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
Consequently, he (Adam) at once besought pardon, while the accursed (Iblís) disdained to repent.
لاجرم او زود استغفار کرد ** وآن لعین از توبه استکبار کرد
The greed of the gullet and pudendum is in truth (a mark of) depravity; but it is not (headstrong like) ambition: it is abasement.
حرص حلق و فرج هم خود بدرگیست ** لیک منصب نیست آن اشکستگیست
If I should relate the root and branch (the whole story) of dominion, another Book would be needed.
بیخ و شاخ این ریاست را اگر ** باز گویم دفتری باید دگر
The Arabs called a restive (high-spirited) horse a “devil” (shaytán); (they did) not (give that name to) the beast of burden that stayed (quietly) in the pasture.
اسپ سرکش را عرب شیطانش خواند ** نی ستوری را که در مرعی بماند
“Devilry” (shaytanat) in lexicology is (synonymous with) “rebelliousness”: this quality is deserving of execration.525
شیطنت گردن کشی بد در لغت ** مستحق لعنت آمد این صفت
There is room for a hundred eaters (guests) round a table, (but) there is not room in the (whole) world for two seekers of dominion.
این جهان محدود و آن خود بی حدست ** نقش و صورت پیش آن معنی سدست
The one is not willing that the other should be on the surface of the earth; so that a prince kills his father for partaking with him (in sovereignty).
آن نخواهد کین بود بر پشت خاک ** تا ملک بکشد پدر را ز اشتراک
Thou hast heard (the saying) that kingship is childless: the seeker of sovereignty has cut (the ties of) relationship because of (his) fear;
آن شنیدستی که الملک عقیم ** قطع خویشی کرد ملکت‌جو ز بیم
For he is childless and has no son: like fire, he has no kinship with any one.
که عقیمست و ورا فرزند نیست ** هم‌چو آتش با کسش پیوند نیست
Whatsoever he finds he destroys and tears to pieces: when he finds nothing, he devours himself.530
هر چه یابد او بسوزد بر درد ** چون نیابد هیچ خود را می‌خورد
Become naught, escape from his teeth: do not seek mercy from his (hard) anvil-like heart.
هیچ شو وا ره تو از دندان او ** رحم کم جو از دل سندان او
After thou hast become naught, do not fear the anvil: take lessons every morning from absolute poverty.
چونک گشتی هیچ از سندان مترس ** هر صباح از فقر مطلق گیر درس
Divinity is the mantle of the Lord of glory: it becomes a plague to any one who puts it on.
هست الوهیت ردای ذوالجلال ** هر که در پوشد برو گردد وبال
His (God's) is the crown (of sovereignty), ours the belt (of servitude): woe to him that passes beyond his proper bound!
تاج از آن اوست آن ما کمر ** وای او کز حد خود دارد گذر
Thy peacock-feathers are a (sore) temptation to thee, for thou must needs have co-partnership (with God) and All-holiness.535
فتنه‌ی تست این پر طاووسیت ** که اشتراکت باید و قدوسیت
Story of the Sage who saw a peacock tearing out his handsome feathers with his beak and dropping them (on the ground) and making himself bald and ugly. In astonishment he asked, “Hast thou no feeling of regret?” “I have,” said the peacock, “but life is dearer to me than feathers, and these (feathers) are the enemy of my life.”
قصه‌ی آن حکیم کی دید طاوسی را کی پر زیبای خود را می‌کند به منقار و می‌انداخت و تن خود را کل و زشت می‌کرد از تعجب پرسید کی دریغت نمی‌آید گفت می‌آید اما پیش من جان از پر عزیزتر است و این پر عدوی جان منست
A peacock was tearing out his feathers in the open country, where a sage had gone for a walk.
پر خود می‌کند طاوسی به دشت ** یک حکیمی رفته بود آنجا بگشت
He said, “O peacock, how art thou tearing out such fine feathers remorselessly from the root?
گفت طاوسا چنین پر سنی ** بی‌دریغ از بیخ چون برمی‌کنی
How indeed is thy heart consenting that thou shouldst tear off these gorgeous robes and let them fall in the mud?
خود دلت چون می‌دهد تا این حلل ** بر کنی اندازیش اندر وحل
Those who commit the Qur’án to memory place every feather of thine, on account of its being prized and acceptable, within the folding of the (Holy) Book.
هر پرت را از عزیزی و پسند ** حافظان در طی مصحف می‌نهند
For the sake of stirring the healthful air thy feathers are used as fans.540
بهر تحریک هوای سودمند ** از پر تو بادبیزن می‌کنند
What ingratitude and what recklessness is this! Dost not thou know who is their decorator?
این چه ناشکری و چه بی‌باکیست ** تو نمی‌دانی که نقاشش کیست
Or dost thou know (that) and art thou showing disdain and purposely tearing out (such) a (fine) broidery?
یا همی‌دانی و نازی می‌کنی ** قاصدا قلع طرازی می‌کنی
Oh, there is many a disdain that becomes a sin and causes the servant to fall from favour with the King (God).
ای بسا نازا که گردد آن گناه ** افکند مر بنده را از چشم شاه