Poem

دفتر چهارم - بخش ۱۵ - گفتن آن جهود علی را کرم الله وجهه کی اگر اعتماد داری بر حافظی حق از سر این کوشک خود را در انداز و جواب گفتن امیرالمؤمنین او را / Book Four - Section 15 - That Jew Saying to Ali, May God Honor His Face, 'If You Have Trust in God's Protection, Throw Yourself from the Top of This Palace,' and the Reply of the Commander of the Faithful to Him

Original content

مرتضی را گفت روزی یک عنود
کو ز تعظیم خدا آگه نبود

بر سر بامی و قصری بس بلند
حفظ حق را واقفی ای هوشمند

گفت آری او حفیظست و غنی
هستی ما را ز طفلی و منی

گفت خود را اندر افکن هین ز بام
اعتمادی کن بحفظ حق تمام

تا یقین گرددمرا ایقان تو
و اعتقاد خوب با برهان تو

پس امیرش گفت خامش کن برو
تا نگردد جانت زین جرات گرو

کی رسد مر بنده را که با خدا
آزمایش پیش آرد ز ابتلا

بنده را کی زهره باشد کز فضول
امتحان حق کند ای گیج گول

آن خدا را می‌رسد کو امتحان
پیش آرد هر دمی با بندگان

تا به ما ما را نماید آشکار
که چه داریم از عقیده در سرار

هیچ آدم گفت حق را که ترا
امتحان کردم درین جرم و خطا

تا ببینم غایت حلمت شها
اه کرا باشد مجال این کرا

عقل تو از بس که آمد خیره‌سر
هست عذرت از گناه تو بتر

آنک او افراشت سقف آسمان
تو چه دانی کردن او را امتحان

ای ندانسته تو شر و خیر را
امتحان خود را کن آنگه غیر را

امتحان خود چو کردی ای فلان
فارغ آیی ز امتحان دیگران

چون بدانستی که شکردانه‌ای
پس بدانی کاهل شکرخانه‌ای

پس بدان بی‌امتحانی که اله
شکری نفرستدت ناجایگاه

این بدان بی‌امتحان از علم شاه
چون سری نفرستدت در پایگاه

هیچ عاقل افکند در ثمین
در میان مستراحی پر چمین

زانک گندم را حکیم آگهی
هیچ نفرستد به انبار کهی

شیخ را که پیشوا و رهبرست
گر مریدی امتحان کرد او خرست

امتحانش گر کنی در راه دین
هم تو گردی ممتحن ای بی‌یقین

جرات و جهلت شود عریان و فاش
او برهنه کی شود زان افتتاش

گر بیاید ذره سنجد کوه را
بر درد زان که ترازوش ای فتی

کز قیاس خود ترازو می‌تند
مرد حق را در ترازو می‌کند

چون نگنجد او به میزان خرد
پس ترازوی خرد را بر درد

امتحان هم‌چون تصرف دان درو
تو تصرف بر چنان شاهی مجو

چه تصرف کرد خواهد نقشها
بر چنان نقاش بهر ابتلا

امتحانی گر بدانست و بدید
نی که هم نقاش آن بر وی کشید

چه قدر باشد خود این صورت که بست
پیش صورتها که در علم ویست

وسوسهٔ این امتحان چون آمدت
بخت بد دان کآمد و گردن زدت

چون چنین وسواس دیدی زود زود
با خدا گرد و در آ اندر سجود

سجده گه را تر کن از اشک روان
کای خدا تو وا رهانم زین گمان

آن زمان کت امتحان مطلوب شد
مسجد دین تو پر خروب شد

English translation

One day a stubborn adversary said to Murtaḍā, one who was unaware of the reverence owed to God.

[They were] atop a very lofty roof and palace: "Are you acquainted with God's protection, O man of intelligence?"

He said: "Yes, He is the Guardian and the Self-Sufficient, sustaining our existence from infancy and from the seminal drop."

He said: "Then throw yourself from the roof right now! Place complete trust in God's protection,

So that your conviction may become certain to me, and your fine belief together with its proof."

Then the Commander said to him: "Be silent and be gone, lest your soul be forfeited for this audacity.

How could it befit a servant to bring a trial before God as a test?

When would a servant have the audacity, out of impertinence, to test God, O bewildered fool?

It befits God to bring a test before His servants at every moment,

So that He may reveal us to ourselves openly — what we carry of belief in secret.

Has any person ever said to God: 'I have tested You in this crime and transgression,

That I might see the utmost of Your forbearance, O King!'? Ah, who has the scope for this? Who?

Your reason has become so reckless, your excuse is worse than your sin itself.

He who raised the vault of the heavens — what do you know of testing Him?

O you who have not distinguished evil from good, test yourself first, and only then others.

When you have tested yourself, O such-and-such, you will be free of testing others.

Once you have come to know that you are a grain of sugar, you will then know that you belong to the house of sugar.

Then know, without testing, that God does not send a grain of sugar to an unworthy place.

Know this without testing, from the King's knowledge: just as He sends no head to an unworthy station.

Would any wise man throw a precious pearl into a privy filled with filth?

For a wise and discerning man never sends wheat to a rotten storehouse.

The Shaykh who is guide and leader — if a disciple tests him, that disciple is an ass.

If you test him on the path of religion, you yourself become the tested one, O faithless one.

Your audacity and ignorance will be stripped bare and exposed — when will he ever be bared by your probing?

If a mote comes to weigh the mountain, the mote's own scale will be torn apart, O youth.

For from its own measure it weaves a scale, and places the Man of God in that scale.

When he does not fit into the scale of reason, the scale of reason is torn to pieces.

Know that testing is like claiming authority over him — do not seek authority over such a King.

What authority would mere forms and patterns claim over such a Painter, for the purpose of trial?

If someone came to know and perceive through a test, was it not the Painter Himself who drew that upon him?

What worth has this form that He fashioned, before the forms that dwell in His knowledge?

When the temptation to test comes upon you, know that ill fortune has arrived and struck off your head.

When you see such a temptation, quickly, quickly, turn to God and enter into prostration.

Wet the place of prostration with flowing tears: "O God, deliver me from this doubt!"

That moment when testing became your desire, the mosque of your religion was filled with carob-pods.

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Updated 2026-05-16

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