که آن شهی که می‌ندیدندیش فاش ** بود با ایشان نهان اندر معاش
For the King, whom they were not seeing openly, was (always) with them secretly in their lives.”
چون خرد با تست مشرف بر تنت ** گر چه زو قاصر بود این دیدنت
Inasmuch as the intellect is with thee, overseeing thy body, and though this perception of thine is unable to apprehend it,
نیست قاصر دیدن او ای فلان ** از سکون و جنبشت در امتحان
(Yet) its perception, O such and such, is not unable to apprehend thy motion and rest when it tries,
چه عجب گر خالق آن عقل نیز ** با تو باشد چون نه‌ای تو مستجیز3680
What wonder if the Creator of that intellect too is with thee? How art thou not conceding (the truth of that)?
از خرد غافل شود بر بد تند ** بعد آن عقلش ملامت می‌کند
He (some one) pays no heed to his intellect and embarks on evil; afterwards his intellect rebukes him.
تو شدی غافل ز عقلت عقل نی ** کز حضورستش ملامت کردنی
You forgot your intellect, your intellect did not (forget you), since that act of rebuke is the result of its presence (attention).
گر نبودی حاضر و غافل بدی ** در ملامت کی ترا سیلی زدی
If it had not been present (attentive) and had been heedless, how should it have slapped you in rebuke?
ور ازو غافل نبودی نفس تو ** کی چنان کردی جنون و تفس تو
And if your carnal soul had not been inattentive to it, how should your madness and heat have acted thus?
پس تو و عقلت چو اصطرلاب بود ** زین بدانی قرب خورشید وجود3685
Hence you and your intellect are like the astrolabe: by this means you may know the nearness of the Sun of existence.
قرب بی‌چونست عقلت را به تو ** نیست چپ و راست و پس یا پیش رو
Your intellect is indescribably near to you: it is neither to the left nor to the right nor behind nor in front.
قرب بی‌چون چون نباشد شاه را ** که نیابد بحث عقل آن راه را
How (then) should not the King be indescribably near? for intellectual search cannot find the way (to Him).
نیست آن جنبش که در اصبع تراست ** پیش اصبع یا پسش یا چپ و راست
The motion that you have in your finger is not in front of your finger or behind it or to the left or to the right.
وقت خواب و مرگ از وی می‌رود ** وقت بیداری قرینش می‌شود
At the time of sleep and death it (the motion) goes from it (the finger); at the time of waking it rejoins it.
از چه ره می‌آید اندر اصبعت ** که اصبعت بی او ندارد منفعت3690
By what way doth it come into your finger, (that motion) without which your finger hath no use?
نور چشم و مردمک در دیده‌ات ** از چه ره آمد به غیر شش جهت
The light of the eye and pupil, by what other way than the six directions doth it come into your eye?
عالم خلقست با سوی و جهات ** بی‌جهت دان عالم امر و صفات
The world of creation is endued with (diverse) quarters and directions, (but) know that the world of the (Divine) Command and Attributes is without (beyond) direction.
بی‌جهت دان عالم امر ای صنم ** بی‌جهت‌تر باشد آمر لاجرم
Know, O beloved, that the world of the Command is without direction: of necessity the Commander is (even) more without direction.
بی‌جهت بد عقل و علام البیان ** عقل‌تر از عقل و جان‌تر هم ز جان
The intellect was (ever) without direction, and the Knower of the exposition is more intelligent than intellect and more spiritual even than spirit.
بی‌تعلق نیست مخلوقی بدو ** آن تعلق هست بی‌چون ای عمو3695
No created being is unconnected with Him: that connexion, O uncle, is indescribable,
زانک فصل و وصل نبود در روان ** غیر فصل و وصل نندیشد گمان
Because in the spirit there is no separating and uniting, while (our) thought cannot think except of separating and uniting.
غیر فصل و وصل پی بر از دلیل ** لیک پی بردن بننشاند غلیل
Pursue that which is without separation and union by (aid of) a spiritual guide; but the pursuit will not allay your thirst.
پی پیاپی می‌بر ار دوری ز اصل ** تا رگ مردیت آرد سوی وصل
(Yet) pursue incessantly, if you are far from the Source, that the vein of (true) manhood (in you) may bring you to the attainment (of your desire).
این تعلق را خرد چون ره برد ** بسته‌ی فصلست و وصلست این خرد
How should the intellect find the way to this connexion? This intellect is in bondage to separation and union.
زین وصیت کرد ما را مصطفی ** بحث کم جویید در ذات خدا3700
Hence Mustafá (Mohammed) enjoined us, saying, “Do not seek to investigate the Essence of God.”
آنک در ذاتش تفکر کردنیست ** در حقیقت آن نظر در ذات نیست
(As regards) that One whose Essence is an object of thought, in reality the (thinker's) speculation is not concerning the Essence.
هست آن پندار او زیرا به راه ** صد هزاران پرده آمد تا اله
It is (only) his (false) opinion, because on the way to God there are a hundred thousand veils.
هر یکی در پرده‌ای موصول خوست ** وهم او آنست که آن خود عین هوست
Every one is naturally attached to some veil and judges that it is in sooth the identity (‘ayn) of Him.
پس پیمبر دفع کرد این وهم از او ** تا نباشد در غلط سوداپز او
Therefore the Prophet banished this (false) judgement from him (the thinker), lest he should be conceiving in error a vain imagination.
وانکه اندر وهم او ترک ادب ** بی‌ادب را سرنگونی داد رب3705
And (as for) him in whose judgement (conception of God) there is irreverence, the Lord hath doomed the irreverent to fall headlong.
