If all the world should say to him, “You are on the Way of God and (are following) the right religion,”
گر همه عالم بگویندش توی ** بر ره یزدان و دین مستوی
He will not be made hotter by their words: his lonely soul will not mate with them;
او نگردد گرم‌تر از گفتشان ** جان طاق او نگردد جفتشان
And if they all should say to him, “You are astray: you think (you are) a mountain, and (in reality) you are a blade of straw,”
ور همه گویند او را گم‌رهی ** کوه پنداری و تو برگ کهی
He will not fall into opinion (doubt) because of their taunts, he will not be grieved by their departure (estrangement from him).
او نیفتد در گمان از طعنشان ** او نگردد دردمند از ظعنشان
Nay, if seas and mountains should come to speech and should say to him, “You are wedded to perdition,”1520
بلک گر دریا و کوه آید بگفت ** گویدش با گم‌رهی گشتی تو جفت
Not the least jot will he fall into phantasy or sickness on account of the taunts of the scoffers.
هیچ یک ذره نیفتد در خیال ** یا به طعن طاعنان رنجورحال
Parable of a man's being made (spiritually) ill by vain conceit of the veneration in which he is held by the people and of the supplication addressed to him by those seeking his favour; and the (following) story of the Teacher.
مثال رنجور شدن آدمی بوهم تعظیم خلق و رغبت مشتریان بوی و حکایت معلم
The boys in a certain school suffered at the hands of their master from weariness and toil.
کودکان مکتبی از اوستاد ** رنج دیدند از ملال و اجتهاد
They consulted about (the means of) stopping (his) work, so that the teacher should be reduced to the necessity (of letting them go),
مشورت کردند در تعویق کار ** تا معلم در فتد در اضطرار
(Saying), “Since no illness befalls him, which would cause him to take absence for several days,
چون نمی‌آید ورا رنجوریی ** که بگیرد چند روز او دوریی
So that we might escape from (this) imprisonment and confinement and work, (what can we do?). He is fixed (here), like a solid rock.”1525
تا رهیم از حبس و تنگی و ز کار ** هست او چون سنگ خارا بر قرار
One, the cleverest (of them all), planned that he should say, “Master, how are you (so) pale?
آن یکی زیرکتر این تدبیر کرد ** که بگوید اوستا چونی تو زرد
May it be well (with you)! Your colour is changed: this is the effect either of (bad) air or of a fever.”
خیر باشد رنگ تو بر جای نیست ** این اثر یا از هوا یا از تبیست
(He continued), “At this he (the master) will begin to fancy a little (that he is ill): do you too, brother, help (me) in like manner.
اندکی اندر خیال افتد ازین ** تو برادر هم مدد کن این‌چنین
When you come in through the door of the school, say (to him), ‘Master, is your state (of health) good?’
چون درآیی از در مکتب بگو ** خیر باشد اوستا احوال تو
(Then) that fancy of his will increase a little, for by a fancy a sensible man is driven mad.1530
آن خیالش اندکی افزون شود ** کز خیالی عاقلی مجنون شود
After us let the third (boy) and the fourth and the fifth show sympathy and sorrow likewise,
آن سوم و آن چارم و پنجم چنین ** در پی ما غم نمایند و حنین
So that, when with one consent thirty boys successively tell this story, it may find lodgement (in his mind).”
تا چو سی کودک تواتر این خبر ** متفق گویند یابد مستقر
Each (of the boys) said to him (the ringleader), “Bravo, O sagacious one! May your fortune rest on the favour (of God)!”
هر یکی گفتش که شاباش ای ذکی ** باد بختت بر عنایت متکی
They agreed, in firm covenant, that no fellow should alter the words;
متفق گشتند در عهد وثیق ** که نگرداند سخن را یک رفیق
And afterwards he administered an oath to them all, lest any tell-tale should reveal the plot.1535
بعد از آن سوگند داد او جمله را ** تا که غمازی نگوید ماجرا
The counsel of that boy prevailed over all (the others), his intellect was going in front of the (whole) flock.
رای آن کودک بچربید از همه ** عقل او در پیش می‌رفت از رمه
There is the same difference in human intellect as (there is) amongst loved ones in (their outward) forms.
آن تفاوت هست در عقل بشر ** که میان شاهدان اندر صور
From this point of view, Ahmad (Mohammed) said in talk, “The excellence of men is hidden in the tongue.”
زین قبل فرمود احمد در مقال ** در زبان پنهان بود حسن رجال
People's intellects differ in their original nature, (though) according to the Mu‘tazilites they are (originally) equal and the difference in intellects arises from the acquisition of knowledge.
عقول خلق متفاوتست در اصل فطرت و نزد معتزله متساویست تفاوت عقول از تحصیل علم است
You must hear (and believe) in accordance with the Sunnís (that) the difference in (people's) intellects was original,
اختلاف عقلها در اصل بود ** بر وفاق سنیان باید شنود
In contradiction to the doctrine of the Mu‘tazilites, who hold that (all) intellects were originally equal,1540
بر خلاف قول اهل اعتزال ** که عقول از اصل دارند اعتدال