بخش 134 - معنی ما شاء الله کان یعنی خواست خواست او و رضا رضای او جویید از خشم دیگران و رد دیگران دلتنگ مباشید آن کان اگر چه لفظ ماضیست لیکن در فعل خدا ماضی و مستقبل نباشد کی لیس عند الله صباح و لا مساء

The saying of (God's) servant, ‘whatever God wills comes to pass’ does not signify ‘be lazy (inactive) in that (matter)’;

Nay, it is an incitement to entire self-devotion and exertion, meaning, ‘Make yourself exceedingly ready to perform that service.’

If you are told, O sage, that what you wish (will come to pass, and that) you have full power to act according to your desire,

Then, if you are neglectful (in serving God), ’tis permissible; for what you wish and say will come to pass.

When (on the contrary) you are told that whatever God wills shall come to pass, and that to Him belongs the authority absolute and everlasting,

Why, then, should not you move round Him like a slave, with the will of a hundred men to perform the devotions due to Him?

If you are told that what the vizier wishes (is law and that) his will is paramount in the exercise of authority,

Will you at once move round (pay court to) him with the zeal of a hundred men, that he may pour kindness and munificence on your head,

Or will you flee from the vizier and his palace? This (flight) is not the way to seek his help.

You, inversely, have been made remiss by this saying: you have been turned upside down in your apprehension and thought.

(Suppose you are told that) the command (supreme power) is vested in such and such a lord. Hark, what does this mean? It means, ‘Do not sit (consort) with any one except him.

Move round (pay constant homage to) the lord, since the (power to) command belongs to him; for he slays his enemy and saves the life of his friend.

Whatsoever he wills, that same thing you will certainly obtain: do not go astray, prefer his service (to all else).’

(It does) not (mean), ‘Since he is possessed of (supreme) authority, do not move round him (do not frequent his court), so that you may fall into his black books and be disgraced.’

The interpretation that makes you ardent and hopeful and active and reverent is the true one;

And if it make you slack (in service), know the real truth to be this, that it is an alteration (of the right sense of the saying), not an interpretation.

This (saying) has come (down) in order to make (men) ardent (in serving God), that He may take the hands of those who have lost hope (and deliver them).

Ask the meaning of the Qur’án from the Qur’án alone, and from that one who has set fire to (and extinguished) his idle fancy,

And has become a sacrifice to the Qur’án and is (laid) low (in self-abasement), so that the Qur’án has become the essence of his spirit.

The oil that has wholly devoted itself to the rose—smell either the oil or the rose as you please.