1. Let me be, and let the copious tears flow,
For the claim of beautiful patience is a deceptive call.

2. Patience is beautiful in the face of ugly events,
That have clothed the lights in the garb of darkness.

3. The world has disguised itself against religion, lost,
And it is the world's nature to disguise and turn away.

4. So the command of fate has embraced both in its cloak,
And this one and that are lost in destruction.

5. A highland clear of them and of him has passed away,
My two bridled steeds in a shared, unceasing decay.

6. So neither joy brings a delight to the beholder,
Nor proof guides one seeking proof.

7. The two matters have come together only to warn
That the scattering of the stars is nigh at hand.

8. It is time for the scattered universe to withdraw
Into my palm, destruction unto destruction close at hand.

9. We know, and minds bear witness,
That the loss of knowledge is the root of ruin.

10. If God takes away the sciences and their people,
What will He leave the ignorant age?

11. Is knowledge anything but the spirit, and creation a corpse?
What holds the body together after the spirit but dissolution?

12. Naught in the world of creation has surprised me
Save an event in a world of perceptions.

13. When it comes to an end through death,
It decides to seize perceptions with requisition.

14. Therefore, I do not weep as if completing
What sorrow has left after the King.

15. And it is easy for me to see grief as my authority—
My misfortune—easy, son of Malik.

16. We used to follow the guidance of his view,
Like following the view of Ash-Shāfiʿī and Mālik.

17. A raincloud of dew—we knew its gentleness—
Would converse with downpours of help unchecked.

18. In truth that majesty has been ordained,
And the structures of glory in heaven have been shaken.

19. The quarter of glory in Nejd is now empty,
And the singular grave there is peopled by lizards.

20. A towering mountain in Sa’id has disappeared,
And a sea amid rubble has dried up.

21. The sun of knowledge has set in the horizon,
Leading suns into dark valleys.

22. O you who mourn him—for you is the calamity—do not
Wail about one who is the mother of calamities.

23. Perhaps in mourning knowledge you disbelieve,
Though how many virtuous came before reproaching it.

24. If only their lies, like those ones,
Had become widely reported and their outcomes believed.

25. So excellent are those words when their falsehood appears,
And how ugly they are, while truth is clear to see!

26. They have agitated, and my heart quivers
In fear of believing those discordant rumors.

27. It is as if the perfection of virtue annoyed them,
So they displayed the preference of desire destroyed.

28. It is as if they awaited his day impatiently,
Like the patient man awaits an unasked-for gift.

29. It is as if they hoped for a misfortune,
Like the misfortune that revisits the stoic.

30. Nay! They have lain in wait for a catastrophe
That would shake the pillar of the steadfast controller.

31. What they warned of happening has happened.
After it, will the age have any power left?

32. An affliction—afflicting to hearts—its arrow
Shot from the bow of pitch-black nights.

33. The dusty darkness mourned him, and so found joy
With its verdant tears of twisted sorrows.

34. Over the knowledge of Islam, she-camels have stood
Weeping profusely or laughing derisively.

35. One sunna poured soil on her head,
Keening for the most generous lost soul.

36. Another sign weeps for its shining dawn
When there stood among the night a crescent haloed.

37. Another wisdom mourns the loss of a spring
Whose chain of brooks ran through the land.

38. Oh, my sorrow for guidance and its ways!
For the minbar, in that blessed place.

39. For the flag of Shari‘ah, that lowers its yield,
And stops hands tearing it like beasts of prey.

40. For the Book of God—who studies its revelation
And draws light from it, not neglecting?

41. For the hadith of the Chosen One and its interpretations
He clarified through his understanding, not disregarding.

42. Who now will dispel confusion about ambiguities?
Who now will remove doubt from complexities?

43. For the white banner whose territory his hand expanded
Until the ends of time were like shooting stars?

44. For the white parchment that flew with his mention
Traversing angelic realms on pilgrim paths?

45. For the assembly place where he proclaimed prophecies
Detailing fate from the edge of perception?

46. For speech like the radiant and pure niche
Not sullied by pretentious ornament.

47. For deeds—if construction, then sublime,
And if proclamation, then perfume wafting.

48. For habits that were generous and taxing
Struck with a glass to aid the suffering?

49. For the demeanor of asceticism, hidden by wealth—
In its folds, surplus virtue and possession?

50. For the slopes of glory—when its nobles
Comingle with the riffraff?

51. No! Do not curb your wailing or increase it,
For none can match the summit of knowledge.

52. We have suffered, by God, from it, though in truth
We have suffered, by my life, from creatures and ruins.

53. So cry out, with the spheres of praise, my regrets,
For no orbit remains with the pole of perception.

54. Speak goodness today—you have strengthened a place of descent
With the footsteps of mortality, not noble pillars.

55. Circling that sanctuary, eighty years soaring,
Then deceiving the enemy in the battle of death.

56. Fighting it when passing the straits of ordeals.
Thus is fate—no matter how quiescent,

57. It rouses an army to plunder life and exterminate.
It took Saba hostage forcibly, betraying the loyal.

58. Not ceasing from any treason to betrayers and perished.
Annihilating the multitudes of the righteous,

59. Casting creation into misery atop the biers.
To it, alike are ravaging the noble

60. Or the base through righteousness and piety.
Had it cared for one of prestige,

61. It would have cared for the Chosen Son of 'Utaykah.
Had an 'Umar-esque age of a thousand years remained,

62. It would not have spared Noah in ages of ruin.
There is no way to permanency—rather,

63. We were created for the bosoms of eradication.
O house of Sahl! Or his sons in particular!

64. My call is general in your time of gloom.
Do you think, because of what has befallen you,

65. I forbid my patience from gentleness?
How can I console when consolation is forbidden

66. To me—but it is the way, house of Mālik?
If impatience appears, that is dislike

67. For the bitterness of a portion from a shared sorrow.
If there is patience, it is your firm nature

68. Remaining steadfast in the bitter winds.
You have inherited the way of the leader, so rise

69. To the highest of insignia through honor’s heirs.
Nothing that made glory endure passed away,

70. Nor met destruction leaving a legacy like Mālik.
Do you know why your father rode so hard?

71. As if traveling with quick camel-riders.
Remembering his ancient horizon in the sky,

72. Yearning for that lofty place there, intertwined.
His destiny was sublime in the presence of Holiness,

73. So he would not be distracted by base desires.
How strange that we weep for one congratulated

74. To attain a house in the company of angels!
Greeting him in those pleasures is his fellow

75. With a radiant face, laughing with joy.
Do not think the self has joined a body

76. Lying beneath the gravel in a cloak.
If you could glimpse his place,

77. You would see him lodged atop the beds.
Luxuriating in the Garden of Bliss as it showers him

78. With waves of musk in mounds poured forth.
Thus has God promised one of worthy traits—

79. Righteousness by piety made true.
O Mercy of the Merciful! Turn to him!

80. O his spirit! Greet him and bless!
O my burning ache! Take my note to him

81. And convey to him some of my talk there!