If reason should ask how the aim may be (attained), say, “In a manner that thou knowest not, and (so) farewell!”
گر بپرسد عقل چون باشد مرام ** گو چنانک تو ندانی والسلام
How Mustafá (Mohammed), on whom be peace, reproached the Siddíq, may God be pleased with him, saying, “I enjoined thee to buy in partnership with me: why hast thou bought for thyself alone?” and his (the Siddíq's) excuse.
معاتبه‌ی مصطفی علیه‌السلام با صدیق رضی الله عنه کی ترا وصیت کردم کی به شرکت من بخر تو چرا بهر خود تنها خریدی و عذر او
He (the Prophet) said, “Why, O Siddíq, I told thee to make me the partner in (thy) generosity.”1075
گفت ای صدیق آخر گفتمت ** که مرا انباز کن در مکرمت
He replied, “We are two slaves in thy street: I set him free for thy sake.
گفت ما دو بندگان کوی تو ** کردمش آزاد من بر روی تو
Keep me as thy slave and loyal friend: I want no freedom, beware (of thinking so)!
تو مرا می‌دار بنده و یار غار ** هیچ آزادی نخواهم زینهار
For my freedom consists in being thy slave: without thee, tribulation and injustice are (inflicted) on me.
که مرا از بندگیت آزادیست ** بی‌تو بر من محنت و بیدادیست
O thou who through being the chosen (Prophet) hast brought the (whole) world to life and hast made the common folk to be the elect, especially me,
ای جهان را زنده کرده ز اصطفا ** خاص کرده عام را خاصه مرا
In my youth my spirit used to dream that the orb of the sun salaamed to me,1080
خوابها می‌دید جانم در شباب ** که سلامم کرد قرص آفتاب
And lifted me up from earth to heaven: by mounting (so) high I had become its fellow-traveller.
از زمینم بر کشید او بر سما ** همره او گشته بودم ز ارتقا
I said (to myself), ‘This is an hallucination and absurd: how should absurdity ever become actuality?’
گفتم این ماخولیا بود و محال ** هیچ گردد مستحیلی وصف حال
When I beheld thee I beheld myself: blessings on that mirror goodly in its ways!
چون ترا دیدم بدیدم خویش را ** آفرین آن آینه‌ی خوش کیش را
When I beheld thee, the absurd became actual for me: my spirit was submerged in the Glory.
چون ترا دیدم محالم حال شد ** جان من مستغرق اجلال شد
When I beheld thee, O Spirit of the world, verily love for this (earthly) sun fell from mine eye.1085
چون ترا دیدم خود ای روح البلاد ** مهر این خورشید از چشمم فتاد
By thee mine eye was endowed with lofty aspiration: it looks not on the (earthly) garden save with contempt.
گشت عالی‌همت از نو چشم من ** جز به خواری نگردد اندر چمن
I sought light: verily I beheld the Light of light. I sought the houri: verily (in thee) I beheld an object of envy to the houri.
نور جستم خود بدیدم نور نور ** حور جستم خود بدیدم رشک حور
I sought a Joseph comely and with limbs (white as) silver: in thee I beheld an assembly of Josephs.
یوسفی جستم لطیف و سیم تن ** یوسفستانی بدیدم در تو من
I was (engaged) in searching after Paradise: from every part of thee a Paradise appeared (to me).
در پی جنت بدم در جست و جو ** جنتی بنمود از هر جزو تو
In relation to me this is praise and eulogy; in relation to thee this is vituperation and satire,1090
هست این نسبت به من مدح و ثنا ** هست این نسبت به تو قدح و هجا
Like the praise given to God by the simple shepherd in the presence of Moses the Kalím—
هم‌چو مدح مرد چوپان سلیم ** مر خدا را پیش موسی کلیم
‘I will seek out Thy lice, I will give Thee milk, I will stitch Thy shoon and lay them before Thee.’
