زود باش و باز گرد ای مرد کار ** تا ببینی حال اینجا زار زار
Be quick and turn back, O man of (prompt) action, that you may see (how) very pitiable (is) the state of things here.”
گفت باشد کان طرف دزدی بود ** گر نگردم زود این بر من رود
He (the householder) said (to himself), “Maybe a thief is yonder: if I do not return at once, this (fate) will befall me.
در زن و فرزند من دستی زند ** بستن این دزد سودم کی کند
He may lay hands upon my wife and child, (and in that case) how would it profit me to bind this thief (whom I am pursuing)?
این مسلمان از کرم میخواندم ** گر نگردم زود پیش آید ندم2800
This Moslem is calling me in kindness: unless I return quickly, repentance will befall (me).”
بر امید شفقت آن نیک خواه ** دزد را بگذاشت باز آمد به راه
In (confident) hope of the compassion of that well-disposed (friend), he left the thief and again set off (in another direction).
گفت ای یار نکو احوال چیست ** این فغان و بانگ تو از دست کیست
“O good friend,” said he, “what is the matter? By whose hand (violence) is this lamentation and outcry of yours (caused)?”
گفت اینک بین نشان پای دزد ** این طرف رفته ست دزد زن بمزد
“Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The pimping thief has gone this way. [ “Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The thief whose wife is for hire (who prostitutes his wife to other men) has gone this way.]
نک نشان پای دزد قلتبان ** در پی او رو بدین نقش و نشان
Look at the cuckold thief's footprints! Follow him by means of these marks and traces.”
گفت ای ابله چه میگویی مرا ** من گرفته بودم آخر مر و را2805
He answered, “O fool, what are you telling me? Why, I had (as good as) caught him,
دزد را از بانگ تو بگذاشتم ** من تو خر را آدمی پنداشتم
(But) at your cry I let the thief go. I deemed you, ass (as you are), a (reasonable) man.
این چه ژاژست و چه هرزه ای فلان ** من حقیقت یافتم چه بود نشان
What silly gabble and nonsense is this, O fellow? I (had) found the reality: what (use to me) is the clue?”
گفت من از حق نشانت میدهم ** این نشان است از حقیقت آگهم
He replied, “I am giving you a clue to the real (thing). This is the clue; I am acquainted with the reality.”
گفت طراری تو یا خود ابلهی ** بلکه تو دزدی و زین حال آگهی
He (the householder) said, “You are an artful knave or else you are a fool; nay, you are a thief and cognisant of this affair.
خصم خود را میکشیدم من کشان ** تو رهانیدی و را کاینک نشان2810
I was (on the point of) dragging my adversary along, (when) you let him escape, saying (to me), ‘Here are (his) traces.’”
تو جهت گو من برونم از جهات ** در وصال آیات کو یا بینات
You speak of (external) relations, (but) I transcend (all) relations. In union (with God) where are signs or evidences?
صنع بیند مرد محجوب از صفات ** در صفات آن است کاو گم کرد ذات
The man that is debarred (from the Essence) sees the (Divine) action (as proceeding) from the Attributes: he that has lost the Essence is in (confined to) the Attributes.
واصلان چون غرق ذاتند ای پسر ** کی کنند اندر صفات او نظر
Inasmuch as those united (with God) are absorbed in the Essence, O son, how should they look upon His Attributes?
چون که اندر قعر جو باشد سرت ** کی به رنگ آب افتد منظرت
When your head is at the bottom of the river, how will your eye fall on the colour of the water?
ور به رنگ آب باز آیی ز قعر ** پس پلاسی بستدی دادی تو شعر2815
And if you come back from the bottom to the colour of the water, then you have received a coarse woollen garment and given (fine) fur (in exchange).
طاعت عامه گناه خاصگان ** وصلت عامه حجاب خاص دان
The piety of the vulgar is sin in the elect; the unitive state of the vulgar is a veil in the elect.
مر وزیری را کند شه محتسب ** شه عدوی او بود نبود محب
If the king make a vizier a police inspector, the king is his enemy, he is not his friend.
هم گناهی کرده باشد آن وزیر ** بیسبب نبود تغیر ناگزیر
Also, that vizier will have committed some offence: necessarily change (for the worse) is not (does not occur) without cause.
آن که ز اول محتسب بد خود و را ** بخت و روزی آن بده ست از ابتدا
He that has been a police inspector from the first—to him that (office) has been fortune and livelihood from the beginning;
لیک آن کاول وزیر شه بده ست ** محتسب کردن سبب فعل بد است2820
But he that was first the king's vizier—evil-doing is the cause of making him a police inspector.
