دَفَّاعُ ١ مُعْضِلَاتٍ دَلِيلُ فَلَوَاتٍ يَقُولُ فَيُفْهِمُ وَ يَسْكُتُ فَيَسْلَمُ قَدْ أَخْلَصَ لِلَّهِ فَاسْتَخْلَصَهُ فَهُوَ مِنْ مَعَادِنِ دِينِهِ وَ أَوْتَادِ أَرْضِهِ قَدْ أَلْزَمَ نَفْسَهُ الْعَدْلَ فَكَانَ أَوَّلَ عَدْلِهِ نَفْيُ الْهَوَى عَنْ نَفْسِهِ يَصِفُ الْحَقَّ وَ يَعْمَلُ بِهِ لَا يَدَعُ لِلْخَيْرِ غَايَةً إِلَّا أَمَّهَا ٢وَ لَا مَظِنَّةً إِلَّا قَصَدَهَا قَدْ أَمْكَنَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ زِمَامِهِ فَهُوَ قَائِدُهُ وَ إِمَامُهُ يَحُلُّ حَيْثُ حَلَّ ثَقَلُهُ وَ يَنْزِلُ حَيْثُ كَانَ مَنْزِلُهُ وَ آخَرُ قَدْ تَسَمَّی عَالِماً وَ لَيْسَ بِهِ فَاقْتَبَسَ جَهَائِلَ مِنْ جُهَّالٍ وَ أَضَالِيلَ مِنْ ضُلَّالٍ وَ نَصَبَ لِلنَّاسِ أَشْرَاكاً مِنْ حِبَالِ غُرُورٍ وَ قَوْلِ زُورٍ قَدْ حَمَلَ الْكِتَابَ عَلَى آرَائِهِ وَ عَطَفَ الْحَقَّ عَلَى أَهْوَائِهِ يُؤْمِنُ مِنَ الْعَظَائِمِ وَ يُهَوِّنُ كَبِيرَ الْجَرَائِمِ يَقُولُ أَقِفُ عِنْدَ الشُّبُهَاتِ وَ فِيهَا وَقَعَ وَ يَقُولُ أَعْتَزِلُ الْبِدَعَ وَ بَيْنَهَا اضْطَجَعَ فَالصُّورَةُ صُورَةُ إِنْسَانٍ وَ الْقَلْبُ قَلْبُ حَيَوَانٍ لَا يَعْرِفُ بَابَ الْهُدَى فَيَتَّبِعَهُ وَ لَا بَابَ الْعَمَى فَيَصُدَّ عَنْهُ فَذَلِكَ مَيِّتُ الْأَحْيَاءِ فَأَيْنَ تَذْهَبُونَ فَأَنَّی تُؤْفَكُونَ وَ الْأَعْلَامُ قَائِمَةٌ وَ الْآيَاتُ وَاضِحَةٌ وَ الْمَنَارُ مَنْصُوبَةٌ إِلَى آخِرِ الْخُطْبَةِ.

and the remover of difficulties, and the guide of the lost in the wildernesses of bewilderment. He speaks and makes well understood; he keeps silent and passes safely. He has made his deeds sincere for God, in the manner that God has accepted. He is of the treasuries of God's religion and of the pillars of the earth. He has bound himself to justice, and the beginning of his justice is that he has driven caprice out of his heart. He makes the truth known and acts upon it. There is no good work but he undertakes it, and nowhere has he supposed good to be but he has hastened towards it. He has surrendered his will to the Qur'an and made the Qur'an his guide and leader; wherever the Qur'an sets down its burden he alights, and wherever the Qur'an settles he takes up his dwelling. And there is another whom people call a scholar, though he has no portion of knowledge: he has gathered a bundle of ignorances from a company of the ignorant, and learned misleading matters from the misled, and woven them together; and he has set upon people's road snares out of the ropes of delusion and lying words. He bends the Qur'an to his own desires and wishes, and interprets the truth according to his whims. He makes people feel safe from the great sins and makes grave crimes seem light. He claims to shun doubtful things while he is plunged in them; he says, I am far from innovations, while he is drowned in them. The face he shows is the face of a man, and his heart is the heart of a ravening beast; he does not know the road of guidance that he might follow it, nor the way of error and falsehood that he might avoid it — so he is a dead man among the living. O people! Where are you going? Why do you turn aside from the truth? The banners of truth and its marks are plain, though the lamps of guidance light the way… to the end of the sermon.

بيان: فاستشعر الحزن أي جعله شعارا له و تجلبب الخوف أي جعله جلبابا و هو ثوب يشمل البدن فزهر أي أضاء و القرى الضيافة فقرب على نفسه البعيد أي مثل الموت بين عينيه و هون الشديد أي الموت و رضی به و استعد له أو المراد بالبعيد أمله الطويل و بتقريبه تقصيره له بذكر الموت و هون الشديد أي كلف نفسه الرياضة على المشاق من الطاعات و قيل أريد بالبعيد رحمة اللّٰه أي جعل نفسه مستعدة لقبولها بالقربات و بالشديد عذاب اللّٰه فهونه بالأعمال الصالحة أو شدائد الدنيا باستحقارها في جنب ما أعد له من الثواب نظر أي بعينه فاعتبر أو بقلبه فأبصر الحق من عذب فرات أي العلوم الحقة و الكمالات الحقيقية و قيل من حب اللّٰه فشرب نهلا أي شربا أولا سابقا على أمثاله سبيلا جددا أي لا غبار فيه و لا وعث و السربال القميص و الردی الهلاك و قطع غماره أي ما كان مغمورا فيه من شدائد الدنيا من إصدار كل وارد عليه أي هداية الناس فَأَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ أي تصرفون.

"Fa-istash'ara al-huzn" means he made sorrow his undergarment; "tajalbaba al-khawf" means he made fear his outer cloak, a garment that covers the whole body. "Fa-zahara" means it gave light. "Al-qira" is hospitality. "Fa-qarraba 'ala nafsihi al-ba'id" means he sees death before his eyes; and "hawwana al-shadid" means he made death easy, was content with it and made ready for it. Or what is meant by "the distant" is long hopes, and by bringing hope near is meant shortening it by the remembrance of death. "Wa hawwana al-shadid" means he charged his soul with the hardship of obedience to God through ascetic discipline. Some say that by "the distant" is meant God's mercy, so that he makes himself ready to receive God's mercy in drawing near, and makes God's severe punishment light by good deeds; or he makes the hardships of this world small in his eye or heart by reckoning them little beside the rewards of the Hereafter, and gains sight of the true sciences and real perfections. "Wa min 'azbin furat" means the true sciences and true perfections — some say the love of God is meant. "Fa-shariba nahalan" is the first draught, taken ahead of others. "Sabilan jadadan" is a road free of thorns and brush. "Al-sirbal" is a shirt. "Al-rada" is destruction. "Qata'a ghimarahu" means he has cut through the hardships of this world. "Min isdari kulli waridin 'alayhi" means the guidance of people. "Wa anna tu'fakun": where are you going?