که بجویم اشپشت شیرت دهم ** چارقت دوم من و پیشت نهم
God accepted his vituperation as an expression of praise: if thou also have mercy, ’twill be no marvel.
قدح او را حق به مدحی برگرفت ** گر تو هم رحمت کنی نبود شگفت
Have mercy upon the failure of (our) minds (to comprehend thee), O thou who art beyond (all) understandings and conceptions.”
رحم فرما بر قصور فهمها ** ای ورای عقلها و وهمها
O lovers, new fortune has arrived from the old World that makes (all things) new,1095
ایها العشاق اقبالی جدید ** از جهان کهنه‌ی نوگر رسید
From the World that is seeking a remedy for them that have no remedy: hundreds of thousands of wonders of the (present) world are (contained) in it.
زان جهان کو چاره‌ی بیچاره‌جوست ** صد هزاران نادره دنیا دروست
Rejoice, O people, since the relief has come; be glad, O people: the distress is removed.
ابشروا یا قوم اذ جاء الفرج ** افرحوا یا قوم قد زال الحرج
A Sun went into the hut of the new-moon, making urgent demands and saying, “Refresh us, O Bilál!
آفتابی رفت در کازه‌ی هلال ** در تقاضا که ارحنا یا بلال
From fear of the foe thou wert wont to speak under thy breath: (now), to his confusion, go up into the minaret and speak (aloud).”
زیر لب می‌گفتی از بیم عدو ** کوری او بر مناره رو بگو
The announcer of glad news is shouting in the ear of every sorrowful one, “Arise, O unlucky man, and take the road to fortune.1100
می‌دمد در گوش هر غمگین بشیر ** خیز ای مدبر ره اقبال گیر
O thou that art in this prison and amidst this stench and these lice, beware lest any one hear! Thou hast escaped (from prison): be silent!”
ای درین حبس و درین گند و شپش ** هین که تا کس نشنود رستی خمش
How shouldst thou keep silence now, O my beloved, when a drummer has appeared from the root of every hair (in thy body)?
چون کنی خامش کنون ای یار من ** کز بن هر مو بر آمد طبل‌زن
The jealous foe has become so deaf (that) he says, “Where is the sound of all these drums?”
آن‌چنان کر شد عدو رشک‌خو ** گوید این چندین دهل را بانگ کو
The fresh sweet basil is touching his face, (but) in his blindness he says, “What is this annoyance?”
می‌زند بر روش ریحان که طریست ** او ز کوری گوید این آسیب چیست
The houri is nipping his hand and drawing (him towards her): the blind man is distraught and says, “Wherefore is he (some one) hurting me?1105
می‌شکنجد حور دستش می‌کشد ** کور حیران کز چه دردم می‌کند
What is this (painful sense of) having my hand and body pulled hither and thither? I am asleep, let me sleep awhile.”
این کشاکش چیست بر دست و تنم ** خفته‌ام بگذار تا خوابی کنم
He whom thou seekest in thy slumbers, this is He! Open thine eye, (thou wilt see) ’tis that auspicious Moon.
Tribulations were (laid) more (heavily) upon (His) dear ones because the Beloved showed more coquettishness towards the beauteous (lovers).
زان بلاها بر عزیزان بیش بود ** کان تجمش یار با خوبان فزود
He sports with the beauteous ones in every path; sometimes, too, he throws the blind into frenzy.
لاغ با خوبان کند بر هر رهی ** نیز کوران را بشوراند گهی
For a moment He gives Himself to the blind, so that a great uproar arises from the street of the blind.1110
خویش را یک‌دم برین کوران دهد ** تا غریو از کوی کوران بر جهد
Story of Hilal, who was a devoted servant to God. (He was) possessed of spiritual insight and (in his religion) was not a mere imitator (of others). He had concealed himself in (the disguise of) being a slave to (God's) creatures, not from helplessness but for good reason, as Luqmán and Joseph and others (did, who were slaves) in appearance. He was a groom in the service of a certain Amír, and that Amír was a Moslem, but (spiritually) blind. “The blind man knows that he has a mother, but he cannot conceive what she is like.” If, having this knowledge, he show reverence towards his mother, it is possible that he may gain deliverance from blindness, for (the Prophet has said that) when God wills good unto a servant (of His) He opens the eyes of his heart, that He may let him see the Invisible (World) with them.
