A single person who obstinately refuses to listen will baffle a hundred (eloquent) speakers.
یک کس نامستمع ز استیز و رد ** صد کس گوینده را عاجز کند
Who should be more persuasive in counselling and sweeter-tongued than the prophets, whose words made an impression (even) on stones?
ز انبیا ناصح‌تر و خوش لهجه‌تر ** کی بود کی گرفت دمشان در حجر
(Yet) the bonds of the ill-fated (infidel) were not being loosed by that whereby mountain and stone were moved.1535
زانچ کوه و سنگ درکار آمدند ** می‌نشد بدبخت را بگشاده بند
Such hearts as had egoism were described (in the words of the Qur’án) nay, harder (than stone).
آنچنان دلها که بدشان ما و من ** نعتشان شدت بل اشد قسوة
Explaining that the bounty of God and of the (Divine) Omnipotence is not dependent on receptivity, as human bounty is; for in the latter case receptivity is necessary. (In the former case it is not) because (the Divine) bounty is eternal, whereas receptivity is temporal. Bounty is an attribute of the Creator, while receptivity is an attribute of the creature; and the eternal cannot depend on the temporal, otherwise temporality (origination in time) would be absurd.
بیان آنک عطای حق و قدرت موقوف قابلیت نیست هم‌چون داد خلقان کی آن را قابلیت باید زیرا عطا قدیم است و قابلیت حادث عطا صفت حق است و قابلیت صفت مخلوق و قدیم موقوف حادث نباشد و اگر نه حدوث محال باشد
The remedy for such a heart is the gift bestowed by a Transmuter: receptivity is not a necessary condition for His bounty.
چاره‌ی آن دل عطای مبدلیست ** داد او را قابلیت شرط نیست
Nay, His bounty is the necessary condition for receptivity: Bounty is the kernel, and receptivity the husk.
بلک شرط قابلیت داد اوست ** داد لب و قابلیت هست پوست
The change of Moses' rod into a serpent and the shining of his hand like a (resplendent) sun,
اینک موسی را عصا ثعبان شود ** هم‌چو خورشیدی کفش رخشان شود
And a hundred thousand miracles of the prophets which are not comprehended by our mind and understanding—1540
صد هزاران معجزات انبیا ** که آن نگنجد در ضمیر و عقل ما
(These) are not derived from secondary causes but are (under) the (direct) control of God: how can receptivity belong to non-existent things?
نیست از اسباب تصریف خداست ** نیستها را قابلیت از کجاست
If receptivity were a necessary condition for God's action, no non-existent thing would come into existence.
قابلی گر شرط فعل حق بدی ** هیچ معدومی به هستی نامدی
He (God) hath established a (customary) law and causes and means for the sake of those who seek (Him) under this blue veil (of heaven).
سنتی بنهاد و اسباب و طرق ** طالبان را زیر این ازرق تتق
Most happenings come to pass according to the (customary) law, (but) sometimes the (Divine) Power breaks the law.
بیشتر احوال بر سنت رود ** گاه قدرت خارق سنت شود
He hath established a goodly law and custom; then He hath made the (evidentiary) miracle a breach of the custom.1545
سنت و عادت نهاده با مزه ** باز کرده خرق عادت معجزه
If honour does not reach us without a (mediating) cause, (yet) the (Divine) Power is not remote from the removal of the cause.
بی‌سبب گر عز به ما موصول نیست ** قدرت از عزل سبب معزول نیست
O thou who art caught by the cause, do not fly outside (of causation); but (at the same time) do not suppose the removal of the Causer.
ای گرفتار سبب بیرون مپر ** لیک عزل آن مسبب ظن مبر
The Causer brings (into existence) whatsoever He will: the Absolute Power tears up (destroys) the causes;
هر چه خواهد آن مسبب آورد ** قدرت مطلق سببها بر درد
But, for the most part, He lets the execution (of His will) follow the course of causation, in order that a seeker may be able to pursue the object of his desire.
لیک اغلب بر سبب راند نفاذ ** تا بداند طالبی جستن مراد
When there is no cause, what way should the seeker pursue? Therefore he must have a visible cause in the way (that he is pursuing).1550
چون سبب نبود چه ره جوید مرید ** پس سبب در راه می‌باید بدید
These causes are veils on the eyes, for not every eye is worthy of (contemplating) His work.
این سببها بر نظرها پرده‌هاست ** که نه هر دیدار صنعش را سزاست
An eye that can penetrate the cause is needed to extirpate (these) veils from root and bottom,
دیده‌ای باید سبب سوراخ کن ** تا حجب را بر کند از بیخ و بن
So that it may behold the Causer in (the world of) non-spatiality and regard exertion and earnings and shops as (mere) nonsense.
تا مسبب بیند اندر لامکان ** هرزه داند جهد و اکساب و دکان
Everything good or evil comes from the Causer: causes and means, O father, are naught
از مسبب می‌رسد هر خیر و شر ** نیست اسباب و وسایط ای پدر
But a phantom that has materialised on the King's highway in order that the period of heedlessness (the reign of ignorance) may endure for some (little) time.1555
جز خیالی منعقد بر شاه‌راه ** تا بماند دور غفلت چند گاه
On the beginning of the creation of the body of Adam, on whom be peace, when He (God) commanded Gabriel, on whom be peace, saying, “Go, take a handful of clay from this Earth,” or according to another relation, “Take a handful from every region.”
در ابتدای خلقت جسم آدم علیه‌السلام کی جبرئیل علیه‌السلام را اشارت کرد کی برو از زمین مشتی خاک برگیر و به روایتی از هر نواحی مشت مشت بر گیر
When the Maker willed to bring Man into existence for the purpose of probation with good and evil,
چونک صانع خواست ایجاد بشر ** از برای ابتلای خیر و شر
He commanded Gabriel the true, saying, “Go, take a handful of clay from the Earth as a pledge.”
جبرئیل صدق را فرمود رو ** مشت خاکی از زمین بستان گرو