-
آن یکی میگفت گردون فانیست ** بیگمانی این بنا را بانیست
- One was saying, ‘The sky will pass away: without any doubt, this edifice hath a builder.’
-
وان دگر گفت این قدیم و بی کیست ** نیستش بانی و یا بانی ویست
- The other said, ‘It is eternal and timeless: it hath no builder, or else it is (itself) the builder.’
-
گفت منکر گشتهای خلاق را ** روز و شب آرنده و رزاق را
- He (his adversary) said, ‘You have denied the Creator, the Producer of day and night and the Giver of sustenance.’
-
گفت بی برهان نخواهم من شنید ** آنچ گولی آن به تقلیدی گزید 2845
- He (the philosopher) said, ‘Without clear evidence, I will not listen to that which an ignoramus has accepted by rote.
-
هین بیاور حجت و برهان که من ** نشنوم بی حجت این را در زمن
- Come, bring the proof and evidence, for never in the world will I hearken to this without proof.’
-
گفت حجت در درون جانمست ** در درون جان نهان برهانمست
- ‘The proof,’ he replied, ‘is within my soul: my evidence is hidden within my soul.
-
تو نمیبینی هلال از ضعف چشم ** من همی بینم مکن بر من تو خشم
- You, from weakness of eye, are not seeing the new moon: (if) I am seeing it, do not you be angry with me.’
-
گفت و گو بسیار گشت و خلق گیج ** در سر و پایان این چرخ پسیج
- There was much debate, and the people became perplexed as to the beginning and end of this well-ordered celestial sphere.
-
گفت یارا در درونم حجتیست ** بر حدوث آسمانم آیتیست 2850
- He (the pious man) said, ‘Friend, within me is a (decisive) proof: I have a (manifest) sign indicating the temporal origin of the sky.
-
من یقین دارم نشانش آن بود ** مر یقیندان را که در آتش رود
- I possess the certainty: for him that hath certain knowledge the token thereof is that he will go into the fire.
-
در زبان میناید آن حجت بدان ** همچو حال سر عشق عاشقان
- Like the inmost feelings of love in lovers, that proof, (you must) know, does not come (to utterance) on the tongue.
-
نیست پیدا سر گفت و گوی من ** جز که زردی و نزاری روی من
- The inmost meaning of my words is not apparent, except (in) the pallor and haggardness of my face.
-
اشک و خون بر رخ روانه میدود ** حجت حسن و جمالش میشود
- Tears and blood roll on my cheeks and become the proof of His (the Beloved's) comeliness and beauty.’
-
گفت من اینها ندانم حجتی ** که بود در پیش عامه آیتی 2855
- He (the philosopher) replied, ‘I do not deem these things to be such a proof as would be a manifest sign to the vulgar.’
-
گفت چون قلبی و نقدی دم زنند ** که تو قلبی من تکویم ارجمند
- He (the other) said, ‘When a base and a genuine coin boast, saying (to each other), “Thou art base; I am good and valuable,”
-
هست آتش امتحان آخرین ** کاندر آتش در فتند این دو قرین
- Fire is the final test: (the test is) that these two rivals should be dropped into the fire.
-
عام و خاص از حالشان عالم شوند ** از گمان و شک سوی ایقان روند
- (Then) the vulgar and the elect will become acquainted with their (real) state and will advance from opinion and doubt to certain knowledge.
-
آب و آتش آمد ای جان امتحان ** نقد و قلبی را که آن باشد نهان
- Water and fire, O (dear) soul, are the test for the pure and the base coin that is hidden.
-
تا من و تو هر دو در آتش رویم ** حجت باقی حیرانان شویم 2860
- Let me and thee, both of us, go into the fire and become a lasting proof for the perplexed.
-
تا من و تو هر دو در بحر اوفتیم ** که من و تو این کره را آیتیم
- Let me and thee, both of us, fall into the sea, for thou and I are a sign unto this multitude.’
-
همچنان کردند و در آتش شدند ** هر دو خود را بر تف آتش زدند
- Even so they did and entered the fire: both cast themselves upon the heat of the fire.
-
از خدا گوینده مرد مدعی ** رست و سوزید اندر آتش آن دعی
- The God-proclaiming man who engaged in controversy was saved, while that bastard (impostor) was burnt in the fire.
-
از مذن بشنو این اعلام را ** کوری افزونروان خام را
- Hear from the muezzin this announcement, to the confusion of the foolish transgressors,
-
که نسوزیدست این نام از اجل ** کش مسمی صدر بودست و اجل 2865
- That this name (Mohammed) has not been burnt (destroyed) by Death, since its bearer was a prince and most noble.
-
صد هزاران زین رهان اندر قران ** بر دریده پردههای منکران
- In the course of time hundreds of thousands of the veils of the unbelievers have been rent by this laying down of stakes.