کانبیا را نه که نفس کشته بود ** پس چراشان دشمنان بود و حسود
(And should say), “Had not the prophets a killed (mortified) fleshly soul? Why, then, had they enemies and enviers?”—
گوش کن تو ای طلبکار صواب ** بشنو این اشکال و شبهت را جواب
Give ear, O seeker of truth, and hear the answer to this difficulty and doubt.
دشمن خود بودهاند آن منکران ** زخم بر خود میزدند ایشان چنان
Those unbelievers were (really) enemies to themselves: they were striking at themselves such blows (as they struck).
دشمن آن باشد که قصد جان کند ** دشمن آن نبود که خود جان میکند790
An enemy is one who attempts (another's) life; he that is himself destroying his own life is not an enemy (to others).
نیست خفاشک عدوی آفتاب ** او عدوی خویش آمد در حجاب
The little bat is not an enemy to the sun: it is an enemy to itself in the veil (of its own blindness).
تابش خورشید او را میکشد ** رنج او خورشید هرگز کی کشد
The glow of the sun kills it; how should the sun ever suffer annoyance from it?
دشمن آن باشد کز او آید عذاب ** مانع آید لعل را از آفتاب
An enemy is one from whom torment proceeds, (one who) hinders the ruby from (receiving the rays of) the sun.
مانع خویشند جملهی کافران ** از شعاع جوهر پیغمبران
All the infidels hinder themselves from (receiving) the rays of the prophets' (spiritual) jewel.
کی حجاب چشم آن فردند خلق ** چشم خود را کور و کژ کردند خلق795
How should (unbelieving) people veil the eyes of that peerless one (the prophet or saint)? The people have (only) blinded and distorted their own eyes.
چون غلام هندویی کاو کین کشد ** از ستیزهی خواجه خود را میکشد
(They are) like the Indian slave who bears a grudge and kills himself to spite his master: