Why, then, should you teach a man the knowledge of which it behoves him to purify his breast?
پس چرا علمی بیاموزی به مرد ** کش بباید سینه را زان پاک کرد
Therefore do not seek to be in front: be lame on this side, and be the leader at the moment of return.
پس مجو پیشی ازین سر لنگ باش ** وقت وا گشتن تو پیش آهنگ باش
O clever one, be thou (according to the Prophet's saying, “We are) the hindmost and the foremost”: the fresh fruit is prior to the tree.
آخرون السابقون باش ای ظریف ** بر شجر سابق بود میوه‌ی طریف
Although the fruit comes last into being, it is the first, because it was the object.
گرچه میوه آخر آید در وجود ** اولست او زانک او مقصود بود
Say, like the angels, “We have no knowledge,” to the end that “Thou hast taught us” may take thy hand (come to thy aid).1130
چون ملایک گوی لا علم لنا ** تا بگیرد دست تو علمتنا
If in this school thou dost not know the alphabet, (yet) thou art filled, like Ahmad (Mohammed), with the light of Reason.
گر درین مکتب ندانی تو هجا ** همچو احمد پری از نور حجی
If thou art not famous in the world, (yet) thou art not lost: God knoweth best concerning His servants.
گر نباشی نامدار اندر بلاد ** گم نه‌ای الله اعلم بالعباد
A treasure of gold is (hidden), for safety's sake, in a desolate spot that is not well-known.
اندر آن ویران که آن معروف نیست ** از برای حفظ گنجینه‌ی زریست
How should they deposit the treasure in a well-known place? On this account it is said, “Joy is (hidden) beneath sorrow.”
موضع معروف کی بنهند گنج ** زین قبل آمد فرج در زیر رنج
Here the mind may bring (suggest) many difficulties, but a good beast will break the tether.1135
خاطر آرد بس شکال اینجا ولیک ** بسکلد اشکال را استور نیک
His (God's) love is a fire that consumes difficulties: the daylight sweeps away every phantom.
هست عشقش آتشی اشکال‌سوز ** هر خیالی را بروبد نور روز
O thou with whom He is pleased, seek the answer from the same quarter from which this question came to thee.
هم از آن سو جو جواب ای مرتضا ** کین سال آمد از آن سو مر ترا
The cornerless corner of the heart is a King's highway: the radiance that is neither of the east nor of the west is (derived) from a Moon.
گوشه‌ی بی گوشه‌ی دل شه‌رهیست ** تاب لا شرقی و لا غرب از مهیست
Why on this side and on that, like a beggar, O mountain of Reality, art thou seeking the echo?
تو ازین سو و از آن سو چون گدا ** ای که معنی چه می‌جویی صدا
Seek (the answer) from the same quarter to which, in the hour of pain, thou bendest low, crying repeatedly, “O my Lord!”1140
هم از آن سو جو که وقت درد تو ** می‌شوی در ذکر یا ربی دوتو
In the hour of pain and death thou turnest in that direction: how, when thy pain is gone, art thou ignorant?
وقت درد و مرگ آن سو می‌نمی ** چونک دردت رفت چونی اعجمی
At the time of tribulation thou hast called unto God, (but) when the tribulation is gone, thou sayest, “Where is the way?”
وقت محنت گشته‌ای الله گو ** چونک محنت رفت گویی راه کو
This is because (thou dost not know God): every one that knows God without uncertainty is constantly engaged in that (commemoration of Him),
این از آن آمد که حق را بی گمان ** هر که بشناسد بود دایم بر آن
While he that is veiled in intellect and uncertainty is sometimes covered (inaccessible to spiritual emotion) and sometimes with his collar torn (in a state of rapture).
وانک در عقل و گمان هستش حجاب ** گاه پوشیدست و گه بدریده جیب
The particular (discursive) intellect is sometimes dominant, sometimes overthrown; the Universal Intellect is secure from the mischances of Time.1145
Sell intellect and talent and buy bewilderment (in God): betake thyself to lowliness, O son, not to Bukhárá!
عقل بفروش و هنر حیرت بخر ** رو به خواری نه بخارا ای پسر
Why have I steeped myself in the discourse, so that from story-telling I have become a story?
ما چه خود را در سخن آغشته‌ایم ** کز حکایت ما حکایت گشته‌ایم
I become naught and (unsubstantial as) a fable in making moan (to God), in order that I may gain influence over (the hearts of) them that prostrate themselves in prayer.
من عدم و افسانه گردم در حنین ** تا تقلب یابم اندر ساجدین
This (story of Moses and Pharaoh) is not a story in the eyes of the man of experience: it is a description of an actual (spiritual) state, and it is (equivalent to) the presence of the Friend of the Cave.
این حکایت نیست پیش مرد کار ** وصف حالست و حضور یار غار
That (phrase) “stories of the ancients,” which the disobedient (infidels) applied to the words of the Qur’án, was a mark of (their) hypocrisy.1150
آن اساطیر اولین که گفت عاق ** حرف قرآن را بد آثار نفاق
The man transcending space, in whom is the Light of God— whence (what concern of his) is the past, the future, or the present?
