(Suppose you are told that) the command (supreme power) is vested in such and such a lord. Hark, what does this mean? It means, ‘Do not sit (consort) with any one except him.
امر امر آن فلان خواجه‌ست هین ** چیست یعنی با جز او کمتر نشین
Move round (pay constant homage to) the lord, since the (power to) command belongs to him; for he slays his enemy and saves the life of his friend.
گرد خواجه گرد چون امر آن اوست ** کو کشد دشمن رهاند جان دوست
Whatsoever he wills, that same thing you will certainly obtain: do not go astray, prefer his service (to all else).’
هرچه او خواهد همان یابی یقین ** یاوه کم رو خدمت او برگزین
(It does) not (mean), ‘Since he is possessed of (supreme) authority, do not move round him (do not frequent his court), so that you may fall into his black books and be disgraced.’
نی چو حاکم اوست گرد او مگرد ** تا شوی نامه سیاه و روی زود
The interpretation that makes you ardent and hopeful and active and reverent is the true one;3125
حق بود تاویل که آن گرمت کند ** پر امید و چست و با شرمت کند
And if it make you slack (in service), know the real truth to be this, that it is an alteration (of the right sense of the saying), not an interpretation.
ور کند سستت حقیقت این بدان ** هست تبدیل و نه تاویلست آن
This (saying) has come (down) in order to make (men) ardent (in serving God), that He may take the hands of those who have lost hope (and deliver them).
این برای گرم کردن آمدست ** تا بگیرد ناامیدان را دو دست
Ask the meaning of the Qur’án from the Qur’án alone, and from that one who has set fire to (and extinguished) his idle fancy,
معنی قرآن ز قرآن پرس و بس ** وز کسی که آتش زدست اندر هوس
And has become a sacrifice to the Qur’án and is (laid) low (in self-abasement), so that the Qur’án has become the essence of his spirit.
پیش قرآن گشت قربانی و پست ** تا که عین روح او قرآن شدست
The oil that has wholly devoted itself to the rose—smell either the oil or the rose as you please.3130
روغنی کو شد فدای گل به کل ** خواه روغن بوی کن خواهی تو گل
And similarly (the Tradition), ‘the Pen has dried’ means that the Pen has dried after writing (the words), ‘Obedience and disobedience (to God) are not on the same level, honesty and stealing are not on the same level.’ The Pen has dried (after writing) that thanksgiving and ingratitude are not on the same level. The Pen has dried (after writing) that God does not let the reward of the righteous be lost.
و هم‌چنین قد جف القلم یعنی جف القلم و کتب لا یستوی الطاعة والمعصیة لا یستوی الامانة و السرقة جف القلم ان لا یستوی الشکر و الکفران جف القلم ان الله لا یضیع اجر المحسنین
Likewise the (true) interpretation of ‘the Pen has dried’ (is that) it (this Tradition) is for the purpose of inciting to the most important work (of all).
هم‌چنین تاویل قد جف القلم ** بهر تحریضست بر شغل اهم
Therefore the Pen wrote that every action has the effect and consequence appropriate to it.
پس قلم بنوشت که هر کار را ** لایق آن هست تاثیر و جزا
The Pen has dried (after writing) that if you do wrong (in this world) you will suffer wrong (in the next), and that if you act rightly (here) the result will be your felicity (there).
کژ روی جف القلم کژ آیدت ** راستی آری سعادت زایدت
(If) you behave unjustly, you are damned: the Pen has dried (on that). If you show justice, you eat the fruit (of blessedness): the Pen has dried (on that).
When he (any one) steals, his hand goes: the Pen has dried (on that). (When) he drinks wine, he becomes intoxicated: the Pen has dried (on that).3135
چون بدزدد دست شد جف القلم ** خورد باده مست شد جف القلم
Do you deem it allowable, can it be allowable, that on account of the (eternally) prior decree God should come, like a person dismissed from office,
تو روا داری روا باشد که حق ** هم‌چو معزول آید از حکم سبق
Saying, ‘The affair has gone out of My hands: do not approach Me so often, do not entreat (Me) so much’?
