خلق یک‌دل را تو کردی دو گروه ** جادوی رخنه کند در سنگ و کوه

Thou hast made the unanimous people into two factions: sorcery makes fissures in rock and mountain.”

گفت هستم غرق پیغام خدا ** جادوی کی دید با نام خدا

He (Moses) said, “I am submerged in the message of God: who (ever) saw sorcery together with the name of God?

غفلت و کفرست مایه‌ی جادوی ** مشعله‌ی دینست جان موسوی

The substance of sorcery is forgetfulness (of God) and unbelief: the spirit of Moses is the flaming torch of the (true) religion.

من به جادویان چه مانم ای وقیح ** کز دمم پر رشک می‌گردد مسیح

How do I resemble sorcerers, O impudent one?—for the Messiah (Jesus) is becoming jealous of my (life-giving) breath.

من به جادویان چه مانم ای جنب ** که ز جانم نور می‌گیرد کتب 2365

How do I resemble sorcerers, O polluted one?—for the (Revealed) Books are receiving light from my spirit.

چون تو با پر هوا بر می‌پری ** لاجرم بر من گمان آن می‌بری

Since thou art soaring on the wings of sensuality, inevitably thou bearest (in thy heart) that (ill) thought against me.”

هر کرا افعال دام و دد بود ** بر کریمانش گمان بد بود

Every one whose actions are those of wild beasts hath ill thoughts against the noble.

چون تو جزو عالمی هر چون بوی ** کل را بر وصف خود بینی سوی

Since thou art a part of the world, howsoever thou art thou deemest all to be of the same description as thyself, misguided man.

گر تو برگردی و بر گردد سرت ** خانه را گردنده بیند منظرت

If thou whirl round and thy head whirl round, thy (organ of) sight sees the house whirling round;

ور تو در کشتی روی بر یم روان ** ساحل یم را همی بینی دوان 2370

And if thou embark in a ship moving on the sea, thou deemest the seashore to be running (along).

گر تو باشی تنگ‌دل از ملحمه ** تنگ بینی جمله دنیا را همه

If thou art narrow (oppressed) at heart from (being engaged in) combat, thou deemest the whole atmosphere of the world to be narrow;

ور تو خوش باشی به کام دوستان ** این جهان بنمایدت چون گلستان

And if thou art happy as thy friends would desire, this world seems to thee like a garden of roses.

ای بسا کس رفته تا شام و عراق ** او ندیده هیچ جز کفر و نفاق

How many a one has gone as far as Syria and ‘Iráq and has seen nothing but unbelief and hypocrisy;

وی بسا کس رفته تا هند و هری ** او ندیده جز مگر بیع و شری

And how many a one has gone as far as India and Hirá (Herát) and seen nothing but selling and buying;

وی بسا کس رفته ترکستان و چین ** او ندیده هیچ جز مکر و کمین 2375

And how many a one has gone as far as Turkistán and China and seen nothing but deceit and hidden guile!

چون ندارد مدرکی جز رنگ و بو ** جمله‌ی اقلیمها را گو بجو

Since he has no object of perception save colour and perfume (external phenomena), let him seek (through) all the climes, (he will see nothing spiritual).

گاو در بغداد آید ناگهان ** بگذرد او زین سران تا آن سران

(If) a cow come suddenly into Baghdád and pass from this side (of the city) to that (farther) side,

از همه عیش و خوشیها و مزه ** او نبیند جز که قشر خربزه

Of all (its) pleasures and joys and delights she will see nothing but the rind of a water-melon.

که بود افتاده بر ره یا حشیش ** لایق سیران گاوی یا خریش

(If) straw or hay has fallen on the road, (it is) suitable to his (such a one's) bovine or asinine disposition.

خشک بر میخ طبیعت چون قدید ** بسته‌ی اسباب جانش لا یزید 2380

(Hanging) dry on the nail of (his bestial) nature, like strips of meat (exposed to the sun), his spirit, bound with (the cords of) secondary causes, does not grow;

وان فضای خرق اسباب و علل ** هست ارض الله ای صدر اجل

But the spacious realm where means and causes are torn to shreds (transcended) is the earth of God, O most honourable sire.

هر زمان مبدل شود چون نقش جان ** نو به نو بیند جهانی در عیان

It is ever changing, like a (fleeting) picture: the spirit beholds in clairvoyance a world (appearing) anew and anew.

گر بود فردوس و انهار بهشت ** چون فسرده‌ی یک صفت شد گشت زشت

(Everything), though it be Paradise and the rivers of Eden, becomes ugly when it is congealed (fixed permanently) in one aspect.

بیان آنک هر حس مدرکی را از آدمی نیز مدرکاتی دیگرست کی از مدرکات آن حس دگر بی‌خبرست چنانک هر پیشه‌ور استاد اعجمی کار آن استاد دگر پیشه‌ورست و بی‌خبری او از آنک وظیفه‌ی او نیست دلیل نکند کی آن مدرکات نیست اگر چه به حکم حال منکر بود آن را اما از منکری او اینجا جز بی‌خبری نمی‌خواهیم درین مقام

Explaining that every percipient sense of man has different objects of perception too, of which the other senses are ignorant, as (for example) every skilled craftsman is unfamiliar with the work of those skilled in other crafts; and its (another sense's) ignorance of that which is not its business does not prove that those objects of perception are non-existent. Although it virtually denies them, yet here in this place we only mean by its ‘denial’ its ignorance.

چنبره‌ی دید جهان ادراک تست ** پرده‌ی پاکان حس ناپاک تست

Thy perception is the measure of thy vision of the world: thy impure senses are the veil (which prevents thee from having sight) of the pure (holy men).

مدتی حس را بشو ز آب عیان ** این چنین دان جامه‌شوی صوفیان 2385

Wash thy senses for a while with the water of clairvoyance: know that the garment-washing of the Súfís is like this.