همچو فرزندان خود دانندشان ** منکران با صد دلیل و صد نشان
The unbelievers know them (the prophets) as (they know) their children by a hundred indications and a hundred signs,
لیک از رشک و حسد پنهان کنند ** خویشتن را بر ندانم می‌زنند3665
But, from jealousy and envy, they conceal (their knowledge) and attach themselves to (become addicted to saying) “I do not know.”
پس چو یعرف گفت چون جای دگر ** گفت لایعرفهم غیری فذر
Then, since He (God) hath said, “He (the unbeliever) knows,” how hath He said in another place?—“None knoweth them except Me, so leave off (seeking to know them);
انهم تحت قبابی کامنون ** جز که یزدانشان نداند ز آزمون
Verily, they are hidden beneath My tents.” None knows them by (immediate) experience except God.
هم بنسبت گیر این مفتوح را ** که بدانی و ندانی نوح را
Regard also as (explicable) by means of relation this (subject) which was opened (above), (namely) that you know and do not know Noah.
مسله‌ی فنا و بقای درویش
The question of the faná and baqá of the dervish.
گفت قایل در جهان درویش نیست ** ور بود درویش آن درویش نیست
The speaker said, “There is no dervish in the world; and if there be a dervish, that dervish is (really) non-existent.”
هست از روی بقای ذات او ** نیست گشته وصف او در وصف هو3670
He exists in respect of the survival of his essence, (but) his attributes have become non-existent in the attributes of Him (God).
چون زبانه‌ی شمع پیش آفتاب ** نیست باشد هست باشد در حساب
Like the flame of a candle in the presence of the sun, he is (really) non-existent, (though he is) existent in (formal) calculation.
هست باشد ذات او تا تو اگر ** بر نهی پنبه بسوزد زان شرر
Its (the flame's) essence is existent, so that, if you put cotton upon it, it (the cotton) will be consumed by the sparks;
نیست باشد روشنی ندهد ترا ** کرده باشد آفتاب او را فنا
(But) it is (really) non-existent: it gives you no light: the sun will have naughted it.