تا گریزی از وشق هم از حریر ** زو پناه آری به سوی زمهریر
(This He does) in order that you may flee from the fox-fur and silk and take refuge from them with the intense cold.
تو دو قله نیستی یک قله‌ای ** غافل از قصه‌ی عذاب ظله‌ای 2175
You are not the (statutory) two qullas (ewers), you are (only) one ewer: you have forgotten the (Divine) chastisement inflicted by an overshadowing cloud.
امر حق آمد به شهرستان و ده ** خانه و دیوار را سایه مده
In town and village, to (every) house and wall came the command of God, “Give no shade!
مانع باران مباش و آفتاب ** تا بدان مرسل شدند امت شتاب
Do not ward off the rain and the (heat of the) sun!” so that the people went in haste to that Apostle (Shu‘ayb),
که بمردیم اغلب ای مهتر امان ** باقیش از دفتر تفسیر خوان
Crying, “We are dead for the most part: mercy, O Prince!” Read the rest of it in the book of commentary (on the Qur’án).
چون عصا را مار کرد آن چست‌دست ** گر ترا عقلیست آن نکته بس است
Since that deft-handed One made the rod (of Moses) a serpent, that instance is enough if you have any intelligence.
تو نظر داری ولیک امعانش نیست ** چشمه‌ی افسرده است و کرده ایست 2180
You possess (the faculty of) consideration, but it does not go deep (into the subject): it is a frozen spring and has stopped (flowing).
زین همی گوید نگارنده‌ی فکر ** که بکن ای بنده امعان نظر
Hence the (Divine) Artist who depicts thoughts is saying, “Consider deeply, O (My) servant.”
آن نمی‌خواهد که آهن کوب سرد ** لیک ای پولاد بر داود گرد
He does not mean (to say), “Beat cold iron,” but (what He means is) “O (thou who art hard as) steel, devote thyself to David.”
تن بمردت سوی اسرافیل ران ** دل فسردت رو به خورشید روان
If your body is dead, resort to Isráfíl; if your heart is frozen, repair to the sun of the Spirit.
در خیال از بس که گشتی مکتسی ** نک بسوفسطایی بدظن رسی
Inasmuch as you have wrapped yourself in the garment of phantasy, lo, you will (soon) reach (the position of) the evil-minded sophist (sceptic).
او خود از لب خرد معزول بود ** شد ز حس محروم و معزول از وجود 2185
Verily he was dispossessed of the kernel (which is) Reason: he was dispossessed of (true) perception and deprived of (immediate) experience.
هین سخن‌خا نوبت لب‌خایی است ** گر بگویی خلق را رسوایی است
Hark, O mouther, ’tis the hour for mumbling: if thou speak (clearly) to the people, ’tis a shameful exposure.
چیست امعان چشمه را کردن روان ** چون ز تن جان رست گویندش روان
What is (the meaning of) im‘án? (It means) causing the spring to flow: when the spirit (ján) has escaped from the body, they call it rawán.
آن حکیمی را که جان از بند تن ** باز رست و شد روان اندر چمن
The philosopher whose spirit was delivered from the bondage of the body and began to wander (rawán) in the garden (of Reality)
دو لقب را او برین هر دو نهاد ** بهر فرق ای آفرین بر جانش باد
Bestowed two (different) titles on these two (spirits) in order to distinguish (the one from the other). Oh, may his spirit be blest!
در بیان آنک بر فرمان رود ** گر گلی را خار خواهد آن شود 2190
(Now hear a story) showing that if he who walks according to the (Divine) command wishes a rose to become a thorn, it will become that.
معجزه‌ی هود علیه السلام در تخلص مومنان امت به وقت نزول باد
The evidentiary miracle of Húd, on whom be peace, in the deliverance of the true believers of the community at the moment when the Wind descended.
مومنان از دست باد ضایره ** جمله بنشستند اندر دایره
All the true believers, (seeking refuge) from the violence of the pernicious Wind, seated themselves in the circle (drawn by Húd).
یاد طوفان بود و کشتی لطف هو ** بس چنین کشتی و طوفان دارد او
The Wind was (like) the Flood, and His (God's) grace was the ship (Ark): He hath many such arks and floods.
پادشاهی را خدا کشتی کند ** تا به حرص خویش بر صفها زند
God makes a king to be (as) an ark (for his subjects), to the end that he, (impelled) by selfishness, may assault the ranks (of his enemies).
قصد شه آن نه که خلق آمن شوند ** قصدش آنک ملک گردد پای‌بند
The king's aim is not that the people should become safe; his aim is that his kingdom should become (like) a fetter (on his foot).
آن خراسی می‌دود قصدش خلاص ** تا بیابد او ز زخم آن دم مناص 2195
The ass that turns the mill is running along: its aim is (to obtain) release, so that it may gain refuge from blows at that moment.
قصد او آن نه که آبی بر کشد ** یاکه کنجد را بدان روغن کند
Its aim is not to draw some water or thereby (by turning the mill) to make sesame into oil.
