In Farid al-Din Attar's *The Conference of the Birds* (*Mantiq al-Tayr*), the story of the document given by Joseph's brothers when they sold him serves as a powerful allegory for accountability and the divine record of human actions. In the narrative, Joseph preserves this document and later presents it to his brothers when they come to him in need, unable to recognize him. This moment symbolizes how one's hidden transgressions and past deeds are meticulously recorded by the Divine and will ultimately confront the individual on the Day of Judgment, reflecting the Sufi theme of spiritual reckoning and inescapable justice.

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## Original content
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یوسفی کانجم سپندش سوختند 
ده برادر چون ورا بفروختند
مالک دعرش چو زیشان می خرید 
خط ایشان خواست، کار زان می خرید
خط ستد زان قوم هم بر جایگاه 
پس گرفت آن ده برادر را گواه
چون عزیز مصر یوسف را خرید 
آن خط پر غدر با یوسف رسید
عاقبت چون گشت یوسف پادشاه 
ده برادر آمدند آن جایگاه
روی یوسف باز می نشناختند 
خویش را در پیش او انداختند
خویشتن را چارهٔ جان خواستند 
آب خود بردند تا نان خواستند
یوسف صدیق گفت ای مردمان 
من خطی دارم به عبرانی زبان
می نیارد خواند از خیلم کسی 
گر شما خوانید نان بخشم بسی
جمله عبری خوان بدند واختیار 
شادمان گفتند شاها خط بیار
کور دل باد آنک این حال از حضور 
قصهٔ خود نشنود چند از غرور
خط ایشان یوسف ایشان را بداد 
لرزه بر اندام ایشان برفتاد
نه خطی زان خط توانستند خواند 
نه حدیثی نیز دانستند راند
جمله از غم در تأسف ماندند 
مبتلای کار یوسف ماندند
سست شد حالی زبان آن همه 
شد ز کار سخت جان آن همه
گفت یوسف گوییی بی هش شدید 
وقت خط خواندن چرا خامش شدید
جمله گفتندش که ما و تن زدن 
به ازین خط خواندن و گردن زدن
چون نگه کردند آن سی مرغ زار 
در خط آن رقعهٔ پر اعتبار
هرچ ایشان کرده بودند آن همه 
بود کرده نقش تا پایان همه
آن همه خود بود سخت این بود لیک 
کان اسیران چون نگه کردند نیک
رفته بودند و طریقی ساخته 
یوسف خود را به چاه انداخته
جان یوسف را به خواری سوخته 
وانگه او را بر سری بفروخته
می ندانی تو گدای هیچ کس 
می فروشی یوسفی در هر نفس
یوسفت چون پادشه خواهد شدن 
پیشوای پیشگه خواهد شدن
تو به آخر هم گدا، هم گرسنه 
سوی او خواهی شدن هم برهنه
چون از و کار تو بر خواهد فروخت 
از چه او را رایگان باید فروخت
جان آن مرغان ز تشویر و حیا 
شد حیای محض و جان شد توتیا
چون شدند از کل کل پاک آن همه 
یافتند از نور حضرت جان همه
باز از سر بندهٔ نو جان شدند 
باز از نوعی دگر حیران شدند
کرده و ناکردهٔ دیرینه شان 
پاک گشت و محو گشت از سینه شان
آفتاب قربت از پیشان بتافت 
جمله را از پرتو آن جان بتافت
هم ز عکس روی سیمرغ جهان 
چهرهٔ سیمرغ دیدند از جهان
چون نگه کردند آن سی مرغ زود 
بی شک این سی مرغ آن سیمرغ بود
در تحیر جمله سرگردان شدند 
باز از نوعی دگر حیران شدند
خویش را دیدند سیمرغ تمام 
بود خود سیمرغ سی مرغ مدام
چون سوی سیمرغ کردندی نگاه 
بود این سیمرغ این کین جایگاه
ور بسوی خویش کردندی نظر 
بود این سیمرغ ایشان آن دگر
ور نظر در هر دو کردندی بهم 
هر دو یک سیمرغ بودی بیش و کم
بود این یک آن و آن یک بود این 
در همه عالم کسی نشنود این
آن همه غرق تحیر ماندند 
بی تفکر وز تفکر ماندند
چون ندانستند هیچ از هیچ حال 
بی زفان کردند از آن حضرت سؤال
کشف این سر قوی در خواستند 
حل مایی و توی درخواستند
بی زفان آمد از آن حضرت خطاب 
کاینه ست این حضرت چون آفتاب
هر که آید خویشتن بیند درو 
جان و تن هم جان و تن بیند درو
چون شما سی مرغ اینجا آمدید 
سی درین آیینه پیدا آمدید
گر چل و پنجاه مرغ آیید باز 
پرده ای از خویش بگشایید باز
گرچه بسیاری به سر گردیده اید 
خویش را بینید و خود را دیده اید
هیچ کس را دیده بر ما کی رسد 
چشم موری بر ثریا کی رسد
دیده ای موری که سندان برگرفت 
پشهٔ پیلی به دندان برگرفت
هرچ دانستی، چو دیدی آن نبود 
و آنچ گفتی و شنیدی، آن نبود
این همه وادی که از پس کرده اید 
وین همه مردی که هر کس کرده اید
جمله در افعال مایی رفته اید 
وادی ذات صفت را خفته اید
چون شما سی مرغ حیران مانده اید 
بی دل و بی صبر و بی جان مانده اید
ما به سیمرغی بسی اولیتریم 
زانک سیمرغ حقیقی گوهریم
محو ما گردید در صد عز و ناز 
تا به ما در خویش را یابید باز
محو او گشتند آخر بر دوام 
سایه در خورشید گم شد والسلام
تا که می رفتند و می گفت این سخن 
چون رسیدند و نه سر ماند و نه بن
لاجرم اینجا سخن کوتاه شد 
ره رو و رهبر نماند و راه شد

