Poem

دفتر اول - بخش ۱۶۶ - جواب گفتن امیر المؤمنین کی سبب افکندن شمشیر از دست چه بوده است در آن حالت / Book One - Section 166 - The Commander of the Faithful Answering What Was the Cause of Dropping the Sword from His Hand in That State

Original content

گفت من تیغ از پی حق می‌زنم
بندهٔ حقم نه مامور تنم

شیر حقم نیستم شیر هوا
فعل من بر دین من باشد گوا

ما رمیت اذ رمیتم در حراب
من چو تیغم وان زننده آفتاب

رخت خود را من ز ره بر داشتم
غیر حق را من عدم انگاشتم

سایه‌ای‌ام کدخداام آفتاب
حاجبم من نیستم او را حجاب

من چو تیغم پر گهرهای وصال
زنده گردانم نه کشته در قتال

خون نپوشد گوهر تیغ مرا
باد از جا کی برد میغ مرا

که نیم کوهم ز حلم و صبر و داد
کوه را کی در رباید تند باد

آنک از بادی رود از جا خسیست
زانک باد ناموافق خود بسیست

باد خشم و باد شهوت باد آز
برد او را که نبود اهل نماز

کوهم و هستی من بنیاد اوست
ور شوم چون کاه بادم یاد اوست

جز به باد او نجنبد میل من
نیست جز عشق احد سرخیل من

خشم بر شاهان شه و ما را غلام
خشم را هم بسته‌ام زیر لگام

تیغ حلمم گردن خشمم زدست
خشم حق بر من چو رحمت آمدست

غرق نورم گرچه سقفم شد خراب
روضه گشتم گرچه هستم بوتراب

چون در آمد علتی اندر غزا
تیغ را دیدم نهان کردن سزا

تا احب لله آید نام من
تا که ابغض لله آید کام من

تا که اعطا لله آید جود من
تا که امسک لله آید بود من

بخل من لله عطا لله و بس
جمله لله‌ام نیم من آن کس

وانچ لله می‌کنم تقلید نیست
نیست تخییل و گمان جز دید نیست

ز اجتهاد و از تحری رسته‌ام
آستین بر دامن حق بسته‌ام

گر همی‌پرم همی‌بینم مطار
ور همی‌گردم همی‌بینم مدار

ور کشم باری بدانم تا کجا
ماهم و خورشید پیشم پیشوا

بیش ازین با خلق گفتن روی نیست
بحر را گنجایی اندر جوی نیست

پست می‌گویم به اندازهٔ عقول
عیب نبود این بود کار رسول

از غرض حرم گواهی حر شنو
که گواهی بندگان نه ارزد دو جو

در شریعت مر گواهی بنده را
نیست قدری وقت دعوی و قضا

گر هزاران بنده باشندت گواه
بر نسنجد شرع ایشان را به کاه

بندهٔ شهوت بتر نزدیک حق
از غلام و بندگان مسترق

کین بیک لفظی شود از خواجه حر
وان زید شیرین میرد سخت مر

بندهٔ شهوت ندارد خود خلاص
جز به فضل ایزد و انعام خاص

در چهی افتاد کان را غور نیست
وان گناه اوست جبر و جور نیست

در چهی انداخت او خود را که من
درخور قعرش نمی‌یابم رسن

بس کنم گر این سخن افزون شود
خود جگر چه بود که خارا خون شود

این جگرها خون نشد نه از سختی است
غفلت و مشغولی و بدبختی است

خون شود روزی که خونش سود نیست
خون شو آن وقتی که خون مردود نیست

چون گواهی بندگان مقبول نیست
عدل او باشد که بندهٔ غول نیست

گشت ارسلناک شاهد در نذر
زانک بود از کون او حر بن حر

چونک حرم خشم کی بندد مرا
نیست اینجا جز صفات حق در آ

اندر آ کآزاد کردت فضل حق
زانک رحمت داشت بر خشمش سبق

اندر آ اکنون که رستی از خطر
سنگ بودی کیمیا کردت گهر

رسته‌ای از کفر و خارستان او
چون گلی بشکف به سروستان هو

تو منی و من توم ای محتشم
تو علی بودی علی را چون کشم

معصیت کردی به از هر طاعتی
آسمان پیموده‌ای در ساعتی

بس خجسته معصیت کان کرد مرد
نه ز خاری بر دمد اوراق ورد

نه گناه عمر و قصد رسول
می‌کشیدش تا بدرگاه قبول

نه بسحر ساحران فرعونشان
می‌کشید و گشت دولت عونشان

گر نبودی سحرشان و آن جحود
کی کشیدیشان به فرعون عنود

کی بدیدندی عصا و معجزات
معصیت طاعت شد ای قوم عصات

ناامیدی را خدا گردن زدست
چون گنه مانند طاعت آمدست

چون مبدل می‌کند او سیئات
طاعتی‌اش می‌کند رغم وشات

زین شود مرجوم شیطان رجیم
وز حسد او بطرقد گردد دو نیم

او بکوشد تا گناهی پرورد
زان گنه ما را به چاهی آورد

چون ببیند کان گنه شد طاعتی
گردد او را نامبارک ساعتی

اندر آ من در گشادم مر ترا
تف زدی و تحفه دادم مر ترا

مر جفاگر را چنینها می‌دهم
پیش پای چپ چه سان سر می‌نهم

پس وفاگر را چه بخشم تو بدان
گنجها و ملکهای جاودان

English translation

He said: "I strike the sword for the sake of Truth; I am the servant of Truth, not commanded by my body.

