بخش 47 - بار دیگر رجوع کردن به قصهٔ صوفی و قاضی

The Súfi observed that his adversary was exceedingly frail: he said (to himself), “If I give him a hostile blow with my fist,

At my first blow he will crumble like dead, and then the king will punish me and exact retaliation.

The tent is ruined and the tent-pin broken: it (the tent) is seeking (the least) excuse to fall in.

It would be a pity, a (great) pity, that on account of this (virtually) dead man retaliation should fall upon me under the sword.”

Since he durst not give his adversary a fisticuff, he resolved to take him to the Cadi.

Saying (to himself), “He (the cadi) is God’s scales and measure, he is the means of deliverance from the deceit and cunning of the Devil.

He is the scissors for (cutting off) enmities and wranglings, he is the decider of the quarrels and disputes of the two litigants.

His spells put the Devil in the bottle, his legal ruling makes dissensions cease.

When the covetous adversary sees the scales (of justice), he abandons rebelliousness and becomes submissive;

But if there are no scales, (even) though you give him more (than his fair share) his shrewdness will never be satisfied with the portion (allotted to him).”

The cadi is a mercy (bestowed to God) and the means of removing strife: he is a drop from the ocean of the justice of the Resurrection.

Though the drop be small and short of foot, (yet) by it the purity of the ocean’s water is made manifest.

If you keep the (outer) veil (coat of the inward eye) free from dust, you will see the Tigris in a single drop (of water).

The parts bear witness to the state of (their) wholes, so that the afterglow of sunset has become an informer concerning the sun.

God applied that oath, (namely), His Words Verily (I swear) by the afterglow of sunset, to the body of Ahmad (Mohammad).

Wherefore should the ant have been trembling (in desire) for the grain (of corn), if from that single grain it had known (inferred) the (existence of) the stack?

Come (now) to the topic (in hand), for the Súfi is distraught (has lost control of his reason) and is making haste to exact redress for the injury (inflicted on him).

O thou that has committed deeds of injustice, ho art thou (so) glad at heart? Art thou unaware of the demand (that will be made upon thee) by him who exacts the penalty?

Or hast thou forgotten those deeds of thine, since heedlessness has let down curtains (of oblivion) over thee?

If there were no litigations pursuing thee the celestial orb would envy thy happiness,

But on account of those just claims (against thee) thou art embarrassed. Little by little, (therefore), beg to be excused for thy unrighteousness.

Lest the Inspector suddenly arrest thee, now (at once) make thy (turbid) water clear (make full amends and wipe out thy injustice) towards the lover (of God).

The Súfi went to the man who had slapped him, and laid hold of his skirt like a plaintiff.

Haling him along, he brought him to the Cadi, saying, “Mount this asinine miscreant on an ass (and parade him through the streets),

Or punish him with blows of the whip, according as thy judgement may deem fitting;

For (in the case of) one who dies under thy chastisement, no fine is (imposed) on thee in vengeance (for him): that (death) is unpenalised.”

When any one has died under the punishment and flagellation of the cadi no responsibility lies on the cadi, for he (the cadi) is not a person of small account.

He is God’s deputy and the shadow of God’s justice, the mirror (that displays the real nature) of every plaintiff and defendant;

For he inflicts correction for the sake of one who has been wronged, not for the sake of his honour or his anger or his income (profit).

Since it is (done) for the sake of God and the Day (of Judgement) hereafter, if a mistake is made (by him) the blood-wit falls upon the (dead man’s) kinsmen on the father’s side.

He who strikes (and kills) for his ownsake is (held) responsible, while he who strikes (and kills) for God’s sake is secure.

If a father strikes his son and he (the son) dies, the father must pay the blood-price,

Because he struck him for his own benefit, (since) it is the duty of the son to serve him (the father).

(But) when a teacher strikes a boy and he (the boy) perishes (is killed by the blows), nothing (in the way of penalty) is (imposed) on the teacher; no fear’

For the teacher is a deputy (of God) and a trustee; and the ease of every trustee is the same as this

It is not his (the boy’s) duty to serve his master (teacher) therefore in chastising him the master was not seeking benefit (for himself),

But if his father struck him, he struck for his own sake:’ consequently he was not freed from (responsibility for) paying the blood-price.

Behead (your) selfhood, then, O (you who resemble the sword) Dhu ‘l-faqár: become a selfless naughted one like the dervish.

When you have become selfless, everything that you do (is a case of) thou didst not throw when thou threwest, (and) you are safe.

The responsibility lies on God, not on the trustee: ‘tis set forth plainly in (books of) jurisprudence.

Every shop has a different (kind of) merchandise: the Mathnawi is the shop for (spiritual) poverty, O son.

