Every one (of their efforts) more pithless than another, (while), in the case of the sincere, (every effort) is more excellent than the other.
هر یکی از یکدیگر بیمغزتر ** صادقان را یک ز دیگر نغزتر
Those folk (the Hypocrites) tied a hundred belts on their mantles in order to destroy the Mosque of the people of Qubá—
صد کمر آن قوم بسته بر قبا ** بهر هدم مسجد اهل قبا
Even as the Lords of the Elephant (who abode) in Abyssinia made a Ka‘ba, (but) God set it afire;
همچو آن اصحاب فیل اندر حبش ** کعبهای کردند حق آتش زدش
(And then) they (the Abyssinians) made an attempt on the Ka‘ba in revenge: read from the Word (of God) how they fared!
قصد کعبه ساختند از انتقام ** حالشان چون شد فرو خوان از کلام
The reprobates of the Religion have indeed no equipment but cunning and deceit and contentiousness.2905
مر سیه رویان دین را خود جهیز ** نیست الا حیلت و مکر و ستیز
Every Companion saw plainly (in sleep) some vision of that Mosque, so that the secret (purpose) of it became to them certain knowledge.
هر صحابی دید ز آن مسجد عیان ** واقعه تا شد یقینشان سر آن
If I should relate the visions, one by one, then the purity (of the Companions) would become certain to them that doubt;
واقعات ار باز گویم یک به یک ** پس یقین گردد صفا بر اهل شک
But I am afraid of revealing their mystery: they are the disdainful loved ones (of God), and disdain beseems them.
لیک میترسم ز کشف رازشان ** نازنینانند و زیبد نازشان
They have received the (religious) Law (directly from God) without mechanical imitation (of others): they have taken that (unadulterated) coin without (applying) the touchstone.
شرع بیتقلید میپذرفتهاند ** بیمحک آن نقد را بگرفتهاند
The Wisdom of the Qur’án is like the true believer's stray camel: every one has certain (intuitive) knowledge of his own stray.2910
حکمت قرآن چو ضالهی مومن است ** هر کسی در ضالهی خود موقن است
Story of the person who was seeking after his stray camel and inquiring about it.
قصهی آن شخص که اشتر ضالهی خود میجست و میپرسید
(If) you have lost a camel and sought it busily, how should you not know,when you find it, that it is yours?
اشتری گم کردی و جستیش چست ** چون بیابی چون ندانی کان تست
What is the stray? You have lost a she-camel: (she has) fled from your herd into a veil (of concealment).
ضاله چه بود ناقهای گم کردهای ** از کفت بگریخته در پردهای
The caravaneers have begun to load, (but) your camel has disappeared from the midst (of the caravan).
آمده در بار کردن کاروان ** اشتر تو ز آن میان گشته نهان
You are running to and fro with parched lips; the caravan is (now) far away, and night is near.
میدوی این سو و آن سو خشک لب ** کاروان شد دور و نزدیک است شب
Your baggage is left on the ground, (lying) on the road of peril, (whilst) you are running about in search of the camel,2915
رخت مانده بر زمین در راه خوف ** تو پی اشتر دوان گشته به طوف
Crying, “O Moslems, who has seen a camel which this morning escaped from a stable?
کای مسلمانان که دیده ست اشتری ** جسته بیرون بامداد از آخوری
Whoever will tell (me) a clue to my camel, I will give so many dirhems as a reward (for the information).”
هر که بر گوید نشان از اشترم ** مژدگانی میدهم چندین درم
You are requesting clues from every one: every rascal is making a mock of you on this account,
باز میجویی نشان از هر کسی ** ریشخندت میکند زین هر خسی
Saying, “We saw a camel going in this direction, a reddish camel (going) towards yonder pasturage.”
کاشتری دیدیم میرفت این طرف ** اشتر سرخی به سوی آن علف
One (of them) says, “It was crop-eared,” and another says, “Its saddlecloth was embroidered.”2920
آن یکی گوید بریده گوش بود ** و آن دگر گوید جلش منقوش بود
One says, “The camel had (only) one eye,” and another says, “It (was suffering) from mange (and) had no hair.”
آن یکی گوید شتر یک چشم بود ** و آن دگر گوید ز گر بیپشم بود
For the sake of the reward every rascal, (speaking) at random, sets forth a hundred clues.
از برای مژدگانی صد نشان ** از گزافه هر خسی کرده بیان
On being perplexed amidst discordant doctrines and finding (a means of) escape and deliverance.
متردد شدن در میان مذهبهای مخالف و بیرون شو و مخلص یافتن
(This is) even as in the matter of knowledge (of God) every one describes (differently) the Unseen Object of description.
همچنان که هر کسی در معرفت ** میکند موصوف غیبی را صفت
The philosopher gives an explanation of another (a particular) kind; a scholastic theologian invalidates his statement;
فلسفی از نوع دیگر کرده شرح ** باحثی مر گفت او را کرده جرح
And some one else jeers at both of them, while another hypocritically tires himself to death (trying to prove that he has real knowledge of God).2925
و آن دگر در هر دو طعنه میزند ** و آن دگر از زرق جانی میکند