لامکانی که درو نور خداست ** ماضی و مستقبل و حال از کجاست
His being past or future is (only) in relation to thee: both are one thing, and thou thinkest they are two.
ماضی و مستقبلش نسبت به تست ** هر دو یک چیزند پنداری که دوست
One individual is to him father and to us son: the roof is below Zayd and above ‘Amr.
یک تنی او را پدر ما را پسر ** بام زیر زید و بر عمرو آن زبر
The relation of “below” and “above” arises from those two persons: as regards itself, the roof is one thing only.
نسبت زیر و زبر شد زان دو کس ** سقف سوی خویش یک چیزست بس
These expressions are not (exactly) similar to that (doctrine of spiritual timelessness): they are a comparison: the old words fall short of the new meaning.1155
نیست مثل آن مثالست این سخن ** قاصر از معنی نو حرف کهن
Since there is no river-marge, close thy lips, O waterskin: this Sea of candy hath (ever) been without marge or shore.
چون لب جو نیست مشکا لب ببند ** بی لب و ساحل بدست این بحر قند
How Pharaoh sent (messengers) to the cities in search of the magicians.
فرستادن فرعون به مداین در طلب ساحران
When Moses had returned (home) and he (Pharaoh) remained (with his own people), he called his advisers and counsellors to his presence.
چونک موسی بازگشت و او بماند ** اهل رای و مشورت را پیش خواند
They deemed it right that the King and Ruler of Egypt should assemble them (the magicians) from all parts of Egypt.
آنچنان دیدند کز اطراف مصر ** جمع آردشان شه و صراف مصر
Thereupon he sent many men in every direction to collect the sorcerers.
او بسی مردم فرستاد آن زمان ** هر نواحی بهر جمع جادوان
In whatsoever region there was a renowned magician, he set flying towards him ten active couriers.1160
هر طرف که ساحری بد نامدار ** کرد پران سوی او ده پیک کار
There were two youths, famous magicians: their magic penetrated into the heart of the moon.
دو جوان بودند ساحر مشتهر ** سحر ایشان در دل مه مستمر
They milked the moon publicly and openly; in their journeys they went mounted on a wine-jar.
شیر دوشیده ز مه فاش آشکار ** در سفرها رفته بر خمی سوار
They caused the moonshine to appear like a piece of linen: they measured and sold it speedily,
شکل کرباسی نموده ماهتاب ** آن بپیموده فروشیده شتاب
And took the silver away: the purchaser, on becoming aware (of the fraud), would smite his hand upon his cheeks in grief.
سیم برده مشتری آگه شده ** دست از حسرت به رخها بر زده
They were the inventors of a hundred thousand such (tricks) in sorcery, and were not (following others) like the rhyme-letter.1165
صد هزاران همچنین در جادوی ** بوده منشی و نبوده چون روی
When the King's message reached them, (to this effect): “The king is now desiring help from you,
چون بدیشان آمد آن پیغام شاه ** کز شما شاهست اکنون چاره‌خواه
Because two dervishes have come and marched in force against the King and his palace.
از پی آنک دو درویش آمدند ** بر شه و بر قصر او موکب زدند
They have naught with them except one rod, which becomes a dragon at his (Moses') command.
نیست با ایشان بغیر یک عصا ** که همی‌گردد به امرش اژدها
The King and the whole army are helpless: all have been brought to lamentation by these two persons.
شاه و لشکر جمله بیچاره شدند ** زین دو کس جمله به افغان آمدند
A remedy must be sought in magic, that maybe thou wilt save (their) lives from these two enchanters—”1170
چاره‌ای می‌باید اندر ساحری ** تا بود که زین دو ساحر جان بری
When he (the messenger) gave the message to those two magicians, a (great) fear and love descended on the hearts of them both.
آن دو ساحر را چو این پیغام داد ** ترس و مهری در دل هر دو فتاد
When the vein of homogeneity began to throb, they laid their heads upon their knees in astonishment.
عرق جنسیت چو جنبیدن گرفت ** سر به زانو بر نهادند از شگفت
Inasmuch as the knee is the Súfí's school, the two knees are sorcerers for solving a difficulty.
چون دبیرستان صوفی زانوست ** حل مشکل را دو زانو جادوست
How those two magicians summoned their father from the grave and questioned their father's spirit concerning the real nature of Moses, on whom be peace.
خواندن آن دو ساحر پدر را از گور و پرسیدن از روان پدر حقیقت موسی علیه السلام
Afterwards they said, “Come, O mother, where is our father's grave? Do thou show us the way.”
بعد از آن گفتند ای مادر بیا ** گور بابا کو تو ما را ره نما
She took them and showed the way to his grave: then they kept a three days' fast for the sake of the King.1175
بردشان بر گور او بنمود راه ** پس سه‌روزه داشتند از بهر شاه