آن مگر سلطان بود شاه رفیع ** یا بود مقبول سلطان و شفیع
That friend, in sooth, may be the (Divine) Sultan and exalted King, or he may be one accepted of the Sultan and one who intercedes (with Him).
رستی از قلاب و سالوس و دغل ** غر او دیدی عیان پیش از اجل 1520
You are (now) delivered from the false coiner and (his) hypocrisy and fraud: you have seen his tumour (imposture) plainly before death.
این جفای خلق با تو در جهان ** گر بدانی گنج زر آمد نهان
If you understood (aright) this injustice shown towards you by the people in the world, it is a hidden treasure of gold.
خلق را با تو چنین بدخو کنند ** تا ترا ناچار رو آن سو کنند
The people are made to be thus evil-natured towards you, that your face may inevitably be turned Yonder.
این یقین دان که در آخر جمله‌شان ** خصم گردند و عدو و سرکشان
Know this for sure that in the end all of them will become adversaries and foes and rebels.
تو بمانی با فغان اندر لحد ** لا تذرنی فرد خواهان از احد
You will be left in the tomb, lamenting and beseeching the One (God), (and crying), “Do not leave me (here) alone!
ای جفاات به ز عهد وافیان ** هم ز داد تست شهد وافیان 1525
O Thou whose harshness is better than the troth of the faithful, the honey (kindness) of the faithful is also from Thy bounty.”
بشنو از عقل خود ای انباردار ** گندم خود را به ارض الله سپار
Hearken to your own reason, O possessor of a granary, and commit your wheat to the earth of Allah,
تا شود آمن ز دزد و از شپش ** دیو را با دیوچه زوتر بکش
That it may be safe from thieves and weevils. Kill the Devil with the wood-fretter (of reason) as quickly as possible;
کو همی ترساندت هم دم ز فقر ** هم‌چو کبکش صید کن ای نره صقر
For he is always frightening you with (the threat of) poverty: make him your prey like a partridge, O valiant hawk.
باز سلطان عزیزی کامیار ** ننگ باشد که کند کبکش شکار
It would be a shame for the falcon of the mighty and fortunate Sultan to be made a prey by the partridge.
بس وصیت کرد و تخم وعظ کاشت ** چون زمین‌شان شوره بد سودی نداشت 1530
He (the father) gave many injunctions (to his sons) and sowed the seed of exhortation, (but) as their soil was nitrous (barren), ’twas of no avail.
گرچه ناصح را بود صد داعیه ** پند را اذنی بباید واعیه
Although the admonisher have a hundred appeals, counsel demands a retentive ear.
تو به صد تلطیف پندش می‌دهی ** او ز پندت می‌کند پهلو تهی
You counsel him (the heedless man) with a hundred courtesies, and he turns aside from your counsel.
یک کس نامستمع ز استیز و رد ** صد کس گوینده را عاجز کند
A single person who obstinately refuses to listen will baffle a hundred (eloquent) speakers.
ز انبیا ناصح‌تر و خوش لهجه‌تر ** کی بود کی گرفت دمشان در حجر
Who should be more persuasive in counselling and sweeter-tongued than the prophets, whose words made an impression (even) on stones?
زانچ کوه و سنگ درکار آمدند ** می‌نشد بدبخت را بگشاده بند 1535
(Yet) the bonds of the ill-fated (infidel) were not being loosed by that whereby mountain and stone were moved.
آنچنان دلها که بدشان ما و من ** نعتشان شدت بل اشد قسوة
Such hearts as had egoism were described (in the words of the Qur’án) nay, harder (than stone).
بیان آنک عطای حق و قدرت موقوف قابلیت نیست هم‌چون داد خلقان کی آن را قابلیت باید زیرا عطا قدیم است و قابلیت حادث عطا صفت حق است و قابلیت صفت مخلوق و قدیم موقوف حادث نباشد و اگر نه حدوث محال باشد
Explaining that the bounty of God and of the (Divine) Omnipotence is not dependent on receptivity, as human bounty is; for in the latter case receptivity is necessary. (In the former case it is not) because (the Divine) bounty is eternal, whereas receptivity is temporal. Bounty is an attribute of the Creator, while receptivity is an attribute of the creature; and the eternal cannot depend on the temporal, otherwise temporality (origination in time) would be absurd.
چاره‌ی آن دل عطای مبدلیست ** داد او را قابلیت شرط نیست
The remedy for such a heart is the gift bestowed by a Transmuter: receptivity is not a necessary condition for His bounty.
بلک شرط قابلیت داد اوست ** داد لب و قابلیت هست پوست
Nay, His bounty is the necessary condition for receptivity: Bounty is the kernel, and receptivity the husk.
اینک موسی را عصا ثعبان شود ** هم‌چو خورشیدی کفش رخشان شود
The change of Moses' rod into a serpent and the shining of his hand like a (resplendent) sun,
صد هزاران معجزات انبیا ** که آن نگنجد در ضمیر و عقل ما 1540
And a hundred thousand miracles of the prophets which are not comprehended by our mind and understanding—
نیست از اسباب تصریف خداست ** نیستها را قابلیت از کجاست
(These) are not derived from secondary causes but are (under) the (direct) control of God: how can receptivity belong to non-existent things?
قابلی گر شرط فعل حق بدی ** هیچ معدومی به هستی نامدی
If receptivity were a necessary condition for God's action, no non-existent thing would come into existence.
