامی 
تو داری اندرین قربت نظامی
مقرب آن بود کامروز بی خویش 
بود آن حضرتش در پیش بی پیش
همه حق بیند و بی خویش گردد 
به جوهر از دو گیتی بیش گردد
درین معنی که من گفتم شکی نیست 
تو بی چشمی و عالم جز یکی نیست
مثالی باز گویم با تو از راه 
مگر جانت شود زین راز آگاه
چه گر عمری بخون گردیده ای تو 
مثالی مثل این نشنیده ای تو
به چشمت کی درآید چرخ گردون 
که قدر او ز چشم توست افزون
همی هر ذره ای کان دیده ای تو 
نیاید عین آن در دیدهٔ تو
که می گوید که گردون آن چنانست 
که چشمت دید یا عقل تو دانست
پس آن چیزی که شد در چشم حاصل 
مثالی بیش نیست ای مرد غافل
گرفتار آمدی در بند تمییز 
مثال ست این چه می بینی نه آن چیز
به صنع حق نگر تا راز بینی 
حقیقت های اشیا باز بینی
اگر اشیا چنین بودی که پیداست 
سوال مصطفی کی آمدی راست
که با حق مهتر دین گفت الهی 
بمن بنمای اشیا را کماهی
اگر پاره کنی دل را به صد بار 
نیاید آنچ دل باشد پدیدار
همین چشم و همین دست و همین گوش 
همین جان و همین عقل و همین هوش
اگر زین می نیاری گشت آگاه 
مبر زینجا سوی فسطانیان راه
خدا داند که خود اشیا چگونست 
که در چشم تو باری باشکونست
بماند از مغز معنی پوست با تو 
مثالی بیش نیست ای دوست با تو
تو پنداری که چیزی دیده ای تو 
ندیدستی تو و نشنیده ای تو
مثال آن همی بینی وگرنه 
یکی ست این جمله در اصل و دگر نه
یکی کان یک برون باشد ز آحاد 
نه آن یک را نشان باشد نه اعداد
همه باقی به یک چیزند جاوید 
ز یک یک ذره می شو تا به خورشید
دو عالم غرق این دریای نور است 
ولیکن نقش عالم ها غرورست
هر آن نقشی که در عالم پدیدست 
دری بسته ست و حس آن را کلیدست
کلید و در از آن پیدا نماند 
که هرگز نقش بر دریا نماند
کسی کو نقش بی نقشی پذیرفت 
چو مردان ترک این صورتگری گفت
اگر بی صورتی و بی نشانی 
پذیرفتی تو داری زندگانی
وگرنه مرده ای مغرور می باش 
نداری زندگی از دور می باش
اگر گویی که چیست این هرچ پیداست 
بگویم راست گر تو بشنوی راست
همه ناچیز و فانی و همه هیچ 
همه همچون طلسمی پیچ بر پیچ
خیالست آنچ دانستی و دیدی 
صدایست آنچ در عالم شنیدی
خیال و وهم و عقل و حس مقامست 
که هر یک در مقام خود تمامست
ولی چون زان مقام آیی برون تو 
خیالی بینی آن را هم کنون تو

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## English translation
A black person looked into the water,
He saw a very black face from the water.
When he saw an unknown and unpleasant face,
From that ugliness, fire rushed to his head (he became enraged).
That distressed man thought thus,
That this water-person is black-colored.
He opened his tongue and said, "O ugly face!
Which demon in the world killed you (or disfigured you)?
Come out of the water, O ugly black-faced one!
For you are stepping into fire, not water."
As he spoke much in vain,
He did not know and said it all to himself.
You too look at your face in the water,
See if you are white or black.
When the bird of the soul sheds its feathers and wings,
You will see your face in the water of deeds.
Black-facedness will bring blackness before you,
Whiteness will bring you into its own radiance.
When you give up your pure soul in a moment,
You will immediately step into that world.
From this world to the hereafter is not much (distance),
But on the path, your own existence is a wall.
You have so much crying, shouting, and weeping,
Because this base self is the companion of the soul.
If you die with the self, woe unto you,
It will weep over you much from head to toe.
And if you die without the self, you will be pure,
Whether you are in fire or in dust.
When your pure soul departs and your body dies,
You must not take yourself with yourself.
For whenever you die from before yourself (die before you die),
You win the ball from many (win the race).
Whatever your tongue counted for itself,
When you went under the dirt, the wind carried it away.
After that, the world of silence comes,
The stations of the path of unconsciousness come.
Outside the curtain is the tumult of the days,
Inside the curtain is silence and peace.
You are here, aware of yourself, from yourself,
For there, awareness departs from before you.
You become so immersed in that light,
That from that pleasure you become distant from existence.
And if you have a station higher than this,
You have a system (order) in this proximity.
The intimate one is he who today is without himself,
He is before His presence without "before".
He sees everything as Truth and becomes without himself,
In essence he becomes more than both worlds.
There is no doubt in this meaning that I said,
You are eyeless and the world is but one.
I will tell you an example from the path,
Perhaps your soul will become aware of this secret.
Even if you have wandered in blood for a lifetime,
You have not heard an example like this.
How can the revolving wheel enter your eye?
For its magnitude is greater than your eye.
Every atom that you have seen,
Its essence does not come into your eye.
Who says that the revolving wheel is such,
That your eye saw or your intellect knew?
Then that thing which was obtained in the eye,
Is nothing more than an example, O heedless man.
You became a captive in the bond of discrimination,
This is an example that you see, not that thing itself.
Look at the creation of the Truth so that you may see the secret,
You may see the realities of things again.
If things were as they appear,
How would the prayer of Mustafa be right?
When the lord of religion said to the Truth, "O God!
Show me things as they are."
If you tear the heart a hundred times,
What the heart is will not appear.
This eye and this hand and this ear,
This soul and this intellect and this sense.
If you cannot become aware of this,
Do not take the way from here to the superficial materialists.
God knows how things really are,
For in your eye it is at least upside down.
From the core of meaning, only the skin remains with you,
It is nothing more than an example, O friend, with you.
You think you have seen something,
You have not seen and you have not heard.
You only see an example of it, otherwise,
All of this is one in essence and nothing else.
One that is outside of units,
Neither does that one have a sign nor numbers.
All are eternal through one thing forever,
Wash yourself from every single atom up to the sun.
Both worlds are drowned in this sea of light,
But the image of the worlds is a delusion.
Every image that has appeared in the world,
Is a closed door and sense is its key.
The key and the door do not remain visible,
For the image never remains on the sea.
Someone who accepted the image of no-image,
Like true men, gave up this image-making.
If you accept formlessness and signlessness,
You have life.
Otherwise, be a deluded dead person,
You do not have life, stay far away.
If you say, "What is all this that has appeared?"
I will tell the truth if you listen truly.
All is nothing and mortal and all is nothing,
All is like a talisman, twisted upon twist.
What you knew and saw is an illusion,
What you heard in the world is a mere sound.
Illusion and imagination and intellect and sense are stations,
Where each is complete in its own station.
But when you come out of that station,
You will see that too as an illusion right now.

بخش ۲ - الحکایه و التمثیل / Section 2 - The Tale and the Parable

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