Rumi's Masnavi - (Since) he (the owner of the cloth) is reduced to submission, what is the crime of this linen? Who is he that is not dominated by the predominant?

(Since) he (the owner of the cloth) is reduced to submission, what is the crime of this linen? Who is he that is not dominated by the predominant? 2925

او زبون شد جرم این کرباس چیست ** آنک او مغلوب غالب نیست کیست

When some one has forced his way in against his (the householder's) will and planted a thornbush in his property and house,

چون کسی بی‌خواست او بر وی براند ** خاربن در ملک و خانه‌ی او نشاند

The master of the house is humiliated because such a shabbiness (abasement) is inflicted on him.

صاحب خانه بدین خواری بود ** که چنین بر وی خلاقت می‌رود

I too, though I am fresh and new, would become shabby (abased) through being associated with such a contemptible person.

هم خلق گردم من ار تازه و نوم ** چونک یار این چنین خواری شوم

Since the will of the carnal soul is besought for help, ’tis mockery (to say) that whatever God wills shall come to pass.

چونک خواه نفس آمد مستعان ** تسخر آمد ایش شاء الله کان

(Even) if I am a disgrace to the Magians or am an infidel, I am not such (a miscreant) as to think this of God, 2930

من اگر ننگ مغان یا کافرم ** آن نیم که بر خدا این ظن برم

That any one should seek to exercise authority in His kingdom against His will and in spite of Him,

که کسی ناخواه او و رغم او ** گردد اندر ملکت او حکم جو

And thus should occupy His kingdom, so that the Creator of the breath dare not breathe a word (in opposition),

ملکت او را فرو گیرد چنین ** که نیارد دم زدن دم آفرین

(And that though) He wishes to repel him and must needs (do so), (yet) the Devil at every moment is increasing His anxiety.

دفع او می‌خواهد و می‌بایدش ** دیو هر دم غصه می‌افزایدش

(On this hypothesis) I must worship the Devil, inasmuch as he is predominant in every assembly,

بنده‌ی این دیو می‌باید شدن ** چونک غالب اوست در هر انجمن

Lest the Devil take vengeance on me—and then in that case how can the Gracious (God) lend me a (helping) hand? 2935

تا مبادا کین کشد شیطان ز من ** پس چه دستم گیرد آنجا ذوالمنن

That which he (the Devil) wills, his desire (therein) is fulfilled: by whom (except him) shall my affairs be restored to prosperity?

آنک او خواهد مراد او شود ** از کی کار من دگر نیکو شود

Parable of the Devil at the door of the Merciful God.

مثل شیطان بر در رحمان

God forfend! Whatsoever God wills shall come to pass. He is the Ruler over the worlds of space and non-spatiality.

حاش لله ایش شاء الله کان ** حاکم آمد در مکان و لامکان

Without His command no one in His kingdom shall add (so much as) the tip of a single hair.

هیچ کس در ملک او بی‌امر او ** در نیفزاید سر یک تای مو

The kingdom is His kingdom, the command is His: that Devil of His is the meanest dog at His door.

ملک ملک اوست فرمان آن او ** کمترین سگ بر در آن شیطان او

If a Turcoman's dog is lying at the door (of the tent), with his face and head resting on the threshold, 2940

ترکمان را گر سگی باشد به در ** بر درش بنهاده باشد رو و سر

(Though) the children of the house keep pulling his tail, he will be humble (submissive) in the children's hands.

کودکان خانه دمش می‌کشند ** باشد اندر دست طفلان خوارمند

If, however, a stranger pass by, he (the dog) will rush at him like a fierce lion;

باز اگر بیگانه‌ای معبر کند ** حمله بر وی هم‌چو شیر نر کند

For he is hard on the unbelievers: to a friend he is (as) the rose, to an enemy as the thorn.

که اشداء علی الکفار شد ** با ولی گل با عدو چون خار شد

He has become so faithful and vigilant on account of the tutmáj broth that the Turcoman has given him.

ز آب تتماجی که دادش ترکمان ** آنچنان وافی شدست و پاسبان

The dog, then, namely the Devil, whom God causes to exist and in whom He creates a hundred thoughts and cunning plans, 2945

پس سگ شیطان که حق هستش کند ** اندرو صد فکرت و حیلت تند

And whom He feeds with (men's) honours, so that he takes away the honour of the virtuous and the wicked—

آب روها را غذای او کند ** تا برد او آب روی نیک و بد

(For) the honour of the populace is the tutmáj broth by which the Devil-dog is fed—

این تتماجست آب روی عام ** که سگ شیطان از آن یابد طعام

Tell me, how should not his soul be devoted to the (Divine) decree at the door of the tent of Omnipotence?

بر در خرگاه قدرت جان او ** چون نباشد حکم را قربان بگو

Troop on troop of obedient and rebellious (devils), like the dog (of the Seven Sleepers) spreading his fore-paws on the threshold,

گله گله از مرید و از مرید ** چون سگ باسط ذراعی بالوصید