بخش 26 - دلداری کردن و نواختن سلیمان علیه‌السلام مر آن رسولان را و دفع وحشت و آزار از دل ایشان و عذر قبول ناکردن هدیه شرح کردن با ایشان

“O envoys, I will send you as envoys (to Bilqis): my refusal (of the gift) is better for you than acceptance.

Relate to Bilqis what marvellous things ye have seen concerning the desert of gold,

That she may know we do not covet gold: we have gotten gold from the gold-Creator,

At whose will the whole earth’s soil from end to end would become gold and precious pearls.”

On that account, O thou who choosest gold, God will make this earth silvern on the Day of Resurrection.

“We have no need of gold, for we are very skilful: we make earthly beings entirely golden.

How shall we beg gold of you? We (can) make you (spiritual) alchemists.

Abandon (all) that, (even) if it is the kingdom of Saba, for beyond (this) water and earth there are many kingdoms.”

That which thou hast called a throne is (really) a splint- bandage: thou deemest (it) the seat of honour, but (in truth) thou hast remained at the door.

(If) thou hast not sovereignty over thine own beard, how wilt thou exercise sovereignty over good and evil?

Without thy wish, thy beard grows white: be ashamed of thy bend, O thou whose hopes are perverse.

He (God) is the Possessor of the Kingdom: whosoever lays his head before Him, to him He gives a hundred kingdoms without the terrestrial world;

But the (inward) savour of a single prostration before God will be more sweet to thee than two hundred empires:

Then thou wilt cry (in humble entreaty), “I desire not kingdoms: commit unto me the kingdom of that prostration.”

The kings of the world, because of their evil nature, got no scent of the wine of service (to God);

Otherwise, dizzy and dumbfounded like (Ibráhim son of) Adham, without delay they would have dashed their sovereignty to pieces.

But (this they do not inasmuch as), for the maintenance of this world, God set a seal upon their eyes and mouths,

To the end that throne and crown should be sweet to them, “for” they say) “we will exact tribute from the rulers of the world.’.

If by way of tribute thou amass gold as (though it were) sand, at last it will be left behind thee as an inheritance.

Sovereignty and gold will not accompany thy spirit on its journey: give thy gold away, get collyrium for thy sight,

In order that thou mayst see that this world is a narrow well, and that, like Joseph, thou mayst grasp that rope,

So that, when thou comest from the well (up) to the roof, the Soul will say, “Oh, good news for met This is a youth for me.”

In the well (of this world) there are optical inversions, the least (of which is) that stones appear to be gold.

To children at play-time, from infirmity (of mind), those potsherds (with which they play) appear to be gold and riches.

His (God’s) knowers have become alchemists, so that mines (of gold) have become worthless in their eyes.