عالمان دي روښنائي ددې دنيا
عالمان دي د تمام جهان پېشوا
The godly are the light and the refulgence of the world:
The pious are the guides and the directors of mankind.
که څوک لار غواړي و خداى ته و رسول ته
عالمان دي ددې لارې رهنما
If any one seek the way unto God and his Prophet,
The devout are the guides to point out the path.
کيمياګر که د کيميا په طلب ګرزي
همدمي د عالمانو ده کيميا
The alchemist, that searcheth about for the philosopher's stone,
Will find it the bosom companion of the sanctified.
په مجلس د عالمانو به سرۀ زر شي
که څوک کاڼى وي که لُوټه د صحرا
In the society of the enlightened, he will turn to red gold,
Though a person may be as a stone or a clod of the desert.
جاهلان دي په مثال د مُرده ګانو
عالمان دي په مثال د مسيحا
The ignorant are, as it were, like unto the dead:
Verily, the wise are like unto the saints themselves.
چې مُرده يې له نفسه ژوندي کېږي
عالمان دي واړه هسې اوليا
The enlightened are, comparatively, like unto the Messiah;
Since, from their breath, the dead return to life again.
هر سړى چې رتبه نۀ لري د علم
سړى نۀ دى خالي نقش دى ګويا
He who may not possess some portion of wisdom
Is not a man: he is, as it were, but an empty model.
زه رحمان حلقه بګوش د هر عالم يم
که اعلٰى دى که اوسط دى که ادنىٰ
I, Rahman, am the servant of every enlightened being,
Whether he be of the highest, the middle, or the lowest degree.
د دې شعر په اړه
Raverty pairs the half-lines of couplets 5 and 6 differently from the Pashto text given here: in his version the line on the ignorant goes with the saints, and the line on the Messiah with the dead returning to life.
ژباړه: H. G. Raverty, Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans (1862), pp. 10–11