سنتی بنهاد و اسباب و طرق ** طالبان را زیر این ازرق تتق
He (God) hath established a (customary) law and causes and means for the sake of those who seek (Him) under this blue veil (of heaven).
بیشتر احوال بر سنت رود ** گاه قدرت خارق سنت شود
Most happenings come to pass according to the (customary) law, (but) sometimes the (Divine) Power breaks the law.
سنت و عادت نهاده با مزه ** باز کرده خرق عادت معجزه 1545
He hath established a goodly law and custom; then He hath made the (evidentiary) miracle a breach of the custom.
بی‌سبب گر عز به ما موصول نیست ** قدرت از عزل سبب معزول نیست
If honour does not reach us without a (mediating) cause, (yet) the (Divine) Power is not remote from the removal of the cause.
ای گرفتار سبب بیرون مپر ** لیک عزل آن مسبب ظن مبر
O thou who art caught by the cause, do not fly outside (of causation); but (at the same time) do not suppose the removal of the Causer.
هر چه خواهد آن مسبب آورد ** قدرت مطلق سببها بر درد
The Causer brings (into existence) whatsoever He will: the Absolute Power tears up (destroys) the causes;
لیک اغلب بر سبب راند نفاذ ** تا بداند طالبی جستن مراد
But, for the most part, He lets the execution (of His will) follow the course of causation, in order that a seeker may be able to pursue the object of his desire.
چون سبب نبود چه ره جوید مرید ** پس سبب در راه می‌باید بدید 1550
When there is no cause, what way should the seeker pursue? Therefore he must have a visible cause in the way (that he is pursuing).
این سببها بر نظرها پرده‌هاست ** که نه هر دیدار صنعش را سزاست
These causes are veils on the eyes, for not every eye is worthy of (contemplating) His work.
دیده‌ای باید سبب سوراخ کن ** تا حجب را بر کند از بیخ و بن
An eye that can penetrate the cause is needed to extirpate (these) veils from root and bottom,
تا مسبب بیند اندر لامکان ** هرزه داند جهد و اکساب و دکان
So that it may behold the Causer in (the world of) non-spatiality and regard exertion and earnings and shops as (mere) nonsense.
از مسبب می‌رسد هر خیر و شر ** نیست اسباب و وسایط ای پدر
Everything good or evil comes from the Causer: causes and means, O father, are naught
جز خیالی منعقد بر شاه‌راه ** تا بماند دور غفلت چند گاه 1555
But a phantom that has materialised on the King's highway in order that the period of heedlessness (the reign of ignorance) may endure for some (little) time.
در ابتدای خلقت جسم آدم علیه‌السلام کی جبرئیل علیه‌السلام را اشارت کرد کی برو از زمین مشتی خاک برگیر و به روایتی از هر نواحی مشت مشت بر گیر
On the beginning of the creation of the body of Adam, on whom be peace, when He (God) commanded Gabriel, on whom be peace, saying, “Go, take a handful of clay from this Earth,” or according to another relation, “Take a handful from every region.”
چونک صانع خواست ایجاد بشر ** از برای ابتلای خیر و شر
When the Maker willed to bring Man into existence for the purpose of probation with good and evil,
جبرئیل صدق را فرمود رو ** مشت خاکی از زمین بستان گرو
He commanded Gabriel the true, saying, “Go, take a handful of clay from the Earth as a pledge.”
او میان بست و بیامد تا زمین ** تا گزارد امر رب‌العالمین
He girt his loins and came to the Earth, that he might execute the command of the Lord of created beings.
دست سوی خاک برد آن متمر ** خاک خود را در کشید و شد حذر
That obedient one moved his hand towards the Earth: the Earth withdrew herself and was afraid.
پس زبان بگشاد خاک و لابه کرد ** کز برای حرمت خلاق فرد 1560
Then the Earth loosed her tongue and made supplication, saying, “For the sake of the reverence due to the unique Creator,
ترک من گو و برو جانم ببخش ** رو بتاب از من عنان خنگ رخش
Take leave of me and go! Spare my life! Go, turn aside from me the reins of thy white steed!
در کشاکشهای تکلیف و خطر ** بهر لله هل مرا اندر مبر
For God's sake, leave me and do not plunge me into the troubles of (moral) obligation and danger.
بهر آن لطفی که حقت بر گزید ** کرد بر تو علم لوح کل پدید
(I beseech thee) for the sake of the favour by which God chose thee out and revealed to thee the knowledge (written) in the Universal Tablet,
تا ملایک را معلم آمدی ** دایما با حق مکلم آمدی
So that thou hast become the teacher of the Angels and art conversing with God continually;
که سفیر انبیا خواهی بدن ** تو حیات جان وحیی نی بدن 1565
For thou wilt be the messenger sent to the prophets: thou art the life of the inspired spirit, not (the life) of the body.
بر سرافیلت فضیلت بود از آن ** کو حیات تن بود تو آن جان
Thou (ever) hadst superiority over Seraphiel because he is the body's life, (while) thou art the spirit's.
بانگ صورش نشات تن‌ها بود ** نفخ تو نشو دل یکتا بود
The blast of his trumpet is (producing) the growth of bodies; thy breath is (producing) the growth of the single heart.
جان جان تن حیات دل بود ** پس ز دادش داد تو فاضل بود
The life of the heart is the soul of the soul of the body: therefore thy gift is superior to his.