The accursed Iblís said to (God) the Dispenser of justice, “I want a powerful snare for this prey.”
گفت ابلیس لعین دادار را ** دام زفتی خواهم این اشکار را
He (God) showed to him gold and silver and herds of horses, saying, “By means of this thou canst seduce mankind.”
زر و سیم و گله‌ی اسپش نمود ** که بدین تانی خلایق را ربود
He (Iblís) cried “Bravo!” but let his lip drop sourly: he became wrinkled and sour like a lemon.
گفت شاباش و ترش آویخت لنج ** شد ترنجیده ترش هم‌چون ترنج
Then God offered to that fallen one gold and jewels from His goodly mines,945
پس زر و گوهر ز معدنهای خوش ** کرد آن پس‌مانده را حق پیش‌کش
Saying, “Take this other snare, O accursed one.” He replied, “Give more than this, O most excellent Helper.”
گیر این دام دگر را ای لعین ** گفت زین افزون ده ای نعم‌المعین
(Then) He gave him oily and sweet (viands) and costly sherbets and many silken robes.
چرب و شیرین و شرابات ثمین ** دادش و بس جامه‌ی ابریشمین
He (Iblís) said, “O Lord, I want more assistance than this, to bind them with a cord of palm-fibre.
گفت یا رب بیش ازین خواهم مدد ** تا ببندمشان به حبل من مسد
In order that Thy intoxicated (devotees), who are fierce and courageous, may manfully burst those bonds,
تا که مستانت که نر و پر دلند ** مردوار آن بندها را بسکلند
And that by means of this snare and (these) cords of sensuality Thy (holy) man may be separated from the unmanly,950
تا بدین دام و رسنهای هوا ** مرد تو گردد ز نامردان جدا
I want another snare, O Sovereign of the throne—a mighty cunning snare that will lay men low.”
دام دیگر خواهم ای سلطان تخت ** دام مردانداز و حیلت‌ساز سخت
He (God) brought and placed before him wine and harp: thereat he smiled faintly and was moderately pleased.
خمر و چنگ آورد پیش او نهاد ** نیم‌خنده زد بدان شد نیم‌شاد
He (Iblís) sent a message to the eternal Foreordainment of perdition, saying, “Raise dust from the bottom of the sea of temptation.
سوی اضلال ازل پیغام کرد ** که بر آر از قعر بحر فتنه گرد
Is not Moses one of Thy servants? He tied veils of dust on the sea.
نی یکی از بندگانت موسی است ** پرده‌ها در بحر او از گرد بست
The water retreated on every side: from the bottom of the sea a (cloud of) dust shot up.”955
آب از هر سو عنان را واکشید ** از تگ دریا غباری برجهید
When He (God) showed unto him (Iblís) the beauty of women that was prevailing over the reason and self-restraint of men,
چونک خوبی زنان فا او نمود ** که ز عقل و صبر مردان می‌فزود
Then he snapped his fingers (in glee) and began to dance, crying, “Give me (these) as quickly as possible: I have attained to my desire.”
پس زد انگشتک به رقص اندر فتاد ** که بده زوتر رسیدم در مراد
When he saw those languorous eyes which make the reason and understanding unquiet,
چون بدید آن چشمهای پرخمار ** که کند عقل و خرد را بی‌قرار
And the loveliness of that fascinating cheek on which this heart (of man) burns like rue-seed (on the fire),
وآن صفای عارض آن دلبران ** که بسوزد چون سپند این دل بر آن
Face and mole and eyebrow and lip like cornelian, ’twas as though God shone forth through a subtile veil.960
رو و خال و ابرو و لب چون عقیق ** گوییا حق تافت از پرده‌ی رقیق
He (Iblís) deemed that coquetry and light springing gait to be like the revelation of Divine glory through a thin veil.
دید او آن غنج و برجست سبک ** چون تجلی حق از پرده‌ی تنک
Commentary on “We created Man in the best (physical and mental) proportion, then We reduced him to the lowest of the low”; and on “And to whomsoever We grant long life, We cause him to relapse in constitution.”
تفسیر خلقنا الانسان فی احسن تقویم ثم رددناه اسفل سافلین و تفسیر و من نعمره ننکسه فی الخلق
The beauty personified in Adam, to which the angels bow down, is afterwards deposed (from its former perfection), like Adam (when he fell from Paradise).
آدم حسن و ملک ساجد شده ** هم‌چو آدم باز معزول آمده
It cries, “Alas, after existence non-existence!” He (God) says, “Thy crime is this, that thou hast lived too long.”
گفت آوه بعد هستی نیستی ** گفت جرمت این که افزون زیستی
Gabriel, dragging it by the hair, leads it away, saying, "Begone from this Paradise and from the company of the fair ones."
جبرئیلش می‌کشاند مو کشان ** که برو زین خلد و از جوق خوشان
It says, “What is (the meaning of) this abasement after exaltation?” He (Gabriel) replies, “That (exaltation) is a gift (of God), and this (abasement) is (His) judgement on thee.”965
گفت بعد از عز این اذلال چیست ** گفت آن دادست و اینت داوریست
(It cries), “O Gabriel, thou didst (formerly) bow down (to me) with (all) thy soul: why art thou now driving me from Paradise?
