گفت اندر تو چه خاصیت بود ** گفت من رستم مکان ویران شود
He said, “What special property is (resides) in thee?” It replied, “(Where) I have grown, the place becomes desolate.
من که خروبم خراب منزلم ** هادم بنیاد این آب و گلم
I, who am carob (kharrub), am the ruin (kharàb) of the abode: I am the destroyer of the building (made) of this water and clay.”
پس سلیمان آن زمان دانست زود ** که اجل آمد سفر خواهد نمود
Then at that moment Solomon immediately understood that the appointed term (of his life) was come and that the (hour of) departure would (soon) appear.
گفت تا من هستم این مسجد یقین ** در خلل ناید ز آفات زمین1380
He said, “So long as I exist, assuredly this Mosque will not be damaged by the banes of the earth.
تا که من باشم وجود من بود ** مسجداقصی مخلخل کی شود
Whilst I am (here) and my existence continues, how should the Farther Mosque become riven with cracks (fall into decay)?”
پس که هدم مسجد ما بی‌گمان ** نبود الا بعد مرگ ما بدان
Know, then, that without doubt the ruin of our mosque does not occur except after our death.
مسجدست آن دل که جسمش ساجدست ** یار بد خروب هر جا مسجدست
The mosque is the heart to which the body bows down: wherever the mosque is, the bad companion is the carob.
یار بد چون رست در تو مهر او ** هین ازو بگریز و کم کن گفت وگو
When love for a bad companion has grown in you, beware, flee from him and do not converse (with him).
برکن از بیخش که گر سر بر زند ** مر ترا و مسجدت را بر کند1385
Tear it up by the root, for if it shoot up its head it wilt demolish (both) you and your mosque.
عاشقا خروب تو آمد کژی ** هم‌چو طفلان سوی کژ چون می‌غژی
O lover, your carob is falseness: why do you creep, like children, towards the false?
خویش مجرم دان و مجرم گو مترس ** تا ندزدد از تو آن استاد درس
Know yourself a sinner and calf yourself a sinner—do not be afraid—so that that Master may not steal (secretly take away) the lesson from you.
چون بگویی جاهلم تعلیم ده ** این چنین انصاف از ناموس به
When you say, “I am ignorant; give (me) instruction,” such fair-dealing is better than (a false) reputation.
از پدر آموز ای روشن‌جبین ** ربنا گفت و ظلمنا پیش ازین
Learn from your father (Adam), O clear-browed man: he said heretofore, “O our Lord” and “We have done wrong.”
نه بهانه کرد و نه تزویر ساخت ** نه لوای مکر و حیلت بر فراخت1390
He made no excuse, nor did he invent falsehood nor lift up the banner of deceit and evasion.
باز آن ابلیس بحث آغاز کرد ** که بدم من سرخ رو کردیم زرد
That Iblís, on the other hand, began to dispute, saying, “I was red-faced (honourable): Thou hast made me yellow (disgraced).
رنگ رنگ تست صباغم توی ** اصل جرم و آفت و داغم توی
The colour is Thy colour: Thou art my dyer, Thou art the origin of my sin and bane and brand.”
هین بخوان رب بما اغویتنی ** تا نگردی جبری و کژ کم تنی
Beware! Recite (the text) because Thou hast seduced me, in order that you may not become a necessitarian and may not weave untruth.
بر درخت جبر تا کی بر جهی ** اختیار خویش را یک‌سو نهی
How long will you leap up the tree of necessitarianism and lay your free-will aside,
هم‌چو آن ابلیس و ذریات او ** با خدا در جنگ و اندر گفت و گو1395
Like that Iblís and his progeny, (engaged) in battle and argument with God?
چون بود اکراه با چندان خوشی ** که تو در عصیان همی دامن کشی
How should there be compulsion when you are trailing your skirt (sweeping along) into sin with such complacence?
آن‌چنان خوش کس رود در مکرهی ** کس چنان رقصان دود در گم‌رهی
Does any one under compulsion walk so complacently? Does any one, having lost his way’, go dancing (gleefully) like that?
بیست مرده جنگ می‌کردی در آن ** کت همی‌دادند پند آن دیگران
You were fighting like twenty men (to prevail) in the matter concerning which those others were giving you good advice.
که صواب اینست و راه اینست و بس ** کی زند طعنه مرا جز هیچ‌کس
You said, “This is right and this is the only (approved) way: how should any one but a nobody (worthless person) rail at me?”
کی چنین گوید کسی کو مکر هست ** چون چنین جنگد کسی کو بی‌رهست1400
How should one who is compelled speak thus? How should one who has lost his way wrangle like this?
هر چه نفست خواست داری اختیار ** هر چه عقلت خواست آری اضطرار
Whatever your fleshly soul desires, you have free-will (in regard to that); whatever your reason desires, you plead necessity (as an excuse for rejecting it).