بخش 178 - مجرم دانستن ایاز خود را درین شفاعت‌گری و عذر این جرم خواستن و در آن عذرگویی خود را مجرم دانستن و این شکستگی از شناخت و عظمت شاه خیزد کی أَنا أَعْلَمُکُمْ بِاللَّهِ وَ أَخْشیکُمْ لِللَّهِ وَ قالَ اللهُ تَعالی إِنَّما یَخْشَی اللهَ مِنْ عِبادِهِ العُلَماءُ

How should I bring (plead for) mercy to thee who art moved with anger, and point out the path of clemency to thee who art endued with knowledge?

If thou subject me to the indignity of (receiving) cuffs, I am deserving of a hundred thousand cuffs.

What should I say in thy presence? Should I give thee information or recall to thy mind the method of lovingkindness?

What is that which is unknown to thee? And where in the world is that which thou dost not remember?

O thou who art free from ignorance and whose knowledge is free from (the possibility) that forgetfulness should cause (anything) to be hidden from it,

Thou hast deemed a nobody to be somebody and hast exalted him, like the sun, with (thy) light.

Since thou hast made me somebody, graciously hearken to my supplication if I supplicate (thee);

For, inasmuch as thou hast transported me from the form (of selfexistence), ’tis (really) thou that hast made that intercession unto thyself.

Since this home has been emptied of my furniture, nothing great or small in the house belongs to me.

Thou hast caused the prayer to flow forth from me like water: do thou accordingly give it reality and let it be granted.

Thou wert the bringer (inspirer) of the prayer in the beginning: be thou accordingly the hope for its acceptance in the end,

In order that I may boast that the King of the world pardoned the sinners for his slave's sake.

(Formerly) I was a pain, entirely self-satisfied: the King made me the remedy for every sufferer from pain.

(Formerly) I was a Hell filled with woe and bale: the hand of his grace made me a Kawthar.

Whomsoever Hell has consumed in vengeance, I cause him to grow anew from his body.”

What is the work of (that) Kawthar by which every one that has been burned (in Hell) is made to grow and becomes redintegrated?

Drop by drop it proclaims its bounty, saying, “I restore that which Hell has consumed.”

Hell is like the cold of autumn; Kawthar is like the spring, O rose-garden.

Hell is like death and the earth of the grave; Kawthar resembles the blast of the trumpet (of Resurrection).

O ye whose bodies are consumed by Hell, the kindness (of God) is leading you towards Kawthar.

Since Thy mercy, O Self-subsistent Living One, said, “I created the creatures that they might profit by Me,”

(And since Thy saying) “Not that I might profit by them” is (the expression of) Thy munificence, by which all defective things are made whole,

Pardon these body-worshipping slaves: pardon from (Thee who art) the ocean of pardon is more worthy.

Creaturely pardon is like a river and like a torrent: (all) the troop (of such pardons) run towards their ocean.

Every night from these individual hearts the pardons come to Thee, O King, like pigeons.

At the hour of dawn Thou causest them to fly away again, and imprisonest them in these bodies till nightfall.

Once more, at eventide, flapping their wings they fly off in passionate longing for that palace and roof.

In order that they may snap the thread that unites them with the body, they come before Thee, for by Thee they are endowed with fortune—

Flapping their wings, secure from falling back headlong, (soaring) in the (spiritual) air and saying, “Verily unto Him we are returning.”

From that Bounty comes the call, “Come! After that returning (unto Me) desire and anxiety are no more.

As exiles in the world ye suffered many indignities: ye will have learned to value Me, O nobles.

Hark now, stretch your legs beneath the shade of this tree of Mine in the intoxication of delight,

(Stretch) your legs, (which are) fatigued by (travel on) the Way of Religion, resting for ever on the bosoms and hands of the houris,

(While) the houris amorously and fondly say, ‘These Súfís have returned from their travels.

The Súfís pure as the light of the sun, who for a long time had fallen into (the world of) earth and filth,

Have (now) come back stainless and undefiled, as the sunlight to the lofty orb (of the sun).’”

(Ayáz said), “This company of sinners likewise, O glorious (King)—all their heads have come against a wall.

They have become aware of their fault and sin, although they were defeated by the King's two dice.

Now they turn their faces towards thee, uttering cries of lamentation. O thou whose clemency is making way for sinners,

Speedily grant the defiled ones admission into the Euphrates of (thy) pardon and the fountain (which is) a (cool) washing-place,

That they may wash themselves clean of that prolonged sin and join in prayer among the ranks of the purified—

Among those innumerable ranks plunged in the light of ‘We are they that stand in line.’”

