گر بگویند آنچ می‌خواهد وزیر ** خواست آن اوست اندر دار و گیر
If you are told that what the vizier wishes (is law and that) his will is paramount in the exercise of authority,
گرد او گردان شوی صد مرده زود ** تا بریزد بر سرت احسان و جود
Will you at once move round (pay court to) him with the zeal of a hundred men, that he may pour kindness and munificence on your head,
یا گریزی از وزیر و قصر او ** این نباشد جست و جوی نصر او
Or will you flee from the vizier and his palace? This (flight) is not the way to seek his help.
بازگونه زین سخن کاهل شدی ** منعکس ادراک و خاطر آمدی 3120
You, inversely, have been made remiss by this saying: you have been turned upside down in your apprehension and thought.
امر امر آن فلان خواجه‌ست هین ** چیست یعنی با جز او کمتر نشین
(Suppose you are told that) the command (supreme power) is vested in such and such a lord. Hark, what does this mean? It means, ‘Do not sit (consort) with any one except him.
گرد خواجه گرد چون امر آن اوست ** کو کشد دشمن رهاند جان دوست
Move round (pay constant homage to) the lord, since the (power to) command belongs to him; for he slays his enemy and saves the life of his friend.
هرچه او خواهد همان یابی یقین ** یاوه کم رو خدمت او برگزین
Whatsoever he wills, that same thing you will certainly obtain: do not go astray, prefer his service (to all else).’
نی چو حاکم اوست گرد او مگرد ** تا شوی نامه سیاه و روی زود
(It does) not (mean), ‘Since he is possessed of (supreme) authority, do not move round him (do not frequent his court), so that you may fall into his black books and be disgraced.’
حق بود تاویل که آن گرمت کند ** پر امید و چست و با شرمت کند 3125
The interpretation that makes you ardent and hopeful and active and reverent is the true one;
ور کند سستت حقیقت این بدان ** هست تبدیل و نه تاویلست آن
And if it make you slack (in service), know the real truth to be this, that it is an alteration (of the right sense of the saying), not an interpretation.
این برای گرم کردن آمدست ** تا بگیرد ناامیدان را دو دست
This (saying) has come (down) in order to make (men) ardent (in serving God), that He may take the hands of those who have lost hope (and deliver them).
معنی قرآن ز قرآن پرس و بس ** وز کسی که آتش زدست اندر هوس
Ask the meaning of the Qur’án from the Qur’án alone, and from that one who has set fire to (and extinguished) his idle fancy,
پیش قرآن گشت قربانی و پست ** تا که عین روح او قرآن شدست
And has become a sacrifice to the Qur’án and is (laid) low (in self-abasement), so that the Qur’án has become the essence of his spirit.
روغنی کو شد فدای گل به کل ** خواه روغن بوی کن خواهی تو گل 3130
The oil that has wholly devoted itself to the rose—smell either the oil or the rose as you please.
و هم‌چنین قد جف القلم یعنی جف القلم و کتب لا یستوی الطاعة والمعصیة لا یستوی الامانة و السرقة جف القلم ان لا یستوی الشکر و الکفران جف القلم ان الله لا یضیع اجر المحسنین
And similarly (the Tradition), ‘the Pen has dried’ means that the Pen has dried after writing (the words), ‘Obedience and disobedience (to God) are not on the same level, honesty and stealing are not on the same level.’ The Pen has dried (after writing) that thanksgiving and ingratitude are not on the same level. The Pen has dried (after writing) that God does not let the reward of the righteous be lost.
هم‌چنین تاویل قد جف القلم ** بهر تحریضست بر شغل اهم
Likewise the (true) interpretation of ‘the Pen has dried’ (is that) it (this Tradition) is for the purpose of inciting to the most important work (of all).
پس قلم بنوشت که هر کار را ** لایق آن هست تاثیر و جزا
Therefore the Pen wrote that every action has the effect and consequence appropriate to it.
کژ روی جف القلم کژ آیدت ** راستی آری سعادت زایدت
The Pen has dried (after writing) that if you do wrong (in this world) you will suffer wrong (in the next), and that if you act rightly (here) the result will be your felicity (there).
(If) you behave unjustly, you are damned: the Pen has dried (on that). If you show justice, you eat the fruit (of blessedness): the Pen has dried (on that).
چون بدزدد دست شد جف القلم ** خورد باده مست شد جف القلم 3135
When he (any one) steals, his hand goes: the Pen has dried (on that). (When) he drinks wine, he becomes intoxicated: the Pen has dried (on that).
تو روا داری روا باشد که حق ** هم‌چو معزول آید از حکم سبق
Do you deem it allowable, can it be allowable, that on account of the (eternally) prior decree God should come, like a person dismissed from office,
که ز دست من برون رفتست کار ** پیش من چندین میا چندین مزار
Saying, ‘The affair has gone out of My hands: do not approach Me so often, do not entreat (Me) so much’?
بلک معنی آن بود جف القلم ** نیست یکسان پیش من عدل و ستم
Nay, the meaning is: ‘the Pen has dried (on this that) justice and injustice are not equal in My sight.
فرق بنهادم میان خیر و شر ** فرق بنهادم ز بد هم از بتر
I have laid down a distinction between good and evil; I have also laid down a distinction between the bad and the worse.’
ذره‌ای گر در تو افزونی ادب ** باشد از یارت بداند فضل رب 3140
If there be in you a single mote of self-discipline in excess of (that of) your companion, the grace of God will know,
قدر آن ذره ترا افزون دهد ** ذره چون کوهی قدم بیرون نهد
And will bestow on you that mote's amount of superiority: the mote will step forth as (big as) a mountain (to meet you).