احمد چون کوه لغزید از نظر ** در میان راه بی‌گل بی‌مطر 500
From (their) looking (at him), Ahmad (Mohammed), (who was) like a mountain, slipped in the middle of the road, without mud and without rain.
در عجب درماند کین لغزش ز چیست ** من نپندارم که این حالت تهیست
He remained in astonishment, saying, “Wherefore is this slipping? I do not think that this occurrence is empty (of meaning),”
تا بیامد آیت و آگاه کرد ** کان ز چشم بد رسیدت وز نبرد
Until the Verse (of the Qur’án) came and made him aware that this had happened to him in consequence of the evil eye and enmity (of the unbelievers).
گر بدی غیر تو در دم لا شدی ** صید چشم و سخره‌ی افنا شدی
(God said to the Prophet), “Had it been any one except thee, he would at once have been annihilated: he would have become the prey of the (evil) eye and in thrall to destruction;
لیک آمد عصمتی دامن‌کشان ** وین که لغزیدی بد از بهر نشان
But there came (from Me) a protection, sweeping along (majestically), and thy slipping was (only) for a sign.”
عبرتی گیر اندر آن که کن نگاه ** برگ خود عرضه مکن ای کم ز کاه 505
Take a warning, look on that mountain, and do not expose thy (petty) leaf (to destruction), O thou who art less than a straw.
تفسیر و ان یکاد الذین کفروا لیزلقونک بابصارهم الایه
Commentary on “And verily those who disbelieve wellnigh cause thee to slip by their (malignant) eyes.”
یا رسول‌الله در آن نادی کسان ** می‌زنند از چشم بد بر کرکسان
“O Messenger of Allah, some persons in that assembly (of the unbelievers) smite with their (evil) eye the vultures (flying aloft).
از نظرشان کله‌ی شیر عرین ** وا شکافد تا کند آن شیر انین
By their looks the head of the lion of the jungle is cloven asunder, so that the lion makes moan.
بر شتر چشم افکند هم‌چون حمام ** وانگهان بفرستد اندر پی غلام
He (such an one) casts on a camel an eye like death, and then sends a slave after it,
که برو از پیه این اشتر بخر ** بیند اشتر را سقط او راه بر
Saying, ‘Go, buy some of the fat of this camel’: he (the slave) sees the camel fallen dead on the road.
سر بریده از مرض آن اشتری ** کو بتگ با اسب می‌کردی مری 510
(He sees) mortally stricken by disease the camel that used to vie with a horse in speed;
کز حسد وز چشم بد بی‌هیچ شک ** سیر و گردش را بگرداند فلک
For, without any doubt, from envy and (the effect of) the evil eye the celestial sphere would alter its course and revolution.”
آب پنهانست و دولاب آشکار ** لیک در گردش بود آب اصل کار
The water is hidden and the water-wheel is visible, yet as regards (the wheel's) revolution the water is the source of action.
چشم نیکو شد دوای چشم بد ** چشم بد را لا کند زیر لگد
The remedy of the evil eye is the good eye: it makes the evil eye naught beneath its kick.
سبق رحمت‌راست و او از رحمتست ** چشم بد محصول قهر و لعنتست
(Divine) mercy has the precedence (over Divine wrath): it (the good eye) is (derived) from (Divine) mercy, (while) the evil eye is the product of (Divine) wrath and execration.
رحمتش بر نقمتش غالب شود ** چیره زین شد هر نبی بر ضد خود 515
His (God's) mercy overcomes His vengeance: hence every prophet prevailed over his adversary;
کو نتیجه‌ی رحمتست و ضد او ** از نتیجه‌ی قهر بود آن زشت‌رو
For he (the prophet) is the result of (Divine) mercy and is the opposite of him (the adversary): that ill-favoured one was the result of (Divine) wrath.
حرص بط یکتاست این پنجاه تاست ** حرص شهوت مار و منصب اژدهاست
The greed of the duck is single, (but) this (greed of the peacock) is fiftyfold: the greed of lust is (only) a snake, while this (greed for) eminence is a dragon.
حرص بط از شهوت حلقست و فرج ** در ریاست بیست چندانست درج
The duck's greed arises from the appetite of the gullet and pudendum, (but) twenty times as much (greed) is included in (the ambition to) rule.
از الوهیت زند در جاه لاف ** طامع شرکت کجا باشد معاف
He (who is) in power (really) pretends to Divinity: how should one ambitious of co-partnership (with God) be saved?
زلت آدم ز اشکم بود و باه ** وآن ابلیس از تکبر بود و جاه 520
The sin of Adam arose from the belly and sexual intercourse, and that of Iblís from pride and power.
لاجرم او زود استغفار کرد ** وآن لعین از توبه استکبار کرد
Consequently, he (Adam) at once besought pardon, while the accursed (Iblís) disdained to repent.
حرص حلق و فرج هم خود بدرگیست ** لیک منصب نیست آن اشکستگیست
The greed of the gullet and pudendum is in truth (a mark of) depravity; but it is not (headstrong like) ambition: it is abasement.
بیخ و شاخ این ریاست را اگر ** باز گویم دفتری باید دگر
If I should relate the root and branch (the whole story) of dominion, another Book would be needed.
اسپ سرکش را عرب شیطانش خواند ** نی ستوری را که در مرعی بماند
The Arabs called a restive (high-spirited) horse a “devil” (shaytán); (they did) not (give that name to) the beast of burden that stayed (quietly) in the pasture.