Contrive that you may become the meanest slave (of God): if you enter into (the state of) meanness (self-abasement), you will become lordly.
مکر کن تا کمترین بنده شوی ** در کمی رفتی خداونده شوی
Never, O old wolf, practise foxiness and perform service with the purpose of (gaining) lordship;
روبهی و خدمت ای گرگ کهن ** هیچ بر قصد خداوندی مکن
But rush into the fire like a moth: do not hoard up that (service), play for love!
لیک چون پروانه در آتش بتاز ** کیسه‌ای زان بر مدوز و پاک باز
Renounce power and adopt piteous supplication: (the Divine) mercy comes towards piteous supplication, O dervish.
زور را بگذار و زاری را بگیر ** رحم سوی زاری آید ای فقیر
The piteous supplication of one sorely distressed and athirst is real; the piteous (but) cold supplication of falsehood is proper to the miscreant.475
زاری مضطر تشنه معنویست ** زاری سرد دروغ آن غویست
The weeping of Joseph's brethren is a trick, for their hearts are full of envy and infirmity.
گریه‌ی اخوان یوسف حیلتست ** که درونشان پر ز رشک و علتست
Story of the Arab of the desert whose dog was dying of hunger, while his wallet was full of bread; he was lamenting over the dog and reciting poetry and sobbing and beating his head and face; and yet he grudged the dog a morsel from his wallet.
حکایت آن اعرابی کی سگ او از گرسنگی می‌مرد و انبان او پر نان و بر سگ نوحه می‌کرد و شعر می‌گفت و می‌گریست و سر و رو می‌زد و دریغش می‌آمد لقمه‌ای از انبان به سگ دادن
The dog was dying, and the Arab sobbing, shedding tears, and crying, “Oh, sorrow!”
آن سگی می‌مرد و گریان آن عرب ** اشک می‌بارید و می‌گفت ای کرب
A beggar passed by and asked, “What is this sobbing? For whom is thy mourning and lamentation?”
سایلی بگذشت و گفت این گریه چیست ** نوحه و زاری تو از بهر کیست
He replied, “There was in my possession a dog of excellent disposition. Look, he is dying on the road.
گفت در ملکم سگی بد نیک‌خو ** نک همی‌میرد میان راه او
He hunted for me by day and kept watch by night; (he was) keen-eyed and (good at) catching the prey and driving off thieves.”480
روز صیادم بد و شب پاسبان ** تیزچشم و صیدگیر و دزدران
He (the beggar) asked, “What ails him? Has he been wounded?” The Arab replied, “Ravenous hunger has made him (so) lamentable.”
گفت رنجش چیست زخمی خورده است ** گفت جوع الکلب زارش کرده است
“Show some patience,” said he, “in (bearing) this pain and anguish: the grace of God bestows a recompense on those who are patient.”
گفت صبری کن برین رنج و حرض ** صابران را فضل حق بخشد عوض
Afterwards he said to him, “O noble chief, what is this full wallet in your hand?”
بعد از آن گفتش کای سالار حر ** چیست اندر دستت این انبان پر
He replied, “My bread and provender and food left over from last night, (which) I am taking along (with me) to nourish my body.”
گفت نان و زاد و لوت دوش من ** می‌کشانم بهر تقویت بدن
“Why don't you give (some) bread and provender to the dog?” he asked. He replied, “I have not love and liberality to this extent.485
گفت چون ندهی بدان سگ نان و زاد ** گفت تا این حد ندارم مهر و داد
Bread cannot be obtained (by a traveller) on the road without money, but water from the eyes costs nothing.”
دست ناید بی‌درم در راه نان ** لیک هست آب دو دیده رایگان
He (the beggar) said, “Earth be on your head, O water-skin full of wind! for in your opinion a crust of bread is better than tears.”
گفت خاکت بر سر ای پر باد مشک ** که لب نان پیش تو بهتر ز اشک
Tears are (originally) blood and have been turned by grief into water: idle tears have not the value of earth.
اشک خونست و به غم آبی شده ** می‌نیرزد خاک خون بیهده
He (the Arab) made the whole of himself despicable, like Iblís: a piece of this whole is naught but vile.
کل خود را خوار کرد او چون بلیس ** پاره‌ی این کل نباشد جز خسیس
I am the (devoted) slave of him who will not sell his existence save to that bounteous and munificent Sovereign,490
من غلام آنک نفروشد وجود ** جز بدان سلطان با افضال و جود
(So that) when he weeps, heaven begins to weep, and when he moans (in supplication), the celestial sphere begins to cry, “O Lord!”
چون بگرید آسمان گریان شود ** چون بنالد چرخ یا رب خوان شود
I am the (devoted) slave of that high-aspiring copper which humbles itself to naught but the Elixir.
من غلام آن مس همت‌پرست ** کو به غیر کیمیا نارد شکست
Lift up in prayer a broken hand: the loving kindness of God flies towards the broken.
دست اشکسته برآور در دعا ** سوی اشکسته پرد فضل خدا
If thou hast need of deliverance from this narrow dungeon (the world), O brother, go without delay (and cast thyself) on the fire.
گر رهایی بایدت زین چاه تنگ ** ای برادر رو بر آذر بی‌درنگ
Regard God's contrivance and abandon thine own contrivance: oh, by His contrivance (all) the contrivance of contrivers is put to shame.495
مکر حق را بین و مکر خود بهل ** ای ز مکرش مکر مکاران خجل
When thy contrivance is naughted in the contrivance of the Lord, thou wilt open a most marvellous hiding-place,
چونک مکرت شد فنای مکر رب ** برگشایی یک کمینی بوالعجب
Of which hiding-place the least (treasure) is everlasting life (occupied) in ascending and mounting higher.
