گفت سلطان بلک آنچ از نفس زاد ** ریع تقصیرست و دخل اجتهاد
“Nay,” said the Sultan, “that which proceeds from one's self is the product of (one's own) remissness and the income derived from (one's own) labour.
ورنه آدم کی بگفتی با خدا ** ربنا انا ظلمنا نفسنا
Otherwise, how should Adam have said unto God, ‘O our Lord, verily we have wronged ourselves’?
خود بگفتی کین گناه از نفس بود ** چون قضا این بود حزم ما چه سود 405
Surely he would have said, ‘This sin was from Fate: since it was destiny, what does our precaution avail?’
هم‌چو ابلیسی که گفت اغویتنی ** تو شکستی جام و ما را می‌زنی
Like Iblís, who said, ‘Thou hast led me astray: Thou hast broken the cup and art beating me.’”
بل قضا حقست و جهد بنده حق ** هین مباش اعور چو ابلیس خلق
Nay, (the Divine) destiny is a fact and the slave's (man's) exertion (of power) is a fact: beware, do not be blind of one eye, like the tatterdemalion Iblís.
در تردد مانده‌ایم اندر دو کار ** این تردد کی بود بی‌اختیار
We are left vacillating between two (alternative) actions: how should this vacillation be without (unaccompanied by) free-will?
این کنم یا آن کنم او کی گود ** که دو دست و پای او بسته بود
How should he whose hands and feet are chained say, “Shall I do this or shall I do that?”
هیچ باشد این تردد بر سرم ** که روم در بحر یا بالا پرم 410
Can there ever be in my head such a dilemma as this, (namely), “Shall I walk on the sea or shall I fly aloft?”
این تردد هست که موصل روم ** یا برای سحر تا بابل روم
(No); there is (only) this (kind of) vacillation, (namely), “Shall I go toMosul (for trade) or shall I go to Babylon for (the study of) magic?”
پس تردد را بباید قدرتی ** ورنه آن خنده بود بر سبلتی
Vacillation, then, must have (in connexion with it) a power to act; otherwise, it would be a (mere) mockery.