Then at once he bound him tightly to the tree and thrashed him hard on the back and legs with a cudgel.
پس ببستش سخت آن دم بر درخت ** می‌زد او بر پشت و ساقش چوب سخت
He (the thief) cried, ‘Pray, have some reverence for God! Thou art killing me miserably who am innocent.’
گفت آخر از خدا شرمی بدار ** می‌کشی این بی‌گنه را زار زار
He answered, ‘With God's cudgel this servant of His is soundly beating the back of another servant.
گفت از چوب خدا این بنده‌اش ** می‌زند بر پشت دیگر بنده خوش
’Tis God's cudgel, and the back and sides belong to Him: I am (only) the slave and instrument of His command.’3085
چوب حق و پشت و پهلو آن او ** من غلام و آلت فرمان او
He (the thief) said, ‘O cunning knave, I make a recantation of Necessitarianism: there is free-will, there is free-will, (there is) free-will!’
گفت توبه کردم از جبر ای عیار ** اختیارست اختیارست اختیار
His (God's universal) power of choice brought (our individual) powers of choice into existence: His power of choice is like a rider (hidden) beneath the dust (which he raises).
اختیارات اختیارش هست کرد ** اختیارش چون سواری زیر گرد
His (God's) power of choice makes our power of choice; His command is based on (is exercised in virtue of) a power of choice (in us).
اختیارش اختیار ما کند ** امر شد بر اختیاری مستند
Every created being has it in his power to exercise authority over the form (that is) without free-will,
حاکمی بر صورت بی‌اختیار ** هست هر مخلوق را در اقتدار
So that he (who is in possession of that power) drags (whither he pleases) the (lifeless) prey devoid of will, (or) so that having seized Zayd by the ear, he leads him away.3090
تا کشد بی‌اختیاری صید را ** تا برد بگرفته گوش او زید را
But (it is) the action of the Lord (that), without (using) any instrument, makes his free-will a noose for him (to catch Zayd).