1. لقد قيل لي ما الفرق عند أولي الذكرِ

    فبسمله الإسلام بسملة الكفرِ

    I was asked, 'What difference do the people of remembrance see

    between Islam's invocation of the Name and unbelief's invocation?'

  2. فقلت تعالى الله ربي عن الذي

    أضل به كل النصارى مدى الدهر

    So I said, 'God, my Lord, is exalted above that

    by which all Christians have been led astray throughout time.'

  3. فبسملة الإسلام أسماء ربنا

    تبارك في القرآن جاءت عن الطهر

    Islam's invocation of the Name is the names of our Lord,

    blessed is He; it came in the Qur'an from the pure one,

  4. محمد المبعوث للخلق رحمة

    بوحي هو القرآن للحمد والشكر

    Muhammad, sent as a mercy to creation,

    through revelation—the Qur'an—for praise and thanksgiving.

  5. وبسملة الكفر التي قيل أنها

    بها جاء عيسى ضمن إنجيله الزهر

    And unbelief's invocation of the Name, which was said

    to have been brought by Jesus in his radiant Gospel—

  6. وما صدق الراوي لها وهو كافر

    وأخبار أهل الكفر باطلة الخُبْر

    its narrator spoke no truth, being an unbeliever,

    and the reports of unbelievers convey false information.

  7. وإني على تسليم زعم رواتها

    سأبدي لكم معنى عبارتها العبري

    And, even granting the claim of its narrators,

    I shall disclose to you the meaning of its Hebrew expression.

  8. يقولون عيسى قال باسم الأب الذي

    تولد عيسى منه بالنفخ في البكر

    They say Jesus said, 'In the name of the Father'—the one

    from whom Jesus was born through breathing into the virgin.

  9. نعم هو روح الله بالبشر السوي

    أتى وهو جبريل المؤيد بالبشر

    Yes, he is God's Spirit; in a well-formed human guise

    he came—Gabriel, strengthened by glad tidings.

  10. وجبريل كانت في السموات صورة

    له عظمت فوق السماكين والنسر

    Gabriel had a form in the heavens,

    which towered above the two Simak stars and the Eagle.

  11. وتلك له قد صورت عن حقيقة

    لأول مخلوق هو الروح فاستقر

    That form was fashioned for him from the reality

    of the first created being, the Spirit, and became established.

  12. ألا فافهموا مخلوقة قد تثلثت

    وكانت هنا من قبل واحدة الأمر

    Take heed and understand: a created form became threefold,

    though previously here its nature had been one.

  13. هي الروح جبريل وفي صورة امرئٍ

    سويٍّ كما قد جاء في محكم الذكر

    It is the Spirit, Gabriel, and in the form of a man

    well-formed, as stated in the definitive Revelation,

  14. بآيةِ أرسلنا إليها فروحنا

    وجبريل والشخص الممثل كالبدر

    in the verse 'We sent to her'; thus Our Spirit,

    Gabriel, and the person made manifest like the full moon,

  15. ثلاثة أشباحٍ وهم واحدٌ بدا

    من العدم المقدور يعظم في القدر

    are three forms, yet one being that appeared

    from decreed nonbeing, growing great in rank.

  16. فما الأب إلا الروح وهو أبو الورى

    جميعاً لمن يدري كلامي كما أدري

    The Father is only the Spirit, who is the father of creation,

    in its entirety, for one who understands my words as I do.

  17. وما الإبن إلا صورة قد تمثلت

    هي البشر الآتي وجبريل ذو الفخر

    The Son is only a form that became embodied:

    it is the human who came, and Gabriel, possessed of glory.

  18. يؤيد هذا قوله جئت من أبي

    إليكم أبوه الروح منه أتى يبري

    This is supported by his saying, 'I came from my father

    to you'; his father is the Spirit, from whom he came to heal.

  19. وقد فهمت منه النصارى بأنه

    هو الله جل الله عن موجب الحصر

    The Christians understood him to mean that

    he was God—exalted is God above anything implying limitation!

  20. وحاشى رسول الله وهو ابن مريم

    يقول كلام الكفر والشرك والوزر

    Far be it from God's messenger, the son of Mary,

    to speak words of unbelief, polytheism, and sin.

  21. وهذا بعيد أن عيسى بن مريم

    يظن بأن الله يدرك بالحجر

    It is far-fetched that Jesus son of Mary

    should think that God can be grasped by reason.

  22. وحاشاه من تشبيه ربي عنده

    ومن نسبة التجسيم في السر والجهر

    Far be it from him to liken my Lord to anything in his thought,

    or attribute bodily form to Him, secretly or openly,

  23. وإن لمخلوق عليه تسلّطاً

    بعقل فإن العقل منه لفي خسر

    or hold that a creature has mastery over Him

    through reason: that creature's reason is surely at a loss.

  24. وهيهات أن الأنبيا يجهلونه

    تعالى وكل منه في قبضة الأسر

    Far from it that the prophets should be ignorant of Him!

    Exalted is He; all are held captive in His grasp.

  25. وما أنبياء الله إلا لكلهم

    عقائد تنزيه تشعشع في الصدر

    Every one of God's prophets has nothing but

    beliefs in transcendence, radiant within the breast.

  26. ولكن ذوو الطغيان والجهل والعمى

    حيارى من الإنكار للحق والغدر

    But those possessed of tyranny, ignorance, and blindness

    are bewildered through denial of the truth and treachery.

  27. هم الأشقيا الضالون عن سنن الهدى

    وعن شم طيب الحق من فائح العطر

    They are the wretched, astray from the paths of guidance

    and from smelling the truth's sweetness in the wafting perfume.

