Qasida · 11th century

The Pilgrims Have Come Home

Naser Khosrowناصرخسرو

گفت «نی» گفتمش «چو گشتی باز

He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘When you came back,

مانده از هجر کعبه بر دل ریم

your heart still aching from parting with the Kaaba,

کردی آنجا به گور مر خود را

did you lay yourself in the grave there,

همچنانی کنون که گشته رمیم؟»

so that now you are as one whose bones have crumbled?’

گفت « از این باب هر چه گفتی تو

He said, ‘Of all you have said on this matter

من ندانسته‌ام صحیح و سقیم»

I have known nothing, sound or unsound.’

گفتم «ای دوست پس نکردی حج

I said, ‘Then, friend, you have not made the pilgrimage;

نشدی در مقام محو مقیم

you have not come to dwell where the self is effaced.

رفته‌ای مکه دیده، آمده باز

You went, you saw Mecca, you came back,

محنت بادیه خریده به سیم

having bought the hardships of the desert with silver.

گر تو خواهی که حج کنی، پس از این

If you wish to make the pilgrimage from now on,

این چنین کن که کردمت تعلیم»

do it as I have taught you.’

From: The Divan of Naser Khosrow
Translation: Persiahaus Editors
Source: Draft translation from the Ganjoor text
Persian text: Ganjoor

A note for readers

The ending of a famous qasida in which the poet greets a friend returning from the Hajj and asks, rite by rite, whether he grasped the inner meaning of each: entering the pilgrim's state, the standing at Arafat, the sacrifice, the stoning of the devil, the circling of the Kaaba. Each time the friend answers 'No', and these closing couplets give the poet's verdict. The search for the inner meaning beneath outward forms is central to Naser Khosrow's Ismaili thought.