The visions which are now revealed to you, is it not the case that at first they seemed absurd to you?
واقعاتی که کنونت بر گشود ** نه که اول هم محالت مینمود
Inasmuch as the (Divine) Bounty has released you from ten prisons, do not make the (wide) desert an oppressive prison to yourself.
چون رهانیدت ز ده زندان کرم ** تیه را بر خود مکن حبس ستم
How the negation and affirmation of one (and the same) thing may be combined and reconciled from the standpoint of relativity and difference of aspect.
جمع و توفیق میان نفی و اثبات یک چیز از روی نسبت و اختلاف جهت
It is possible to deny and affirm the same thing: when the point of view is different, the relation is twofold.
نفی آن یک چیز و اثباتش رواست ** چون جهت شد مختلف نسبت دوتاست
(The text) thou didst not throw when thou threwest is relative: it is negation and affirmation: both are authorised.
ما رمیت اذ رمیت از نسبتست ** نفی و اثباتست و هر دو مثبتست
Thou threwest that (gravel), since it was on thy hand; thou didst not throw, for God manifested (His) power.3660
آن تو افکندی چو بر دست تو بود ** تو نه افکندی که قوت حق نمود
The strength of one born of Adam has a limit: how should a handful of earth become (the cause of) the rout of an army?
زور آدمزاد را حدی بود ** مشت خاک اشکست لشکر کی شود
“(O Mohammed), the handful is thy handful, and the throwing is from Me”: on account of these two relations (both) the denial and the affirmation of it (the throwing) are right.
مشت مشت تست و افکندن ز ماست ** زین دو نسبت نفی و اثباتش رواست
The prophets are known by their enemies, just as their (the enemies') children are not doubtful (to their parents).
یعرفون الانبیا اضدادهم ** مثل ما لا یشتبه اولادهم
The unbelievers know them (the prophets) as (they know) their children by a hundred indications and a hundred signs,
همچو فرزندان خود دانندشان ** منکران با صد دلیل و صد نشان
But, from jealousy and envy, they conceal (their knowledge) and attach themselves to (become addicted to saying) “I do not know.”3665
لیک از رشک و حسد پنهان کنند ** خویشتن را بر ندانم میزنند
Then, since He (God) hath said, “He (the unbeliever) knows,” how hath He said in another place?—“None knoweth them except Me, so leave off (seeking to know them);
پس چو یعرف گفت چون جای دگر ** گفت لایعرفهم غیری فذر
Verily, they are hidden beneath My tents.” None knows them by (immediate) experience except God.
انهم تحت قبابی کامنون ** جز که یزدانشان نداند ز آزمون
Regard also as (explicable) by means of relation this (subject) which was opened (above), (namely) that you know and do not know Noah.
هم بنسبت گیر این مفتوح را ** که بدانی و ندانی نوح را
The question of the faná and baqá of the dervish.
مسلهی فنا و بقای درویش
The speaker said, “There is no dervish in the world; and if there be a dervish, that dervish is (really) non-existent.”
گفت قایل در جهان درویش نیست ** ور بود درویش آن درویش نیست
He exists in respect of the survival of his essence, (but) his attributes have become non-existent in the attributes of Him (God).3670
هست از روی بقای ذات او ** نیست گشته وصف او در وصف هو
Like the flame of a candle in the presence of the sun, he is (really) non-existent, (though he is) existent in (formal) calculation.
چون زبانهی شمع پیش آفتاب ** نیست باشد هست باشد در حساب
Its (the flame's) essence is existent, so that, if you put cotton upon it, it (the cotton) will be consumed by the sparks;
هست باشد ذات او تا تو اگر ** بر نهی پنبه بسوزد زان شرر
(But) it is (really) non-existent: it gives you no light: the sun will have naughted it.
نیست باشد روشنی ندهد ترا ** کرده باشد آفتاب او را فنا
When you have thrown an ounce of vinegar into two hundred maunds of sugar, and it has become dissolved therein,
در دو صد من شهد یک اوقیه خل ** چون در افکندی و در وی گشت حل
The flavour of the vinegar, when you taste (the sugar), is non-existent, (though) the ounce exists (as a) surplus when you weigh.3675
نیست باشد طعم خل چون میچشی ** هست اوقیه فزون چون برکشی
In the presence of a lion a deer becomes senseless: her existence becomes a (mere) veil for his existence.
پیش شیری آهوی بیهوش شد ** هستیاش در هست او روپوش شد
These analogies drawn by imperfect men concerning the action of the Lord are (like) the emotion of love, (they are) not from irreverence.
این قیاس ناقصان بر کار رب ** جوشش عشقست نه از ترک ادب
The lover's pulse bounds up without reverence, he lays himself on the scale of the King's balance.
نبض عاشق بی ادب بر میجهد ** خویش را در کفهی شه مینهد
None is more irreverent than he in the world (outwardly); none is more reverent than he in secret (inwardly).
بیادبتر نیست کس زو در جهان ** با ادبتر نیست کس زو در نهان
Know, O chosen one, that these two opposites also, “reverent” and “irreverent,” are reconciled by means of relation.3680
هم بنسبت دان وفاق ای منتجب ** این دو ضد با ادب با بیادب