(I thank Thee) because they were vile and evil ruins, uttering neither a cry nor an echo.
زانک اطلال لیم و بد بدند ** نه ندایی نه صدایی میزدند
I desire such ruins to speak with as answer back, like the mountain, by an echo,
من چنان اطلال خواهم در خطاب ** کز صدا چون کوه واگوید جواب
So that I may hear Thy name redoubled, (for) I am in love with Thy soul-soothing name.1350
تا مثنا بشنوم من نام تو ** عاشقم برنام جان آرام تو
That is why every prophet holds the mountains dear: (’tis) that he may hear Thy name redoubled.
هرنبی زان دوست دارد کوه را ** تا مثنا بشنود نام ترا
That low mountain, resembling stony ground, is suitable for a mouse, not for us, as a resting-place.
آن که پست مثال سنگ لاخ ** موش را شاید نه ما را در مناخ
(When) I speak, it does not join with me: the breath of my speech remains without (any) echo.
من بگویم او نگردد یار من ** بی صدا ماند دم گفتار من
’Tis better that thou level it with the earth; it is not in accord with thy breath (voice): thou shouldst join it with thy foot.”
با زمین آن به که هموارش کنی ** نیست همدم با قدم یارش کنی
He (God) said, “O Noah, if thou desire, I will assemble them all and raise them from (their graves in) the earth.1355
گفت ای نوح ار تو خواهی جمله را ** حشر گردانم بر آرم از ثری
I will not break thy heart for the sake of a Canaan, but I am acquainting (thee) with (their real) states.”
بهر کنعانی دل تو نشکنم ** لیکت از احوال آگه میکنم
He (Noah) said, “Nay, nay, I am content that Thou shouldst drown me too, if it behove Thee (to do so).
گفت نه نه راضیم که تو مرا ** هم کنی غرقه اگر باید ترا
Keep drowning me every instant, I am pleased: Thy ordinance is my (very) soul, I bear it (with me) as my soul.
هر زمانم غرقه میکن من خوشم ** حکم تو جانست چون جان میکشم
I do not look at any one (but Thee), and even if I do look at (any one), he is (only) a pretext, and Thou art the (real) object of my regard.
ننگرم کس را وگر هم بنگرم ** او بهانه باشد و تو منظرم
I am in love with Thy making (both) in (the hour of) thanksgiving and (in the hour of) patience; how should I be in love, like the infidel, with that which Thou hast made?”1360
عاشق صنع توم در شکر و صبر ** عاشق مصنوع کی باشم چو گبر
He that loves God's making is glorious; he that loves what He hath made is an unbeliever.
عاشق صنع خدا با فر بود ** عاشق مصنوع او کافر بود
Reconciliation of these two Traditions: “To be satisfied with infidelity is an act of infidelity,” and “If any one is not satisfied with My ordainment, let him seek a lord other than Me.”
توفیق میان این دو حدیث کی الرضا بالکفر کفر و حدیث دیگر من لم یرض بقضایی فلیطلب ربا سوای
Yesterday an inquirer put a question to me, because he was fond of disputation.
دی سالی کرد سایل مر مرا ** زانک عاشق بود او بر ماجرا
He said, “This Prophet uttered the deep saying, ‘To be satisfied with infidelity is an act of infidelity’; his words are (conclusive like) a seal.
گفت نکتهی الرضا بالکفر کفر ** این پیمبر گفت و گفت اوست مهر
Again, he said that the Moslem must be satisfied (acquiesce) in every ordainment, must be satisfied.
باز فرمود او که اندر هر قضا ** مر مسلمان را رضا باید رضا
Is not infidelity and hypocrisy the ordainment of God? If I become satisfied with this (infidelity), ’twill be opposition (disobedience to God),1365
نه قضای حق بود کفر و نفاق ** گر بدین راضی شوم باشد شقاق
And if I am not satisfied, that too will be detrimental: between (these two alternatives), then, what means (of escape) is there for me?”
ور نیم راضی بود آن هم زیان ** پس چه چاره باشدم اندر میان
I said to him, “This infidelity is the thing ordained, it is not the ordainment; this infidelity is truly the effects of the ordainment.
گفتمش این کفر مقضی نه قضاست ** هست آثار قضا این کفر راست
Therefore know (distinguish), sire, the ordainment from the thing ordained, so that thy difficulty may be removed at once.
پس قضا را خواجه از مقضی بدان ** تا شکالت دفع گردد در زمان
I acquiesce in infidelity in that respect that it is the ordainment (of God), not in this respect that it is our contentiousness and wickedness.
راضیم در کفر زان رو که قضاست ** نه ازین رو که نزاع و خبث ماست
In respect of the ordainment, infidelity indeed is not infidelity. Do not call God ‘infidel,’ do not stand here.1370
کفر از روی قضا خود کفر نیست ** حق را کافر مخوان اینجا مهایست
Infidelity is ignorance, and the ordainment of infidelity is knowledge: how, pray, should hilm (forbearance) and khilm (anger) both be one (and the same)?
کفر جهلست و قضای کفر علم ** هر دو کی یک باشد آخر حلم و خلم
The ugliness of the script is not the ugliness of the artist; nay, ’tis an exhibition of the ugly by him.
زشتی خط زشتی نقاش نیست ** بلک از وی زشت را بنمودنیست