“قیاس” in the Masnavi

You measure (the works of God and His saints) by your own standard, but look closely, see how far, how very far, you have strayed from the truth.

The people burst out laughing at the parrot's comparison, for it had taken the wearer of the frock (the dervish) to be just like itself.

Do not measure the actions of the pure by your own standard, even though shér (lion) and shír (milk) are written the same way (in Persian).

The whole world has gone astray for this very reason of measuring the pure against themselves, and few came to know God's saints (the Abdāl or Substitutes).

They presumed themselves equal to the prophets and assumed the saints were just like them.

They said, 'We are human, and they are human; they and we are both bound by sleep and food.'

Yet in their spiritual blindness, they did not see the endless difference between themselves and the saints.

For instance, both species of zanbur fed in the same place, yet one (the hornet) gave a sting, and the other (the bee) gave honey.

Both deer species fed on the same grass and water, yet one produced dung and the other pure musk.

Both reeds drank from the same water source, yet one remained hollow while the other filled with sugar.

Look at hundreds of thousands of such outward resemblances, yet know that the difference between them is as great as seventy years of road apart.

One (the misguided and deniers) eats, and from it filth and impurity are discharged; the other (the prophets and saints) eats, and its entire being becomes the light of God.

One eats, and of him only envy and miserliness are born; the other eats, and of him only the light of the peerless One shines forth.

One is pure, fertile soil while the other is barren and corrupt; one is a pure angel while the other is a devil and a wild beast.

It is no wonder if they both appear alike in outward form, for bitter water and sweet water share the same clarity.

Who but a person of true taste can discern the difference? Find such a one, for only he can distinguish sweet water from the brine.

The ignorant one has measured magic against prophetic miracle, wrongly assuming that both are rooted in trickery and deceit.

The sorcerers in the time of Moses, out of defiance, took up their rods just as Moses had taken up his.

But between this rod and that rod lies a vast difference, and from this action (magic) to that action (miracle) is a wondrous distance.

God’s curse follows upon this action (magic), whereas God’s mercy and blessing are granted in reward for that action (miracle).

In their stubborn defiance, disbelievers possess the nature of an ape, and an (evil) disposition has become a canker within their breasts.

Whatever a person does, the monkey imitates, for it watches and follows every move the human makes moment by moment.

He thinks, 'I have acted like him': how should that quarrelsome-looking one know the difference?

This one (the holy man) acts by divine command, while the other (the apish imitator) acts out of sheer defiance; pour dust upon the heads of such stubborn defiers.