(This He does) in order that you may flee from the fox-fur and silk and take refuge from them with the intense cold.
تا گریزی از وشق هم از حریر ** زو پناه آری به سوی زمهریر
You are not the (statutory) two qullas (ewers), you are (only) one ewer: you have forgotten the (Divine) chastisement inflicted by an overshadowing cloud.2175
تو دو قله نیستی یک قله‌ای ** غافل از قصه‌ی عذاب ظله‌ای
In town and village, to (every) house and wall came the command of God, “Give no shade!
امر حق آمد به شهرستان و ده ** خانه و دیوار را سایه مده
Do not ward off the rain and the (heat of the) sun!” so that the people went in haste to that Apostle (Shu‘ayb),
مانع باران مباش و آفتاب ** تا بدان مرسل شدند امت شتاب
Crying, “We are dead for the most part: mercy, O Prince!” Read the rest of it in the book of commentary (on the Qur’án).
که بمردیم اغلب ای مهتر امان ** باقیش از دفتر تفسیر خوان
Since that deft-handed One made the rod (of Moses) a serpent, that instance is enough if you have any intelligence.
چون عصا را مار کرد آن چست‌دست ** گر ترا عقلیست آن نکته بس است
You possess (the faculty of) consideration, but it does not go deep (into the subject): it is a frozen spring and has stopped (flowing).2180
تو نظر داری ولیک امعانش نیست ** چشمه‌ی افسرده است و کرده ایست
Hence the (Divine) Artist who depicts thoughts is saying, “Consider deeply, O (My) servant.”
زین همی گوید نگارنده‌ی فکر ** که بکن ای بنده امعان نظر
He does not mean (to say), “Beat cold iron,” but (what He means is) “O (thou who art hard as) steel, devote thyself to David.”
آن نمی‌خواهد که آهن کوب سرد ** لیک ای پولاد بر داود گرد
If your body is dead, resort to Isráfíl; if your heart is frozen, repair to the sun of the Spirit.
تن بمردت سوی اسرافیل ران ** دل فسردت رو به خورشید روان
Inasmuch as you have wrapped yourself in the garment of phantasy, lo, you will (soon) reach (the position of) the evil-minded sophist (sceptic).
در خیال از بس که گشتی مکتسی ** نک بسوفسطایی بدظن رسی
Verily he was dispossessed of the kernel (which is) Reason: he was dispossessed of (true) perception and deprived of (immediate) experience.2185
او خود از لب خرد معزول بود ** شد ز حس محروم و معزول از وجود
Hark, O mouther, ’tis the hour for mumbling: if thou speak (clearly) to the people, ’tis a shameful exposure.
هین سخن‌خا نوبت لب‌خایی است ** گر بگویی خلق را رسوایی است
What is (the meaning of) im‘án? (It means) causing the spring to flow: when the spirit (ján) has escaped from the body, they call it rawán.
چیست امعان چشمه را کردن روان ** چون ز تن جان رست گویندش روان
The philosopher whose spirit was delivered from the bondage of the body and began to wander (rawán) in the garden (of Reality)
آن حکیمی را که جان از بند تن ** باز رست و شد روان اندر چمن
Bestowed two (different) titles on these two (spirits) in order to distinguish (the one from the other). Oh, may his spirit be blest!
دو لقب را او برین هر دو نهاد ** بهر فرق ای آفرین بر جانش باد
(Now hear a story) showing that if he who walks according to the (Divine) command wishes a rose to become a thorn, it will become that.2190
در بیان آنک بر فرمان رود ** گر گلی را خار خواهد آن شود
The evidentiary miracle of Húd, on whom be peace, in the deliverance of the true believers of the community at the moment when the Wind descended.
معجزه‌ی هود علیه السلام در تخلص مومنان امت به وقت نزول باد
All the true believers, (seeking refuge) from the violence of the pernicious Wind, seated themselves in the circle (drawn by Húd).
مومنان از دست باد ضایره ** جمله بنشستند اندر دایره
The Wind was (like) the Flood, and His (God's) grace was the ship (Ark): He hath many such arks and floods.
یاد طوفان بود و کشتی لطف هو ** بس چنین کشتی و طوفان دارد او
God makes a king to be (as) an ark (for his subjects), to the end that he, (impelled) by selfishness, may assault the ranks (of his enemies).
پادشاهی را خدا کشتی کند ** تا به حرص خویش بر صفها زند
The king's aim is not that the people should become safe; his aim is that his kingdom should become (like) a fetter (on his foot).
قصد شه آن نه که خلق آمن شوند ** قصدش آنک ملک گردد پای‌بند
The ass that turns the mill is running along: its aim is (to obtain) release, so that it may gain refuge from blows at that moment.2195
آن خراسی می‌دود قصدش خلاص ** تا بیابد او ز زخم آن دم مناص
Its aim is not to draw some water or thereby (by turning the mill) to make sesame into oil.
قصد او آن نه که آبی بر کشد ** یاکه کنجد را بدان روغن کند
The ox hurries for fear of (receiving) hard blows, not for the purpose of taking the cart and baggage (to their destination);
گاو بشتابد ز بیم زخم سخت ** نه برای بردن گردون و رخت
But God put such fear of pain in him, to the end that good results might be achieved in consequence (of his fear).