گاو بشتابد ز بیم زخم سخت ** نه برای بردن گردون و رخت
The ox hurries for fear of (receiving) hard blows, not for the purpose of taking the cart and baggage (to their destination);
لیک دادش حق چنین خوف وجع ** تا مصالح حاصل آید در تبع
But God put such fear of pain in him, to the end that good results might be achieved in consequence (of his fear).
هم‌چنان هر کاسبی اندر دکان ** بهر خود کوشد نه اصلاح جهان
Similarly, every shopkeeper works for himself, not for the improvement of the world.
هر یکی بر درد جوید مرهمی ** در تبع قایم شده زین عالمی 2200
Every one seeks a plaster for his pain, and in consequence of this a whole world is set in order.
حق ستون این جهان از ترس ساخت ** هر یکی از ترس جان در کار باخت
God made of fear the pillar (support) of this world: because of fear every one has devoted himself to work.
حمد ایزد را که ترسی را چنین ** کرد او معمار و اصلاح زمین
Praise be to God that on this wise He has made a fear to be the architect and (means for the) improvement of the world.
این همه ترسنده‌اند از نیک و بد ** هیچ ترسنده نترسد خود ز خود
All these (people) are afraid of (losing) good and (suffering) evil: none that is afraid is himself frightened by himself.
پس حقیقت بر همه حاکم کسیست ** که قریبست او اگر محسوس نیست
In reality, then, (the creator of their fear and) the ruler over (them) all is that One who is near, though He is not perceived by the senses.
هست او محسوس اندر مکمنی ** لیک محسوس حس این خانه نی 2205
He is perceived in a certain hiding-place (the heart), but not perceived by the sense of this house (the body).
آن حسی که حق بر آن حس مظهرست ** نیست حس این جهان آن دیگرست
The sense to which God is manifested is not the sense of this world; it is another.
حس حیوان گر بدیدی آن صور ** بایزید وقت بودی گاو و خر
If the animal sense perceived those (Divine) forms (ideas) an ox or an ass would be the Báyazíd of the time.
آنک تن را مظهر هر روح کرد ** وآنک کشتی را براق نوح کرد
He who made the body to be the theatre in which every spirit is manifested, He who made the Ark to be the Buráq (steed) of Noah,
گر بخواهد عین کشتی را به خو ** او کند طوفان تو ای نورجو
He, if He will, makes (what is) a very ark in (its ordinary) character to be a (destructive) flood for you, O seeker of light.
هر دمت طوفان و کشتی ای مقل ** با غم و شادیت کرد او متصل 2210
At every moment, O man of little means, He has conjoined with your grief and gladness an ark (to save you) and a flood (to destroy you).
گر نبینی کشتی و دریا به پیش ** لرزها بین در همه اجزای خویش
If you do not perceive the ark and the sea (flood) before you, (then) consider (whence come) the tremors in all your limbs.
چون نبیند اصل ترسش را عیون ** ترس دارد از خیال گونه‌گون
Since his (the trembling man's) eyes do not perceive the source of his fear, he is affrighted by diverse kinds of phantasy.
مشت بر اعمی زند یک جلف مست ** کور پندارد لگدزن اشترست
(For example), a drunken boor strikes a blind man with his fist: the blind man thinks it is a kicking camel,
زانک آن دم بانگ اشتر می‌شنید ** کور را گوشست آیینه نه دید
Because at that moment he heard a camel's cry: the ear, not the eye, is the mirror for the blind.
باز گوید کور نه این سنگ بود ** یا مگر از قبه‌ی پر طنگ بود 2215
(But) then again the blind man says, “No, it was a stone (which some one threw at me), or perhaps it was (a brick) from an echoing dome.”
این نبود و او نبود و آن نبود ** آنک او ترس آفرید اینها نمود
It was neither this nor that nor that: He who created fear produced these (phantasies).
ترس و لرزه باشد از غیری یقین ** هیچ کس از خود نترسد ای حزین
Certainly fear and trembling are (produced) by another: nobody is frightened by himself, O sorrowful man.
آن حکیمک وهم خواند ترس را ** فهم کژ کردست او این درس را
The miserable philosopher calls fear “imagination” (wahm): he has wrongly understood this lesson.
هیچ وهمی بی‌حقیقت کی بود ** هیچ قلبی بی‌صحیحی کی رود
How should there be any imagination without reality? How should any false coin pass (into circulation) without a genuine one?
کی دروغی قیمت آرد بی ز راست ** در دو عالم هر دروغ از راست خاست 2220
How should a lie fetch a price (have value) without truth? Every lie in both worlds has arisen from truth.
راست را دید او رواجی و فروغ ** بر امید آن روان کرد او دروغ
He (the liar) saw the currency and prestige enjoyed by truth: he set going (circulated) the lie in hope of (its enjoying) the same.
ای دروغی که ز صدقت این نواست ** شکر نعمت گو مکن انکار راست
O (incarnate) lie, whose fortune is (derived) from veracity, give thanks for the bounty and do not deny the truth!
از مفلسف گویم و سودای او ** یا ز کشتیها و دریاهای او
Shall I speak of the philosopher and his mad fancy, or of His (God's) ships (arks) and seas (floods)?