If God create you with ugly features, take care lest you become both ugly-featured and ugly-natured;
گر ترا حق آفریند زشت رو ** هان مشو هم زشت رو هم زشت خو
And if He take away your shoes, do not go into stony ground; and if you have two spikes, don't become four-spiked.
ور برد کفشت مرو در سنگلاخ ** ور دو شاخ استت مشو تو چار شاخ
You are envious, saying, “I am inferior to so-and-so: he (by his superior position) is increasing my inferiority in fortune.”
تو حسودی کز فلان من کمترم ** میفزاید کمتری در اخترم
(But) indeed envy is another defect and fault; nay, it is worse than all inferiorities.805
خود حسد نقصان و عیبی دیگر است ** بلکه از جمله کمیها بدتر است
That Devil (Satan), through the shame and disgrace of inferiority (to Adam), cast himself into a hundred damnations.
آن بلیس از ننگ و عار کمتری ** خویش را افکند در صد ابتری
Because of envy, he wished to be at the top. At the top, forsooth! Nay, (he wished) to be a blood-shedder.
از حسد میخواست تا بالا بود ** خود چه بالا بلکه خونپالا بود
Abú Jahl was put to shame by Mohammed, and because of envy was raising himself to the top.
آن ابو جهل از محمد ننگ داشت ** وز حسد خود را به بالا میفراشت
His name was Abu ’l-Hakam, and he became Abú Jahl: oh, many a worthy has become unworthy because of envy.
بو الحکم نامش بد و بو جهل شد ** ای بسا اهل از حسد نااهل شد
I have not seen in the world of search and seeking (trial and probation) any worthiness better than a good disposition.810
من ندیدم در جهان جست و جو ** هیچ اهلیت به از خوی نکو
God made the prophets the medium (between Him and His creatures) in order that feelings of envy should be displayed in the agitation (produced by something that rankles in the mind).
انبیا را واسطه ز آن کرد حق ** تا پدید آید حسدها در قلق
Inasmuch as no one was disgraced by (inferiority to) God, no one was (ever) envious of God;
ز انکه کس را از خدا عاری نبود ** حاسد حق هیچ دیاری نبود
(But) the person whom he deemed like himself—he would bear envy against him for that reason.
آن کسی کش مثل خود پنداشتی ** ز آن سبب با او حسد برداشتی
(Now), as the grandeur of the Prophet has become established, none feels envy (of him), since he is accepted (by all the Faithful);
چون مقرر شد بزرگی رسول ** پس حسد ناید کسی را از قبول
Therefore in every epoch (after Mohammed) a saint arises (to act as his vicegerent): the probation (of the people) lasts until the Resurrection.815
پس به هر دوری ولیی قایم است ** تا قیامت آزمایش دایم است
Whosoever has a good disposition is saved; whosoever is of frail heart is broken.
هر که را خوی نکو باشد برست ** هر کسی کاو شیشه دل باشد شکست
That saint, then, is the living Imám who arises (in every age), whether he be a descendant of ‘Umar or of ‘Alí.
پس امام حی قایم آن ولی است ** خواه از نسل عمر خواه از علی است
He is the Mahdí (the God-guided one) and the Hádí (the Guide), O seeker of the (right) way: he is both hidden (from you) and seated before your face.
مهدی و هادی وی است ای راه جو ** هم نهان و هم نشسته پیش رو
He is as the Light (of Mohammed), and (Universal) Reason is his Gabriel; the saint that is lesser than he is his lamp (and receives illumination from him).
او چو نور است و خرد جبریل اوست ** و آن ولی کم از او قندیل اوست
That (saint) who is lesser than this lamp is our lamp-niche: the Light has gradations in degree,820
و انکه زین قندیل کم مشکات ماست ** نور را در مرتبه ترتیبهاست
Because the Light of God has seven hundred veils: regard the veils of the Light as so many tiers.
ز انکه هفصد پرده دارد نور حق ** پردههای نور دان چندین طبق
Behind each veil a certain class (of saints) has its place of abode: these veils of theirs are (in ascending order), rank by rank, up to the Imám.
از پس هر پرده قومی را مقام ** صف صفاند این پردههاشان تا امام
Those in the last (lowest) rank, through their weakness, (are such that) their eyes cannot endure the light in front (of them);
اهل صف آخرین از ضعف خویش ** چشمشان طاقت ندارد نور بیش
And that front rank, from weakness of sight, cannot support the light that is more advanced.
و آن صف پیش از ضعیفی بصر ** تاب نارد روشنایی بیشتر
The light that is the life of the first (highest rank) is heartache and tribulation to this squinter;825
روشنیی کاو حیات اول است ** رنج جان و فتنهی این احول است
(But) the squintnesses, little by little, grow less, and when he passes beyond the seven hundred (veils), he becomes the Sea.
احولیها اندک اندک کم شود ** چون ز هفصد بگذرد او یم شود