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 گزید2845
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 آیتیست2850
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 آیتی2855
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 شویم2860
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 اجل2865
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.
چون گرو بستند غالب شد صواب ** در دوام و معجزات و در جواب
When they (the devout men and the philosopher) made the wager, the truth prevailed as regards immortality and evidentiary miracles and the answer (given to unbelievers).