الرَّجُلِ حَتَّى دَخَلْتَ الْحُجْرَةَ ثُمَّ خَرَجْتَ فَأَجَبْتَهُ فَقَالَ كُنْتُ حَاقِناً وَ لَا رَأْیَ لِثَلَاثَةٍ لَا رَأْیَ لِحَاقِنٍ وَ لَا حَازِقٍ ثُمَّ أَنْشَأَ يَقُولُ

came, and you went into the house and only answered after coming out? He said: I had a pressing need to relieve myself; and the judgement of three is worthless: one who has a pressing need to relieve himself, and one whose shoes are too tight. Then he recited these verses:

إِذَا الْمُشْكِلَاتُ تَصَدَّيْنَ لِي*** كَشَفْتُ حَقَائِقَهَا بِالنَّظَرِ

When difficulties cry out to me, / I lay bare their realities by careful looking.

وَ إِنْ بَرَقَتْ فِي مَخِيلِ الصَّوَابِ*** عَمْيَاءُ لَا يَجْتَلِيهَا الْبَصَرُ

And if in the field of right judgement there flashes / a blind thing that the eye cannot discern,

مُقَنَّعَةٌ بِغُيُوبِ الْأُمُورِ*** وَضَعْتُ عَلَيْهَا صَحِيحَ النَّظَرِ١

veiled in the hidden things of affairs — / the weakness of my thought is because it touches hidden matters that belong to God's order; and then I lay sound thought upon those difficulties.

لِسَاناً كَشِقْشِقَةِ الْأَرْحَبِيِ***أَوْ كَالْحُسَامِ الْبَتَّارِ الذَّكَرِ

A tongue like the roaring of the noble Arhabi camel, / or like a keen, tempered blade with which I split open the garments of events.

وَ قَلْباً إِذَا اسْتَنْطَقَتْهُ الْهُمُومُ***أَرْبَى عَلَيْهَا بَوَاهِيَ الدُّرَرِ

And a heart which, when I examine its cares, / yields up ever more of its precious pearls.

وَ لَسْتُ بِإِمَّعَةٍ فِي الرِّجَالِ***أُسَائِلُ هَذَا وَ ذَا مَا الْخَبَرُ ٢

I am not a man who follows every man, / asking this one and that: what is the news?

وَ لَكِنَّنِي مُدَرَّبُ الْأَصْغَرَيْنِ*** أُبَيِّنُ مَعَ مَا مَضَى مَا غَبَرَ

Rather I keep my heart and my tongue so well trained / that I measure the events of today against the events of the past and see their likeness.

بيان: قال الفيروزآبادي كيت و كيت و يكسر آخرهما أي كذا و كذا و التاء فيهما هاء في الأصل و السكة المسمار و المراد هنا الحديدة التي يكوى بها و هذا كالمثل في السرعة في الأمر أي كالحديدة التي حميت في النار كيف يسرع في النفوذ في الوبر عند الكي كذلك كنت تسرع في الجواب و سيأتي في الأخبار كالمسمار المحمرة في الوبر قوله عليه السلام لا رأى لثلاثة الظاهر أنه سقط أحد الثلاثة من النساخ و هو الحاقب قال الجزري فيه لا رأى لحازق الحازق الذي ضاق عليه خفه فخرق رجله أي عصرها و ضغطها و هو فاعل بمعنی مفعول و منه الحديث الآخر لا يصلی و هو حاقن أو حاقب أو حازق و قال في حقب فيه لا رأى لحاقب و لا لحاقن الحاقب الذي احتاج إلى الخلاء فلم يتبرز فانحصر غائطه و قال في حقن فيه لا رأى لحاقن هو الذي حبس بوله كالحاقب للغائط انتهى و يحتمل أن يكون المراد بالحاقن هنا حابس الأخبثين فهو في موضع اثنين منهما و يقال تصدى له أي تعرض.

Al-Fayruzabadi said: "kayta wa kayta" means such and such; the ta' in both was originally a ha'. "Al-sikka" means iron, and what is meant here is the hot iron with which branding is done; this is a proverb for speed in a matter — that is, as a brand heated in the fire is swift when it is set to wool, so you were swift in answering. And hadiths will come later saying "you were like a hot skewer in wool". "La ra'ya li-thalatha": apparently one of the three has dropped from the copyists' hand, namely "haqib". "La ra'ya li-hazuq": al-Jazari said: the "haziq" is one whose shoe is tight and presses his foot inside it; "haziq" is an active participle with a passive sense, that is, "mahzuq". Of this kind is another hadith in which he said: Let no one pray while he is haqin, haqib or haziq. Al-Jazari said: "haqib" is one whose urine is held back. End of al-Jazari's words. It may be that by "haqin" here is meant one holding back both urine and stool. "Tasadda lahu" means the difficulties presented themselves to me.

و قوله إن برقت أي تلألأت و ظهرت في مخيل الصواب أي في محل تخيل الأمر الحق أو التفكر في تحصيل الصواب من الرأي و عمياء فاعل برقت و هي المسأ

"In baraqat" means it flashed and gleamed and appeared. "Makhil al-sawab" means in the place of imagining the true matter, or of reflecting upon the attaining of sound judgement. "'Amya'" is the subject of "baraqat".