جبرئیلا سجده می‌کردی به جان ** چون کنون می‌رانیم تو از جنان
My robes are flying from me in (this hour of) tribulation, like leaves from the date-palm in the season of autumn.”
حله می‌پرد ز من در امتحان ** هم‌چو برگ از نخ در فصل خزان
The countenance whose splendour was moon-like becomes with old age like the back of the Libyan lizard;
آن رخی که تاب او بد ماه‌وار ** شد به پیری هم‌چو پشت سوسمار
And the fair head and crown (of the head) that once were radiant become ugly and bald at the time of eld;
وان سر و فرق گش شعشع شده ** وقت پیری ناخوش و اصلع شده
And the tall proud figure, piercing the ranks like a spear-point, in old age is bent double like a bow.970
وان قد صف در نازان چون سنان ** گشته در پیری دو تا هم‌چون کمان
The colour of red anemone becomes the colour of saffron; his lion-like strength becomes as the courage of women.
رنگ لاله گشته رنگ زعفران ** زور شیرش گشته چون زهره‌ی زنان
He that used to grip a man in his arms by skill (in wrestling), (now) they take hold of his arms (to support him) at the time of departure.
آنک مردی در بغل کردی به فن ** می‌بگیرندش بغل وقت شدن
Truly these are marks of pain and decay: every one of them is a messenger of death.
این خود آثار غم و پژمردگیست ** هر یکی زینها رسول مردگیست
Commentary on “The lowest of the low, except those who have believed and wrought good works; for they shall have a reward that is not cut off.”
تفسیر اسفل سافلین الا الذین آمنوا و عملوا الصالحات فلهم اجر غیر مومنون
But if his physician be the Light of God, there is no loss or crushing blow (that he will suffer) from old age and fever.
لیک گر باشد طبیبش نور حق ** نیست از پیری و تب نقصان و دق
His weakness is like the weakness of the intoxicated, for in his weakness he is the envy of a Rustam.975
سستی او هست چون سستی مست ** که اندر آن سستیش رشک رستمست
If he die, his bones are drowned in (spiritual) savour; every mote of him is (floating) in the beams of the light of love-desire.
گر بمیرد استخوانش غرق ذوق ** ذره ذره‌ش در شعاع نور شوق
And he who hath not that (Light) is an orchard without fruit, which the autumn brings to ruin.
وآنک آنش نیست باغ بی‌ثمر ** که خزانش می‌کند زیر و زبر
The roses remain not; (only) the black thorns remain: it becomes pale and pithless like a heap of straw.
گل نماند خارها ماند سیاه ** زرد و بی‌مغز آمده چون تل کاه
O God, I wonder what fault did that orchard commit, that these (beautiful) robes should be stripped from it.
تا چه زلت کرد آن باغ ای خدا ** که ازو این حله‌ها گردد جدا
“It paid regard to itself, and self-regard is a deadly poison. Beware, O thou who art put to the trial!”980
خویشتن را دید و دید خویشتن ** زهر قتالست هین ای ممتحن
The minion for love of whom the world wept—the world (now) is repulsing him from itself: what is (his) crime?
شاهدی کز عشق او عالم گریست ** عالمش می‌راند از خود جرم چیست
“The crime is that he put on a borrowed adornment and pretended that these robes were his own property.
جرم آنک زیور عاریه بست ** کرد دعوی کین حلل ملک منست
We take them back, in order that he may know for sure that the stack is Ours and the fair ones are (only) gleaners;
واستانیم آن که تا داند یقین ** خرمن آن ماست خوبان دانه‌چین
That he may know that those robes were a loan: ’twas a ray from the Sun of Being.”
تا بداند کان حلل عاریه بود ** پرتوی بود آن ز خورشید وجود
(All) that beauty and power and virtue and knowledge have journeyed hither from the Sun of Excellence.985
آن جمال و قدرت و فضل و هنر ** ز آفتاب حسن کرد این سو سفر
They, the light of that Sun, turn back again, like the stars, from these (bodily) walls.
باز می‌گردند چون استارها ** نور آن خورشید ازین دیوارها
(When) the Sunbeam has gone home, every wall is left dark and black.
پرتو خورشید شد وا جایگاه ** ماند هر دیوار تاریک و سیاه
That which made thee amazed at the faces of the fair is the Light of the Sun (reflected) from the three-coloured glass.
آنک کرد او در رخ خوبانت دنگ ** نور خورشیدست از شیشه‌ی سه رنگ
The glasses of diverse hue cause that Light to seem coloured like this to us.
شیشه‌های رنگ رنگ آن نور را ** می‌نمایند این چنین رنگین بما
When the many-coloured glasses are no more, then the colourless Light makes thee amazed.990
چون نماند شیشه‌های رنگ‌رنگ ** نور بی‌رنگت کند آنگاه دنگ
Make it thy habit to behold the Light without the glass, in order that when the glass is shattered there may not be blindness (in thee).
خوی کن بی‌شیشه دیدن نور را ** تا چو شیشه بشکند نبود عمی