The Idol Beside the Fire
From Rumi’s Masnavi (مثنوی معنوی), Book 1, section 36 of 171: How the Jewish king made a fire and placed an idol beside it, saying, “Whoever bows down to this idol shall escape the fire” (آتش کردن پادشاه جهود و بت نهادن پهلوی آتش). Below, each of its 28 couplets is given in Persian, followed by R. A. Nicholson’s English translation.
How the Jewish king made a fire and placed an idol beside it, saying, “Whoever bows down to this idol shall escape the fire” آتش کردن پادشاه جهود و بت نهادن پهلوی آتش
آن جهود سگ ببین چه رای کرد
پهلوی آتش بتی بر پای کرد
Now see what a plan this currish Jew contrived! He set up an idol beside the fire,
کان که این بت را سجود آرد برست
ور نیارد در دل آتش نشست
Saying, “He that bows down to this idol is saved, and if he bow not, he shall sit in the heart of the fire.”
چون سزای این بت نفس او نداد
از بت نفسش بتی دیگر بزاد
Inasmuch as he did not give due punishment to this idol of self, from the idol of his self the other idol was born.
مادر بتها بت نفس شماست
ز آن که آن بت مار و این بت اژدهاست
The idol of your self is the mother of (all) idols, because that (material) idol is (only) a snake, while this (spiritual) idol is a dragon.
آهن و سنگ است نفس و بت شرار
آن شرار از آب می‌‌گیرد قرار
The self is (as) iron and stone (whence fire is produced), while the (material) idol is (as) the sparks: those sparks are quieted (quenched) by water.
سنگ و آهن ز آب کی ساکن‌‌شود
آدمی با این دو کی ایمن شود
(But) how should the stone and iron be allayed by water? How should a man, having these twain, be secure?
بت سیاه‌‌آبه‌‌ست در کوزه نهان
نفس مر آب سیه را چشمه دان
The idol is the black water hidden in the jug; know that the self is the fountain.
آن بت منحوت چون سیل سیاه
نفس بتگر چشمه‌‌ای بر آب راه
That sculptured idol is like the black torrent; the idol-making self is a fountain (jetting muddy water) on the Water-way (the Way that leads to the Water of Life).
صد سبو را بشکند یک پاره سنگ
و آب چشمه می‌‌زهاند بی‌‌درنگ
A single piece of stone will break a hundred pitchers, but the fountain-water is making jets incessantly.
بت شکستن سهل باشد نیک سهل
سهل دیدن نفس را جهل است جهل
’Tis easy to break an idol, very easy; to regard the self as easy (to subdue) is folly, folly.
صورت نفس ار بجویی ای پسر
قصه‌‌ی دوزخ بخوان با هفت در
O son, if you seek (to know) the form of the self, read the story of Hell with its seven gates.
هر نفس مکری و در هر مکر ز آن
غرقه صد فرعون با فرعونیان
Every moment (there proceeds from the self) an act of deceit, and in every one of those deceits a hundred Pharaohs are drowned together with their followers.
در خدای موسی و موسی گریز
آب ایمان را ز فرعونی مریز
Flee to the God of Moses and to Moses, do not from Pharaoh’s quality (rebellious insolence) spill the water of the Faith.
دست را اندر احد و احمد بزن
ای برادر واره از بو جهل تن
Lay your hand on (cleave to) the One (God) and Ahmad (Mohammed)! O brother, escape from the Bú Jahl of the body!
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