پس بجنبد اختیارت چون بلیس ** شد دلاله آردت پیغام ویس 2980
Therefore your power of choice is moved (to action) when Iblís becomes a go-between (dallála) and brings (to you) a message from Wís.
چونک مطلوبی برین کس عرضه کرد ** اختیار خفته بگشاید نورد
When he presents an object of desire to this person (who possesses the power of choice), the sleeping power unrolls itself (begins to move towards that object);
وآن فرشته خیرها بر رغم دیو ** عرضه دارد می‌کند در دل غریو
And (on the other hand), in despite of the Devil, the Angel presents (to you) good objects (of desire) and makes an outcry in your heart,
تا بجنبد اختیار خیر تو ** زانک پیش از عرضه خفتست این دو خو
In order that your power to choose the good may be moved (to action); for, before presentation, these two dispositions (towards good or evil) are asleep.
پس فرشته و دیو گشته عرضه‌دار ** بهر تحریک عروق اختیار
So the Angel and the Devil have become presenters (of good or evil objects of desire) for the purpose of setting the power of choice in motion.
می‌شود ز الهامها و وسوسه ** اختیار خیر و شرت ده کسه 2985
Your power to choose good or evil is increased tenfold by inspirations (of the Angel) and suggestions (of the Devil).
وقت تحلیل نماز ای با نمک ** زان سلام آورد باید بر ملک
Hence, when thy ritual prayer is finished, O excellent man, it behoves thee to offer a salutation to the Angels,
که ز الهام و دعای خوبتان ** اختیار این نمازم شد روان
Saying, ‘Through your goodly inspiration and incitement, my power to choose this ritual prayer was set going.’
باز از بعد گنه لعنت کنی ** بر بلیس ایرا کزویی منحنی
Again, after (having committed) sin thou wilt curse Iblís, because through him thou art inclined (to wards sin).
این دو ضد عرضه کننده‌ت در سرار ** در حجاب غیب آمد عرضه‌دار
These two adversaries are making offers to thee in secret and presenting (objects of desire) in the (state of phenomenal existence which is a) curtain over the Unseen.
چونک پرده‌ی غیب برخیزد ز پیش ** تو ببینی روی دلالان خویش 2990
When the curtain over the Unseen is raised from before thee, thou wilt behold the faces of thy (two) brokers,
وآن سخنشان وا شناسی بی‌گزند ** که آن سخن‌گویان نهان اینها بدند
And from their words wilt recognise without trouble that these were they who spoke (to thee) invisibly.
دیو گوید ای اسیر طبع و تن ** عرضه می‌کردم نکردم زور من
The Devil will say, ‘O thou who art a captive to thy (sensual) nature and body, I was (only) presenting to thee (objects of desire): I did not force (them upon thee).’
وآن فرشته گویدت من گفتمت ** که ازین شادی فزون گردد غمت
And the Angel will say, ‘I told thee that thy sorrow would be increased in consequence of this (sensual) joy.
آن فلان روزت نگفتم من چنان ** که از آن سویست ره سوی جنان
Did not I tell thee on such and such a day that the way to Paradise is in that (spiritual) direction?
ما محب جان و روح افزای تو ** ساجدان مخلص بابای تو 2995
(That) we are lovers of thy soul and fosterers of thy spirit and sincere worshippers of thy Father?
این زمانت خدمتی هم می‌کنیم ** سوی مخدومی صلایت می‌زنیم
(That) at this time also we are serving thee and inviting thee (to advance) towards sovereignty?
آن گره بابات را بوده عدی ** در خطاب اسجدوا کرده ابا
(And that) that party (the Devils) were thy Father's enemies who refused to obey the (Divine) command, Worship (Adam)?
آن گرفتی آن ما انداختی ** حق خدمتهای ما نشناختی
Thou didst accept that (offer made by them), thou didst reject ours: thou didst not acknowledge the debt (of gratitude) due for our services.
این زمان ما را و ایشان را عیان ** در نگر بشناس از لحن و بیان
Now look on us and them in clear view, and recognise (each party) by voice and speech.’
نیم شب چون بشنوی رازی ز دوست ** چون سخن گوید سحر دانی که اوست 3000
If you hear a secret from a friend at midnight, you will know that it was he when he speaks (to you again) at dawn;
ور دو کس در شب خبر آرد ترا ** روز از گفتن شناسی هر دو را
And if two persons bring news to you in the night, you will recognise both of them in the daytime by their (manner of) speaking.
بانگ شیر و بانگ سگ در شب رسید ** صورت هر دو ز تاریکی ندید
(If) during the night the sound of a lion and the sound of a dog have come (into some one's ear) and he has not seen their forms on account of the darkness,
روز شد چون باز در بانگ آمدند ** پس شناسدشان ز بانگ آن هوشمند
When day breaks and they begin to make (the same) sound again, the intelligent (hearer) will know them by the sound (which they make).
مخلص این که دیو و روح عرضه‌دار ** هر دو هستند از تتمه‌ی اختیار
The upshot is this, that both the Devil and the (angelic) Spirit who present (objects of desire to us) exist for the purpose of completing (actualising) the power of choice.
اختیاری هست در ما ناپدید ** چون دو مطلب دید آید در مزید 3005
There is an invisible power of choice within us; when it sees two (alternative) objects of desire it waxes strong.
اوستادان کودکان را می‌زنند ** آن ادب سنگ سیه را کی کنند
Teachers beat (school-)children: how should they inflict that correction upon a black stone?
هیچ گویی سنگ را فردا بیا ** ور نیایی من دهم بد را سزا
Do you ever say to a stone, ‘Come to-morrow; and if you don't come, I will give your bad behaviour the punishment it deserves’?
