A man is known by the company he keeps

You’re looking at a classic passage from the Masnavi by Rumi, and the Persian there is quite compressed and poetic. I’ll translate it into clear, natural English, line by line in spirit (not just word-for-word, since Rumi’s meaning flows across lines).

📜 Persian → Clear English Translation (Section 70)

🔹 First couplet (right column)

گر خفاشی را ز خورشیدی خورش نیست

آن دلیل آمد که آن خورشید نیست

👉 If a bat finds no nourishment from the sun,

👉 that is not proof that the sun is not real (or shining).

🔹 Next

نفرت خفاشکان باشد دلیل

که منم خورشید تابان جلیل

👉 The bats’ hatred itself is proof

👉 that I am the radiant, majestic sun.

🔹 Next

کی پرد مرغی مگر با جنس خود

صحبت ناهمجنس گورست و لحد

👉 A bird flies only with its own kind;

👉 the company of the unlike is like a grave and a tomb.

🔹 Next

هر جعل را در چمن خوش‌تر وطن

بلبلان را جای می‌زیبد چمن

👉 For the beetle, the dung heap is the best home;

👉 for the nightingale, the garden is the fitting place.

🧠 What this means (in plain language)

Rumi is building a layered argument:

1. 🌞 Truth doesn’t depend on your ability to receive it

• The bat (blind in daylight) rejects the sun

• But that doesn’t diminish the sun

👉 Same idea:

• Some people reject truth, beauty, spirituality

• That says more about them than the truth

2. 🧬 People are drawn to their own level

• Birds flock with birds

• Beetles prefer filth

• Nightingales prefer gardens

👉 Meaning:

• Your inner nature determines your environment

• And your company reveals who you are

3. ⚰️ Bad company is spiritually deadly

“The company of the unlike is a grave”

👉 If you belong to higher awareness but stay among:

• greed

• ignorance

• negativity

…it suffocates your growth

🎯 One-line summary

👉 You recognize truth, beauty, and people according to what you are inside—and you naturally gather with your own kind.

🔗 Connection to your earlier passages

This ties perfectly to:

• “God does not like those who sink”

• “Better a wise enemy than an ignorant friend”

Because:

👉 Your company determines whether you:

• rise (garden, nightingale, sun)

• or sink (dung heap, donkey, darkness)

If you want, I can give you a more literal word-by-word Persian breakdown, or connect each line to Sufi concepts like nafs, qalb, and ruh (body, heart, spirit).

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