Overview

In the Fourteenth Discourse of the Silsilat al-Dhahab (Haft Awrang), Jami addresses ministers and scribes, framing the pen (قلم / خامه / کلک) as the instrument through which either justice or oppression is inscribed onto the pages of the days.

Key Themes

• Straightness of the pen as moral uprightness: Jami plays on the pen's upright form, urging the scribe to keep himself straight like the pen; a single crooked letter (حرف کج) deserves to be erased from the tablet of eternity (لوح بقا).
• The ledger and the Day of Reckoning: Careless or wrongful entries in the scribe's register (دفتر) are measured against the ledger of the Day of Judgment (یوم الحساب).
• Three fingers versus ten: The scribe wields the pen with only three fingers, yet the people raise ten fingers against him, because his strokes can wrong the defenseless.
• The pen's cry: What is heard as the pleasant scratch of the pen (صریر قلم) is in truth the wail (نفیر) of those oppressed by wha...