هیچ عاقل مر کلوخی را زند ** هیچ با سنگی عتابی کس کند
Does any reasonable man strike a brickbat? Does any one reprove a stone?
در خرد جبر از قدر رسواترست ** زانک جبری حس خود را منکرست
In (the eyes of) reason, Necessitarianism (jabr) is more shameful than the doctrine of (absolute) Free-will (qadar), because the Necessitarian is denying his own (inward) sense.
منکر حس نیست آن مرد قدر ** فعل حق حسی نباشد ای پسر 3010
The man who holds the doctrine of (absolute) Free-will does not deny his (inward) sense: (he says), ‘The action of God is not mediated by the senses, O son.’
منکر فعل خداوند جلیل ** هست در انکار مدلول دلیل
He who denies the action of the Almighty Lord is (virtually) denying Him who is indicated by the indication.
آن بگوید دود هست و نار نی ** نور شمعی بی ز شمعی روشنی
That one (the believer in absolute Free-will) says, ‘There is smoke, but no fire; there is candle-light without any resplendent candle’;
وین همی‌بیند معین نار را ** نیست می‌گوید پی انکار را
And this one (the Necessitarian) sees the fire plainly, (but) for the sake of denial he says it does not exist.
It burns his raiment, (yet) he says, ‘There is no fire’; it (the thread) stitches his raiment, (yet) he says, ‘There is no thread.’
پس تسفسط آمد این دعوی جبر ** لاجرم بدتر بود زین رو ز گبر 3015
Hence this doctrine of Necessity is Sophisticism (Scepticism): consequently he (the Necessitarian), from this point of view, is worse than the infidel (believer in absolute Free-will).
گبر گوید هست عالم نیست رب ** یا ربی گوید که نبود مستحب
The infidel says, ‘The world exists, (but) there is no Lord’: he says that (the invocation) ‘O my Lord!’ is not to be approved.
این همی گوید جهان خود نیست هیچ ** هسته سوفسطایی اندر پیچ پیچ
This one (the Necessitarian) says, ‘The world is really naught’: the Sophist (Sceptic) is in a tangle (of error).
جمله‌ی عالم مقر در اختیار ** امر و نهی این میار و آن بیار
The whole world acknowledges (the reality of) the power of choice: (the proof is) their commanding and forbidding (each other)—‘Bring this and do not bring that!’
او همی گوید که امر و نهی لاست ** اختیاری نیست این جمله خطاست
He (the Necessitarian) says that commanding and forbidding are naught and that there is no power of choice. All this (doctrine) is erroneous.
حس را حیوان مقرست ای رفیق ** لیک ادراک دلیل آمد دقیق 3020
Animals (too) acknowledge (the reality of) the (inward) sense, O comrade, but it is a subtle (difficult) matter to apprehend the proof (of this).
زانک محسوسست ما را اختیار ** خوب می‌آید برو تکلیف کار
Inasmuch as (the reality of) our power of choice is perceived by the (inward) sense, responsibility for actions may well be laid upon it.
درک وجدانی چون اختیار و اضطرار و خشم و اصطبار و سیری و ناهار به جای حس است کی زرد از سرخ بداند و فرق کند و خرد از بزرگ و طلخ از شیرین و مشک از سرگین و درشت از نرم به حس مس و گرم از سرد و سوزان از شیر گرم و تر از خشک و مس دیوار از مس درخت پس منکر وجدانی منکر حس باشد و زیاده که وجدانی از حس ظاهرترست زیرا حس را توان بستن و منع کردن از احساس و بستن راه و مدخل وجدانیات را ممکن نیست و العاقل تکفیه الاشارة
The inward consciousness of having the power to choose or of acting under compulsion, of anger or self-restraint, of repletion or hunger, corresponds to the senses that know and distinguish yellow from red and small from great and bitter from sweet and musk from dung and hard from soft—by the sense of touch—and hot from cold and burning (hot) from lukewarm and wet from dry and contact with a wall from contact with a tree. Therefore he who denies inward consciousness denies the senses, and (he does) more (than that), (for) inward consciousness is more evident than the senses, inasmuch as one can bind the senses and prevent them from functioning, while it is impossible to bar the way to the experiences of inward consciousness and stop their entrance. And an indication is enough for the wise.
درک وجدانی به جای حس بود ** هر دو در یک جدول ای عم می‌رود
Inward consciousness corresponds to (external) sensation: both run in the same channel, O uncle.
نغز می‌آید برو کن یا مکن ** امر و نهی و ماجراها و سخن
‘Do’ or ‘don't,’ command and prohibition, discussions and talk are suitable to it (the inward consciousness).
این که فردا این کنم یا آن کنم ** این دلیل اختیارست ای صنم
(The thought), ‘To-morrow I will do this or I will do that,’ is a proof of the power to choose, O worshipful one;
وان پشیمانی که خوردی زان بدی ** ز اختیار خویش گشتی مهتدی 3025
And (in the case of) the penitence which you have felt for (having committed) an evil deed, you have been led (into the right path) through your power of choice.
جمله قران امر و نهیست و وعید ** امر کردن سنگ مرمر را کی دید
The entire Qur’án consists of commands and prohibitions and threats (of punishment): who (ever) saw commands given to a marble rock?
هیچ دانا هیچ عاقل این کند ** با کلوخ و سنگ خشم و کین کند
Does any wise man, does any reasonable man, do this? Does he show anger and enmity to brickbats and stones?—
که بگفتم کین چنین کن یا چنان ** چون نکردید ای موات و عاجزان
Saying, ‘I told you to do thus or thus: why have ye not done it, O dead and helpless ones?’
عقل کی حکمی کند بر چوب و سنگ ** عقل کی چنگی زند بر نقش چنگ
How should reason exercise any authority over wood and stone? How should reason lay hold of the painted figure of a cripple,