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## English translation
Joseph, for whom the stars burned wild rue as incense,
When his ten brothers sold him,
When Malik Dahr bought him from them,
He demanded their document to purchase him.
He took the document from them on the spot,
And then took those ten brothers as witnesses.
When the Vizier of Egypt bought Joseph,
That deceitful document reached Joseph.
Eventually, when Joseph became king,
The ten brothers arrived at that place.
They did not recognize Joseph's face,
And threw themselves down before him.
They sought a remedy for their lives,
And brought their dignity to beg for bread.
The truthful Joseph said, 'O people,
I have a document in the Hebrew tongue.
No one in my army is able to read it;
If you can read it, I will give you plenty of food.'
They were all readers of Hebrew and skilled;
Joyfully they said, 'O King, bring the document.'
Blind of heart be he who does not hear,
In this presence, the story of himself out of pride.
Joseph gave them their document,
And a trembling fell upon their limbs.
They could neither read a line of that document,
Nor could they utter a single word.
All were left in regret and sorrow,
Afflicted by the affair of Joseph.
Their tongues suddenly became weak,
And their souls grew weary from this hard task.
Joseph said, 'It is as if you have lost your senses,
Why have you become silent when it is time to read?'
They all said to him, 'For us to keep silent
Is better than reading this document and being executed.'
When those thirty weary birds looked
Into the writing of that highly esteemed scroll,
Everything that they had done
Was depicted and engraved there until the end.
All of that was hard, but this was even harder:
When those captives looked closely,
They saw they had gone and paved a way,
Throwing their own Joseph into the well,
Burning Joseph's soul in humiliation,
And then selling him for a few pieces of silver.
Do you not know, you beggar of no one,
That you sell a Joseph in every breath?
When your Joseph is to become king,
And become the leader of the presence,
You will ultimately be both a beggar and hungry,
And you will go to him naked.
Since your work will shine through him,
Why must you sell him for nothing?
The souls of those birds, out of shame and modesty,
Became pure modesty, and their souls turned to dust.
When they all became clean of all and everything,
They all found life from the light of the Presence.
Once again, they became new servants with new souls,
And they were bewildered in a different way.
Their old deeds, both done and undone,
Were cleansed and erased from their breasts.
The sun of proximity shone before them,
And from its reflection, their souls shone.
Also from the reflection of the face of the Simurgh of the world,
They saw the face of the Simurgh in the world.
When those thirty birds looked quickly,
Without doubt, these thirty birds were that Simurgh.
They were all wanderers lost in bewilderment,
And they were astonished in a different way.
They saw themselves as the complete Simurgh;
The Simurgh was indeed the thirty birds always.
When they looked toward the Simurgh,
It was the Simurgh that was in this place.
And if they looked toward themselves,
It was the thirty birds, and that was the other.
And if they looked at both together,
Both were one Simurgh, no more and no less.
This one was that, and that one was this;
In all the world, no one has ever heard the likes of this.
They were all drowned in bewilderment;
They remained without thought and out of thinking.
Since they knew nothing of any state,
Without tongue, they questioned that Presence.
They requested the disclosure of this powerful secret,
And asked for the resolution of 'I' and 'Thou.'
Without tongue came the address from that Presence:
'This Presence is a mirror like the sun.
Whoever comes, sees themselves in it;
Soul and body, they see soul and body in it.
Since you thirty birds came here,
Thirty appeared in this mirror.
If forty or fifty birds come,
You will open a veil from yourselves.
Although you have wandered much,
You see yourselves and have seen yourselves.
How can anyone's sight reach Us?
How can the eye of an ant reach the Pleiades?
Have you seen an ant lift an anvil,
Or a gnat take an elephant in its teeth?
Whatever you knew, when you saw it, it was not that;
And whatever you said and heard, it was not that.
All these valleys that you have left behind,
And all the trials that each of you has performed,
You have traversed them all in the path of Our actions;
You have slept in the valley of the Essence of the Attributes.
Since you thirty birds have remained bewildered,
Left without heart, without patience, and without soul,
We are far more worthy of being the Simurgh,
Because We are the essence of the true Simurgh.
Be annihilated in Us with a hundred glories and graces,
So that in Us you may find yourselves again.'
Finally, they were annihilated in Him forever;
The shadow was lost in the sun, and that is all.
As long as they went, this speech was spoken;
But when they arrived, there was neither head nor tail left.
Inevitably, here the speech was shortened;
The traveler, the guide, and the path ceased to be.

حکایت خطی که برادران یوسف هنگام فروش او دادند / The Tale of the Document That Joseph's Brothers Gave When Selling Him

Root URL: https://ganjoor.net/
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