If you are aware of His jabr (compulsion), where is your humility? Where is your feeling of (being loaded with) the chain of His jabbárí (almightiness)?
بسته در زنجیر چون شادی کند ** کی اسیر حبس آزادی کند
How should one make merry who is bound in chains? When does the captive in prison behave like the man who is free?
ور تو می‌‌بینی که پایت بسته‌‌اند ** بر تو سرهنگان شه بنشسته‌‌اند
And if you consider that your foot is shackled (and that) the king's officers are sitting (as custodians) over you,
پس تو سرهنگی مکن با عاجزان ** ز آن که نبود طبع و خوی عاجز آن
Then do not act like an officer (tyrannously) towards the helpless, inasmuch as that is not the nature and habit of a helpless man.
چون تو جبر او نمی‌‌بینی مگو ** ور همی‌‌بینی نشان دید کو
Since you do not feel His compulsion, do not say (that you are compelled); and if you feel it, where is the sign of your feeling?
در هر آن کاری که میل استت بدان ** قدرت خود را همی‌‌بینی عیان635
In every act for which you have inclination, you are clearly conscious of your power (to perform it),
و اندر آن کاری که میلت نیست ** و خواست خویش را جبری کنی کاین از خداست
(But) in the act for which you have no inclination and desire, you make yourself a necessitarian, saying, “This is from God.”
انبیا در کار دنیا جبری‌‌اند ** کافران در کار عقبی جبری‌‌اند
The prophets are necessitarians in regard to the works of this world, (while) the infidels are necessitarians in regard to the works of the next world.
انبیا را کار عقبی اختیار ** جاهلان را کار دنیا اختیار
To the prophets the works of the next world are (a matter of) freewill; to the foolish the works of this world are (a matter of) freewill,
ز آن که هر مرغی به سوی جنس خویش ** می‌‌پرد او در پس و جان پیش پیش
Because every bird flies to its own congener: it (follows) behind, and its spirit (goes) before, (leading it on).
کافران چون جنس سجین آمدند ** سجن دنیا را خوش آیین آمدند640
Inasmuch as the infidels were congeners of Sijjn (Hell), they were well-disposed to the prison (sijn) of this world.
انبیا چون جنس علیین بدند ** سوی علیین جان و دل شدند
Inasmuch as the prophets were congeners of ‘Illiyyín (Heaven), they went towards the ‘Illiyyín of spirit and heart.
این سخن پایان ندارد لیک ما ** باز گوییم آن تمامی قصه را
This discourse hath no end, but let us (now) relate the story to its completion.
نومید کردن وزیر مریدان را از رفض خلوت
How the vizier made the disciples lose hope of his abandoning seclusion.
آن وزیر از اندرون آواز داد ** کای مریدان از من این معلوم باد
The vizier cried out from within, “O disciples, be this made known to you from me,
که مرا عیسی چنین پیغام کرد ** کز همه یاران و خویشان باش فرد
That Jesus hath given me a such-like message: ‘Be separated from all friends and kinsfolk.
روی در دیوار کن تنها نشین ** وز وجود خویش هم خلوت گزین645
Set thy face to the wall, sit alone, and choose to be secluded even from thine own existence.’
بعد از این دستوری گفتار نیست ** بعد از این با گفت و گویم کار نیست
After this there is no permission (for me) to speak; after this I have nothing to do with talk.
الوداع ای دوستان من مرده‌‌ام ** رخت بر چارم فلک بر برده‌‌ام
Farewell, O friends! I am dead: I have carried my belongings up to the Fourth Heaven,
تا به زیر چرخ ناری چون حطب ** من نسوزم در عنا و در عطب
In order that beneath the fiery sphere I may not burn like firewood in woe and perdition,
پهلوی عیسی نشینم بعد از این ** بر فراز آسمان چارمین
(But) henceforth may sit beside Jesus at the top of the Fourth Heaven.”
ولی عهد ساختن وزیر هر یک امیر را جدا جدا
How the vizier appointed each one of the amírs separately as his successor.
و آن گهانی آن امیران را بخواند ** یک به یک تنها به هر یک حرف راند650
And then he summoned those amírs one by one and conversed with each (of them) alone.
گفت هر یک را به دین عیسوی ** نایب حق و خلیفه‌‌ی من توی
He said to each one, “In the religion of Jesus thou art the vicar of God and my khalífa (vicegerent),