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.
ور کند سستت حقیقت این بدان ** هست تبدیل و نه تاویلست آن
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).
این برای گرم کردن آمدست ** تا بگیرد ناامیدان را دو دست
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,
معنی قرآن ز قرآن پرس و بس ** وز کسی که آتش زدست اندر هوس
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.
پیش قرآن گشت قربانی و پست ** تا که عین روح او قرآن شدست
The oil that has wholly devoted itself to the rose—smell either the oil or the rose as you please.3130
روغنی کو شد فدای گل به کل ** خواه روغن بوی کن خواهی تو گل
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.
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
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).
هم‌چنین تاویل قد جف القلم ** بهر تحریضست بر شغل اهم
Therefore the Pen wrote that every action has the effect and consequence appropriate to it.
پس قلم بنوشت که هر کار را ** لایق آن هست تاثیر و جزا
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).
کژ روی جف القلم کژ آیدت ** راستی آری سعادت زایدت
(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).