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گفت گیرم بر منت رحمی نبود ** طبع تو بر خود چرا استم نمود
- He said (to the sheep), “I grant you (naturally) had no pity on me, (but) why did your nature show (such) cruelty to itself?”
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با ملایک گفت یزدان آن زمان ** که نبوت را نمی‌زیبد فلان
- At that moment God said to the angels, “So-and-so is suitable for prophethood.”
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مصطفی فرمود خود که هر نبی ** کرد چوپانیش برنا یا صبی
- Mustafá (Mohammed) himself has said that every prophet herded sheep as a young man or boy,
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بی‌شبانی کردن و آن امتحان ** حق ندادش پیشوایی جهان
- (And that) without his having been a shepherd and (having undergone) that trial, God did not bestow on him the leadership of the world.
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گفت سایل هم تو نیز ای پهلوان ** گفت من هم بوده‌ام دهری شبان 3290
- A questioner said, “Even thou, O man of might?” “I too,” he replied, “was a shepherd for a long while.”
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تا شود پیدا وقار و صبرشان ** کردشان پیش از نبوت حق شبان
- In order that their (the prophets') calmness and fortitude should be displayed, God made them shepherds before (investing them with) prophethood.
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هر امیری کو شبانی بشر ** آنچنان آرد که باشد متمر
- Every prince who performs the task of shepherding mankind in such wise that he obeys the Commandments (of God),
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حلم موسی‌وار اندر رعی خود ** او به جا آرد به تدبیر و خرد
- (And) in tending them with foresight and understanding shows a forbearance like that of Moses,
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لاجرم حقش دهد چوپانیی ** بر فراز چرخ مه روحانیی
- Inevitably God will bestow on him a spiritual shepherd's office (exalted) above the sphere of the moon,
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آنچنان که انبیا را زین رعا ** بر کشید و داد رعی اصفیا 3295
- Even as He raised the prophets from this herding (of sheep) and gave them the task of tending the righteous.