He is like Moses, and his body is his Pharaoh: he keeps running (to and fro) outside, asking, “Where is my enemy?”
او چو موسی و تنش فرعون او ** او به بیرون میدود که کو عدو
His fleshly soul (is) luxuriating in the house, which is his body, (while) he gnaws his hand in rancour against some one else.775
نفسش اندر خانهی تن نازنین ** بر دگر کس دست میخاید به کین
How men blamed a person who killed his mother because he suspected her (of adultery).
ملامت کردن مردم شخصی را که مادرش را کشت به تهمت
A certain man killed his mother in wrath, with blows of a dagger and also with blows of his fist.
آن یکی از خشم مادر را بکشت ** هم به زخم خنجر و هم زخم مشت
Some one said to him, “From evil nature you have not borne in mind what is due to motherhood.
آن یکی گفتش که از بد گوهری ** یاد ناوردی تو حق مادری
Hey, tell (me) why you killed your mother. What did she do? Pray, tell (me), O foul villain!”
هی تو مادر را چرا کشتی بگو ** او چه کرد آخر بگو ای زشت خو
He said, “She did a deed that is a disgrace to her; I killed her because that earth (her grave) is her coverer (hides her shame).”
گفت کاری کرد کان عار وی است ** کشتمش کان خاک ستار وی است
The other said, “O honoured sir, kill that one (who was her partner in guilt).” “Then,” he replied, “I should kill a man every day.780
گفت آن کس را بکش ای محتشم ** گفت پس هر روز مردی را کشم
I killed her, I was saved from shedding the blood of a multitude: ’tis better that I cut her throat than the throats of (so many) people.”
کشتم او را رستم از خونهای خلق ** نای او برم به است از نای خلق
That mother of bad character, whose wickedness is in every quarter, is your fleshly soul.
نفس تست آن مادر بد خاصیت ** که فساد اوست در هر ناحیت
Come, kill it, for on account of that vile (creature) you are every moment assailing one who is venerable.
هین بکش او را که بهر آن دنی ** هر دمی قصد عزیزی میکنی
Through it this fair world is narrow (distressful) to you, for its sake (you are at) war with God and man.
از وی این دنیای خوش بر تست تنگ ** از پی او با حق و با خلق جنگ
(If) you have killed the fleshly soul, you are delivered from (the necessity of) excusing yourself: nobody in the world remains your enemy.785
نفس کشتی باز رستی ز اعتذار ** کس ترا دشمن نماند در دیار
If any one should raise a difficulty about my words in regard to the prophets and saints,
گر شکال آرد کسی بر گفت ما ** از برای انبیا و اولیا
(And should say), “Had not the prophets a killed (mortified) fleshly soul? Why, then, had they enemies and enviers?”—
کانبیا را نه که نفس کشته بود ** پس چراشان دشمنان بود و حسود
Give ear, O seeker of truth, and hear the answer to this difficulty and doubt.
گوش کن تو ای طلبکار صواب ** بشنو این اشکال و شبهت را جواب
Those unbelievers were (really) enemies to themselves: they were striking at themselves such blows (as they struck).
دشمن خود بودهاند آن منکران ** زخم بر خود میزدند ایشان چنان
An enemy is one who attempts (another's) life; he that is himself destroying his own life is not an enemy (to others).790
دشمن آن باشد که قصد جان کند ** دشمن آن نبود که خود جان میکند
The little bat is not an enemy to the sun: it is an enemy to itself in the veil (of its own blindness).
نیست خفاشک عدوی آفتاب ** او عدوی خویش آمد در حجاب
The glow of the sun kills it; how should the sun ever suffer annoyance from it?
تابش خورشید او را میکشد ** رنج او خورشید هرگز کی کشد
An enemy is one from whom torment proceeds, (one who) hinders the ruby from (receiving the rays of) the sun.
دشمن آن باشد کز او آید عذاب ** مانع آید لعل را از آفتاب
All the infidels hinder themselves from (receiving) the rays of the prophets' (spiritual) jewel.
مانع خویشند جملهی کافران ** از شعاع جوهر پیغمبران
How should (unbelieving) people veil the eyes of that peerless one (the prophet or saint)? The people have (only) blinded and distorted their own eyes.795
کی حجاب چشم آن فردند خلق ** چشم خود را کور و کژ کردند خلق
(They are) like the Indian slave who bears a grudge and kills himself to spite his master:
چون غلام هندویی کاو کین کشد ** از ستیزهی خواجه خود را میکشد
He falls headlong from the roof of the house (in the hope) that he may have done some harm to his master.
سر نگون میافتد از بام سرا ** تا زیانی کرده باشد خواجه را
If the sick man become an enemy to the physician, or if the boy show hostility to the teacher,
گر شود بیمار دشمن با طبیب ** ور کند کودک عداوت با ادیب