قصه‌ی هلال کی بنده‌ی مخلص بود خدای را صاحب بصیرت بی‌تقلید پنهان شده در بندگی مخلوقان جهت مصلحت نه از عجز چنانک لقمان و یوسف از روی ظاهر و غیر ایشان بنده‌ی سایس بود امیری را و آن امیر مسلمان بود اما چشم بسته داند اعمی که مادری دارد لیک چونی بوهم در نارد اگر با این دانش تعظیم این مادر کند ممکن بود کی از عمی خلاص یابد کی اذا اراد الله به عبد خیرا فتح عینی قلبه لیبصره بهما الغیب این راه ز زندگی دل حاصل کن کین زندگی تن صفت حیوانست
Since you have heard some of the (excellent) qualities of Bilál, now hear the story of the emaciation of Hilál.
چون شنیدی بعضی اوصاف بلال ** بشنو اکنون قصه‌ی ضعف هلال
He was more advanced than Bilál in the Way (to God): he had mortified his evil nature more.
از بلال او بیش بود اندر روش ** خوی بد را بیش کرده بد کشش
(He was) not a backslider like you, for at every moment you are farther back: you are moving away from the state of the (precious) pearl towards the state of the (worthless) stone.
نه چو تو پس‌رو که هر دم پس‌تری ** سوی سنگی می‌روی از گوهری
’Tis like the case of the guest who came to a certain Khwája: the Khwája inquired concerning his days and years.
آن‌چنان کان خواجه را مهمان رسید ** خواجه از ایام و سالش بر رسید
He asked, “How many years hast thou lived, my lad? Say (it) out and don't hide (it) away but count up (correctly).”1115
گفت عمرت چند سالست ای پسر ** بازگو و در مدزد و بر شمر
He replied, “Eighteen, seventeen, or sixteen, or fifteen, O adoptive brother.”
گفت هجده هفده یا خود شانزده ** یا که پانزده ای برادرخوانده
“(Go) backward, backward,” said he, “O giddy-headed one”; “keep going back usque ad cunnum matris tuae!” [“(Go) backward, backward,” said he, “O giddy-headed one”; “keep going back until (you return to) your mother’s vagina!”]
گفت واپس واپس ای خیره سرت ** باز می‌رو تا بکس مادرت
Story in exposition of the same topic.
حکایت در تقریر همین سخن
A certain man begged an Amír to give him a horse: he said, “Go and take that grey horse.”
آن یکی اسپی طلب کرد از امیر ** گفت رو آن اسپ اشهب را بگیر
He replied, “I don't want that one.” “Why not?” he asked. “It goes backward and is very restive,” said he;
گفت آن را من نخواهم گفت چون ** گفت او واپس‌روست و بس حرون
“It goes back, back very hard in the direction of its rump.” He replied, “Turn its tail towards home!”1120
سخت پس پس می‌رود او سوی بن ** گفت دمش را به سوی خانه کن
The tail of this beast you are riding, (namely), your carnal soul, is lust; hence that self-worshipper goes back, back.
دم این استور نفست شهوتست ** زین سبب پس پس رود آن خودپرست
O changer, make its (carnal) lust, which is the tail, to be entirely lust for the world hereafter.
شهوت او را که دم آمد ز بن ** ای مبدل شهوت عقبیش کن
When you bind its lust (and debar it) from the loaf, that lust puts forth its head from (is transformed into) noble reason.
چون ببندی شهوتش را از رغیف ** سر کند آن شهوت از عقل شریف