The king questioned him, saying, “After all, what is inspiration, or what has he got who is a prophet?”
شاه پرسیدش که باری وحی چیست ** یا چه حاصل دارد آن کس کو نبیست
He replied, “What is there indeed that he has not got, or what fortune is left whereunto he has not attained?
گفت خود آن چیست کش حاصل نشد ** یا چه دولت ماند کو واصل نشد
I will suppose (for argument's sake) that this prophetic inspiration is not a treasurer (of Divine Revelations); still, it is not inferior to the inspiration in the heart of the bee.
گیرم این وحی نبی گنجور نیست ** هم کم از وحی دل زنبور نیست
Since (the words) God hath inspired the bee have come (in the Qur’án), the dwelling-place of its (the bee's) inspiration has been filled with sweets.
چونک او حی الرب الی النحل آمدست ** خانه‌ی وحیش پر از حلوا شدست
Through the light of the inspiration of God the Almighty and Glorious, it filled the world with wax and honey.1230
او به نور وحی حق عزوجل ** کرد عالم را پر از شمع و عسل
This one who is (the object of) We have honored the sons of Adam (and) is ever going upward––how should his inspiration be inferior to (that of) the bee?"
این که کرمناست و بالا می‌رود ** وحیش از زنبور کمتر کی بود
Have not you read (the words) We have given thee Kawthar? Why, then, are you dry and why have you remained thirsty?
نه تو اعطیناک کوثر خوانده‌ای ** پس چرا خشکی و تشنه مانده‌ای
Or perchance you are (like) Pharaoh, and for you Kawthar, like the Nile, has turned to blood and (become) impure, O sick man.
یا مگر فرعونی و کوثر چو نیل ** بر تو خون گشتست و ناخوش ای علیل
Repent, renounce every enemy (of God) who hath not the water of Kawthar in his cup.
توبه کن بیزار شو از هر عدو ** کو ندارد آب کوثر در کدو
Whomsoever you see flushed (with joy) by Kawthar, he hath the nature of Mohammed: consort with him,1235
هر کرا دیدی ز کوثر سرخ‌رو ** او محمدخوست با او گیر خو
That at the Reckoning you may become (one of those who) love for God's sake; for with him are apples from the tree of Ahmad (Mohammed).
تا احب لله آیی در حساب ** کز درخت احمدی با اوست سیب
Whomsoever you see with lips unmoistened by Kawthar, always deem him an enemy like death and fever,
هر کرا دیدی ز کوثر خشک لب ** دشمنش می‌دار هم‌چون مرگ و تب
Though ’tis your father or your mother; for in truth he is a drinker of your blood.
گر چه بابای توست و مام تو ** کو حقیقت هست خون‌آشام تو
Learn these ways of acting from the Friend of God (Abraham), who first renounced his father,
از خلیل حق بیاموز این سیر ** که شد او بیزار اول از پدر
That in the presence of God you may become (one of those who) hate for God's sake, lest the jealousy of (Divine) Love take offence at you.1240
تا که ابغض لله آیی پیش حق ** تا نگیرد بر تو رشک عشق دق
Until you recite “(There is) not (any god)” and “except Allah,” you will not find the plain track of this Way.
تا نخوانی لا و الا الله را ** در نیابی منهج این راه را
Story of the lover who was recounting to his beloved his acts of service and loyalty and the long nights (during which) their sides heave up from their beds and the long days of want and parching thirst; and he was saying, “I know not any service besides these: if there is any other service (to be done), direct me, for I submit to whatever thou mayst command, whether to enter the fire, like Khalíl (Abraham), on whom be peace, or fall into the mouth of the leviathan of the sea, like Jonah, on whom be peace, or be killed seventy times, like Jirjís (St George), on whom be peace, or be made blind by weeping, like Shu‘ayb, on whom be peace; and the loyalty and self-sacrifice of the prophets cannot be reckoned”; and how the beloved answered him.
داستان آن عاشق کی با معشوق خود برمی‌شمرد خدمتها و وفاهای خود را و شبهای دراز تتجافی جنوبهم عن المضاجع را و بی‌نوایی و جگر تشنگی روزهای دراز را و می‌گفت کی من جزین خدمت نمی‌دانم اگر خدمت دیگر هست مرا ارشاد کن کی هر چه فرمایی منقادم اگر در آتش رفتن است چون خلیل علیه‌السلام و اگر در دهان نهنگ دریا فتادنست چون یونس علیه‌السلام و اگر هفتاد بار کشته شدن است چون جرجیس علیه‌السلام و اگر از گریه نابینا شدن است چون شعیب علیه‌السلام و وفا و جانبازی انبیا را علیهم‌السلام شمار نیست و جواب گفتن معشوق او را
A certain lover in the presence of his beloved was recounting his services and works,
آن یکی عاشق به پیش یار خود ** می‌شمرد از خدمت و از کار خود
Saying, “For thy sake I did such and such, in this war I suffered (wounds from) arrows and spears.
