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
Much tribulation and pain must the vulgar endure in order that they may be able to perceive the difference;
بس بلا و رنج می‌باید کشید ** عامه را تا فرق را توانند دید
For, O (my) companion in the Cave, these intermediary words are, in the sight of one united (with God), thorns, thorns, thorns.
کین حروف واسطه ای یار غار ** پیش واصل خار باشد خار خار
Much tribulation and pain and waiting were needed in order that that pure spirit might be delivered from the (intermediary) words;2985
بس بلا و رنج بایست و وقوف ** تا رهد آن روح صافی از حروف
But some (persons) have become more deaf (than others) to this echo; some, again, have become purified and have mounted higher.
لیک بعضی زین صدا کرتر شدند ** باز بعضی صافی و برتر شدند
This tribulation is like the water of the Nile: it is water to the blessed and blood to the damned.
هم‌چو آب نیل آمد این بلا ** سعد را آبست و خون بر اشقیا
The more one descries the end, the more blessed is he: the greater one sees the crop (to be), the more zealously he sows,
هر که پایان‌بین‌تر او مسعودتر ** جدتر او کارد که افزون دید بر
Because he knows that this world of sowing is for the sake of the (Last) Congregation and (for the sake of) gathering in (the harvest).
زانک داند کین جهان کاشتن ** هست بهر محشر و برداشتن
No contract (of sale) was (ever made) for the sake of itself; nay, but for the sake of (being in) the position of (making) gain and profit.2990
هیچ عقدی بهر عین خود نبود ** بلک از بهر مقام ربح و سود
There is no disbeliever, if you look (carefully), whose disbelief is for the sake of the disbelief itself;
هیچ نبود منکری گر بنگری ** منکری‌اش بهر عین منکری
Nay, but (it is) for the purpose of subduing his adversary in envy (of him), or seeking superiority and self-display.
بل برای قهر خصم اندر حسد ** یا فزونی جستن و اظهار خود
And that superiority too is for the sake of some other desire: the forms give no relish without the essential meanings.
وآن فزونی هم پی طمع دگر ** بی‌معانی چاشنی ندهد صور
You ask “Why art thou doing this?” because the forms are (as) the oil, and the essential meaning is (as) the light.
زان همی‌پرسی چرا این می‌کنی ** که صور زیتست و معنی روشنی
Otherwise, wherefore is this saying “why”?—since (hypothetically) the form is for the sake of the form itself.2995
ورنه این گفتن چرا از بهر چیست ** چونک صورت بهر عین صورتیست
This saying “why” is a question concerning the use (reason): it is bad to say “why” for any cause but this.
این چرا گفتن سال از فایده‌ست ** جز برای این چرا گفتن بدست
Wherefore, O trusty one, should you desire (to know) the use (reason)?—since (hypothetically) the use of this (form) is only this (form itself).
از چه رو فایده‌ی جویی ای امین ** چون بود فایده این خود همین
Hence it is not (in accordance with) wisdom that the forms of heaven and (those of) the people of the earth should be (created) for this only.
پس نقوش آسمان و اهل زمین ** نیست حکمت کان بود بهر همین
If there is no Wise (Creator), what is (the reason of) this orderly arrangement (the cosmos)? And if there is a Wise (Creator), how is His action devoid (of meaning)?
گر حکیمی نیست این ترتیب چیست ** ور حکیمی هست چون فعلش تهیست
No one makes pictures and colouring in a bath-house except for (some) purpose (either) right or wrong.3000
کس نسازد نقش گرمابه و خضاب ** جز پی قصد صواب و ناصواب
How Moses, on whom be peace, besought the Lord, saying, "Thou didst create creatures and destroy them," and how the answer came.
مطالبه کردن موسی علیه‌السلام حضرت را کی خلقت خلقا اهلکتهم و جواب آمدن
Moses said, “O Lord of the Reckoning, Thou didst create the form: how didst Thou destroy it again?”
گفت موسی ای خداوند حساب ** نقش کردی باز چون کردی خراب
Thou hast made the form, male and female, that gives unto the spirit increase (of joy); and then Thou dost ruin it: why?”
نر و ماده نقش کردی جان‌فزا ** وانگهان ویران کنی این را چرا
God said, “I know that this question of thine is not from disbelief and heedlessness and idle fancy;
گفت حق دانم که این پرسش ترا ** نیست از انکار و غفلت وز هوا
Else I should have corrected and chastised thee: I should have afflicted thee on account of this question.
ورنه تادیب و عتابت کردمی ** بهر این پرسش ترا آزردمی
But (I know that) thou wishest to discover in My actions the wisdom and hidden meaning of (phenomenal) duration,3005
لیک می‌خواهی که در افعال ما ** باز جویی حکمت و سر بقا
That thou mayst acquaint the vulgar therewith and by this means make every raw (ignorant) person to become cooked.
تا از آن واقف کنی مر عام را ** پخته گردانی بدین هر خام را
Thou hast become a questioner on purpose to disclose (this matter) to the vulgar, albeit thou art acquainted with it;
قاصدا سایل شدی در کاشفی ** بر عوام ار چه که تو زان واقفی
For this questioning is the half of knowledge, and this ability (to ask questions) does not belong to every outsider.”
زآنک نیم علم آمد این سال ** هر برونی را نباشد آن مجال