3. Nasir's Confession.

In one of the qasidas in his Diwan (pp.172-177 of the Tehran edition of 1929), the same as is known as "the poem containing the date of his birth," and opening with "Ay kwanda basi ‘ilm-u jahan gashta sarasar" . . . Nasir offers us an extremely interesting account of his spiritual evolution. As far as I know, although it was often referred to, the poem has never been translated in full, or even comprehensively used, evidently because of the difficulty of deciphering the various allusions and implications of which it mostly consists. Many of its passages remain meaningless without extensive comments. Such passages are surely those which he wanted to reach only the initiated ones. It is a common feature of sectarian poetry of this kind: one has to know in advance the gist of its contents in order to understand the implications of its allegories and metaphors. We may try to offer here our version of it, decoding the poet's allusion as far as possible.

The poem, as so many of Nasir's poems, opens with the usual complaints on the injustice of the destiny which, without any apparent reason, gives one plenty, while hunger and thirst to another, and which "has driven him into that dusty corner." The confession begins with p.173, verse 7:

"Unlock thy heart, and take the Coran as thy (sole) guide,
"So that thou mayest know the right path, and that the door (of salvation) might become opened to thee.
"I would not be surprised if thou dost not find that path (easily),
"Because I was like thyself, lost and bewildered for a long time.
"When 394 years have passed since the flight (hijra) of the Prophet,
"My mother gave birth to me, bringing me into this dusty abode,
"As an unconscious growing being, similar to plants
"Which are born from black soil and drops of water . . ."
(He goes on, mentioning the stages of the development of the human organism in accordance with the usual theories of his time).

(13) "When the heavens had measured out 42 years of life to me,
"My conscious self began to search for wisdom (khirad).
"I listened to the learned, or read books in which they explained
"The constitution of the celestial spheres, the movement of time and elements.
(15) "Feeling that to me my own body is the dearest,
"I inferred that in the world thee must be some one who is the most precious of all that had been created,
"Just as the falcon is the noblest of the birds, or the camel amongst the quadrupeds,
"Or the date palm amongst the trees, or ruby amongst the jewels,
"Just as the Coran amongst the books, or Ka'ba amongst the houses,
"Or the heart amongst the organs of the body, the sun amongst the luminaries,
"As I pondered over this, my soul was filled with sad thoughts.
"I began to ask questions from thinking people of their opinions:
"From the Shafi'ites, Malikites, Hanafites I asked what they said.
"I began to search for the guidance of the Chosen One of God (i.e. the Prophet).
(20) "But when I asked (my teachers) about the reasons for (various) injunctions of the religion, or the verses of the Coran on which they are based,
"None proved to be helpful, one resembling the blind, and the other the deaf.