چون ترا شه ز آستانه پیش خواند ** باز سوی آستانه باز راند
When the King has called you from the threshold into His presence, and again has driven you back to the threshold,
تو یقین میدان که جرمی کردهای ** جبر را از جهل پیش آوردهای
Know for sure that you have committed a sin and in folly have brought forward (pleaded) compulsion (as the cause),
که مرا روزی و قسمت این بده ست ** پس چرا دی بودت آن دولت به دست
Saying, “This was my (predestined) portion and lot.” (But) then, why was that good luck in your hands yesterday?
قسمت خود خود بریدی تو ز جهل ** قسمت خود را فزاید مرد اهل
Through folly you yourself have cut off your lot. The worthy man augments his lot.
قصهی منافقان و مسجد ضرار ساختن ایشان
The story of the Hypocrites and their building the Mosque of Opposition.
یک مثال دیگر اندر کژروی ** شاید ار از نقل قرآن بشنوی2825
It is fit if you will hearken to another parable concerning perversity (taken) from the narrative in the Qur’án.
این چنین کژ بازیی در جفت و طاق ** با نبی میباختند اهل نفاق
The Hypocrites played against the Prophet (just) such a crooked game at odd and even (as was played by Iblís against Mu‘áwiya),
کز برای عز دین احمدی ** مسجدی سازیم و بود آن مرتدی
Saying, “Let us build a mosque for the glory of the Mohammedan religion”; and that was (really) apostasy (on their part).
این چنین کژ بازیی میباختند ** مسجدی جز مسجد او ساختند
Such a crooked game were they playing: they built a mosque other than his mosque.
فرش و سقف و قبهاش آراسته ** لیک تفریق جماعت خواسته
They constructed (well) its floor and roof and dome, but they desired to disunite the (Moslem) community.
نزد پیغمبر به لابه آمدند ** همچو اشتر پیش او زانو زدند2830
They came to the Prophet with (guileful) entreaty: they knelt as camels before him,
کای رسول حق برای محسنی ** سوی آن مسجد قدم رنجه کنی
Saying, “O Messenger of God, wilt thou for kindness' sake give thyself the trouble (to walk) to that mosque,
تا مبارک گردد از اقدام تو ** تا قیامت تازه باد ایام تو
To the end that it may be made blessed by thy approach— may thy days flourish until the Resurrection!
مسجد روز گل است و روز ابر ** مسجد روز ضرورت وقت فقر
It is a mosque for muddy and cloudy days, a mosque for days of sore distress in times of poverty,
تا غریبی یابد آن جا خیر و جا ** تا فراوان گردد این خدمتسرا
That a (poor) stranger may get charity and room (to shelter) there, and that this house of service may be frequented,
تا شعار دین شود بسیار و پر ** ز انکه با یاران شود خوش کار مر2835
So that the rites of the Religion may be multiplied and abound; because a bitter plight is sweetened (by being shared) with friends.
ساعتی آن جایگه تشریف ده ** تزکیهی ما کن ز ما تعریف ده
Honour that place (by thy presence) for a short while: declare us to be sincere, and give a good account of us.
مسجد و اصحاب مسجد را نواز ** تو مهی ما شب دمی با ما بساز
Show favour to the mosque and its founders. Thou art the moon, we are the night: comply with us for a moment,
تا شود شب از جمالت همچو روز ** ای جمالت آفتاب جان فروز
In order that by thy beauty night may be made like day, O thou whose beauty is a soul-illumining sun.”
ای دریغا کان سخن از دل بدی ** تا مراد آن نفر حاصل شدی
Alas! would that those words had been from the heart, so that the desire of those folk might have been accomplished!
لطف کاید بیدل و جان در زبان ** همچو سبزهی تون بود ای دوستان2840
Courtesy that comes to the tongue without (sincerity of) heart and soul is like herbs on the ash-heap, O friends.
هم ز دورش بنگر و اندر گذر ** خوردن و بو را نشاید ای پسر
Look at them from afar and pass on: they are not fit for eating or smelling, O son.
سوی لطف بیوفایان هین مرو ** کان پل ویران بود نیکو شنو
Beware, do not go (incline) towards the courtesy of the faithless, for it is a ruined bridge: heed well (my warning).
گر قدم را جاهلی بر وی زند ** بشکند پل و آن قدم را بشکند
If a fool set foot on it, the bridge will break, and will shatter that foot of his.
هر کجا لشکر شکسته میشود ** او دو سه سست مخنث میبود
Wherever an army is routed, it is because of two or three effeminate weaklings.
در صف آید با سلاح او مردوار ** دل بر او بنهند کاینک یار غار2845
He (the poltroon) comes armed into the battle-line, like a man: they (the soldiers) put their trust in him, saying, “Here's the Comrade of the Cave.”
رو بگرداند چو بیند زخمها ** رفتن او بشکند پشت ترا
He turns his face (in flight) when he sees wounds: his going breaks your back.