بخش 78 - جواب گفتن مصطفی علیه‌السلام اعتراض کننده را

When that Arab carried disputation beyond bounds in the presence of sweettempered Mustafá,

That king of Wa ’l-Najm and that sultan of ‘Abas bit his lip (in anger) and said to the silly prater, “Enough!”

He was putting his hand on his (the objector's) mouth to prevent him, (as though to say), “How long wilt thou speak in the presence of one who knows the occult?”

Thou hast brought dry ordure to one endowed with vision, saying, “Buy this instead of a musk- bag.”

O thou of stinking brain and stinking marrow, thou placest camel's dung beneath thy nose and sayest, “Oh, delicious!”

O squinting crazy fool, thou hast exclaimed in delight, “Oh, oh,” that thy bad wares may find a ready sale,

And that thou mayst deceive that pure organ of (spiritual) smell, that which pastures in the celestial rose-garden.

Though his (the saint's) forbearance has feigned to be stupid, one must know one's self a little.

If to-night the mouth of the cooking-pot is left open, yet the cat must have discretion.

If that glorious one (the saint) has feigned to be asleep, he is (really) very much awake: do not carry off his turban.

How long, O contumacious man devoid of (spiritual) excellence, wilt thou utter these Devil's enchantments in the presence of God's elect one?

This company (of the elect) have a hundred thousand forbearances, every one of which is (immovable) as a hundred mountains.

Their forbearance makes a fool of the wary and causes the keen-witted man with a hundred eyes to lose his way.

Their forbearance, like fine choice wine, mounts by nice degrees up to the brain.

Behold the man drunken with that marvellous (earthly) wine: the drunken man has begun to move crookedly like the queen (in chess).

From (the effect of) that quickly-catching wine the (vigorous) youth is falling in the middle of the road, like an aged man.

Especially (consider the effect of) this (spiritual) wine which is from the jar of Balá—not the wine whereof the intoxication lasts (only) one night;

(But) that (wine) from which, (by drinking it) at dessert and in migration (from place to place), the Men of the Cave (the Seven Sleepers) lost their reason for three hundred and nine years.

The women of Egypt drank one cup of that (wine) and cut their hands to pieces.

The magicians (of Pharaoh) too had the intoxication of Moses: they deemed the gallows to be their beloved.

Ja‘far-i Tayyár was drunken with that wine: therefore, being beside himself, he was pawning (sacrificing) his feet and hands (for God's sake).