When the discourse reached the description of this (exalted) state, at once the pen broke and the paper tore.

Did any saucer measure the sea? Did a lamb ever carry off a lion?

If you are veiled, go forth from enveilment, that you may behold the marvellous sovereignty (of God).

Although the drunken fellows broke Thy cup, (yet) there is an excuse for him that is intoxicated by Thee.

Is not their intoxication with fortune and riches (the result) of Thy wine, O Thou whose actions are sweet?

O Emperor, they are intoxicated with Thy election (of them): pardon him that is intoxicated with Thee, O Pardoner!

The delight of being elected (singled out) by Thee at the moment of Thy addressing them has an effect that is not produced by a hundred jars of wine.

Since Thou hast intoxicated me, do not inflict a penalty: the Law does not see fit to inflict a penalty on the intoxicated.

Inflict it (only) at the time when I become sober; for indeed I shall never become sober (again).

Whoso has drunk of Thy cup, O Gracious One, is for ever delivered from self consciousness and from the infliction of penalties.

Their intoxication consists in a state of unconsciousness of self (faná), (in which they are) abiding for ever: he that passes away from self in love for Thee will not arise.

Thy grace saith to our heart, “Go, O thou who hast become in pawn to the buttermilk of My love.

Thou hast fallen, like a gnat, into My buttermilk: O gnat, thou art not intoxicated, thou art the wine (itself).

O gnat, the vultures become intoxicated by thee, when thou ridest on the ocean of honey.

The mountains are tipsy with thee (and dance) like motes; the point and the compass and the line are in thy hand (control).

The torment at which they tremble is trembling at thee: every costly pearl is cheap to thee.”

If God gave me five hundred mouths, I would sing in description (praise) of thee, O (my) soul and world;

(But) I have (only) one mouth, and even that one is crushed with shame before thee, O knower of the mystery.

In sooth I am not more crushed than non-existence, from the mouth of which (all) these peoples have come (forth).

A hundred thousand impressions of the Unseen World are waiting to spring forth graciously and kindly from non-existence.

Because of thy urgency my head is reeling: oh, I am dead in the presence of that bounty.

Our desire (for thee) arises from thy urgency: wherever there is a wayfarer, ’tis the pull of God (that draws him on).

Does the dust leap upward without a wind? Does a ship voyage without the sea?

None (ever) died in the presence of the Water of Life: compared with thy water the Water of Life is (mere) dregs.

The Water of Life is the goal of those to whom life is dear: by water the garden is (made) verdant and smiling.

(But) those who quaff the cup of death are living through His love: they have torn their hearts away from life and the Water of Life.

When the water of Thy love gave us its hand (was gained by us), the Water of Life became worthless in our sight.

Every soul derives freshness from the Water of Life, but Thou art the Water (Source) of the Water of Life.

Thou didst bestow on me a (spiritual) death and a resurrection continually, that I might experience the conquering power of that bounty (of Thine).

This (bodily) dying became (as unformidable) to me as sleeping, from my confidence that Thou, O God, wouldst raise me from the dead.

If the Seven Seas become a mirage at every moment, Thou wilt take it (the water) by the ear and bring it (back), O Water (Source) of the water.

Reason is trembling with fear of death, but Love is bold: how should the stone be afraid of rain as the clod (is)?

This is the Fifth of the Scrolls (Books) of the Mathnawí: it is like the stars in the zodiacal signs of the spiritual sky.

Not every sense can find its way by the star: (none can do so) except the mariner acquainted with the star.

The lot of the others is naught but looking (at it): they are ignorant of its auspiciousness and (fortunate) conjunction.

During the nights till daybreak make thyself familiar with devil-burning stars like these,

Every one (of which) is hurling naphtha from the fortress of Heaven to drive away the evil-thinking devil.

To the devil the stars are (noxious) as a scorpion, (but) to the buyer (of Truth) it (the star) is the next of kin (the nearest and dearest).

If the Bow (Sagittarius) pierce the devil with an arrow, (yet) the Bucket (Aquarius) is full of water for the crops and fruit.

Though the Fish (Pisces) wreck the ship of error, (yet) for the friend (of Truth) it is (ploughing and) sowing like the bull.

If the Sun rend Night to pieces, like a lion, (yet) there comes from it a satin robe of honour for the ruby.

Every existence that emerged from non-existence is poison to one and sugar to another.

Be a friend (of Truth) and become quit of unsweet qualities, so that you may eat sugar even from a jar of poison.

A (deadly) poison did no harm to Fárúq (‘Umar) because to him the antidote, discrimination (fárúqí), was (sweet as) candy.