زیرک و داناست اما نیست نیست ** تا فرشته لا نشد اهریمنی است
It is clever and knowing, but it is not naught (devoid of self-existence): until the angel has become naught, he is an Ahriman (Devil).
او به قول و فعل یار ما بود ** چون به حکم حال آیی لا بود
It (partial reason) is our friend in word and deed, (but) when you come to the case of inward feeling (ecstasy), it is naught (of no account).
لا بود چون او نشد از هست نیست ** چون که طوعا لا نشد کرها بسی است1985
It is naught because it did not (pass away) from existence and become nonexistent: since it did not become naught willingly, (it must become naught nevertheless, for) there is many a one (who became naught, i.e. died) unwillingly.
جان کمال است و ندای او کمال ** مصطفی گویان ارحنا یا بلال
The Spirit is perfection and its call is perfection: Mustafá (Mohammed) used to say, “Refresh us, O Bilál!
ای بلال افراز بانگ سلسلت ** ز آن دمی کاندر دمیدم در دلت
O Bilál, lift up thy mellifluous voice (drawn) from that breath which I breathed into thy heart,
ز آن دمی کادم از آن مدهوش گشت ** هوش اهل آسمان بیهوش گشت
From that breath by which Adam was dumbfounded and the wits of the people of Heaven were made witless.”
مصطفی بیخویش شد ز آن خوب صوت ** شد نمازش از شب تعریس فوت
Mustafá became beside himself at that beautiful voice: his prayer escaped him (was left unperformed) on the night of the ta‘rís.
سر از آن خواب مبارک بر نداشت ** تا نماز صبحدم آمد به چاشت1990
He did not raise his head from that blessed sleep until the (time of the) dawn prayer had advanced to (the time of) forenoon.
در شب تعریس پیش آن عروس ** یافت جان پاک ایشان دستبوس
On the night of the ta‘rís his holy spirit gained (the privilege of) kissing hands in the presence of the Bride.
عشق و جان هر دو نهانند و ستیر ** گر عروسش خواندهام عیبی مگیر
Love and the Spirit are, both of them, hidden and veiled: if I have called Him (God) the Bride, do not find fault.
از ملولی یار خامش کردمی ** گر همو مهلت بدادی یک دمی
I would have been silent from (fear of) the Beloved's displeasure, if He had granted me a respite for one moment,
But He keeps saying, “Say on! Come, ’tis no fault, ’tis but the requirement of the (Divine) destiny in the World Unseen.”
عیب باشد کاو نبیند جز که عیب ** عیب کی بیند روان پاک غیب1995
The fault is (in him) who sees nothing but fault: how should the Pure Spirit of the Invisible see fault?
عیب شد نسبت به مخلوق جهول ** نی به نسبت با خداوند قبول
Fault arises (only) in relation to the ignorant creature, not in relation to the Lord of favour (clemency).
کفر هم نسبت به خالق حکمت است ** چون به ما نسبت کنی کفر آفت است
Infidelity, too, is wisdom in relation to the Creator, (but) when you impute it to us, infidelity is a noxious thing.
ور یکی عیبی بود با صد حیات ** بر مثال چوب باشد در نبات
And if there be one fault together with a hundred advantages (excellences), it resembles the wood (woody stalk) in the sugarcane.
در ترازو هر دو را یکسان کشند ** ز آن که آن هر دو چو جسم و جان خوشند
Both (sugar and stalk) alike are put into the scales, because they both are sweet like body and soul.
پس بزرگان این نگفتند از گزاف ** جسم پاکان عین جان افتاد صاف2000
Not idly, therefore, the great (mystics) said this: “The body of the holy ones (the saints) is essentially pure as (their) spirit.”
گفتشان و نفسشان و نقششان ** جمله جان مطلق آمد بینشان
Their speech and soul and form, all (this) is absolute spirit without (external) trace.
جان دشمن دارشان جسم است صرف ** چون زیاد از نرد او اسم است صرف
The spirit that regards them with enmity is a mere body; like the plus in (the game called) nard, it is a mere name.
آن به خاک اندر شد و کل خاک شد ** وین نمک اندر شد و کل پاک شد
That one (the body of the enemy of the saints) went into the earth (grave) and became earth entirely; this (holy body) went into the salt and became entirely pure—
آن نمک کز وی محمد املح است ** ز آن حدیث با نمک او افصح است
The (spiritual) salt through which Mohammed is more refined (than all others): he is more eloquent than that salt-seasoned (elegantly expressed) Hadíth.
این نمک باقی است از میراث او ** با تواند آن وارثان او بجو2005
This salt is surviving in his heritage: those heirs of his are with thee. Seek them!
پیش تو شسته ترا خود پیش کو ** پیش هستت جان پیش اندیش کو
He (the spiritual heir of Mohammed) is seated in front of thee, (but) where indeed is thy “front”? He is before thee, (but) where is the soul that thinks “before”?
گر تو خود را پیش و پس داری گمان ** بستهی جسمی و محرومی ز جان
If thou fancy thou hast a “before” and “behind,” thou art tied to body and deprived of spirit.