1Cademy - بخش ۳۵ - حکایت محتسب بغداد که منکر پیش او معروف بود و معروف در نظر او منکر می نمود / Section 35 - The Tale of the Muhtasib of Baghdad to Whom the Forbidden Was Acceptable and the Acceptable Seemed Forbidden

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Haft Awrang

Poem

بخش ۳۵ - حکایت محتسب بغداد که منکر پیش او معروف بود و معروف در نظر او منکر می نمود / Section 35 - The Tale of the Muhtasib of Baghdad to Whom the Forbidden Was Acceptable and the Acceptable Seemed Forbidden

Original content

حاجیان را به وقت حج افتاد
ره به درالخلافه بغداد

بهر ایشان به محتسب والی
گفت تا منزلی کند خالی

گفت فردا به این قیام کنم
منزل نیکشان مقام کنم

بامدادان کسی فرستادند
وان سخن را به یاد او دادند

گفت رو گو که محتسب امروز
مجلسی ساخته جهان افروز

همه اعیان شهر آنجایند
جز به پیمانه می نپیمایند

رفته هوش و خرد به باد او را
ناید از حج و کعبه یاد او را

روز دیگر چنین رسید خبر
که نیارد شناخت بام از در

همچنان از شراب شب مست است
همچو پیمانه رفته از دست است

در سیم روز آمد از وی خط
که به عدلم نشسته بر لب شط

آمد اینک ز موصل آب به آب
کشتیی پر ز خیک های شراب

می کنم راست نرخ و پیمانه
می دهم عهد اهل میخانه

که به می غیر می نیامیزند
از دغا و دغل بپرهیزند

چون ازین کارها بپردازم
بهر منزل به هر طرف تازم

بو که پیدا کنم به نام شما
منزلی لایق مقام شما

حاجیی چون شنید این کلمات
قال یا کلب کل آت آت

هیچ معروف سرنوشت تو نیست
هیچ منکر چو روی زشت تو نیست

هر کجا باشی آمر و ناهی
نکشد کار جز به گمراهی

شهر بغداد دلگشا جاییست
در میانش چو دجله دریاییست

زیر خاکش بود بهشت نمای
از مزارات اولیای خدای

روی شهرش ز چون تو بی دینان
فسق کاران و فاسق آیینان

جای اصحاب تفرقه ست همه
رفض و الحاد و زندقه ست همه

دارم از دور آسمان گله ای
که چرا از نزول زلزله ای

مردگان را نیاورد به برون
زندگان را نیفکند به درون

تا شود ظاهرش چو علیین
باطن او فروتر از سجین

پاکدینان در او بیاسایند
کفر کیشان در او بفرسایند

English translation

During the time of the pilgrimage, it befell the pilgrims That their path led them through the capital city of Baghdad. On their behalf, the governor commanded the inspector (muhtasib) To empty a lodging for their stay. He replied, 'Tomorrow I shall attend to this duty, And prepare a fine residence to be their abode.' In the morning, they dispatched a messenger To remind him of his spoken promise. The messenger returned, saying, 'Go and tell them that today the muhtasib Has arranged a world-illuminating feast. All the city's nobles are gathered there, Engaged in nothing but measuring cups of wine. His intellect and wisdom have blown away with the wind; No memory of the Hajj or the Kaaba remains in his mind.' On the next day, the news arrived That he could no longer tell the roof from the door. He remained utterly drunk from the night's wine, Rambling and lost, like a spilled goblet. On the third day, a letter arrived from him: 'By my justice, I am now seated on the riverbank. Lo! A ship has arrived by water from Mosul, Laden to the brim with skins of wine. I am regulating the price and the cup, And taking oaths from the tavern-dwellers, That they shall mix nothing else with the wine, And that they must eschew deceit and fraud. Once I have dispatched these duties, I shall hasten in every direction to find a lodging, In the hope of discovering, in your name, A residence worthy of your noble station.' When a pilgrim heard these words, He exclaimed, 'O dog, eat! Whatever is to come, comes! No righteousness (ma'ruf) is written in your destiny, And no forbidden evil (munkar) is as hideous as your face! Wherever you act as the commander of right and forbidder of wrong, The matter inevitably ends in absolute misguidance. The city of Baghdad is a delightful place, With a sea like the Tigris flowing through its heart. Beneath its soil lies a paradise revealed, Adorned with the shrines of God's holy saints. Yet, because of faithless transgressors like you, And those who follow the ways of corruption, Its surface has become a haven for schismatics, Full of heresy, deviancy, and infidelity. I have a grievance against the celestial sphere: Why, through the sending of a great earthquake, Does it not bring the dead up to the surface And swallow the living deep down into the earth, So that its exterior may become as the high gardens of Illiyyin, And its interior (the buried sinners) remains lower than Sijjin, Allowing the pure of faith to find peace therein, While the deniers of faith are worn away within it?'

Updated 2026-07-07

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