چون نیاوردی به حیلت حجتی ** که مرا عذری است بس کن ساعتی
Why did not you cunningly bring (forward) a plea, saying, ‘I have an excuse (for declining to eat): desist for a while’.”
گفت من از دست نعمت بخش تو ** خوردهام چندان که از شرمم دو تو
Luqmán said, “From thy munificent hand I have eaten so much that I am (bent) double with shame.
شرمم آمد که یکی تلخ از کفت ** من ننوشم ای تو صاحب معرفت1525
I was ashamed not to eat one bitter thing from thy hand, O thou who art possessed of knowledge.
چون همه اجزام از انعام تو ** رستهاند و غرق دانه و دام تو
Since all parts of me have grown from thy bounty and are plunged in thy bait and snare—
گر ز یک تلخی کنم فریاد و داد ** خاک صد ره بر سر اجزام باد
If I make outcry and complaint because of one bitter thing, may the dust of a hundred roads be on (all) parts of me!
لذت دست شکر بخشت بداشت ** اندر این بطیخ تلخی کی گذاشت
It (the melon) had the enjoyment of thy sugar-bestowing hand: how could it (such enjoyment) leave any bitterness in this melon?”
از محبت تلخها شیرین شود ** از محبت مسها زرین شود
By love bitter things become sweet; by love pieces of copper become golden;
از محبت دردها صافی شود ** از محبت دردها شافی شود1530
By love dregs become clear; by love pains become healing;
از محبت مرده زنده میکنند ** از محبت شاه بنده میکنند
By love the dead is made living; by love the king is made a slave.
این محبت هم نتیجهی دانش است ** کی گزافه بر چنین تختی نشست
This love, moreover, is the result of knowledge: who (ever) sat in foolishness on such a throne?
دانش ناقص کجا این عشق زاد ** عشق زاید ناقص اما بر جماد
On what occasion did deficient knowledge give birth to this love? Deficient (knowledge) gives birth to love, but (only love) for that which is (really) lifeless.
بر جمادی رنگ مطلوبی چو دید ** از صفیری بانگ محبوبی شنید
When it sees in a lifeless being the colour (appearance) of a desired one, (’tis as though) it heard the voice of a beloved in a whistle.
دانش ناقص نداند فرق را ** لاجرم خورشید داند برق را1535
Deficient knowledge cannot discriminate: of necessity it deems the lightning to be the sun.
چون که ملعون خواند ناقص را رسول ** بود در تاویل نقصان عقول
When the Prophet called the “deficient” (man) accursed, (his meaning) as interpreted was “deficiency of mind,”
ز انکه ناقص تن بود مرحوم رحم ** نیست بر مرحوم لایق لعن و زخم
Because one whose body is deficient is the object of (Divine) mercy: cursing and repulse (directed) against the object of (Divine) mercy are improper.
نقص عقل است آن که بد رنجوری است ** موجب لعنت سزای دوری است
’Tis deficiency of mind that is the bad disease: it is the cause of (God's) curse and merits banishment (from His presence),
ز انکه تکمیل خردها دور نیست ** لیک تکمیل بدن مقدور نیست
Forasmuch as the perfecting of minds is not remote (impossible), but the perfecting of the body is not within our power.
کفر و فرعونی هر گبر بعید ** جمله از نقصان عقل آمد پدید1540
The miscreance and Pharaoh-like pride of every infidel who is far (from God) have all been produced by deficiency of mind.
بهر نقصان بدن آمد فرج ** در نبی که ما علی الاعمی حرج
Relief for bodily deficiency has come in the (words of the) Qur’án—it is no crime in the blind man.
برق آفل باشد و بس بیوفا ** آفل از باقی ندانی بیصفا
Lightning is transient and very faithless: without clearness (of mind) you will not know the transient from the permanent.
برق خندد بر که میخندد بگو ** بر کسی که دل نهد بر نور او
The lightning laughs: say, at whom is it laughing? At him that sets his heart upon its light.
نورهای چرخ ببریده پی است ** آن چو لا شرقی و لا غربی کی است
The lights of the sky are hamstrung (feeble and imperfect): how are they like (that Light which is) neither of the east nor of the west?
برق را چون یخطف الأبصار دان ** نور باقی را همه انصار دان1545
Know that the nature of lightning is that it taketh away the sight; regard the everlasting Light as entirely Helpers (to the attainment of vision).
بر کف دریا فرس را راندن ** نامهای در نور برقی خواندن
To ride (your) horse upon the foam of the sea, to read a letter in a flash of lightning,
از حریصی عاقبت نادیدن است ** بر دل و بر عقل خود خندیدن است
Is, to fail, because of covetousness, to see the end; it is, to laugh at your own mind and intellect.