In the shoemaker’s shop there is fine leather: if you see wood (there), it is (only) the mould for the shoe.

The drapers have (in their shops) silk and dun-coloured cloth: if iron be (there), it is (only to serve) for a yard-measure.

Our Mathnawi is the shop for Unity: anything that you see (there) except the One (God) is (only) an idol

Know that to praise an idol for the purpose of ensnaring the vulgar is just like (the Prophet’s reference to) “the most exalted Cranes

He recited it those words) quickly in the Súra (entitled) Wa’l-Najm, but it was a temptation (of the Devil), it was not (really) part of the Súra.

Thereupon all the infidels prostrated themselves (in worship): ‘twas a mystery (of Divine Wisdom), too, that they knocked their heads upon the door.

After this there is a perplexing and abstruse argument stay with Solomon and do not stir up the demons!

Hark, relate the story of the St and the Cadi and the offender who was (so) feeble and wretchedly ill.

The Cadi said (to the Súfi), “Make the roof firm, O son, in order that I may decorate it with good and evil

Where is the assailant? Where is that which is subject to vengeance? This man in (consequence of) sickness has become a (mere) phantom.

The law is for the living and self-sufficient: where (how) is the law (binding) upon the occupants of the graveyard?”

The class (of men) who are headless (selfless) because of (their spiritual) poverty are in a hundred respects more naughted than those dead (and buried).

The dead man is naughted (only) from one point of view, (namely), as regards loss (of bodily life); the Súfis have been naughted in a hundred respects.

(Bodily) death is a single killing, while this (spiritual death) is three hundred thousand (killings), for each one of which there is a blood-price beyond reckoning.

Though God hath killed these folk many a time, (yet) He hath poured forth (infinite) stores (of grace) in payment of the blood-price.

Every one (of these martyrs) is inwardly like Jirjis (St George): they have been killed and brought to life (again) sixty times.

From his delight in (being smitten by) the spear-point of the (Divine) Judge, the killed one is ever burning (in rapture) and crying. Strike another blow!”

(I swear) by God, from love for the existence that fosters the spirit, the killed one longs -(still) more passionately to be killed a second time.

The Cadi said, “I am the cadi for the living: how am I the judge of the occupants of the graveyard?

1f to outward seeming this man is not laid low in the grave, (yet) graves have entered into his household

You have seen many a dead man in the grave: (now), O, blind one, see the grave in a dead man.

If bricks from a grave have fallen on you, how should reason able persons seek redress from the grave?

Do not concern yourself with anger and hatred against a dead man: beware, do not wake war on (one who is as dead as) the pictures in a bath-house.

Give thanks that a living one did not strike you, for he whom the living one rejects is rejected of God.

The anger of the living ones is God’s anger and His blows for that pure-skinned one is living through God.

God killed him and breathed on his trotters and quickly, like a butcher, stripped off his skin.

The breath remains in him till (he reaches) the final bourn: the breathing of God is not as the breathing of the butcher.

There is a great difference between the two breathings: this is wholly honour, while that (other) side is entirely, shame.

This (the latter) took life away from it (the slaughtered beast) and injured it, while by the breathing of God that (spiritual) life was made perpetual.

This (Divine) breath is not a breath ‘that can be described hark, come up from the bottom of the pit to the top of the palace.

‘Tis not a sound legal decision to mount him (the defendant) on an ass (and parade him): does any one lay upon an ass a (mere) picture of firewood?

The back of an ass is not his proper seat: the back of a bier is more fitting for him.

What is injustice? To put (a thing) out of its proper place: beware, do not let it be lost (by putting it) out of its place.”

The Súfi said, “Then do you think it right for him to slap me without (my taking) retaliation and without (his paying) a farthing?

Is it right that a big rascally bear should inflict slaps on Súfis for nothing?”

The Cadi said (to the defendant), “What (coins) have you, larger or smaller?” He replied, “I have (only) six dirhems in the world.”

Said the Cadi, “Spend three dirhems (on yourself) and give the other three to him without (any further) words.

(For,” he thought to himself), “he (the defendant) is weak and ill and poor and infirm: he will need three dirhems for vegetables and loaves.”

His (the defendant’s) eye fall on the nape of the Cadi’s neck: it was better (more inviting) than the nape of the Súfi.

He raised his hand to slap it, saying (to himself), “The x retaliation (penalty) for my slap has been made cheap.”

He approached the Cadi’s ear (as though) for the purpose of (whispering) a secret, and dealt the Cadi a (severe) blow with his palm.

“O my two enemies,” he cried, “take all the six dirhems: (then) I shall be free (from care and) without trouble and anxiety.”