چون بگویند ایش شاء الله کان ** حکم حکم اوست مطلق جاودان 3115
When (on the contrary) you are told that whatever God wills shall come to pass, and that to Him belongs the authority absolute and everlasting,
پس چرا صد مرده اندر ورد او ** بر نگردی بندگانه گرد او
Why, then, should not you move round Him like a slave, with the will of a hundred men to perform the devotions due to Him?
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).
پادشاهی که به پیش تخت او ** فرق نبود از امین و ظلم‌جو
A king before whose throne there is no distinction between the faithful (friend) and the seeker of iniquity—
آنک می‌لرزد ز بیم رد او ** وانک طعنه می‌زند در جد او
Between him who trembles in fear of his (the king's) disapproval and him who intrigues against his fortune (empire)—
فرق نبود هر دو یک باشد برش ** شاه نبود خاک تیره بر سرش
(So that) there is no difference, but both of them are one to him: he is not a king, may dark earth be on his head!
ذره‌ای گر جهد تو افزون بود ** در ترازوی خدا موزون بود 3145
If your (devotional) labour exceed (that of another) by a single mote, it (that mote) will be weighed in God's balance.
پیش این شاهان هماره جان کنی ** بی‌خبر ایشان ز غدر و روشنی
You continually work yourself to death in the service of these (worldly) kings, (yet) they are ignorant of (the difference between) treachery and honesty.
گفت غمازی که بد گوید ترا ** ضایع آرد خدمتت را سالها
The words of a tale-bearer who speaks ill of you will cause your service (rendered) during (many) years to be wasted;
پیش شاهی که سمیعست و بصیر ** گفت غمازان نباشد جای‌گیر
(But) the words of tale-bearers do not take their abode in the presence of the King who is hearing and seeing.
جمله غمازان ازو آیس شوند ** سوی ما آیند و افزایند پند
All the tale-bearers are reduced to despair by Him: they come to us and increase (our) bondage.
بس جفا گویند شه را پیش ما ** که برو جف القلم کم کن وفا 3150
They speak much abuse of the King before us, saying, ‘Go! The Pen has dried (after writing your destiny). (Therefore) do not keep faith (with Him).’
معنی جف القلم کی آن بود ** که جفاها با وفا یکسان بود
How should the meaning of ‘the Pen has dried’ be (this), that acts of perfidy and acts of faithfulness are alike?
بل جفا را هم جفا جف القلم ** وآن وفا را هم وفا جف القلم
Nay, perfidy (in return) for acts of perfidy: the Pen has dried (on that); and faithfulness (in return) for those acts of faithfulness: the Pen has dried (on that).
عفو باشد لیک کو فر امید ** که بود بنده ز تقوی روسپید
(True), there may be pardon (for the sinner), but where (for him) is the glorious hope that through piety the servant of God may be (spiritually) illumined?
دزد را گر عفو باشد جان برد ** کی وزیر و خازن مخزن شود
If a robber be pardoned, he saves his life, (but) how should he become a vizier and keeper of the treasury?
ای امین الدین ربانی بیا ** کز امانت رست هر تاج و لوا 3155
Come, O godly Amínu’ddín, for every tiara and ensign has grown from trustworthiness (amánat).
پور سلطان گر برو خاین شود ** آن سرش از تن بدان باین شود
If the Sultan's son become a traitor to him, on that account his head will be severed from his body;
وز غلامی هندوی آرد وفا ** دولت او را می‌زند طال بقا
And if a Hindú slave show faithfulness, sovereignty will applaud him (and cry), ‘Long may he live!’
چه غلام ار بر دری سگ باوفاست ** در دل سالار او را صد رضاست
What of a slave? If a dog is faithful (in keeping watch) at a door, there are a hundred feelings of satisfaction with him in the heart of the master (of the house).
زین چو سگ را بوسه بر پوزش دهد ** گر بود شیری چه پیروزش کند
Since, because of this (faithfulness), he kisses the mouth of a dog, if he (the faithful one) be a lion, how triumphant he will make him!
جز مگر دزدی که خدمتها کند ** صدق او بیخ جفا را بر کند 3160
(Robbers get nothing but pardon), except, to be sure, the robber who performs acts of service (to God) and whose sincerity uproots his (former) perfidy,
چون فضیل ره‌زنی کو راست باخت ** زانک ده مرده به سوی توبه تاخت
Like Fudayl, the brigand who played straight, because he ran with the strength of ten men towards repentance;
وآنچنان که ساحران فرعون را ** رو سیه کردند از صبر و وفا
And as the magicians (who) blackened the face of Pharaoh by their fortitude and faithfulness.
دست و پا دادند در جرم قود ** آن به صد ساله عبادت کی شود
They gave their hands and feet (to be cut off as a penalty) for the crime that entailed retaliation: how should that (degree of faithfulness) be attained by means of a hundred years' devotional service?
تو که پنجه سال خدمت کرده‌ای ** کی چنین صدقی به دست آورده‌ای
You who have served (Him) for fifty years, when have you brought into your possession such a sincerity as this?
حکایت آن درویش کی در هری غلامان آراسته‌ی عمید خراسان را دید و بر اسبان تازی و قباهای زربفت و کلاهای مغرق و غیر آن پرسید کی اینها کدام امیرانند و چه شاهانند گفت او را کی اینها امیران نیستند اینها غلامان عمید خراسانند روی به آسمان کرد کی ای خدا غلام پروردن از عمید بیاموز آنجا مستوفی را عمید گویند
Story of the dervish who saw at Herát the well-equipped slaves of the ‘Amíd of Khurásán, mounted on Arab horses and wearing gold-embroidered coats, caps richly ornamented (with silver or gems), etc. He asked, ‘What princes and what kings are these?’ On being told that they were not princes, but the slaves of the ‘Amíd of Khurásán, he turned his face to Heaven, crying, ‘O God, learn from the ‘Amíd how to take care of slaves!’ There (in Khurásán) the State-accountant (Mustawfí) is called ‘Amíd.