A king was enraged with a boon-companion and was about to reduce him to smoke and dust.
پادشاهی بر ندیمی خشم کرد ** خواست تا از وی برآرد دود و گرد
The king drew his sword from the scabbard that he might inflict upon him the punishment for that disobedience.
کرد شه شمشیر بیرون از غلاف ** تا زند بر وی جزای آن خلاف
No one had the courage to utter a word nor any intercessor to venture on intercession,2935
هیچ کس را زهره نه تا دم زند ** یا شفیعی بر شفاعت بر تند
Except one amongst the courtiers named ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk, (who was) privileged in respect of intercession, like Mustafá (Mohammed).
جز عمادالملک نامی در خواص ** در شفاعت مصطفی‌وارانه خاص
He sprang up and at once prostrated himself: the king immediately put away from his hand the sword of vengeance,
بر جهید و زود در سجده فتاد ** در زمان شه تیغ قهر از کف نهاد
And said, “If he is the (very) Devil, I forgive him; and if he has done a satanic deed, I cover it up.
گفت اگر دیوست من بخشیدمش ** ور بلیسی کرد من پوشیدمش
Since thou hast intervened, I am satisfied, (even) if the culprit has committed a hundred acts of harm.
چونک آمد پای تو اندر میان ** راضیم گر کرد مجرم صد زیان
I can break (annul) a hundred thousand angers, seeing that thou hast such excellence and such worth;2940
صد هزاران خشم را توانم شکست ** که ترا آن فضل و آن مقدار هست
(But) nowise can I break (annul) thy supplication, because thy supplication is assuredly my supplication.
لابه‌ات را هیچ نتوانم شکست ** زآنک لابه‌ی تو یقین لابه‌ی منست
(Even) if he had thrown earth and heaven into confusion, this man would not have escaped from (my) vengeance;
گر زمین و آسمان بر هم زدی ** ز انتقام این مرد بیرون نامدی
And if (the whole world) atom by atom had become a suppliant (for his release), he would not have saved his head from the sword at this moment.
ور شدی ذره به ذره لابه‌گر ** او نبردی این زمان از تیغ سر
We confer no obligation on thee (by this), O noble one; but (on the contrary) ’tis (only) to explain thy honour (the honour in which I hold thee), O boon-companion.
بر تو می‌ننهیم منت ای کریم ** لیک شرح عزت تست ای ندیم
Thou didst not make this (intercession), for assuredly I made it, O thou whose qualities are buried in my qualities.2945
این نکردی تو که من کردم یقین ** ایی صفاتت در صفات ما دفین
In this (matter) thou art the one employed to do the work, not the (prime) doer (of it), inasmuch as thou art borne by me and art not (thyself) the bearer.
تو درین مستعملی نی عاملی ** زانک محمول منی نی حاملی
Thou hast become (the instrument of my action, according to the text) Thou didst not throw when thou threwest: like the foam, thou hast abandoned thyself in the wave.
ما رمیت اذ رمیت گشته‌ای ** خویشتن در موج چون کف هشته‌ای
Thou hast become ‘not’; (now) take up thy abode beside ‘except.’ This is wonderful, that thou art both a prisoner and a prince.
لا شدی پهلوی الا خانه‌گیر ** این عجب که هم اسیری هم امیر
Thou didst not give what thou gavest: the king gave it. He alone is. God best knoweth the right course.”
آنچ دادی تو ندای شاه داد ** اوست بس الله اعلم بالرشاد
And the boon-companion who had been delivered from the stroke of calamity was offended with this intercessor and drew back from (his former) fealty.2950
وآن ندیم رسته از زخم و بلا ** زین شفیع آزرد و برگشت از ولا
He cut off all (relations of) friendship with that sincere man, and turned his face to the wall in order that he might not give (him) the salaam.
دوستی ببرید زان مخلص تمام ** رو به حایط کرد تا نارد سلام
He became estranged from his intercessor; in astonishment at this the people began to talk,
زین شفیع خویشتن بیگانه شد ** زین تعجب خلق در افسانه شد
Saying, “(If) he is not mad, how did he cut off friendly relations with the person who redeemed his life?
که نه مجنونست یاری چون برید ** از کسی که جان او را وا خرید
He (the intercessor) redeemed (saved) him from beheading at that moment: he (the culprit) ought to have become the dust of his (the intercessor's) shoe.
وا خریدش آن دم از گردن زدن ** خاک نعل پاش بایستی شدن
He has gone the reverse way and has taken (the course of) renouncing (his friend): he has taken to cherishing enmity against a beloved like this.”2955
بازگونه رفت و بیزاری گرفت ** با چنین دلدار کین‌داری گرفت
Then a certain mentor reproached him, saying, “Why are you acting so unjustly towards a loyal friend?
پس ملامت کرد او را مصلحی ** کیین جفا چون می‌کنی با ناصحی
That elect beloved redeemed your life and saved you from beheading at that moment.
جان تو بخرید آن دلدار خاص ** آن دم از گردن زدن کردت خلاص
If he had done evil (towards you), you ought not to have turned away (from him; but) that praiseworthy friend was especially your benefactor.”