سرنگونی آن بود کو سوی زیر ** می‌رود پندارد او کو هست چیر
To fall headlong is that he goes downward and thinks that he is superior,
زانک حد مست باشد این چنین ** کو نداند آسمان را از زمین
Because such is the case of the drunken man who does not know heaven from earth.
در عجبهااش به فکر اندر روید ** از عظیمی وز مهابت گم شوید
Go ye and think upon His wonders, become lost (to yourselves) from the majesty and awe (of Him).
چون ز صنعش ریش و سبلت گم کند ** حد خود داند ز صانع تن زند
When he (who beholds the wonders of God) loses beard and moustache (abandons pride and egoism) from (contemplating) His work, he will know his (proper) station and will be silent concerning the Worker (Maker).
جز که لا احصی نگوید او ز جان ** کز شمار و حد برونست آن بیان3710
He will only say from his soul, “I cannot (praise Thee duly),” because the declaration thereof is beyond reckoning and bound.
رفتن ذوالقرنین به کوه قاف و درخواست کردن کی ای کوه قاف از عظمت صفت حق ما را بگو و گفتن کوه قاف کی صفت عظمت او در گفت نیاید کی پیش آنها ادراکها فدا شود و لابه کردن ذوالقرنین کی از صنایعش کی در خاطر داری و بر تو گفتن آن آسان‌تر بود بگوی
How Dhu ’l-Qarnayn went to Mount Qáf and made petition, saying, "O Mount Qáf, tell me of the majesty of the Attributes of God"; and how Mount Qáf said that the description of His majesty is ineffable, since (all) perceptions vanish before it; and how Dhu ’l-Qarnayn made humble supplication, saying, "Tell of His works that thou hast in mind and of which it is more easy for thee to speak."
رفت ذوالقرنین سوی کوه قاف ** دید او را کز زمرد بود صاف
Dhu ’l-Qarnayn went towards Mount Qáf: he saw that it was (made) of pure emerald,
گرد عالم حلقه گشته او محیط ** ماند حیران اندر آن خلق بسیط
And that it had become a ring surrounding the (whole) world. He was amazed at that immense creation (work of God).
گفت تو کوهی دگرها چیستند ** که به پیش عظم تو بازیستند
He said, “Thou art the mountain (indeed): what are the others? for beside thy magnitude they are (but) playthings.”
گفت رگهای من‌اند آن کوهها ** مثل من نبوند در حسن و بها
It replied, “Those (other) mountains are my veins: they are not like unto me in beauty and glory.
من به هر شهری رگی دارم نهان ** بر عروقم بسته اطراف جهان3715
I have a hidden vein in every land: (all) the regions of the world are fastened to my veins.
حق چو خواهد زلزله‌ی شهری مرا ** گوید او من بر جهانم عرق را
When God wills an earthquake in any land, He bids me and I cause the vein to throb.
پس بجنبانم من آن رگ را بقهر ** که بدان رگ متصل گشتست شهر
Then I make to move mightily the vein with which the (particular) land is connected.
چون بگوید بس شود ساکن رگم ** ساکنم وز روی فعل اندر تگم
When He says ‘Enough!’ my vein rests. I am (apparently) at rest, but actually I am in rapid motion”—
هم‌چو مرهم ساکن و بس کارکن ** چون خرد ساکن وزو جنبان سخن
At rest, like the (medicinal) ointment, and very active (efficacious); at rest, like the intellect, while the speech (impelled) by it is moving.
نزد آنکس که نداند عقلش این ** زلزله هست از بخارات زمین3720
In the opinion of him whose intelligence does not perceive this, earthquakes are caused by terrestrial vapours.
موری بر کاغذ می‌رفت نبشتن قلم دید قلم را ستودن گرفت موری دیگر کی چشم تیزتر بود گفت ستایش انگشتان را کن کی آن هنر ازیشان می‌بینم موری دگر کی از هر دو چشم روشن‌تر بود گفت من بازو را ستایم کی انگشتان فرع بازواند الی آخره
An ant, walking on a piece of paper, saw the pen writing and began to praise the pen. Another ant, which was more keen-sighted, said, "Praise the fingers, for I deem this accomplishment to proceed from them." Another ant, more clear-sighted than either, said, "I praise the arm, for the fingers are a branch of the arm," et cetera.
مورکی بر کاغذی دید او قلم ** گفت با مور دگر این راز هم
A little ant saw a pen (writing) on a paper, and told this mystery to another ant,
که عجایب نقشها آن کلک کرد ** هم‌چو ریحان و چو سوسن‌زار و ورد
Saying, “That pen made wonderful pictures like sweet basil and beds of lilies and roses.”
گفت آن مور اصبعست آن پیشه‌ور ** وین قلم در فعل فرعست و اثر
The other ant said, “That artist is the finger, and this pen is actually (no more than) the derivative (instrument) and the sign.”
گفت آن مور سوم کز بازوست ** که اصبع لاغر ز زورش نقش بست
A third ant said, “It is the work of the arm, by whose strength the slender finger depicted it.”
هم‌چنین می‌رفت بالا تا یکی ** مهتر موران فطن بود اندکی3725
In this fashion it (the argument) was carried upward till a chief of the ants, (who) was a little bit sagacious,
گفت کز صورت مبینید این هنر ** که به خواب و مرگ گردد بی‌خبر
Said, “Do not regard this accomplishment as proceeding from the (material) form, which becomes unconscious in sleep and death.