  28. أتاهم رسول الله بالحق واضحاً

    فلم يفهموا ما قال من أول الأمر

    God's messenger came to them with the truth made clear,

    but they did not understand his words from the outset.

  29. وظنوا بأن الله مقصده بها

    يقول وضلوا عن تنزه ذي القهر

    They thought that God was whom he meant by the words

    he spoke, and missed the transcendence of the All-Subduing.

  30. وأغواهم الشيطان حتى تكلموا

    بوسواسه المذموم من شدة المكر

    Satan led them astray until they spoke

    through his blameworthy whispering, so intense was his cunning.

  31. وقد حسبوا كفراً لديهم مشابهاً

    لإيماننا بالله في العسر واليسر

    They thought the unbelief they held resembled

    our faith in God, in hardship and ease.

  32. وما نور تصديق كظلمة جاحد

    ولا ماء معمودية ماء ذي طهر

    But the light of belief is not a denier's darkness,

    nor baptismal water the water of one who is pure.

  33. ولا طاهر سراً وجهراً بمشبه

    لذي نجس سراً وجهراً مدى العمر

    Nor is one pure, inwardly and outwardly, comparable

    to one impure, inwardly and outwardly, throughout life.

  34. فبسملة الإسلام نور مضيئة

    وبسملة الكفر اعتقاد أولي الكفر

    Islam's invocation of the Name is a shining light,

    while unbelief's invocation of the Name is the creed of unbelievers.

  35. وإن كان معناها على المشرب الذي

    به جاء عيسى عندنا علمها يجري

    But if its meaning follows the spiritual way

    Jesus brought, knowledge of it is current among us,

  36. كما نحن قلنا وهو ذوق ابن مريم

    يشير به عن نفسه كاشف الستر

    just as we have said—it is the son of Mary's spiritual tasting,

    by which he points to himself, lifting the veil.

  37. فإن الذي لم يعرف النفس منه لم

    يكن يعرف الرب المحقق بالحزر

    For whoever has not known the self within him has not

    known the true Lord through conjecture.

  38. محمدُ ذاتيٌّ فبسملة له

    أتت من مقام الذات قاصمة الظهر

    Muhammad pertains to the Essence; his invocation of the Name

    came from the station of the Essence, breaking the back.

  39. بأسماء ذات الله قد صرحت لنا

    وعيسى صفاتيٌّ كآدم في البر

    It explicitly declared to us the names of God's Essence,

    while Jesus pertains to the attributes, like Adam in righteousness.

  40. وأسماء ربي للصفات مظاهر

    بها تظهر الآثار حدث عن البحر

    My Lord's names are manifestations of the attributes;

    through them effects appear—speak of the sea!

  41. لآدم أنبئهم بأسمائهم أتى

    وإنباء عيسى كان بالخلق والأمر

    To Adam came: 'Tell them their names,'

    while Jesus' informing was through creation and command.

  42. فبسملة الأسماء تلك إذا بدت

    تكون بآثار المؤثر في الأثر

    Thus that invocation of the names, when it appears,

    takes form through the Agent's effects within the effect.

  43. خذ العلم عني بالذي أنا مرشد

    إليه عن الأمر الإلهي في شعري

    Take knowledge from me concerning what I guide you

    toward, of the divine command, in my poetry.

  44. ودع عنك إفهام العقول التي بها

    لقد أولوا المنقول بالرأي والفكر

    Set aside the understandings of intellects by which

    they interpreted the transmitted texts through opinion and thought,

  45. لأجل عوام الناس حيث تقاصرت

    بصائرهم عن علم صاحبة القصر

    for the sake of ordinary people, whose

    insight fell short of the knowledge of the lady of the palace.

  46. فما عندهم عجز عن الغيب دائماً

    كما عندنا خوفاً عليهم من النكر

    It is not that they are always helpless before the unseen;

    as with us, it is fear for them lest they deny.

  47. يظنون أن العلم بالله مثل ما

    يقولون عن زيد بعلم وعن عمرو

    They think that knowledge of God is like what

    they claim to know about Zayd and Amr.

  48. ونعلم نحن الرتبتين كلاهما

    ونعرف ما قد غاب عن جاهل غمر

    But we know both ranks,

    and know what is hidden from an ignorant simpleton.

  49. وإن لكل الأنبياء مشارباً

    محققة عندي لها نفحة الزهر

    Indeed, all the prophets have spiritual paths,

    realized in my experience, bearing the breath of blossoms.

  50. فإن شئت أبدي بعض ذاك وربما

    ترى في كلامي منه في النظم والنثر

    If you wish, I shall disclose some of this; and perhaps

    you will find some of it in my words, in verse and prose.

  51. وإني لمن من نال ميراث جامع

    فنيت به فيه فأيقنت بالنصر

    I am indeed among those who gained the inheritance of the all-embracing one;

    through him I was effaced in him, and became certain of victory—

  52. محمد المبعوث بالحق قاصماً

    رقاب الأعادي بالمهندة البتر

    Muhammad, sent with the truth, severing

    the necks of enemies with keen-cutting Indian-forged swords.

  53. عليه صلاة الله ثم سلامه

    مدى الدهر ما غنى على عوده القمري

    Upon him be God's blessing, then His peace,

    throughout time, as long as the turtledove sings upon its bough,

  54. مع الآل والأصحاب ما العبد للغني

    أتى بنظام طيب الطيِّ والنشر

    and upon his family and companions, while the servant of the Self-Sufficient

    offers verse, sweet in its folding and unfolding.