کز برای تو چنین کردم چنان ** تیرها خوردم درین رزم و سنان
Wealth is gone and strength is gone and fame is gone: on account of my love for thee many a misfortune has befallen me.
مال رفت و زور رفت و نام رفت ** بر من از عشقت بسی ناکام رفت
No dawn found me asleep or laughing; no eve found me with capital and means.”1245
هیچ صبحم خفته یا خندان نیافت ** هیچ شامم با سر و سامان نیافت
What he had tasted of bitters and dregs he was recounting to her in detail, point by point,
آنچ او نوشیده بود از تلخ و درد ** او به تفصیلش یکایک می‌شمرد
Not for the sake of reproach; nay, he was displaying a hundred testimonies of the trueness of his love.
نه از برای منتی بل می‌نمود ** بر درستی محبت صد شهود
For men of reason a single indication is enough, (but) how should the thirst (longing) of lovers be removed thereby?
عاقلان را یک اشارت بس بود ** عاشقان را تشنگی زان کی رود
He (the lover) repeats his tale unweariedly: how should a fish be satisfied with (mere) indication (so as to refrain) from the limpid water?
می‌کند تکرار گفتن بی‌ملال ** کی ز اشارت بس کند حوت از زلال
He (the lover), from that ancient grief, was speaking a hundred words in complaint, saying, “I have not spoken a word.”1250
صد سخن می‌گفت زان درد کهن ** در شکایت که نگفتم یک سخن
There was a fire in him: he did not know what it was, but on account of its heat he was weeping like a candle.
آتشی بودش نمی‌دانست چیست ** لیک چون شمع از تف آن می‌گریست
The beloved said, “Thou hast done all this, yet open thine ear wide and apprehend well;
گفت معشوق این همه کردی ولیک ** گوش بگشا پهن و اندر یاب نیک
For thou hast not done what is the root of the root of love and fealty: this that thou hast done is (only) the branches.”
کانچ اصل اصل عشقست و ولاست ** آن نکردی اینچ کردی فرعهاست
The lover said to her, “Tell me, what is that root?” She said, “The root thereof is to die and be naught.
گفتش آن عاشق بگو که آن اصل چیست ** گفت اصلش مردنست ونیستیست
Thou hast done all (else), (but) thou hast not died, thou art living. Hark, die, if thou art a self-sacrificing friend!”1255
تو همه کردی نمردی زنده‌ای ** هین بمیر ار یار جان‌بازنده‌ای
Instantly he laid himself at full length (on the ground) and gave up the ghost: like the rose, he played away his head (life), laughing and rejoicing.
هم در آن دم شد دراز و جان بداد ** هم‌چو گل درباخت سر خندان و شاد
That laughter remained with him as an endowment unto everlasting, like the untroubled spirit and reason of the gnostic.
ماند آن خنده برو وقف ابد ** هم‌چو جان و عقل عارف بی‌کبد
How should the light of the moon ever become defiled, though its light strike on everything good and evil?
نور مه‌آلوده کی گردد ابد ** گر زند آن نور بر هر نیک و بد
Pure of all (defilements) it returns to the moon, even as the light of the spirit and reason (returns) unto God.
او ز جمله پاک وا گردد به ماه ** هم‌چو نور عقل و جان سوی اله
The quality of purity is an endowment (settled) on the light of the moon, though its radiance is (falling) on the defilements of the way.1260
وصف پاکی وقف بر نور مه‌است ** تا بشش گر بر نجاسات ره‌است
Malignity does not accrue to the light of the moon from those defilements of the way or from pollution.
زان نجاسات ره و آلودگی ** نور را حاصل نگردد بدرگی
The light of the sun heard (the call) Return! and came back in haste to its source.
ارجعی بشنود نور آفتاب ** سوی اصل خویش باز آمد شتاب
No disgrace remained with it from the ashpits, no colour remained with it from the rose-gardens.
نه ز گلحنها برو ننگی بماند ** نه ز گلشنها برو رنگی بماند
The light of the eye and the seer of the light returned (to their source): the desert and plain were left in passionate desire thereof.
نور دیده و نوردیده بازگشت ** ماند در سودای او صحرا و دشت
A certain man asked a mystic theologian, “If any one weep loudly during the ritual prayer and moan and lament, is his prayer rendered void?” He replied, “The name of those (tears) is ‘water of the eye’: consider what that weeper has seen: if he has seen (felt) longing for God or repentance for a sin and weeps, his prayer is not spoilt; nay, it attains perfection, for ‘there is no prayer without presence of the heart’; but if he has (inwardly) seen bodily sickness or the loss of a son, his prayer is spoilt, for the foundation of prayer is the abandonment of the body and the abandonment of sons, like Abraham, who was offering his son as a sacrifice in order to perfect his prayer and giving up his body to Nimrod's fire; and Mustafá (Mohammed), on whom be peace, was commanded (by God) to act after these manners: “follow the religion of Abraham.” “Verily ye have had a good example in Abraham.”
