He is a wine-drinker and a hypocrite and a scoundrel: how should he be one to succour his disciples?”
شارب خمر است و سالوس و خبیث ** مر مریدان را کجا باشد مغیث
One (of the disciples) said to him, “Observe respect: ’tis no light matter to think so ill of the great.3305
آن یکی گفتش ادب را هوش دار ** خرد نبود این چنین ظن بر کبار
Far is it from him and far from those (saintly) qualities of his that his clear (spirit) should be darkened by a flood (of sin).
دور از او و دور از آن اوصاف او ** که ز سیلی تیره گردد صاف او
Do not put such slander on the people of God! This is (mere) fancy on your part. Turn over (a new) leaf.
این چنین بهتان منه بر اهل حق ** این خیال تست بر گردان ورق
This (which you say) is not (true); and (even) if it should be, O land-fowl, what harm (comes) to the Red Sea from a carcase?
این نباشد ور بود ای مرغ خاک ** بحر قلزم را ز مرداری چه باک
He (the Shaykh) is not less than the (statutory) two jugfuls or the small tank, so that a single drop (of impurity) should be able to disqualify him (for religious purposes).
نیست دون القلتین و حوض خرد ** کی تواند قطرهایش از کار برد
The fire is no damage to Abraham, (but) let any one who is a Nimrod beware of it!”3310
آتش ابراهیم را نبود زیان ** هر که نمرودی است گو میترس از آن
The fleshly soul is Nimrod, and the intellect and spirit are the Friend of God (Abraham): the spirit is concerned with reality itself, and the fleshly soul with the proofs.
نفس نمرود است و عقل و جان خلیل ** روح در عین است و نفس اندر دلیل
These indications of the way are for the traveller who at every moment becomes lost in the desert.
این دلیل راه رهرو را بود ** کاو به هر دم در بیابان گم شود
For them that have attained (to union with God) there is nothing (necessary) except the eye (of the spirit) and the lamp (of intuitive faith): they have no concern with indications (to guide them) or with a road (to travel by).
واصلان را نیست جز چشم و چراغ ** از دلیل و راهشان باشد فراغ