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ناگهان چشمش سوی دریا فتاد ** چون شنید از سوی دریا داد داد
- Of a sudden his eye turned towards the sea, because he heard (cries of) “Help! Help!” (coming) from the direction of the sea.
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در میان موج دید او کشتیی ** در قضا و در بلا و زشتیی
- He saw amidst the waves a ship in (the hour of its) fate, and in tribulation and an evil plight.
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هم شب و هم ابر و هم موج عظیم ** این سه تاریکی و از غرقاب بیم 2180
- (There were) both night and clouds and huge waves: these three darknesses, and (also) fear of (being drowned in) the whirlpool.
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تند بادی همچو عزرائیل خاست ** موجها آشوفت اندر چپ و راست
- A fierce wind, like ‘Azrá’íl, arose; the waves tossed on left and right.
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اهل کشتی از مهابت کاسته ** نعره وا ویلها برخاسته
- The people in the ship were faint with terror: cries of woe had arisen,
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دستها در نوحه بر سر می‌زدند ** کافر و ملحد همه مخلص شدند
- And in lamentation they were beating their heads with their hands: infidel and deist—they all had become sincere (in devotion to God),
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با خدا با صد تضرع آن زمان ** عهدها و نذرها کرده بجان
- Making heartfelt promises and vows to God with a hundred humble entreaties in that hour.
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سر برهنه در سجود آنها که هیچ ** رویشان قبله ندید از پیچ پیچ 2185
- Bare-headed in the prostrate attitude (of Divine worship) were those whose faces, because of (their) perversity, had never seen the qibla at all.
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گفته که بی‌فایده‌ست این بندگی ** آن زمان دیده در آن صد زندگی
- They (formerly) said, “This worship of God is useless”; (but) in that hour (of despair) they saw a hundred lives (precious advantages) therein.
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از همه اومید ببریده تمام ** دوستان و خال و عم بابا و مام
- They had entirely abandoned hope of all—of friends and maternal and paternal uncles and father and mother.