1. Why settle in a house whose reality
Is like a mirage in a year and dew from spindles?

2. The abode of delusion, the shelter of every disappointed one,
The mine of misery, hardship and affliction.

3. Deceit is its façade, treachery its company,
Death its end, and existence its torment.

4. It destroys what you have gathered, disgraces whom it has elevated,
And harms those it once benefited in days gone by.

5. The soul desires it, the eye gazes upon it,
For the beauty of its outward form and charm.

6. Bewitching, it rules the imagination when one sees it,
As if it were the truth though it springs from trials.

7. A fool is one who continues to amass it,
Enduring fruitless toil from Syria to Yemen.

8. Girding himself for dangers, striving diligently
So that the rugged ship may be softened for its sake.

9. While the wise belittle it in asceticism, rejecting it
As one discards filth into the dunghill.

10. He casts his enlightened heart into its traps,
So he meets with nothing but worry and sorrow.

11. He reflects with his thoughts on those it destroyed,
Of its devoted followers in body and soul.

12. Those who built its edifices and strengthened them
To find safety from fate in madness.

13. They attained its glories, revived its beacons,
Unsheathed its swords against evil and rancor.

14. They held its pulpits, led its armies,
With strength, conquering cities and towns.

15. They enslaved people until they became
Submissive to their command, vanquished and disgraced.

16. They amassed wealth and chose its finest treasures
For the pleasure of the soul in days to come.

17. Until, when they were fully sated with the success they had attained,
And enabled those they had raised to the highest position.

18. The destroyer of pleasures called them, so they embarked
On the paths of death, becoming lessons for the discerning.

19. Those graves, though after corpulence
And fatness of body they lie in dust and clay.

20. After indulgence and eating delicacies, they became
Food for worms beneath the soil and dirt.

21. Their complexions changed, the beauty of their faces vanished,
Along with their eyes and cheeks.

22. Their homes were emptied of them, and they were deserted
By those who used to be intimate with them, openly and in secret.

23. They were shunned by all relatives, family and friends
Who used to cherish them.

24. Of the wealth they had amassed, their share
Was only shrouds, cotton and linen.

25. Those palaces and mansions lie deserted,
With only the desolate cries of owls within them.

26. Had I passed by them, with owls lamenting them
In the darkness of night, I would not have delighted in luxury,

27. Nor prided myself with fine plumage,
Nor been tempted by love of family and dwelling.

28. Nor savored delicacies greedily,
Nor striven among you with the striving of one infatuated.

29. Nor taken heed, if I witnessed one exhorting,
Whether I saw him with my eyes or heard him with my ears.

30. Indeed, sermons do not avail a captive of passion,
Whose heart is locked, straying from proper traditions.

31. Arrogant, he turns away from the clear truth when
It comes to him, due to his great ignorance and enmity.

32. His soul desires something he cannot attain,
For hopes are cut off from favors.

33. It suffices the sensible one the Book of Allah as an exhortation,
As has come in the hadith of the Master Al-Hasan.

34. Muhammad is the best of Allah's creation, our exemplar,
Pure of heart from any blemish or blame.

35. Upon him be Allah's eternal blessings
As long as the wind blows with rain and ships sail.

36. And upon his family and companions as long
As turtledoves coo and the eyes of yearners weep for their homeland.