This one (the Necessitarian) says, ‘The world is really naught’: the Sophist (Sceptic) is in a tangle (of error).
این همی گوید جهان خود نیست هیچ ** هسته سوفسطایی اندر پیچ پیچ
The whole world acknowledges (the reality of) the power of choice: (the proof is) their commanding and forbidding (each other)—‘Bring this and do not bring that!’
جمله‌ی عالم مقر در اختیار ** امر و نهی این میار و آن بیار
He (the Necessitarian) says that commanding and forbidding are naught and that there is no power of choice. All this (doctrine) is erroneous.
او همی گوید که امر و نهی لاست ** اختیاری نیست این جمله خطاست
Animals (too) acknowledge (the reality of) the (inward) sense, O comrade, but it is a subtle (difficult) matter to apprehend the proof (of this).3020
حس را حیوان مقرست ای رفیق ** لیک ادراک دلیل آمد دقیق
Inasmuch as (the reality of) our power of choice is perceived by the (inward) sense, responsibility for actions may well be laid upon it.
زانک محسوسست ما را اختیار ** خوب می‌آید برو تکلیف کار
The inward consciousness of having the power to choose or of acting under compulsion, of anger or self-restraint, of repletion or hunger, corresponds to the senses that know and distinguish yellow from red and small from great and bitter from sweet and musk from dung and hard from soft—by the sense of touch—and hot from cold and burning (hot) from lukewarm and wet from dry and contact with a wall from contact with a tree. Therefore he who denies inward consciousness denies the senses, and (he does) more (than that), (for) inward consciousness is more evident than the senses, inasmuch as one can bind the senses and prevent them from functioning, while it is impossible to bar the way to the experiences of inward consciousness and stop their entrance. And an indication is enough for the wise.
درک وجدانی چون اختیار و اضطرار و خشم و اصطبار و سیری و ناهار به جای حس است کی زرد از سرخ بداند و فرق کند و خرد از بزرگ و طلخ از شیرین و مشک از سرگین و درشت از نرم به حس مس و گرم از سرد و سوزان از شیر گرم و تر از خشک و مس دیوار از مس درخت پس منکر وجدانی منکر حس باشد و زیاده که وجدانی از حس ظاهرترست زیرا حس را توان بستن و منع کردن از احساس و بستن راه و مدخل وجدانیات را ممکن نیست و العاقل تکفیه الاشارة
Inward consciousness corresponds to (external) sensation: both run in the same channel, O uncle.
درک وجدانی به جای حس بود ** هر دو در یک جدول ای عم می‌رود
‘Do’ or ‘don't,’ command and prohibition, discussions and talk are suitable to it (the inward consciousness).
نغز می‌آید برو کن یا مکن ** امر و نهی و ماجراها و سخن
(The thought), ‘To-morrow I will do this or I will do that,’ is a proof of the power to choose, O worshipful one;
این که فردا این کنم یا آن کنم ** این دلیل اختیارست ای صنم
And (in the case of) the penitence which you have felt for (having committed) an evil deed, you have been led (into the right path) through your power of choice.3025
وان پشیمانی که خوردی زان بدی ** ز اختیار خویش گشتی مهتدی
The entire Qur’án consists of commands and prohibitions and threats (of punishment): who (ever) saw commands given to a marble rock?
جمله قران امر و نهیست و وعید ** امر کردن سنگ مرمر را کی دید
Does any wise man, does any reasonable man, do this? Does he show anger and enmity to brickbats and stones?—
هیچ دانا هیچ عاقل این کند ** با کلوخ و سنگ خشم و کین کند
Saying, ‘I told you to do thus or thus: why have ye not done it, O dead and helpless ones?’
که بگفتم کین چنین کن یا چنان ** چون نکردید ای موات و عاجزان
How should reason exercise any authority over wood and stone? How should reason lay hold of the painted figure of a cripple,
عقل کی حکمی کند بر چوب و سنگ ** عقل کی چنگی زند بر نقش چنگ
Saying, ‘O slave with palsied hands and broken legs, take up the lance and come to battle’?3030
کای غلام بسته دست اشکسته‌پا ** نیزه برگیر و بیا سوی وغا
How, (then), should the Creator who is the Maker of stars and sky make commands and prohibitions like those of an ignorant person?
خالقی که اختر و گردون کند ** امر و نهی جاهلانه چون کند
You have removed from God the possibility of impotence, (but) you have (virtually) called Him ignorant and stupid and foolish.
احتمال عجز از حق راندی ** جاهل و گیج و سفیهش خواندی
(Divine) impotence does not follow from the doctrine of Free-will; and even if it do, ignorance is worse than impotence.
عجز نبود از قدر ور گر بود ** جاهلی از عاجزی بدتر بود
The Turcoman says graciously to the stranger-guest, ‘Come to my door without a dog and without a tattered cloak,
ترک می‌گوید قنق را از کرم ** بی‌سگ و بی‌دلق آ سوی درم
And hark, come in respectfully from such and such a quarter, in order that my dog may keep his teeth and mouth closed (and refrain) from (biting) thee.’3035
وز فلان سوی اندر آ هین با ادب ** تا سگم بندد ز تو دندان و لب
(But) you do the reverse of that and advance to the door: necessarily you are wounded by the violence of the dog.
تو به عکس آن کنی بر در روی ** لاجرم از زخم سگ خسته شوی
(You must) advance in the same manner in which slaves have advanced, so that his dog may become gentle and affectionate.
آن‌چنان رو که غلامان رفته‌اند ** تا سگش گردد حلیم و مهرمند
(If) you take a dog or a fox with you, a dog will rage (at you) from the bottom of every tent.
تو سگی با خود بری یا روبهی ** سگ بشورد از بن هر خرگهی
If none but God have the power of choice, why do you become angry with one who has committed an offence (against you)?
غیر حق را گر نباشد اختیار ** خشم چون می‌آیدت بر جرم‌دار
Why do you gnash your teeth at a foe? Why do you regard the sin and offence as (proceeding) from him?3040
چون همی‌خایی تو دندان بر عدو ** چون همی بینی گناه و جرم ازو
If a piece of timber break off from your house-roof and fall upon you and wound you severely,
گر ز سقف خانه چوبی بشکند ** بر تو افتد سخت مجروحت کند