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.
نومید کردن وزیر مریدان را از رفض خلوت
The vizier cried out from within, “O disciples, be this made known to you from me,
آن وزیر از اندرون آواز داد ** کای مریدان از من این معلوم باد
That Jesus hath given me a such-like message: ‘Be separated from all friends and kinsfolk.
که مرا عیسی چنین پیغام کرد ** کز همه یاران و خویشان باش فرد
Set thy face to the wall, sit alone, and choose to be secluded even from thine own existence.’645
روی در دیوار کن تنها نشین ** وز وجود خویش هم خلوت گزین
After this there is no permission (for me) to speak; after this I have nothing to do with talk.
بعد از این دستوری گفتار نیست ** بعد از این با گفت و گویم کار نیست
Farewell, O friends! I am dead: I have carried my belongings up to the Fourth Heaven,
الوداع ای دوستان من مرده‌‌ام ** رخت بر چارم فلک بر برده‌‌ام
In order that beneath the fiery sphere I may not burn like firewood in woe and perdition,
تا به زیر چرخ ناری چون حطب ** من نسوزم در عنا و در عطب
(But) henceforth may sit beside Jesus at the top of the Fourth Heaven.”
پهلوی عیسی نشینم بعد از این ** بر فراز آسمان چارمین
How the vizier appointed each one of the amírs separately as his successor.
ولی عهد ساختن وزیر هر یک امیر را جدا جدا
And then he summoned those amírs one by one and conversed with each (of them) alone.650
و آن گهانی آن امیران را بخواند ** یک به یک تنها به هر یک حرف راند
He said to each one, “In the religion of Jesus thou art the vicar of God and my khalífa (vicegerent),
گفت هر یک را به دین عیسوی ** نایب حق و خلیفه‌‌ی من توی
And those other amírs are thy followers: Jesus hath made all of them thy assistants.
و آن امیران دگر اتباع تو ** کرد عیسی جمله را اشیاع تو
Any amír who lifts his neck (in rebellion), seize him and either kill him or hold him captive;
هر امیری کو کشید گردن بگیر ** یا بکش یا خود همی‌‌دارش اسیر