بخش 71 - تشبیه بند و دام قضا به صورت پنهان به اثر پیدا

You may see a nobleman’s son in a tattered cloak, bareheaded, fallen into affliction.

(He is) consumed with passion for some ne’er-do-well, (he has) sold his furniture and properties.

His household (is) gone, (he has) become ill-famed and despised; he walks along like (one in) misfortune, to the joy of his foes.

(If) he sees an ascetic, he will say, “O venerable sir, bestow on me a benediction for God’s sake,

For I have fallen into this ugly misfortune and have let wealth and gold and happiness go from my hand.

(Give me) a benediction, so that maybe I shall be delivered from this (woe) and maybe escape from this dark clay.

He is begging this prayer of high and low, crying, “Release and release and release!”

His hand is free and his foot free, and there is no chain, no custodian (standing) over him, no iron (gyve).

From what chain art thou seeking release, and from what imprisonment art thou seeking to escape?

(From) the hidden chain of fore-ordainment and destiny, which none but the elect spirit may behold.

Though it is not visible, it is (there) in ambush; it is worse that prison and chains of iron,

Because that (iron chain) the ironsmith may break, and the excavator may even dig up the bricks (foundations) of the prison;

(But), O wonder, this heavy hidden chain the ironsmiths are powerless to shatter.

Vision of that chain (of Destiny) belongs to Ahmad (Mohammad): (he saw it) on the throat bound wit a cord of palm-fibres.

He saw a load of firewood on the back of Abu Lahab’s wife and said, the carrier of faggots (for Hell-fire).

The cord and the firewood no eye beheld but his, for to him every unseen thing becomes visible.

All the rest interpret it (falsely), for this (vision) arises from senselessness (spiritual rapture), and they are sensible-

But from the effect of that (chain) his (the sufferer’s) back has been bent double, and he is moaning before you,

(And crying), ‘A prayer! A benediction !that I may be delivered and that I may escape from this hidden chain.”

He who sees these signs clearly, how should not he know the damned from the blest?

He knows, and by command of the Almighty he conceals (it), for it would not be lawful to divulge the secret of God.

This discourse hath no end. That dervish, through hunger, became feeble and his body a prisoner.