He (God), for the sake of His servants, became (symbolised by) the (letter) káf of Káfí (All-sufficing), (in token of) the truth of the promise of Káf, Há, Yá, ‘Ayn, Sád.
کاف کافی آمد او بهر عباد ** صدق وعده‌ی کهیعص
(God saith), ‘I am All-sufficing: I will give thee all good, without (the intervention of) a secondary cause, without the mediation of another's aid.
کافیم بدهم ترا من جمله خیر ** بی‌سبب بی‌واسطه‌ی یاری غیر
I am All-sufficing: I will give thee satiety without bread, I will give thee sovereignty without soldiers and armies.
I will give thee narcissi and wild-roses without the spring, I will give thee instruction without a book and teacher.
بی‌بهارت نرگس و نسرین دهم ** بی‌کتاب و اوستا تلقین دهم
I am All-sufficing: I will heal thee without medicine, I will make the grave and the pit a (spacious) playing-field.3520
کافیم بی داروت درمان کنم ** گور را و چاه را میدان کنم
To a Moses I give heart (courage) with a single rod, that he may brandish swords against a multitude.
موسیی را دل دهم با یک عصا ** تا زند بر عالمی شمشیرها
(Such) a light and splendour do I give to the hand of Moses that it is slapping the sun (in triumph).
دست موسی را دهم یک نور و تاب ** که طپانچه می‌زند بر آفتاب
I make the wooden staff a seven-headed dragon, which the female dragon does not (conceive and) bring to birth from the male.
چوب را ماری کنم من هفت سر ** که نزاید ماده مار او را ز نر
I do not mingle blood in the water of the Nile: in sooth by My cunning I make the very essence of its water to be blood.
خون نیامیزم در آب نیل من ** خود کنم خون عین آبش را به فن
I turn thy joy into sorrow like the (polluted) water of the Nile, so that thou wilt not find the way to rejoicings.3525
شادیت را غم کنم چون آب نیل ** که نیابی سوی شادیها سبیل
Again, when thou art intent on renewing thy faith and abjurest Pharaoh once more,
باز چون تجدید ایمان بر تنی ** باز از فرعون بیزاری کنی
Thou wilt see (that) the Moses of Mercy (has) come, thou wilt see the Nile of blood turned by him into water.
موسی رحمت ببینی آمده ** نیل خون بینی ازو آبی شده
When thou keepest safe within (thee) the end of the rope (of faith), the Nile of thy spiritual delight will never be changed into blood.’
چون سر رشته نگه داری درون ** نیل ذوق تو نگردد هیچ خون
I thought I would profess the Faith in order that from this deluge of blood I might drink some water.
من گمان بردم که ایمان آورم ** تا ازین طوفان خون آبی خورم
How did I know that He would work a transformation in my nature and make me a (spiritual) Nile?3530
من چه دانستم که تبدیلی کند ** در نهاد من مرا نیلی کند
To my own eye, I am a flowing Nile, (but) to the eyes of others I am at rest.”
سوی چشم خود یکی نیلم روان ** برقرارم پیش چشم دیگران
Just as, to the Prophet, this world is plunged in glorification of God, while to us it is heedless (insensible).
هم‌چنانک این جهان پیش نبی ** غرق تسبیحست و پیش ما غبی
To his eye, this world is filled with love and bounty; to the eyes of others it is dead and inert.
پیش چشمش این جهان پر عشق و داد ** پیش چشم دیگران مرده و جماد
To his eye, vale and hill are moving swiftly: he hears subtle discourse from clod and brick.
پست و بالا پیش چشمش تیزرو ** از کلوخ و خشت او نکته شنو
To the vulgar, all this (world) is a bound and dead (thing): I have not seen a veil (of blindness) more wonderful than this.3535
با عوام این جمله بسته و مرده‌ای ** زین عجب‌تر من ندیدم پرده‌ای
To our eye, (all) the graves are alike; to the eyes of the saints, (one is) a garden (in Paradise), and (another is) a pit (in Hell).
گورها یکسان به پیش چشم ما ** روضه و حفره به چشم اولیا
The vulgar would say, “Wherefore has the Prophet become sour (of visage) and why has he become pleasure-killing?”
عامه گفتندی که پیغامبر ترش ** از چه گشتست و شدست او ذوق‌کش
The elect would say, “To your eyes, O peoples, he appears to be sour;
خاص گفتندی که سوی چشمتان ** می‌نماید او ترش ای امتان
(But) come for once into our eyes, that ye may behold the laughs (of delight described) in (the Súra beginning with the words) Hal atá (Did not there come?).”
یک زمان درچشم ما آیید تا ** خنده‌ها بینید اندر هل اتی
That appears (to thee) in the form of inversion (illusion) from the top of the pear-tree: come down, O youth!3540
از سر امرود بن بنماید آن ** منعکس صورت بزیر آ ای جوان