Our humility is evidence of necessity, (but) our sense of guilt is evidence of freewill.
زاری ما شد دلیل اضطرار ** خجلت ما شد دلیل اختیار
If there were not freewill, what is this shame? And what is this sorrow and guilty confusion and abashment?
گر نبودی اختیار این شرم چیست ** وین دریغ و خجلت و آزرم چیست
Why is there chiding between pupils and masters? Why is the mind changing (so as to depart) from plans (already formed)?620
زجر استادان و شاگردان چراست ** خاطر از تدبیرها گردان چراست
And if you say that he (the assertor of free-will) takes no heed of the (Divine) compulsion, (and that) God's moon (majesty) hides its face (from him) in the cloud (of his own blindness),
ور تو گویی غافل است از جبر او ** ماه حق پنهان کند در ابر رو
There is a good answer to this; if you hearken, you will relinquish unbelief and incline towards the (true) religion.
هست این را خوش جواب ار بشنوی ** بگذری از کفر و در دین بگروی
Remorse and humility occur at the time of illness: the time of illness is wholly wakefulness (of conscience).
حسرت و زاری گه بیماری است ** وقت بیماری همه بیداری است
At the time when you are becoming ill, you pray God to forgive your trespass;
آن زمان که میشوی بیمار تو ** میکنی از جرم استغفار تو
The foulness of your sin is shown to you, you resolve to come back to the (right) way;625
مینماید بر تو زشتی گنه ** میکنی نیت که باز آیم به ره
You make promises and vows that henceforth your chosen course (of action) will be nothing but obedience (to God):
عهد و پیمان میکنی که بعد از این ** جز که طاعت نبودم کار گزین
Therefore it has become certain that illness gives to you conscience and wakefulness.
پس یقین گشت این که بیماری ترا ** میببخشد هوش و بیداری ترا
Note, then, this principle, O thou that seekest the principle; every one who suffers pain has caught the scent (thereof):
پس بدان این اصل را ای اصل جو ** هر که را درد است او برده ست بو
The more wakeful any one is, the more full of suffering he is; the more aware (of God) he is, the paler he is in countenance.
هر که او بیدارتر پر دردتر ** هر که او آگاهتر رخ زردتر
If you are aware of His jabr (compulsion), where is your humility? Where is your feeling of (being loaded with) the chain of His jabbárí (almightiness)?630
گر ز جبرش آگهی زاریت کو ** بینش زنجیر جباریت کو
How should one make merry who is bound in chains? When does the captive in prison behave like the man who is free?
بسته در زنجیر چون شادی کند ** کی اسیر حبس آزادی کند
And if you consider that your foot is shackled (and that) the king's officers are sitting (as custodians) over you,
ور تو میبینی که پایت بستهاند ** بر تو سرهنگان شه بنشستهاند
Then do not act like an officer (tyrannously) towards the helpless, inasmuch as that is not the nature and habit of a helpless man.
پس تو سرهنگی مکن با عاجزان ** ز آن که نبود طبع و خوی عاجز آن
Since you do not feel His compulsion, do not say (that you are compelled); and if you feel it, where is the sign of your feeling?
چون تو جبر او نمیبینی مگو ** ور همیبینی نشان دید کو
In every act for which you have inclination, you are clearly conscious of your power (to perform it),635
در هر آن کاری که میل استت بدان ** قدرت خود را همیبینی عیان
(But) in the act for which you have no inclination and desire, you make yourself a necessitarian, saying, “This is from God.”
و اندر آن کاری که میلت نیست ** و خواست خویش را جبری کنی کاین از خداست
The prophets are necessitarians in regard to the works of this world, (while) the infidels are necessitarians in regard to the works of the next world.
انبیا در کار دنیا جبریاند ** کافران در کار عقبی جبریاند
To the prophets the works of the next world are (a matter of) freewill; to the foolish the works of this world are (a matter of) freewill,
انبیا را کار عقبی اختیار ** جاهلان را کار دنیا اختیار
Because every bird flies to its own congener: it (follows) behind, and its spirit (goes) before, (leading it on).
ز آن که هر مرغی به سوی جنس خویش ** میپرد او در پس و جان پیش پیش
Inasmuch as the infidels were congeners of Sijjn (Hell), they were well-disposed to the prison (sijn) of this world.640
کافران چون جنس سجین آمدند ** سجن دنیا را خوش آیین آمدند
Inasmuch as the prophets were congeners of ‘Illiyyín (Heaven), they went towards the ‘Illiyyín of spirit and heart.
انبیا چون جنس علیین بدند ** سوی علیین جان و دل شدند
This discourse hath no end, but let us (now) relate the story to its completion.
این سخن پایان ندارد لیک ما ** باز گوییم آن تمامی قصه را
How the vizier made the disciples lose hope of his abandoning seclusion.