A quatrain (ruba'i) on the guide, the seeker, and the King attributed to Khwaja Habibullah Nowshehri of Kashmir.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Bismi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm.
In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.
The lines begin with a traveller on a road and end with a beggar at a king’s court. Both want to arrive. The poet asks who can show them the way.
I reproduce the four lines in the form supplied to me, including the uncertain یک(ی) in the second line. I have not identified an author or a reliable earlier witness for this wording. The translation follows its apparent sense.
The traveller
مردِ بی پیر در این راه به جایی نرسد
Mard means “man”; the difficulty named here can be recognized by any seeker. Pīr literally means an elder and, in Sufi usage, an experienced spiritual guide. The poet’s phrase ba-jā’ī na-rasad measures the journey by arrival. The traveller may be moving, yet still fail to reach the place he seeks.
The first arrival
نرسد تا به یک(ی) راهنمایی نرسد
The repeated na-rasad, “does not arrive,” turns the thought back on itself. Before the traveller reaches a destination, he must reach someone who knows the road. Rāh-numā is “one who shows the way.” The word describes the guide’s work with some precision: showing, correcting, and accompanying. The traveller must still walk.
What we heard and saw
ما شنیدیم و بدیدیم ز هر کس هر جا
Shanīdīm o badīdīm puts hearing beside seeing. The speaker has received the lesson from others and claims to have recognized it in experience. “Everyone, everywhere” gives the statement the force of conviction; it is the reach of a poet’s voice, rather than a count of witnesses. The poem has also moved from “a man” to “we.” The traveller is no longer alone in what he has learned.
The beggar and the King
که بلاواسطه بادشاه گدایی نرسد
The road becomes a court. Gadā’ī is a beggar; bādshāh is a king. The seeker approaches in need, with no rank to claim. Wāsiṭa, the intermediary, evokes someone who can bring the beggar to the royal presence. Read beside the opening lines, the pīr serves as this figure of guidance.
The court is an image, and its limits matter. A human ruler may need someone to admit a visitor; God says, “I am near,” and answers the one who calls upon Him (Qur’an 2:186). A teacher can help the seeker learn to ask honestly, attend to his conduct, and recognize his need. The prayer still reaches God.
The last line leaves the seeker a beggar even after he has found a guide. He has reached the threshold; what he receives there remains the King’s gift.
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