که ز دست من برون رفتست کار ** پیش من چندین میا چندین مزار
Nay, the meaning is: ‘the Pen has dried (on this that) justice and injustice are not equal in My sight.
بلک معنی آن بود جف القلم ** نیست یکسان پیش من عدل و ستم
I have laid down a distinction between good and evil; I have also laid down a distinction between the bad and the worse.’
فرق بنهادم میان خیر و شر ** فرق بنهادم ز بد هم از بتر
If there be in you a single mote of self-discipline in excess of (that of) your companion, the grace of God will know,3140
ذره‌ای گر در تو افزونی ادب ** باشد از یارت بداند فضل رب
And will bestow on you that mote's amount of superiority: the mote will step forth as (big as) a mountain (to meet you).
قدر آن ذره ترا افزون دهد ** ذره چون کوهی قدم بیرون نهد
A king before whose throne there is no distinction between the faithful (friend) and the seeker of iniquity—
پادشاهی که به پیش تخت او ** فرق نبود از امین و ظلم‌جو
Between him who trembles in fear of his (the king's) disapproval and him who intrigues against his fortune (empire)—
آنک می‌لرزد ز بیم رد او ** وانک طعنه می‌زند در جد او
(So that) there is no difference, but both of them are one to him: he is not a king, may dark earth be on his head!
فرق نبود هر دو یک باشد برش ** شاه نبود خاک تیره بر سرش
If your (devotional) labour exceed (that of another) by a single mote, it (that mote) will be weighed in God's balance.3145
ذره‌ای گر جهد تو افزون بود ** در ترازوی خدا موزون بود
You continually work yourself to death in the service of these (worldly) kings, (yet) they are ignorant of (the difference between) treachery and honesty.
پیش این شاهان هماره جان کنی ** بی‌خبر ایشان ز غدر و روشنی
The words of a tale-bearer who speaks ill of you will cause your service (rendered) during (many) years to be wasted;
گفت غمازی که بد گوید ترا ** ضایع آرد خدمتت را سالها
(But) the words of tale-bearers do not take their abode in the presence of the King who is hearing and seeing.
پیش شاهی که سمیعست و بصیر ** گفت غمازان نباشد جای‌گیر
All the tale-bearers are reduced to despair by Him: they come to us and increase (our) bondage.
جمله غمازان ازو آیس شوند ** سوی ما آیند و افزایند پند
They speak much abuse of the King before us, saying, ‘Go! The Pen has dried (after writing your destiny). (Therefore) do not keep faith (with Him).’3150
بس جفا گویند شه را پیش ما ** که برو جف القلم کم کن وفا
How should the meaning of ‘the Pen has dried’ be (this), that acts of perfidy and acts of faithfulness are alike?
معنی جف القلم کی آن بود ** که جفاها با وفا یکسان بود
Nay, perfidy (in return) for acts of perfidy: the Pen has dried (on that); and faithfulness (in return) for those acts of faithfulness: the Pen has dried (on that).
بل جفا را هم جفا جف القلم ** وآن وفا را هم وفا جف القلم
(True), there may be pardon (for the sinner), but where (for him) is the glorious hope that through piety the servant of God may be (spiritually) illumined?
عفو باشد لیک کو فر امید ** که بود بنده ز تقوی روسپید
If a robber be pardoned, he saves his life, (but) how should he become a vizier and keeper of the treasury?
دزد را گر عفو باشد جان برد ** کی وزیر و خازن مخزن شود
Come, O godly Amínu’ddín, for every tiara and ensign has grown from trustworthiness (amánat).3155
ای امین الدین ربانی بیا ** کز امانت رست هر تاج و لوا
If the Sultan's son become a traitor to him, on that account his head will be severed from his body;
پور سلطان گر برو خاین شود ** آن سرش از تن بدان باین شود
And if a Hindú slave show faithfulness, sovereignty will applaud him (and cry), ‘Long may he live!’
