1. Do not blame lovers much,
For ecstasy and yearning are enough for them.

2. Suffering can be endured if not compounded,
But when it is compounded, it becomes unendurable.

3. Do you blame them for gain or just to increase
Their restlessness upon restlessness?

4. What is it to one who has become infatuated with love
To end up as a victim of passionate gazes?

5. How can one who is infatuated with it reproach
Another who folds his hands over a pounding heart?

6. The dove and the crow cause his heart
To lament sometimes cooing and sometimes cawing,

7. And the lightning of clouds inflames him
For it signifies to him a shining smile.

8. His sighs constantly rise and his tears constantly fall,
The victim of endless sorrows.

9. His mouth is not healed by lips,
Rather his cheeks are nourished by tears.

10. The passionate one laments profusely,
Nay, with blood over blood that drips.

11. His loved ones bid him farewell when they part
And whenever they meet.

12. They punish him for his long aloofness,
Claiming he is never free of the thorns of separation.

13. Loyalty itself testifies along with everything true
That the reward lies only in union.

14. I listened once to the lovers,
And it is beautiful to sympathize with lovers.

15. The passionate one complained of the aloofness of the beloved,
And the loyal one complained of the inconstancy of affection.

16. So leave the lover without blaming, for blaming
Is useless medicine for an aching heart.

17. Do not extinguish fervor with blame, for it
Is like wind that fans the flames.

18. I see no benefit in blaming the lovelorn,
Especially the infatuated and longing one.

19. What can a lover do when his malady worsens
Except seek his beloved, his only healer?

20. God has taken vengeance for our hearts
Against deadly charms and slender waists.

21. Their faces blush at the sight of us
While their hearts show no compassion.

22. When they get up to play, their buttocks sway,
And when they walk, their hips swagger coquettishly.

23. Curved bellies move with them,
And slender waists twist and turn.

24. They shake branches, teasing with fruit,
Ripe and dangling temptingly.

25. The sight of such allure is tempting
Yet void of any benefit, flaunting nothing but the hips.

26. Strangely, we allow passion for them
To cost us our blood, while being stingy with money.

27. They flash their smiles, veiling disease,
Yet are liberal displaying their teeth.

28. We deprive ourselves of game that has caused
Our perdition through deprivation and drowning.

29. As for whoever claims that were it his choice
Passion would not exist, and its adherents would not suffer separation,