که کمینه‌ی آن کمین باشد بقا ** تا ابد اندر عروج و ارتقا
Explaining that no evil eye is so deadly to a man as the eye of self-approval, unless his eye shall have been transformed by the Light of God, so that “he hears through Me and sees through Me,” and (unless) his self shall have become selfless.
در بیان آنک هیچ چشم بدی آدمی را چنان مهلک نیست کی چشم پسند خویشتن مگر کی چشم او مبدل شده باشد به نور حق که بی یسمع و بی یبصر و خویشتن او بی‌خویشتن شده
Do not regard thy peacock-feathers but regard thy feet, in order that the mischief of the (evil) eye may not waylay thee;
پر طاوست مبین و پای بین ** تا که س العین نگشاید کمین
For (even) a mountain slips (from its foundations) at the eye of the wicked: read and mark in the Qur’án (the words) they cause thee to stumble.
که بلغزد کوه از چشم بدان ** یزلقونک از نبی بر خوان بدان
From (their) looking (at him), Ahmad (Mohammed), (who was) like a mountain, slipped in the middle of the road, without mud and without rain.500
احمد چون کوه لغزید از نظر ** در میان راه بی‌گل بی‌مطر
He remained in astonishment, saying, “Wherefore is this slipping? I do not think that this occurrence is empty (of meaning),”
در عجب درماند کین لغزش ز چیست ** من نپندارم که این حالت تهیست
Until the Verse (of the Qur’án) came and made him aware that this had happened to him in consequence of the evil eye and enmity (of the unbelievers).
تا بیامد آیت و آگاه کرد ** کان ز چشم بد رسیدت وز نبرد
(God said to the Prophet), “Had it been any one except thee, he would at once have been annihilated: he would have become the prey of the (evil) eye and in thrall to destruction;
گر بدی غیر تو در دم لا شدی ** صید چشم و سخره‌ی افنا شدی
But there came (from Me) a protection, sweeping along (majestically), and thy slipping was (only) for a sign.”
لیک آمد عصمتی دامن‌کشان ** وین که لغزیدی بد از بهر نشان
Take a warning, look on that mountain, and do not expose thy (petty) leaf (to destruction), O thou who art less than a straw.505
عبرتی گیر اندر آن که کن نگاه ** برگ خود عرضه مکن ای کم ز کاه
Commentary on “And verily those who disbelieve wellnigh cause thee to slip by their (malignant) eyes.”
تفسیر و ان یکاد الذین کفروا لیزلقونک بابصارهم الایه
“O Messenger of Allah, some persons in that assembly (of the unbelievers) smite with their (evil) eye the vultures (flying aloft).
یا رسول‌الله در آن نادی کسان ** می‌زنند از چشم بد بر کرکسان
By their looks the head of the lion of the jungle is cloven asunder, so that the lion makes moan.
از نظرشان کله‌ی شیر عرین ** وا شکافد تا کند آن شیر انین
He (such an one) casts on a camel an eye like death, and then sends a slave after it,
بر شتر چشم افکند هم‌چون حمام ** وانگهان بفرستد اندر پی غلام
Saying, ‘Go, buy some of the fat of this camel’: he (the slave) sees the camel fallen dead on the road.
که برو از پیه این اشتر بخر ** بیند اشتر را سقط او راه بر
(He sees) mortally stricken by disease the camel that used to vie with a horse in speed;510
سر بریده از مرض آن اشتری ** کو بتگ با اسب می‌کردی مری
For, without any doubt, from envy and (the effect of) the evil eye the celestial sphere would alter its course and revolution.”
کز حسد وز چشم بد بی‌هیچ شک ** سیر و گردش را بگرداند فلک
The water is hidden and the water-wheel is visible, yet as regards (the wheel's) revolution the water is the source of action.
آب پنهانست و دولاب آشکار ** لیک در گردش بود آب اصل کار
The remedy of the evil eye is the good eye: it makes the evil eye naught beneath its kick.
چشم نیکو شد دوای چشم بد ** چشم بد را لا کند زیر لگد
(Divine) mercy has the precedence (over Divine wrath): it (the good eye) is (derived) from (Divine) mercy, (while) the evil eye is the product of (Divine) wrath and execration.
سبق رحمت‌راست و او از رحمتست ** چشم بد محصول قهر و لعنتست
His (God's) mercy overcomes His vengeance: hence every prophet prevailed over his adversary;515
رحمتش بر نقمتش غالب شود ** چیره زین شد هر نبی بر ضد خود
For he (the prophet) is the result of (Divine) mercy and is the opposite of him (the adversary): that ill-favoured one was the result of (Divine) wrath.
کو نتیجه‌ی رحمتست و ضد او ** از نتیجه‌ی قهر بود آن زشت‌رو
The greed of the duck is single, (but) this (greed of the peacock) is fiftyfold: the greed of lust is (only) a snake, while this (greed for) eminence is a dragon.
حرص بط یکتاست این پنجاه تاست ** حرص شهوت مار و منصب اژدهاست
The duck's greed arises from the appetite of the gullet and pudendum, (but) twenty times as much (greed) is included in (the ambition to) rule.
حرص بط از شهوت حلقست و فرج ** در ریاست بیست چندانست درج
He (who is) in power (really) pretends to Divinity: how should one ambitious of co-partnership (with God) be saved?
از الوهیت زند در جاه لاف ** طامع شرکت کجا باشد معاف
The sin of Adam arose from the belly and sexual intercourse, and that of Iblís from pride and power.520
زلت آدم ز اشکم بود و باه ** وآن ابلیس از تکبر بود و جاه