If it had not been present (attentive) and had been heedless, how should it have slapped you in rebuke?
گر نبودی حاضر و غافل بدی ** در ملامت کی ترا سیلی زدی
And if your carnal soul had not been inattentive to it, how should your madness and heat have acted thus?
ور ازو غافل نبودی نفس تو ** کی چنان کردی جنون و تفس تو
Hence you and your intellect are like the astrolabe: by this means you may know the nearness of the Sun of existence.3685
پس تو و عقلت چو اصطرلاب بود ** زین بدانی قرب خورشید وجود
Your intellect is indescribably near to you: it is neither to the left nor to the right nor behind nor in front.
قرب بی‌چونست عقلت را به تو ** نیست چپ و راست و پس یا پیش رو
How (then) should not the King be indescribably near? for intellectual search cannot find the way (to Him).
قرب بی‌چون چون نباشد شاه را ** که نیابد بحث عقل آن راه را
The motion that you have in your finger is not in front of your finger or behind it or to the left or to the right.
نیست آن جنبش که در اصبع تراست ** پیش اصبع یا پسش یا چپ و راست
At the time of sleep and death it (the motion) goes from it (the finger); at the time of waking it rejoins it.
وقت خواب و مرگ از وی می‌رود ** وقت بیداری قرینش می‌شود
By what way doth it come into your finger, (that motion) without which your finger hath no use?3690
از چه ره می‌آید اندر اصبعت ** که اصبعت بی او ندارد منفعت
The light of the eye and pupil, by what other way than the six directions doth it come into your eye?
نور چشم و مردمک در دیده‌ات ** از چه ره آمد به غیر شش جهت
The world of creation is endued with (diverse) quarters and directions, (but) know that the world of the (Divine) Command and Attributes is without (beyond) direction.
عالم خلقست با سوی و جهات ** بی‌جهت دان عالم امر و صفات
Know, O beloved, that the world of the Command is without direction: of necessity the Commander is (even) more without direction.
بی‌جهت دان عالم امر ای صنم ** بی‌جهت‌تر باشد آمر لاجرم
The intellect was (ever) without direction, and the Knower of the exposition is more intelligent than intellect and more spiritual even than spirit.
بی‌جهت بد عقل و علام البیان ** عقل‌تر از عقل و جان‌تر هم ز جان
No created being is unconnected with Him: that connexion, O uncle, is indescribable,3695
بی‌تعلق نیست مخلوقی بدو ** آن تعلق هست بی‌چون ای عمو
Because in the spirit there is no separating and uniting, while (our) thought cannot think except of separating and uniting.
زانک فصل و وصل نبود در روان ** غیر فصل و وصل نندیشد گمان
Pursue that which is without separation and union by (aid of) a spiritual guide; but the pursuit will not allay your thirst.
غیر فصل و وصل پی بر از دلیل ** لیک پی بردن بننشاند غلیل
(Yet) pursue incessantly, if you are far from the Source, that the vein of (true) manhood (in you) may bring you to the attainment (of your desire).
پی پیاپی می‌بر ار دوری ز اصل ** تا رگ مردیت آرد سوی وصل
How should the intellect find the way to this connexion? This intellect is in bondage to separation and union.
این تعلق را خرد چون ره برد ** بسته‌ی فصلست و وصلست این خرد
Hence Mustafá (Mohammed) enjoined us, saying, “Do not seek to investigate the Essence of God.”3700
زین وصیت کرد ما را مصطفی ** بحث کم جویید در ذات خدا
(As regards) that One whose Essence is an object of thought, in reality the (thinker's) speculation is not concerning the Essence.
آنک در ذاتش تفکر کردنیست ** در حقیقت آن نظر در ذات نیست
It is (only) his (false) opinion, because on the way to God there are a hundred thousand veils.
هست آن پندار او زیرا به راه ** صد هزاران پرده آمد تا اله
Every one is naturally attached to some veil and judges that it is in sooth the identity (‘ayn) of Him.
هر یکی در پرده‌ای موصول خوست ** وهم او آنست که آن خود عین هوست
Therefore the Prophet banished this (false) judgement from him (the thinker), lest he should be conceiving in error a vain imagination.
پس پیمبر دفع کرد این وهم از او ** تا نباشد در غلط سوداپز او
And (as for) him in whose judgement (conception of God) there is irreverence, the Lord hath doomed the irreverent to fall headlong.3705
وانکه اندر وهم او ترک ادب ** بی‌ادب را سرنگونی داد رب
To fall headlong is that he goes downward and thinks that he is superior,
سرنگونی آن بود کو سوی زیر ** می‌رود پندارد او کو هست چیر
Because such is the case of the drunken man who does not know heaven from earth.
زانک حد مست باشد این چنین ** کو نداند آسمان را از زمین
Go ye and think upon His wonders, become lost (to yourselves) from the majesty and awe (of Him).
در عجبهااش به فکر اندر روید ** از عظیمی وز مهابت گم شوید
When he (who beholds the wonders of God) loses beard and moustache (abandons pride and egoism) from (contemplating) His work, he will know his (proper) station and will be silent concerning the Worker (Maker).
چون ز صنعش ریش و سبلت گم کند ** حد خود داند ز صانع تن زند
He will only say from his soul, “I cannot (praise Thee duly),” because the declaration thereof is beyond reckoning and bound.3710
جز که لا احصی نگوید او ز جان ** کز شمار و حد برونست آن بیان
How Dhu ’l-Qarnayn went to Mount Qáf and made petition, saying, "O Mount Qáf, tell me of the majesty of the Attributes of God"; and how Mount Qáf said that the description of His majesty is ineffable, since (all) perceptions vanish before it; and how Dhu ’l-Qarnayn made humble supplication, saying, "Tell of His works that thou hast in mind and of which it is more easy for thee to speak."