وز غلامی هندوی آرد وفا ** دولت او را می‌زند طال بقا
What of a slave? If a dog is faithful (in keeping watch) at a door, there are a hundred feelings of satisfaction with him in the heart of the master (of the house).
چه غلام ار بر دری سگ باوفاست ** در دل سالار او را صد رضاست
Since, because of this (faithfulness), he kisses the mouth of a dog, if he (the faithful one) be a lion, how triumphant he will make him!
زین چو سگ را بوسه بر پوزش دهد ** گر بود شیری چه پیروزش کند
(Robbers get nothing but pardon), except, to be sure, the robber who performs acts of service (to God) and whose sincerity uproots his (former) perfidy,3160
جز مگر دزدی که خدمتها کند ** صدق او بیخ جفا را بر کند
Like Fudayl, the brigand who played straight, because he ran with the strength of ten men towards repentance;
چون فضیل ره‌زنی کو راست باخت ** زانک ده مرده به سوی توبه تاخت
And as the magicians (who) blackened the face of Pharaoh by their fortitude and faithfulness.
وآنچنان که ساحران فرعون را ** رو سیه کردند از صبر و وفا
They gave their hands and feet (to be cut off as a penalty) for the crime that entailed retaliation: how should that (degree of faithfulness) be attained by means of a hundred years' devotional service?
دست و پا دادند در جرم قود ** آن به صد ساله عبادت کی شود
You who have served (Him) for fifty years, when have you brought into your possession such a sincerity as this?
تو که پنجه سال خدمت کرده‌ای ** کی چنین صدقی به دست آورده‌ای
Story of the dervish who saw at Herát the well-equipped slaves of the ‘Amíd of Khurásán, mounted on Arab horses and wearing gold-embroidered coats, caps richly ornamented (with silver or gems), etc. He asked, ‘What princes and what kings are these?’ On being told that they were not princes, but the slaves of the ‘Amíd of Khurásán, he turned his face to Heaven, crying, ‘O God, learn from the ‘Amíd how to take care of slaves!’ There (in Khurásán) the State-accountant (Mustawfí) is called ‘Amíd.
حکایت آن درویش کی در هری غلامان آراسته‌ی عمید خراسان را دید و بر اسبان تازی و قباهای زربفت و کلاهای مغرق و غیر آن پرسید کی اینها کدام امیرانند و چه شاهانند گفت او را کی اینها امیران نیستند اینها غلامان عمید خراسانند روی به آسمان کرد کی ای خدا غلام پروردن از عمید بیاموز آنجا مستوفی را عمید گویند
A certain unmannerly (dervish) at Herát, when he saw a nobleman's slave3165
آن یکی گستاخ رو اندر هری ** چون بدیدی او غلام مهتری
Going about in satin raiment with a belt of gold, would turn his face to Heaven,
جامه‌ی اطلس کمر زرین روان ** روی کردی سوی قبله‌ی آسمان
And cry, ‘O God, why dost not Thou learn from this bountiful Khwája how to keep (Thy) slave?
کای خدا زین خواجه‌ی صاحب منن ** چون نیاموزی تو بنده داشتن
O God, let this ra’ís (high dignitary) and chosen (minister) of our king teach Thee how to care for Thy slave.’
بنده پروردن بیاموز ای خدا ** زین رئیس و اختیار شاه ما
He (the dervish) was needy and naked and without food: (’twas) in winter (and) he was trembling exceedingly from the (cold) air.
بود محتاج و برهنه و بی‌نوا ** در زمستان لرز لرزان از هوا
That man (who was) beside himself (with cold and hunger) committed an impertinence: from grossness (of disposition) he displayed an (impious) audacity.3170
انبساطی کرد آن از خود بری ** جراتی بنمود او از لمتری