لیک دادش حق چنین خوف وجع ** تا مصالح حاصل آید در تبع
Similarly, every shopkeeper works for himself, not for the improvement of the world.
هم‌چنان هر کاسبی اندر دکان ** بهر خود کوشد نه اصلاح جهان
Every one seeks a plaster for his pain, and in consequence of this a whole world is set in order.2200
هر یکی بر درد جوید مرهمی ** در تبع قایم شده زین عالمی
God made of fear the pillar (support) of this world: because of fear every one has devoted himself to work.
حق ستون این جهان از ترس ساخت ** هر یکی از ترس جان در کار باخت
Praise be to God that on this wise He has made a fear to be the architect and (means for the) improvement of the world.
حمد ایزد را که ترسی را چنین ** کرد او معمار و اصلاح زمین
All these (people) are afraid of (losing) good and (suffering) evil: none that is afraid is himself frightened by himself.
این همه ترسنده‌اند از نیک و بد ** هیچ ترسنده نترسد خود ز خود
In reality, then, (the creator of their fear and) the ruler over (them) all is that One who is near, though He is not perceived by the senses.
پس حقیقت بر همه حاکم کسیست ** که قریبست او اگر محسوس نیست
He is perceived in a certain hiding-place (the heart), but not perceived by the sense of this house (the body).2205
هست او محسوس اندر مکمنی ** لیک محسوس حس این خانه نی
The sense to which God is manifested is not the sense of this world; it is another.
آن حسی که حق بر آن حس مظهرست ** نیست حس این جهان آن دیگرست
If the animal sense perceived those (Divine) forms (ideas) an ox or an ass would be the Báyazíd of the time.
حس حیوان گر بدیدی آن صور ** بایزید وقت بودی گاو و خر
He who made the body to be the theatre in which every spirit is manifested, He who made the Ark to be the Buráq (steed) of Noah,
آنک تن را مظهر هر روح کرد ** وآنک کشتی را براق نوح کرد
He, if He will, makes (what is) a very ark in (its ordinary) character to be a (destructive) flood for you, O seeker of light.
گر بخواهد عین کشتی را به خو ** او کند طوفان تو ای نورجو
At every moment, O man of little means, He has conjoined with your grief and gladness an ark (to save you) and a flood (to destroy you).2210
هر دمت طوفان و کشتی ای مقل ** با غم و شادیت کرد او متصل
If you do not perceive the ark and the sea (flood) before you, (then) consider (whence come) the tremors in all your limbs.
گر نبینی کشتی و دریا به پیش ** لرزها بین در همه اجزای خویش
Since his (the trembling man's) eyes do not perceive the source of his fear, he is affrighted by diverse kinds of phantasy.
چون نبیند اصل ترسش را عیون ** ترس دارد از خیال گونه‌گون
(For example), a drunken boor strikes a blind man with his fist: the blind man thinks it is a kicking camel,
مشت بر اعمی زند یک جلف مست ** کور پندارد لگدزن اشترست
Because at that moment he heard a camel's cry: the ear, not the eye, is the mirror for the blind.
زانک آن دم بانگ اشتر می‌شنید ** کور را گوشست آیینه نه دید
(But) then again the blind man says, “No, it was a stone (which some one threw at me), or perhaps it was (a brick) from an echoing dome.”2215
باز گوید کور نه این سنگ بود ** یا مگر از قبه‌ی پر طنگ بود
It was neither this nor that nor that: He who created fear produced these (phantasies).
این نبود و او نبود و آن نبود ** آنک او ترس آفرید اینها نمود
Certainly fear and trembling are (produced) by another: nobody is frightened by himself, O sorrowful man.
ترس و لرزه باشد از غیری یقین ** هیچ کس از خود نترسد ای حزین
The miserable philosopher calls fear “imagination” (wahm): he has wrongly understood this lesson.
آن حکیمک وهم خواند ترس را ** فهم کژ کردست او این درس را
How should there be any imagination without reality? How should any false coin pass (into circulation) without a genuine one?
هیچ وهمی بی‌حقیقت کی بود ** هیچ قلبی بی‌صحیحی کی رود
How should a lie fetch a price (have value) without truth? Every lie in both worlds has arisen from truth.2220
کی دروغی قیمت آرد بی ز راست ** در دو عالم هر دروغ از راست خاست
He (the liar) saw the currency and prestige enjoyed by truth: he set going (circulated) the lie in hope of (its enjoying) the same.
راست را دید او رواجی و فروغ ** بر امید آن روان کرد او دروغ
O (incarnate) lie, whose fortune is (derived) from veracity, give thanks for the bounty and do not deny the truth!
ای دروغی که ز صدقت این نواست ** شکر نعمت گو مکن انکار راست
Shall I speak of the philosopher and his mad fancy, or of His (God's) ships (arks) and seas (floods)?
از مفلسف گویم و سودای او ** یا ز کشتیها و دریاهای او