2. The ground must be prepared before corn be planted; the potter must build his furnace before he can make his porcelain.
3. As the breath of Heaven sayeth unto the waters of the deep; "This way shall thy billows roll, and no other; thus high, and no higher shall they raise their fury"; so let thy spirit, 0 man, actuate and direct thy flesh; so let it repress its wilderness.
5. Thy body is as the globe of the earth; thy bones the pillars that sustain it on its basis.
6. As the ocean giveth rise to springs, whose waters return again into its bosom through the rivers; so runneth thy life from thy outwards, and so runneth it into its place again.
7. Do not both retain their course forever? Behold, the same Allah ordained them.
8. Is not thy nose the channel to perfumes, thy mouth the path to delicacies.
9. Are not thine eyes the sentinels that watch for thee? Yet how often are they unable to distinguish truth from error?
10. Keep thy soul in moderation; teach thy spirit to be attentive to its good; so shall these its ministers be always to thee conveyances of truth.
11. Thine hand, is it not a miracle? Is there in the creation aught like unto it? Wherefore was it given thee, but that thou mightest stretch it out to the assistance of thy brother?
12. Why of all things living are thou alone made capable of blushing? The world shall read thy shame upon thy face; therefore do nothing shameful.
13. Fear and dismay, which robs thy countenance of its ruddy splendor, avoid guilt, and thou shalt know that fear is beneath thee, that dismay is unnamely.
14. Wherefore to thee alone speaks shadows in the vision of the pillow? Reverence them; for know that dreams are from on high.
15. Thou man alone canst speak. Wonder at thy glorious prerogative; and pay to Him who gave it to thee a rational and welcome praise, teaching thy children wisdom, instructing the offspring of thy loins in piety.