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بهر ما نه بهر آن لطف نخست ** که تو کردی گمرهان را باز جست
- Not for our sakes, (but) for the sake of the primal grace through which Thou didst seek out them that had lost the way.
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چون نمودی قدرتت بنمای رحم ** ای نهاده رحمها در لحم و شحم 2505
- As Thou hast shown Thy power, (so now) show Thy mercy, O Thou who hast implanted feelings of mercy in flesh and fat.
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این دعا گر خشم افزاید ترا ** تو دعا تعلیم فرما مهترا
- If this prayer increase Thy wrath, do Thou teach (us) to pray, O Lord,
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آن چنان کادم بیفتاد از بهشت ** رجعتش دادی که رست از دیو زشت
- Even as, (when) Adam fell from Paradise, Thou gavest him (leave) to turn (in penitence) toward Thee, so that he escaped from the ugly Devil.”
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دیو که بود کاو ز آدم بگذرد ** بر چنین نطعی از او بازی برد
- Who is the Devil that he should surpass Adam and win the game from him on such a board?
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در حقیقت نفع آدم شد همه ** لعنت حاسد شده آن دمدمه
- In truth, it all turned out to Adam’s advantage: that guile became a curse to the envious one.
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بازیی دید و دو صد بازی ندید ** پس ستون خانهی خود را برید 2510
- He (the Devil) saw one game, (but) he did not see two hundred games (which he should lose): therefore he cut down the supports of his own house.
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آتشی زد شب به کشت دیگران ** باد آتش را به کشت او بران
- He set fire by night to the cornfield of others; (meanwhile) O wind, drive the fire into his field!
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چشم بندی بود لعنت دیو را ** تا زیان خصم دید آن ریو را
- The (Divine) curse was a blind to the Devil, so that he regarded that trickery (of his) as harm to (his) enemy.
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لعنت این باشد که کژبینش کند ** حاسد و خود بین و پر کینش کند
- The (Divine) curse is that which makes him (any one) see falsely, and makes him envious, self-conceited, and malicious,
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تا نداند که هر آن که کرد بد ** عاقبت باز آید و بر وی زند
- To the end that he may not know that whoever does evil, it (that evil) will at last come back and smite him.
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جمله فرزین بندها بیند بعکس ** مات بر وی گردد و نقصان و وکس 2515
- He sees all the master-moves invertedly: (hence) they result in check-mate to him and (in) failure and defeat.
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ز انکه گر او هیچ بیند خویش را ** مهلک و ناسور بیند ریش را
- (The curse blinds him), because, if he regard himself as naught, (if) he regard the wound (his moral and spiritual blindness) as deadly and festering,
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درد خیزد زین چنین دیدن درون ** درد او را از حجاب آرد برون
- Pain will arise from such looking within, and the pain will bring him out from the veil (of self-conceit).
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تا نگیرد مادران را درد زه ** طفل در زادن نیابد هیچ ره
- Until mothers are overtaken by the pains of childbirth, the child finds no way to be born.
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این امانت در دل و دل حامله ست ** این نصیحتها مثال قابله ست
- This (God-given) trust is in the heart, and the heart is pregnant (with it): these counsels (of the prophets and saints) are like the midwife.
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قابله گوید که زن را درد نیست ** درد باید درد کودک را رهی است 2520
- The midwife may say that the woman has no pain; (but) pain is necessary, pain is (makes) a way for the child (to be born).
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آن که او بیدرد باشد ره زن است ** ز انکه بیدردی انا الحق گفتن است
- He that is without pain is a brigand, because to be without pain is to say “I am God.”
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آن انا بیوقت گفتن لعنت است ** آن انا در وقت گفتن رحمت است
- To say that “I” out of the (proper) time is a curse (to the speaker); to say that “I” at the (proper) time is a mercy (from God).
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آن انا منصور رحمت شد یقین ** آن انا فرعون لعنت شد ببین
- The “I” of Mansúr (Halláj) certainly became a mercy; the “I” of Pharaoh became a curse. Mark (this)!
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لاجرم هر مرغ بیهنگام را ** سر بریدن واجب است اعلام را
- Consequently, it is incumbent (on us) to behead every untimely bird (every cock that crows too soon), in order to give notice (warning).
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سر بریدن چیست کشتن نفس را ** در جهاد و ترک گفتن نفس را 2525
- What is “beheading”? Killing the fleshly soul in the holy (spiritual) war, and renouncing heat (sensual appetite).
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آن چنان که نیش کژدم بر کنی ** تا که یابد او ز کشتن ایمنی
- Just as you would extract the scorpion’s sting in order that it might be saved from being killed,
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بر کنی دندان پر زهری ز مار ** تا رهد مار از بلای سنگسار
- (Or) pull out the venomous fang of a snake, in order that the snake might escape from the calamity of being stoned (to death).
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هیچ نکشد نفس را جز ظل پیر ** دامن آن نفس کش را سخت گیر
- Nothing will slay the fleshly soul except the shadow (protection) of the Pír: grasp tightly the skirt of that slayer of the flesh.