رفتن ذوالقرنین به کوه قاف و درخواست کردن کی ای کوه قاف از عظمت صفت حق ما را بگو و گفتن کوه قاف کی صفت عظمت او در گفت نیاید کی پیش آنها ادراکها فدا شود و لابه کردن ذوالقرنین کی از صنایعش کی در خاطر داری و بر تو گفتن آن آسان‌تر بود بگوی
Dhu ’l-Qarnayn went towards Mount Qáf: he saw that it was (made) of pure emerald,
رفت ذوالقرنین سوی کوه قاف ** دید او را کز زمرد بود صاف
And that it had become a ring surrounding the (whole) world. He was amazed at that immense creation (work of God).
گرد عالم حلقه گشته او محیط ** ماند حیران اندر آن خلق بسیط
He said, “Thou art the mountain (indeed): what are the others? for beside thy magnitude they are (but) playthings.”
گفت تو کوهی دگرها چیستند ** که به پیش عظم تو بازیستند
It replied, “Those (other) mountains are my veins: they are not like unto me in beauty and glory.
گفت رگهای من‌اند آن کوهها ** مثل من نبوند در حسن و بها
I have a hidden vein in every land: (all) the regions of the world are fastened to my veins.3715
من به هر شهری رگی دارم نهان ** بر عروقم بسته اطراف جهان
When God wills an earthquake in any land, He bids me and I cause the vein to throb.
حق چو خواهد زلزله‌ی شهری مرا ** گوید او من بر جهانم عرق را
Then I make to move mightily the vein with which the (particular) land is connected.
پس بجنبانم من آن رگ را بقهر ** که بدان رگ متصل گشتست شهر
When He says ‘Enough!’ my vein rests. I am (apparently) at rest, but actually I am in rapid motion”—
چون بگوید بس شود ساکن رگم ** ساکنم وز روی فعل اندر تگم
At rest, like the (medicinal) ointment, and very active (efficacious); at rest, like the intellect, while the speech (impelled) by it is moving.
هم‌چو مرهم ساکن و بس کارکن ** چون خرد ساکن وزو جنبان سخن
In the opinion of him whose intelligence does not perceive this, earthquakes are caused by terrestrial vapours.3720
نزد آنکس که نداند عقلش این ** زلزله هست از بخارات زمین
An ant, walking on a piece of paper, saw the pen writing and began to praise the pen. Another ant, which was more keen-sighted, said, "Praise the fingers, for I deem this accomplishment to proceed from them." Another ant, more clear-sighted than either, said, "I praise the arm, for the fingers are a branch of the arm," et cetera.
موری بر کاغذ می‌رفت نبشتن قلم دید قلم را ستودن گرفت موری دیگر کی چشم تیزتر بود گفت ستایش انگشتان را کن کی آن هنر ازیشان می‌بینم موری دگر کی از هر دو چشم روشن‌تر بود گفت من بازو را ستایم کی انگشتان فرع بازواند الی آخره
A little ant saw a pen (writing) on a paper, and told this mystery to another ant,
مورکی بر کاغذی دید او قلم ** گفت با مور دگر این راز هم
Saying, “That pen made wonderful pictures like sweet basil and beds of lilies and roses.”
که عجایب نقشها آن کلک کرد ** هم‌چو ریحان و چو سوسن‌زار و ورد
The other ant said, “That artist is the finger, and this pen is actually (no more than) the derivative (instrument) and the sign.”
گفت آن مور اصبعست آن پیشه‌ور ** وین قلم در فعل فرعست و اثر
A third ant said, “It is the work of the arm, by whose strength the slender finger depicted it.”
گفت آن مور سوم کز بازوست ** که اصبع لاغر ز زورش نقش بست
In this fashion it (the argument) was carried upward till a chief of the ants, (who) was a little bit sagacious,3725
هم‌چنین می‌رفت بالا تا یکی ** مهتر موران فطن بود اندکی
Said, “Do not regard this accomplishment as proceeding from the (material) form, which becomes unconscious in sleep and death.
گفت کز صورت مبینید این هنر ** که به خواب و مرگ گردد بی‌خبر
Form is like a garment or a staff: (bodily) figures do not move except by means of intellect and spirit.”
صورت آمد چون لباس و چون عصا ** جز به عقل و جان نجنبد نقشها
He (the wise ant) was unaware that without the controlling influence of God that intellect and heart (mind) would be inert.
بی‌خبر بود او که آن عقل و فاد ** بی ز تقلیب خدا باشد جماد
If He withdraw His favour from it for a single moment, the acute intellect will commit (many) follies.
یک زمان از وی عنایت بر کند ** عقل زیرک ابلهیها می‌کند
When Dhu ’l-Qarnayn found it (Mount Qáf) speaking, he said, after Mount Qáf had bored the pearls of speech,3730
چونش گویا یافت ذوالقرنین گفت ** چونک کوه قاف در نطق سفت
“O eloquent one, who art wise and knowest the mystery, expound to me the Attributes of God.”
کای سخن‌گوی خبیر رازدان ** از صفات حق بکن با من بیان
It answered, “Go, for those qualities are too terrible for (oral) exposition to put its hand on them,
گفت رو کان وصف از آن هایل‌ترست ** که بیان بر وی تواند برد دست