1. O master whom the Master chose as a companion and dwelling for virtues,
None guided you to the Guide except the sincerity of that guidance and favor.

2. God gathered in you, for the supporter of religion,
Praiseworthy traits among all traits.

3. In you is, for onlookers and the heart, a share
Of beautiful sights, despite any envious slanderer.

4. A wondrous sight of beauty,
Under which lies an informer of generosity abounding.

5. And if the companion were to adorn himself,
Would he refuse to be sold for equals?

6. You are a spectacle and hearing, whatever is in you
Gladdens the heart of one aggrieved by care.

7. In you is seriousness for one in earnest and jest
Not like the jest of jesters, the futile.

8. God and the Commander witnessed together,
And the knowledgeable Minister of conditions,

9. That you are an easygoing companion, light
On the heart, though weighty in the scales.

10. You are not burdensome to any onlooker, nor are you
A heavy thought on any mind.

11. The Commander chooses you for intimacy and companionship
In times of barefaced, intractable adversity.

12. And indeed each of you two are to his brother
The image of people of perfection, people of perfection.

13. So the nights of our Commander are with you
Delightful, like their dawns with shade.

14. And the days of his fate are with you a spirit
Like the spirit of morning and evening.

15. In them is no weariness that mars faces, rather they are all
Of shade, not made tedious for the ignorant.

16. Talking to you, he turns away from the path
Of malice and disparagement,

17. And speaks profusely and pleasantly
Of various delightful tales,

18. In the style of kings, containing jest,
Containing the rest of proverbs.

19. They attract vitality from afar
And drive away the boredom of tedium.

20. Like the breeze of meadows in the night's gloaming,
When the north wind drives it along.

21. Then he comes to converse with you, so you make him
Equally lighthearted and blithe.

22. With speech befitting for an occasion,
And an occasion befitting for speech.

23. From the most melodious tongue, smoother than
A polished blade, indicating pure nature.

24. Bearing a tune that hearing is like
The coo of doves over the slopes.

25. It is accompanied by a gesture that clothes it
In all light and all shimmer of family.

26. With an elegance as though it were
Full moons and rising of the dunes.

27. For that conversation is beautiful diversion
And it has over them the superiority of majesty.

28. It is something whose hearing delights
The ear of the guided and the misguided.

29. Like hearing that excites the awe
Of warriors, their perturbation and inquiry.

30. And makes them eager in war
To brave hordes of awe-inspiring trials.

31. That enticed the Commander with you, so you became
At his right hand, not the left.

32. And in you he has two tools for war
And scheming, like the resolve of a resolute assailant.

33. The lock of a secret, its key a scheme,
And keys are brothers of locks.

34. You have a penetrating look that if matters get serious,
It is more piercing than the surah of heroes.

35. It provokes stratagems from those
Deafened, what barricade is there in the armory?

36. The Commander saw in you, by my life,
The opportunity and he is the accomplisher of deeds.

37. And with the eye of a falcon, father of falcons,
At a lofty watch, he became prominent,

38. And saw in you what he saw in his beloved ones,
So he chose you for his fortune, not altering.

39. Thus he found in you the excellent counsel of a commander
And minister, both being the best governor.

40. So when you are mentioned in absence they say
“He is truly the unique of the unique.”

41. O hope of wishers, Abu Ishaq, when
Every hope is cut off.

42. You are the one I knew long ago
To not be exceeded in glories by glories.

43. If the wind competed with you in generous deeds
It would deem itself rational by the standard of reason.

44. How many a night has a need kept you awake
Tossing gently, though spending it in comfort?

45. He slept from fatigue and what he intended, while you did not sleep,
Rather you spent the night wakeful.

46. So let some of what you planted among
The bounty of your gratitude be my gratitude, O brother of bounty.

47. Every thanker to you will see customarily
That I preceded him while he followed.

48.
I did not task you to be an intercessor

49. For me, except to one who is bountiful.
Bright-faced like the crescent, nay brighter

50. Than full moon, nay like the epitome of ideal.
None matches his beauty except

51. What his palm contributes of deeds.
An Areehi who gives generously at chance,

52. Multiplying its like and he is the governor.
A benefactor, beautiful, not an innovator -

53. That is not the case for his like, nor is it possible.
Indeed beauty and charm are the essence

54. Of charity and beauty.
God beautified his creation, so he appeared

55. Renewed in his beauty and conformity.
Soliciting his action from a book

56. Inscribed on his face without solicitation.
He is not one who ignores an intercessor

57. If he persists, behaving distastefully.
Among men who have assumed high morals

58. By efforts, like the assuming of positions by camels.
Rather, seekers of elevation have risen to the heights

59. And those elevated lowered themselves from glories.
Vying to reach him, diverse delegations

60. A delegation of gratitude urging and one of request pleading.
Rather, his gifts continue vying

61. And visitors to the hopeful.
Conveying

62. To the fallen short of them, attaining, beyond every attainment.
Seekers sleep while they

63. Come to them, arousing craving and fondling.
They journeyed to whom they were too burdensome,

64. And spared him the burden of traveling.
Unceasingly a blessing, if removed from him,

65. Would not find from him a direction to fade.
So make my brother Abu Sukr succeed

66. Honorably, with trailing robes.
For he finds your company sweet, seeing you

67. Like cool water, clear and pure.
Responding to a need of yours that has

68. Exhausted his vigor to a torrential stream.
And whenever he meets you, you are rain

69. Ordered by the south winds to pour.
He is not someone whose wind you made far

70. From a sky that wears him out with rain.
And a man who seeks refuge in your support, is worthy

71. Of amicable and honest negotiation.
You have an interceding face, whoever saw it,

72. There the entirety of affliction vanished from him.
Sending down drops from the clouds of favor, in situations,

73. Upon every barren waterless terrain.

74. Ceaselessly gracious for interceding, not rejecting
Ill-manneredness, rather adding only burnishing.

75.
And so the noble one, asked the needs

76. Of others, is unlike the asker.
I protected a soul you humiliated in custom,

77. Do not forget the right of a loyal one.
How many inaccessible fortresses have you interceded

78. For a friend you saw in affliction?
He was generous when your hand shook his

79. And saw your great noble face.
So you released the stingy from the shackles of stinginess

80. And released the friend from his plight.
For you have released both my captives

81. And formerly released every shackle.
And you gifted the despicable a praiseworthy gift

82. And gifted the destitute a gift of wealth.
So you bestowed upon me both wishes

83. And formerly bestowed every attainment.
The praiser says of you, at the start and repeat,

84. Neither loathed nor pretending.
But when he says it, meanings and

85. Rhymes come to him pouring in streams.
So persist - your magnificent feats that remain

86. Are immortalized, like mountains enduring.
I am one who follows loyalty and allegiance,

87. So do not forget the right of a loyal one.