گر بدی کردی نبایستی رمید ** خاصه نیکی کرد آن یار حمید
He replied, “Life is freely given for the king's sake: why should he come as an intercessor between (us)?
گفت بهر شاه مبذولست جان ** او چرا آید شفیع اندر میان
At that moment mine was (the state described by the words) —‘I am with God in a state wherein no chosen prophet is my peer.’2960
لی مع‌الله وقت بود آن دم مرا ** لا یسع فیه نبی مجتبی
I desire no mercy but the blows of the king; I desire no refuge except that king.
من نخواهم رحمتی جز زخم شاه ** من نخواهم غیر آن شه را پناه
I have naughted all besides the king for the reason that I have devoted myself to the king.
غیر شه را بهر آن لا کرده‌ام ** که به سوی شه تولا کرده‌ام
The king, if he behead me in his wrath, will bestow on me sixty other lives.
گر ببرد او به قهر خود سرم ** شاه بخشد شصت جان دیگرم
’Tis my business to hazard (and lose) my head and to be selfless; ’tis the business of my sovereign king to give (me) a (new) head.”
کار من سربازی و بی‌خویشی است ** کار شاهنشاه من سربخشی است
Honour to the head that is severed by the King's hand! Shame on the head that betakes itself to another!2965
فخر آن سر که کف شاهش برد ** ننگ آن سر کو به غیری سر برد
The night which the King in his wrath covered with pitch (pitchy darkness) holds in disdain a thousand days of festival.
شب که شاه از قهر در قیرش کشید ** ننگ دارد از هزاران روز عید
Verily, the circumambulation performed by him who beholds the King is above wrath and grace and infidelity and religion.
خود طواف آنک او شه‌بین بود ** فوق قهر و لطف و کفر و دین بود
Not one word (capable of) expressing it has (ever) come into the world, for it is hidden, hidden, hidden,
زان نیامد یک عبارت در جهان ** که نهانست و نهانست و نهان
Inasmuch as these glorious names and words were manifested from the reel (uttered from the mouth) of Adam.
زانک این اسما و الفاظ حمید ** از گلابه‌ی آدمی آمد پدید
He (God) taught (him) the names was an Imám (an infallible authority) for Adam; but (the teaching was) not in the garb of (letters such as) ‘ayn and lám.2970
علم الاسما بد آدم را امام ** لیک نه اندر لباس عین و لام
When he put on his head the cap of water and clay, those spiritual names became black-faced,
چون نهاد از آب و گل بر سر کلاه ** گشت آن اسمای جانی روسیاه
For they assumed the veil of letters and breath, (only) in order that the essential reality might (gradually) be made manifest to the water and clay.
که نقاب حرف و دم در خود کشید ** تا شود بر آب و گل معنی پدید
Although from one point of view speech is a revealer, yet from ten points of view it is a curtain and concealer.
گرچه از یک وجه منطق کاشف است ** لیک از ده وجه پرده و مکنف است
How Khalíl (Abraham) answered Gabriel, on both of whom be peace, when he asked him, "Hast thou any need?"—"As regards need of thee, no!"
گفتن خلیل مر جبرئیل را علیهماالسلام چون پرسیدش کی الک حاجة خلیل جوابش داد کی اما الیک فلا
“I am the Khalíl (Abraham) of the present time, and he is the Gabriel: I do not want him as a guide (to deliver me) in calamity.
من خلیل وقتم و او جبرئیل ** من نخواهم در بلا او را دلیل
He did not learn respectfulness (as he might) from noble Gabriel, who asked the Friend of God (Abraham) what was his wish,2975
او ادب ناموخت از جبریل راد ** که بپرسید از خیل حق مراد
Saying, ‘Hast thou a wish?—that I may help (thee to obtain it); otherwise, I will flee and make a speedy departure.’
که مرادت هست تا یاری کنم ** ورنه بگریزم سبکباری کنم
Abraham said, ‘No; begone out of the way! After direct vision the intermediary is (only) an inconvenience.’
گفت ابراهیم نی رو از میان ** واسطه زحمت بود بعد العیان
On account of this present life the (Divine) messenger is a link for the true believers, because he is the intermediary (between them and God).
بهر این دنیاست مرسل رابطه ** مومنان را زانک هست او واسطه
If every heart were hearing the hidden (Divine) revelation, how should there be in the world any words and sounds (to make it known)?
هر دل ار سامع بدی وحی نهان ** حرف و صوتی کی بدی اندر جهان
Though he (the intercessor) is lost in God and headless (devoid of self existence), yet my case is more delicate than that.2980
گرچه او محو حقست و بی‌سرست ** لیک کار من از آن نازکترست
His act is the act of the king, but to my infirmity the good (which he did) appears to be evil.”
کرده‌ی او کرده‌ی شاهست لیک ** پیش ضعفم بد نماینده‌ست نیک
That which is the very essence of grace to the vulgar becomes wrath to the noble favourites (of God).
آنچ عین لطف باشد بر عوام ** قهر شد بر نازنینان کرام