- This tribulation is like the water of the Nile: it is water to the blessed and blood to the damned.
- هم‌چو آب نیل آمد این بلا ** سعد را آبست و خون بر اشقیا
- The more one descries the end, the more blessed is he: the greater one sees the crop (to be), the more zealously he sows,
- هر که پایان‌بین‌تر او مسعودتر ** جدتر او کارد که افزون دید بر
- Because he knows that this world of sowing is for the sake of the (Last) Congregation and (for the sake of) gathering in (the harvest).
- زانک داند کین جهان کاشتن ** هست بهر محشر و برداشتن
- No contract (of sale) was (ever made) for the sake of itself; nay, but for the sake of (being in) the position of (making) gain and profit. 2990
- هیچ عقدی بهر عین خود نبود ** بلک از بهر مقام ربح و سود
- There is no disbeliever, if you look (carefully), whose disbelief is for the sake of the disbelief itself;
- هیچ نبود منکری گر بنگری ** منکری‌اش بهر عین منکری
- Nay, but (it is) for the purpose of subduing his adversary in envy (of him), or seeking superiority and self-display.
- بل برای قهر خصم اندر حسد ** یا فزونی جستن و اظهار خود
- And that superiority too is for the sake of some other desire: the forms give no relish without the essential meanings.
- وآن فزونی هم پی طمع دگر ** بی‌معانی چاشنی ندهد صور
- You ask “Why art thou doing this?” because the forms are (as) the oil, and the essential meaning is (as) the light.
- زان همی‌پرسی چرا این می‌کنی ** که صور زیتست و معنی روشنی
- Otherwise, wherefore is this saying “why”?—since (hypothetically) the form is for the sake of the form itself. 2995
- ورنه این گفتن چرا از بهر چیست ** چونک صورت بهر عین صورتیست
- This saying “why” is a question concerning the use (reason): it is bad to say “why” for any cause but this.
- این چرا گفتن سال از فایده‌ست ** جز برای این چرا گفتن بدست