لعب معکوسست و فرزین‌بند سخت ** حیله کم کن کار اقبالست و بخت
’Tis a topsy-turvy game and a terrible quandary; do not try (to escape by) cunning: ’tis (all) a matter of (Divine) favour and fortune.
بر حیال و حیله کم تن تار را ** که غنی ره کم دهد مکار را
Do not weave plots in vain imagination and cunning; for the Self-sufficient One does not give way to the contriver.
مکر کن در راه نیکو خدمتی ** تا نبوت یابی اندر امتی
Contrive, in the way of (by following the guidance of) one who serves (God) well, that you may gain the position of a prophet in a religious community.
مکر کن تا وا رهی از مکر خود ** مکر کن تا فرد گردی از جسد 470
Contrive that you may be delivered from your own contrivance; contrive that you may become detached from the body.
مکر کن تا کمترین بنده شوی ** در کمی رفتی خداونده شوی
Contrive that you may become the meanest slave (of God): if you enter into (the state of) meanness (self-abasement), you will become lordly.
روبهی و خدمت ای گرگ کهن ** هیچ بر قصد خداوندی مکن
Never, O old wolf, practise foxiness and perform service with the purpose of (gaining) lordship;
لیک چون پروانه در آتش بتاز ** کیسه‌ای زان بر مدوز و پاک باز
But rush into the fire like a moth: do not hoard up that (service), play for love!
زور را بگذار و زاری را بگیر ** رحم سوی زاری آید ای فقیر
Renounce power and adopt piteous supplication: (the Divine) mercy comes towards piteous supplication, O dervish.
The piteous supplication of one sorely distressed and athirst is real; the piteous (but) cold supplication of falsehood is proper to the miscreant.
گریه‌ی اخوان یوسف حیلتست ** که درونشان پر ز رشک و علتست
The weeping of Joseph's brethren is a trick, for their hearts are full of envy and infirmity.
حکایت آن اعرابی کی سگ او از گرسنگی می‌مرد و انبان او پر نان و بر سگ نوحه می‌کرد و شعر می‌گفت و می‌گریست و سر و رو می‌زد و دریغش می‌آمد لقمه‌ای از انبان به سگ دادن
Story of the Arab of the desert whose dog was dying of hunger, while his wallet was full of bread; he was lamenting over the dog and reciting poetry and sobbing and beating his head and face; and yet he grudged the dog a morsel from his wallet.
آن سگی می‌مرد و گریان آن عرب ** اشک می‌بارید و می‌گفت ای کرب
The dog was dying, and the Arab sobbing, shedding tears, and crying, “Oh, sorrow!”
سایلی بگذشت و گفت این گریه چیست ** نوحه و زاری تو از بهر کیست
A beggar passed by and asked, “What is this sobbing? For whom is thy mourning and lamentation?”
گفت در ملکم سگی بد نیک‌خو ** نک همی‌میرد میان راه او
He replied, “There was in my possession a dog of excellent disposition. Look, he is dying on the road.
روز صیادم بد و شب پاسبان ** تیزچشم و صیدگیر و دزدران 480
He hunted for me by day and kept watch by night; (he was) keen-eyed and (good at) catching the prey and driving off thieves.”
گفت رنجش چیست زخمی خورده است ** گفت جوع الکلب زارش کرده است
He (the beggar) asked, “What ails him? Has he been wounded?” The Arab replied, “Ravenous hunger has made him (so) lamentable.”
گفت صبری کن برین رنج و حرض ** صابران را فضل حق بخشد عوض
“Show some patience,” said he, “in (bearing) this pain and anguish: the grace of God bestows a recompense on those who are patient.”
بعد از آن گفتش کای سالار حر ** چیست اندر دستت این انبان پر
Afterwards he said to him, “O noble chief, what is this full wallet in your hand?”
گفت نان و زاد و لوت دوش من ** می‌کشانم بهر تقویت بدن
He replied, “My bread and provender and food left over from last night, (which) I am taking along (with me) to nourish my body.”
گفت چون ندهی بدان سگ نان و زاد ** گفت تا این حد ندارم مهر و داد 485
“Why don't you give (some) bread and provender to the dog?” he asked. He replied, “I have not love and liberality to this extent.
دست ناید بی‌درم در راه نان ** لیک هست آب دو دیده رایگان
Bread cannot be obtained (by a traveller) on the road without money, but water from the eyes costs nothing.”
گفت خاکت بر سر ای پر باد مشک ** که لب نان پیش تو بهتر ز اشک
He (the beggar) said, “Earth be on your head, O water-skin full of wind! for in your opinion a crust of bread is better than tears.”
اشک خونست و به غم آبی شده ** می‌نیرزد خاک خون بیهده
Tears are (originally) blood and have been turned by grief into water: idle tears have not the value of earth.
کل خود را خوار کرد او چون بلیس ** پاره‌ی این کل نباشد جز خسیس
He (the Arab) made the whole of himself despicable, like Iblís: a piece of this whole is naught but vile.
من غلام آنک نفروشد وجود ** جز بدان سلطان با افضال و جود 490
I am the (devoted) slave of him who will not sell his existence save to that bounteous and munificent Sovereign,
چون بگرید آسمان گریان شود ** چون بنالد چرخ یا رب خوان شود
(So that) when he weeps, heaven begins to weep, and when he moans (in supplication), the celestial sphere begins to cry, “O Lord!”
من غلام آن مس همت‌پرست ** کو به غیر کیمیا نارد شکست
I am the (devoted) slave of that high-aspiring copper which humbles itself to naught but the Elixir.
دست اشکسته برآور در دعا ** سوی اشکسته پرد فضل خدا
Lift up in prayer a broken hand: the loving kindness of God flies towards the broken.
گر رهایی بایدت زین چاه تنگ ** ای برادر رو بر آذر بی‌درنگ
If thou hast need of deliverance from this narrow dungeon (the world), O brother, go without delay (and cast thyself) on the fire.
مکر حق را بین و مکر خود بهل ** ای ز مکرش مکر مکاران خجل 495
Regard God's contrivance and abandon thine own contrivance: oh, by His contrivance (all) the contrivance of contrivers is put to shame.
چونک مکرت شد فنای مکر رب ** برگشایی یک کمینی بوالعجب
When thy contrivance is naughted in the contrivance of the Lord, thou wilt open a most marvellous hiding-place,
که کمینه‌ی آن کمین باشد بقا ** تا ابد اندر عروج و ارتقا
Of which hiding-place the least (treasure) is everlasting life (occupied) in ascending and mounting higher.
در بیان آنک هیچ چشم بدی آدمی را چنان مهلک نیست کی چشم پسند خویشتن مگر کی چشم او مبدل شده باشد به نور حق که بی یسمع و بی یبصر و خویشتن او بی‌خویشتن شده
Explaining that no evil eye is so deadly to a man as the eye of self-approval, unless his eye shall have been transformed by the Light of God, so that “he hears through Me and sees through Me,” and (unless) his self shall have become selfless.
پر طاوست مبین و پای بین ** تا که س العین نگشاید کمین
Do not regard thy peacock-feathers but regard thy feet, in order that the mischief of the (evil) eye may not waylay thee;
که بلغزد کوه از چشم بدان ** یزلقونک از نبی بر خوان بدان
For (even) a mountain slips (from its foundations) at the eye of the wicked: read and mark in the Qur’án (the words) they cause thee to stumble.
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.