When fortune is a person's slave
His heart is perpetually disposed towards obedience.
It is not fit to turn aside one's head from servitude,
Since fortune is obtainable from obedience.
Happiness is procured from obedience;
The heart becometh illumined from the light of obedience.
If thou girdest thy loins with submission,
Thou wilt open the door of everlasting happiness.
The wise man doth not turn his head from obedience,
Since no excellence is more lofty than obedience.
Keep thine ablutions freshened with the waters of obedience,
So that to-morrow thou mayest be free as from fire.
i Stablish thy prayers with sincerity,
So that thou mayest attain everlasting prosperity.
Enlightenment of soul springeth from obedience,
Just as the earth deriveth light from the sun.
Worship the Creator;
Sit down in the portals of obedience.
If thou makest choice to worship the Creator,
Thou wilt be a chieftain in the kingdom of fortune.
Raise thy head and keep not abstinence in thy pocket,
For Paradise is the abode of the abstinent.
Lighten the lamp of thy soul with piety,
That thou mayest become happy, like the prosperous.
Whoever is clad with the garment of religion
Hath no fear for the trials of the day of judgment.