I am the Lion of Truth, not the lion of passion; my action bears witness to my religion.

'You did not throw when you threw' in battle: I am like the sword, and the one who strikes is the Sun.

I have lifted my own baggage from the road; I have counted everything other than Truth as nothing.

I am a shadow whose householder/master is the Sun; I am a chamberlain, not a veil to Him.

I am like a sword filled with jewels of union; in combat I give life, I do not kill.

Blood does not cover the jewel of my sword; how could wind move my cloud from its place?

For I am a mountain through forbearance, patience, and justice; when does a fierce wind snatch away a mountain?

What is moved from its place by a wind is but chaff, for adverse winds are many.

The wind of anger, the wind of lust, the wind of greed carries away one who is not fit for prayer.

I am a mountain, and my being has its foundation in Him; and if I become like straw, my wind is remembrance of Him.

My inclination moves only by His wind; no one but love of the One is my leader.

Anger is king over kings, but it is our slave; I have bound anger under the bridle.

The sword of my forbearance has struck the neck of my anger; God's anger has come to me as mercy.

I am drowned in light though my roof has fallen in; I have become a garden though I am Abu Turab.

When a motive entered into the battle, I saw it proper to hide the sword.

So that 'he loves for God' may be my name; so that 'he hates for God' may be my desire;

So that 'he gives for God' may be my generosity; so that 'he withholds for God' may be my being.

My withholding is for God, my giving is for God, and nothing else; I am wholly for God, I am not that person/self.

What I do for God is not imitation; it is not imagination or conjecture, but only vision.

I am freed from ijtihad and from investigation; I have fastened my sleeve to the hem of Truth.

If I fly, I see the place of flight; if I turn, I see the orbit.

And if I carry a burden, I know how far; I am the moon, and the sun before me is my guide.

More than this is not fit to say to the people; the sea has no room inside a stream.

I speak lowly, according to the measure of intellects; this is no fault; this is the work of the Messenger.

Since I am free of self-interest, hear the testimony of a free man, for the testimony of slaves is not worth two barley grains.

In the Shari'a, the testimony of a slave has no value at the time of claim and judgment.

If thousands of slaves are your witnesses, the Law does not weigh them against a straw.

The slave of appetite is worse in God's sight than a slave or enslaved bondsman,

For that one becomes free by a single word from his master, while this one lives sweetly and dies bitterly and hard.

The slave of appetite has no deliverance except by God's grace and special favor.

He has fallen into a pit whose depth has no bottom; that is his own sin, not compulsion or injustice.

He has thrown himself into a pit for which I find no rope suited to its depth.

I will stop; if this speech grows longer, what is the liver/heart, that even rock would bleed?

These hearts have not bled not because of hardness, but because of heedlessness, preoccupation, and misfortune.

They will bleed on a day when their blood is of no use; bleed at the time when blood is not rejected.

Since the testimony of slaves is not accepted, His justice is that He is not the slave of a ghoul/delusion.

'We sent you as a witness' came among the warnings because from his very being he was free, son of the free.

Since I am free, how can anger bind me? There is nothing here but the attributes of Truth: enter.

Enter, for God's grace has freed you, since His mercy preceded His wrath.

Enter now, for you have escaped danger; you were stone, and alchemy has made you a jewel.

You have escaped unbelief and its thorn-brake; like a rose, blossom in the cypress-grove of Hu.

You are I and I am you, O honored one; you were Ali: how could I kill Ali?

You committed a sin better than any act of obedience; you traversed the heavens in an instant.

How blessed the sin that this man committed; do rose leaves not grow from a thorn?

Did not Umar's sin and his intent against the Messenger draw him to the threshold of acceptance?

Did not the sorcery of Pharaoh's magicians draw them on, and did fortune become their aid?

Had their sorcery and that denial not existed, how would it have drawn them to obstinate Pharaoh?

How would they have seen the staff and the miracles? Sin became obedience, O company of sinners.

God has struck off the neck of despair, since sin has become like obedience.

When He transforms evil deeds, He makes them obedience, in spite of slanderers.

By this the accursed, stoned Satan is stoned, and from envy he splits in two with a crack.

He strives to nurture a sin, so that through that sin he may bring us into a pit.

When he sees that the sin has become obedience, the hour becomes unlucky for him.

Enter; I have opened the door for you. You spat, and I gave you a gift.

To one who acts harshly I give such things; how, then, do I lay my head before the foot of one who steps rightly?

Then know what I shall give to the faithful one: treasures and everlasting kingdoms."

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Updated 2026-05-16

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