He replied, “These rascals are proposing to make me Cadi in this their city.2420
گفت این اوباش رایی میزنند ** تا در این شهر خودم قاضی کنند
I raised objections, (but) they said to me, ‘Nay, there is none so learned and accomplished as thou.
دفع میگفتم مرا گفتند نی ** نیست چون تو عالمی صاحب فنی
Whilst thou art in existence, it is unlawful and wicked that any one inferior to thee should cite Prophetic Traditions in the office of Cadi.
با وجود تو حرام است و خبیث ** که کم از تو در قضا گوید حدیث
Permission is not (given) in the Law, that we should appoint one less than thee as (our) prince and leader.’
در شریعت نیست دستوری که ما ** کمتر از تو شه کنیم و پیشوا
By this necessity I was made distraught and mad (in appearance), but inwardly I am just the same as I was.
زین ضرورت گیج و دیوانه شدم ** لیک در باطن همانم که بدم
My intelligence is the (hidden) treasure, and I am the ruin (which covers it); if I display the treasure, (then) I am mad (indeed).2425
عقل من گنج است و من ویرانهام ** گنج اگر پیدا کنم دیوانهام
The (real) madman is he that has not gone mad, he that has seen this night patrol and has not gone home.
اوست دیوانه که دیوانه نشد ** این عسس را دید و در خانه نشد
My knowledge is substantial, not accidental; and this precious (thing) is not for (the purpose of gaining) every (worldly) interest.
دانش من جوهر آمد نه عرض ** این بهایی نیست بهر هر غرض
I am a mine of candy, I am a plantation of sugar-canes: it is growing from me, and at the same time I am eating (of it).
کان قندم نیستان شکرم ** هم ز من میروید و من میخورم
Knowledge is conventional and acquired (not real), when he (its owner) laments because the hearer is averse to (hearing) it.
علم تقلیدی و تعلیمی است آن ** کز نفورش مستمع دارد فغان
Since it is (learned) as a bait (for popularity), not for the sake of (spiritual) enlightenment, he (the seeker of religious knowledge) is just as (bad) as the seeker of vile worldly knowledge;2430
چون پی دانه نه بهر روشنی است ** همچو طالب علم دنیای دنی است
(For) he is seeking knowledge on account of the vulgar and the noble, not in order that he may win release from this world.
طالب علم است بهر عام و خاص ** نی که تا یابد از این عالم خلاص
Like a mouse, he has burrowed in every direction, since the light drove him (back) from the door (the entrance to the hole) and said, ‘Away!’
همچو موشی هر طرف سوراخ کرد ** چون که نورش راند از در گشت سرد
Inasmuch as he had no way (of getting out) to the open country and the light, he continued to make (such) an exertion even in that darkness.
چون که سوی دشت و نورش ره نبود ** هم در آن ظلمات جهدی مینمود
If God give him wings, the wings of Wisdom, he will escape from mousiness and will fly like the birds;
گر خدایش پر دهد پر خرد ** برهد از موشی و چون مرغان پرد
But if he seek not wings, he will remain underground with no hope of traversing the path to Simák.2435
ور نجوید پر بماند زیر خاک ** ناامید از رفتن راه سماک
Dialectic knowledge, which is soulless, is in love with (eager for) the countenance of customers;
علم گفتاری که آن بیجان بود ** عاشق روی خریداران بود
(But) though it is robust at the time of disputation, it is dead and gone when it has no customer.
گر چه باشد وقت بحث علم زفت ** چون خریدارش نباشد مرد و رفت
My purchaser is God: He is drawing me aloft, for God hath purchased.
مشتری من خدای است او مرا ** میکشد بالا که الله اشتری
My bloodwit (the reward of my self-sacrifice) is the beauty of the Glorious One: I enjoy my bloodwit (as) lawful earnings.
خونبهای من جمال ذو الجلال ** خونبهای خود خورم کسب حلال
Abandon these insolvent customers: what purchase can be made by a handful of (worthless) clay?2440
این خریداران مفلس را بهل ** چه خریداری کند یک مشت گل
Do not eat clay, do not buy clay, do not seek clay, because the eater of clay is always pale-faced.
گل مخور گل را مخر گل را مجو ** ز انکه گل خوار است دایم زرد رو
Eat your heart (in love of God), that you may be young always, (and that) your visage (may be rosy) with Divine illumination, like the arghawán.”
دل بخور تا دایما باشی جوان ** از تجلی چهرهات چون ارغوان
O Lord, this gift is not (within) the compass of our work (achievement): verily, (the gift of) Thy grace is (not according to our work, but) according to Thy mysterious grace.
یا رب این بخشش نه حد کار ماست ** لطف تو لطف خفی را خود سزاست
Take our hands (help us); buy (redeem) us from our hands (self-existence); lift the veil (between Thee and us), and do not tear our veil (do not expose us to shame).
دست گیر از دست ما ما را بخر ** پرده را بردار و پردهی ما مدر