یکی پرسید از عالمی عارفی کی اگر در نماز کسی بگرید به آواز و آه کند و نوحه کند نمازش باطل شود جواب گفت کی نام آن آب دیده است تا آن گرینده چه دیده است اگر شوق خدا دیده است و می‌گرید یا پشیمانی گناهی نمازش تباه نشود بلک کمال گیرد کی لا صلوة الا بحضور القلب و اگر او رنجوری تن یا فراق فرزند دیده است نمازش تباه شود کی اصل نماز ترک تن است و ترک فرزند ابراهیم‌وار کی فرزند را قربان می‌کرد از بهر تکمیل نماز و تن را به آتش نمرود می‌سپرد و امر آمد مصطفی را علیه‌السلام بدین خصال کی فاتبع ملة ابراهیم لقد کانت لکم اسوة حسنة فی‌ابراهیم
A certain man asked a mufti in private, “If any one weep lamentably during the ritual prayer,1265
آن یکی پرسید از مفتی به راز ** گر کسی گرید به نوحه در نماز
I wonder, will his prayer be rendered void, or will his prayer be licit and perfect?”
آن نماز او عجب باطل شود ** یا نمازش جایز و کامل بود
He replied, “Wherefore is it named ‘the water of the eye’? You should consider what it (the eye) saw and (then) wept.
گفت آب دیده نامش بهر چیست ** بنگری تا که چه دید او و گریست
Consider what the water of the eye saw in secret, so that on that account it began to flow from its spring.
آب دیده تا چه دید او از نهان ** تا بدان شد او ز چشمه‌ی خود روان
If the supplicant has seen yonder world, that prayer (of his) gains a lustre from (his) lamentation;
آن جهان گر دیده است آن پر نیاز ** رونقی یابد ز نوحه آن نماز
But if that weeping was caused by bodily pain or by mourning (for the dead), the thread is snapped and the spindle too is broken.”1270
ور ز رنج تن بد آن گریه و ز سوک ** ریسمان بسکست و هم بشکست دوک
A disciple came in to pay his respects to the Shaykh—and by this (word) “Shaykh” I do not mean one old in years, but one old in understanding and knowledge (of God), even if he is Jesus, on whom be peace, in the cradle, or Yahyá (John the Baptist), on whom be peace, in the children's school. The disciple saw the Shaykh weeping; he too acted in conformity (with the Shaykh) and wept. When he had finished and gone forth (from the Shaykh's presence), another disciple, who was more cognisant of the Shaykh's spiritual state, impelled by (noble) jealousy, went out quickly after him and said to him, “O brother, (whatever may happen) I shall have told you: for God's sake, for God's sake, beware of thinking or saying that the Shaykh wept and you wept likewise; you must practise self-discipline without hypocrisy for thirty years, and you must traverse ravines and seas full of leviathans, and lofty mountains full of lions and leopards, that you may attain to that weeping of the Shaykh or not attain. If you attain, you will often utter thanksgiving (as immense as is the extent of the earth, described in the words of the Tradition), ‘The earth was gathered together for me.’”
مریدی در آمد به خدمت شیخ و ازین شیخ پیر سن نمی‌خواهم بلک پیرعقل و معرفت و اگر چه عیسیست علیه‌السلام در گهواره و یحیی است علیه‌السلام در مکتب کودکان مریدی شیخ را گریان دید او نیز موافقت کرد و گریست چون فارغ شد و به در آمد مریدی دیگر کی از حال شیخ واقف‌تر بود از سر غیرت در عقب او تیز بیرون آمد گفتش ای برادر من ترا گفته باشم الله الله تا نیندیشی و نگویی کی شیخ می‌گریست و من نیز می‌گریستم کی سی سال ریاضت بی‌ریا باید کرد و از عقبات و دریاهای پر نهنگ و کوههای بلند پر شیر و پلنگ می‌باید گذشت تا بدان گریه‌ی شیخ رسی یا نرسی اگر رسی شکر زویت لی الارض گویی بسیار
A disciple came into the presence of the Pír: the Pír was (engaged) in weeping and lamentation.
یک مریدی اندر آمد پیش پیر ** پیر اندر گریه بود و در نفیر
When the disciple saw the Shaykh weeping, he began to weep: the tears ran from his eyes.
شیخ را چون دید گریان آن مرید ** گشت گریان آب از چشمش دوید
The man possessed of an ear (sense of hearing) laughs once, when a friend repeats a joke to a friend; the deaf man (laughs) twice:
گوشور یک‌بار خندد کر دو بار ** چونک لاغ املی کند یاری بیار
The first time by way of conformity and affectation, because he sees the company laughing.
بار اول از ره تقلید و سوم ** که همی‌بیند که می‌خندند قوم
The deaf man laughs then like them, without knowing the (inward) state of the laughers.1275
کر بخندد هم‌چو ایشان آن زمان ** بیخبر از حالت خندندگان