If you are told that what the vizier wishes (is law and that) his will is paramount in the exercise of authority,
گر بگویند آنچ می‌خواهد وزیر ** خواست آن اوست اندر دار و گیر
Will you at once move round (pay court to) him with the zeal of a hundred men, that he may pour kindness and munificence on your head,
گرد او گردان شوی صد مرده زود ** تا بریزد بر سرت احسان و جود
Or will you flee from the vizier and his palace? This (flight) is not the way to seek his help.
یا گریزی از وزیر و قصر او ** این نباشد جست و جوی نصر او
You, inversely, have been made remiss by this saying: you have been turned upside down in your apprehension and thought.3120
بازگونه زین سخن کاهل شدی ** منعکس ادراک و خاطر آمدی
(Suppose you are told that) the command (supreme power) is vested in such and such a lord. Hark, what does this mean? It means, ‘Do not sit (consort) with any one except him.
امر امر آن فلان خواجه‌ست هین ** چیست یعنی با جز او کمتر نشین
Move round (pay constant homage to) the lord, since the (power to) command belongs to him; for he slays his enemy and saves the life of his friend.
گرد خواجه گرد چون امر آن اوست ** کو کشد دشمن رهاند جان دوست
Whatsoever he wills, that same thing you will certainly obtain: do not go astray, prefer his service (to all else).’
هرچه او خواهد همان یابی یقین ** یاوه کم رو خدمت او برگزین
(It does) not (mean), ‘Since he is possessed of (supreme) authority, do not move round him (do not frequent his court), so that you may fall into his black books and be disgraced.’
نی چو حاکم اوست گرد او مگرد ** تا شوی نامه سیاه و روی زود
The interpretation that makes you ardent and hopeful and active and reverent is the true one;3125
حق بود تاویل که آن گرمت کند ** پر امید و چست و با شرمت کند
And if it make you slack (in service), know the real truth to be this, that it is an alteration (of the right sense of the saying), not an interpretation.
ور کند سستت حقیقت این بدان ** هست تبدیل و نه تاویلست آن
This (saying) has come (down) in order to make (men) ardent (in serving God), that He may take the hands of those who have lost hope (and deliver them).
این برای گرم کردن آمدست ** تا بگیرد ناامیدان را دو دست
Ask the meaning of the Qur’án from the Qur’án alone, and from that one who has set fire to (and extinguished) his idle fancy,
معنی قرآن ز قرآن پرس و بس ** وز کسی که آتش زدست اندر هوس
And has become a sacrifice to the Qur’án and is (laid) low (in self-abasement), so that the Qur’án has become the essence of his spirit.
پیش قرآن گشت قربانی و پست ** تا که عین روح او قرآن شدست
The oil that has wholly devoted itself to the rose—smell either the oil or the rose as you please.3130
روغنی کو شد فدای گل به کل ** خواه روغن بوی کن خواهی تو گل
And similarly (the Tradition), ‘the Pen has dried’ means that the Pen has dried after writing (the words), ‘Obedience and disobedience (to God) are not on the same level, honesty and stealing are not on the same level.’ The Pen has dried (after writing) that thanksgiving and ingratitude are not on the same level. The Pen has dried (after writing) that God does not let the reward of the righteous be lost.
و هم‌چنین قد جف القلم یعنی جف القلم و کتب لا یستوی الطاعة والمعصیة لا یستوی الامانة و السرقة جف القلم ان لا یستوی الشکر و الکفران جف القلم ان الله لا یضیع اجر المحسنین
Likewise the (true) interpretation of ‘the Pen has dried’ (is that) it (this Tradition) is for the purpose of inciting to the most important work (of all).
هم‌چنین تاویل قد جف القلم ** بهر تحریضست بر شغل اهم
Therefore the Pen wrote that every action has the effect and consequence appropriate to it.
پس قلم بنوشت که هر کار را ** لایق آن هست تاثیر و جزا
The Pen has dried (after writing) that if you do wrong (in this world) you will suffer wrong (in the next), and that if you act rightly (here) the result will be your felicity (there).
کژ روی جف القلم کژ آیدت ** راستی آری سعادت زایدت
(If) you behave unjustly, you are damned: the Pen has dried (on that). If you show justice, you eat the fruit (of blessedness): the Pen has dried (on that).