30. No increase of misery upon a lover
Is possible, by God, O Abu Ishaq!

31. Praiseworthy Ibrahim, unique in his time,
His character reflects his noble lineage.

32. His virtues have reached the heavens,
As if they were ladders ascending to the sky.

33. I have overlooked the sins of my time because of him,
Though they were more ruinous than a raging flood.

34. He possessed a discerning mind amid knowledge,
I left it though the mind was no longer discerning.

35. He enslaves the free, but then
He frees the enslaved with emancipation.

36. And if you experience the tenderness of his art,
Remove the necklace and do not remain shackled.

37. O Lord, his captivated prisoners
He would free, while also capturing others.

38. Though he intended their bondage,
Good must be repaid in kind.

39. To enslave artistry and free it
Are both ongoing with my father.

40. The admiration of his beneficence, open to all,
Is like rain pouring down equally.

41. You who accepts the palm of every lowly fraud,
This is Ahmad's son, no fraud.

42. Kiss his fingers, though they are fingers,
For they are keys to sustenance.

43. The one favored by the hands of this master
Benefits, while the blackness of the disgraced intensifies.

44. His breaths are kingship, and in his composition
Is the spirit of hearts and the essence of hides.

45. To Ibn Ahmad my she-camel brought me
Through every murky and deep valley.

46. Magnificent Kharqa has mended every tear,
For tears are the passageways for mending.

47. By his forehead we obtain the most beautiful guidance,
While God furnishes both dome and porch.

48. Like the full moon his good fortune culminated
While his detractor remains a vanishing crescent.

49. The Sa'udi said when she attained his company,
"By God, I have attained the loftiest spirits!"

50. When adversities recall him, his refinement
Makes one instantly forget heat and affliction.

51. His praise and gifts he casts upon men with wisdom,
A perceptible subtlety and pleasing taste.

52. His generosity spreads and does not distinguish,
Yet it is like rain pouring down in general.

53. His virtues have worn garments of praise,
When I looked I saw no other robes.

54. Take them wandering through the lands settled,
As provisions for one estranged and comrades.

55. You whom no flatterer has praised
With words that do not ring true.

56. You who are preceded in promise and fulfillment
By acceleration, and joined by obligation.

57. Who considers praise besides you a profit,
And sees gifts as the best expenditure?

58. Who considers supererogation an obligation,
Or appointment like a covenant?

59. May he who praises his friend with a frown
Of arrogance and a smile of hypocrisy ransom you!

60. O you who gives freely when asked,
And when attained, most generously grants.

61. O you who has taught me my principles so well,
That I have neglected pursuits of livelihood.

62. Praise now flows towards you, for it
Finds your door well-trodden by the markets.

63. So wear it just as the pigeon wears its plumage
Of gorget and bracelets.

64. And live as long as your virtues live,
For they outlast the garments of time.

65. And consign Abu Ishaq in the raiment of bliss
While your promise banishes and revives.

66. You are the sun at the zenith of the sky,
With rays reaching all horizons.

67. Nay, you are like the sky itself and all it is adorned with,
And the earth in its proximity to the beholder.

68. O you who asks who equals him in competence,
Who equals the sky and its earth in congruity?

69. Tell the Imam, when he preferred you for his order,
"Your hands have grasped a trenchant, piercing blade."

70. Key of opinion when he closes his door,
Deadbolt against any evil, no matter how strong.

71. Your motions are aflame, your command appears
Like the flashing of lightening or the fluttering of banners.

72. But when alone pondering adversities with your thoughts,
Yours is the tranquility of a living, striking serpent.

73. And if the minister's and your command meet,
They block the path of looming, sudden calamity.

74. The Caliph knows, when aided by your power,
That blades are empowered by piercing tips.

75. I saw you, O Son of Ahmad, as a master among us
In truth, obligation, and right.

76. I noted your overflowing charity among people
And saw it like a sea among rivers.

77. They were munificent, so I peered at their bounty
And saw plunging waves, O most deluging sea!

78. Then they warned each other against wrong, counseling
Sincerely, dispelling all doubts after the encounter.

79. And I saw your opinion among the views of foes
Like a sword amid skulls it cleaves.

80. They schemed and you schemed, foiling their plots,
With but one of your sighs, O greatest foil!

81. You exhausted them to the point of paralysis with strength
And inspired your view until near exhaustion.

82. The cunning have no foothold in your domains,
Neither in their stairways nor their tunnels.

83. You who stopped the plots of the schemers
Until their swirling pools raced with exertion.

84. God grant you well-being, O compassionate guide
Who intends equally harm and kindness!

85. How many days of pouring rain you have
Thundering, abundantly pouring!

86. Your virtues have worn praise, they are
Its robes, I saw none other guarding against violation.

87. Take them wandering settled through the lands
As friends for one estranged on a journey.

88. You whom no praiser has ever praised
With words unsupported by deeds.

89. You whose promise and fulfillment both
Are preceded by fulfillment and obligation.

90. Who finds praise besides you profitable
Or sees generosity as the best offering?

91. Who makes supererogation obligatory
Or appointment like a binding pledge?

92. May he ransom you, who praises his friend
With a frown of arrogance and smile of hypocrisy!

93. O you who gives freely when asked
And grants generously when attained.

94. O you who has laid out my principles so well
That I neglected pursuits of livelihood.

95. Praise now flows to you, for it finds
Your door well-traversed by the markets.

96. So wear it as the dove wears its plumage
Of neckbands, bracelets and anklets.

97. And live out the lifespan of your virtues
Which outlast the garments of time while lasting.

98. And deliver Abu Ishaq in the raiment of bliss
While your promise banishes then brings back to life.

99. You are the one whose speaker has never exaggerated praise
Without delivering substantiation.

100. You whose promise and fulfillment
Are preceded by acceleration and joined by obligation.

101. Who considers praise besides you profitable
Or sees generosity as the best offering?

102. Who makes supererogation obligatory
Or appointment a binding pledge?