يا عابدا رباً بتصويرِهِ

يا عابدا رباً بتصويرِهِ

وعقله من تحت تسخيرِهِ

وعقله من تحت تسخيرِهِ

O one who worships a lord through his own imagining,

O worshipper of a Lord through your imagining of Him,

while his intellect lies subject to His control:

With your mind under His control,

يفهم شيئاً ويظن الذي

يفهم شيئاً ويظن الذي

يفهمه الله بتسطيره

يفهمه الله بتسطيره

he understands a thing and thinks that what

You understand something and think that

he understands is God, as he sets it down.

What you understand is what God means through His dictation,

خالقك الله بلا شبهة

خالقك الله بلا شبهة

وخالق العقل وتصويره

وخالق العقل وتصويره

God is your Creator, beyond all doubt,

Your Creator God is undoubtedly without likeness,

and the Creator of reason and its conceptions.

And the Creator of the mind and its imagining,

من لم يكن يعجز عن علمه

من لم يكن يعجز عن علمه

بربه فاه بتغييره

بربه فاه بتغييره

Whoever does not find himself unable to know

Whoever was not incapable of knowing his Lord,

his Lord has spoken of altering Him.

Alas for his changing [Him],

فإن ما في عقله كله

فإن ما في عقله كله

خلق له من بعض تأثيره

خلق له من بعض تأثيره

For all that lies within his intellect

For all that is in his mind

is created for him through some of His influence.

Was created for him through some of His influence,

يا قانعاً بالعقل في ربه

يا قانعاً بالعقل في ربه

ما ثم فيه غير تقديره

ما ثم فيه غير تقديره

O one content with reason concerning his Lord,

O you who are content with the mind regarding your Lord,

there is nothing in it but his own estimation.

There is nothing in it but His ordainment,

وإنك المحجوب عنه بما

وإنك المحجوب عنه بما

تخيلته النفس من غيره

تخيلته النفس من غيره

And you are veiled from Him by what

While you are veiled from Him by what

the soul has imagined from what is other than Him.

The self imagined without Him,

تظن أن الله ذاك الذي

تظن أن الله ذاك الذي

عقلته تلجا إلى خيره

عقلته تلجا إلى خيره

You think that God is that which

You think that God is the One whom

you have grasped, and seek refuge in its goodness.

You intellectualized, hoping for His goodness,

هيهات هيهات فيا ويح من

هيهات هيهات فيا ويح من

يعبد مفهوماً بتدبيره

يعبد مفهوماً بتدبيره

Far from it, far from it! Alas for one who

Never, never! Woe to whoever worships

worships a concept of his own devising.

A concept through devising it,

يدعوه في سر وجهر ولن

يدعوه في سر وجهر ولن

يجيبه في حال تعسيره

يجيبه في حال تعسيره

He calls upon it in secret and aloud, yet it will not

Calls upon it in secret and in public but it will

answer him in his time of hardship.

Never answer him in his hardship,

لأنه في عجزه مثله

لأنه في عجزه مثله

خلق عليه وسم تحقيره

خلق عليه وسم تحقيره

For in its helplessness it is like him:

Because it is like him in its incapacity

a created thing bearing the mark of its abasement.

He created over it and stamped its contemptibility

يجله وهو له خاضع

يجله وهو له خاضع

معترف عنه بتقصيره

معترف عنه بتقصيره

He reveres it, while submitting to it,

He extols it while it is submissive to Him

admitting his inadequacy in relation to it.

Admitting its shortcoming regarding Him,

وكل هذا حاصل منه في

وكل هذا حاصل منه في

صورة معنى مثل تعبيره

صورة معنى مثل تعبيره

And all this arises from him in

And all of this ensues from it in

the form of a notion, like his expression of it.

The form of a meaning like its expression,

ما عنده الإيمان بالغيب كي

ما عنده الإيمان بالغيب كي

يزول تنجيس بتطهيره

يزول تنجيس بتطهيره

He lacks faith in the unseen, whereby

It has no faith in the unseen so that

defilement might vanish through its purification,

Its pollution may be removed through purification,

ويعرف الله القديم الذي

ويعرف الله القديم الذي

ما مثله شيء بتطويره

ما مثله شيء بتطويره

and he might know God, the Eternal, whom

And so that it may know the Eternal God whom

nothing resembles in its changing forms.

Nothing resembles through evolving,

والله حق والسوى باطل

والله حق والسوى باطل

فاحذر من العقل وتزويره

فاحذر من العقل وتزويره

God is Truth, and all else is falsehood;

And God is true while anything else is falsehood

so beware of reason and its falsifications.

So beware of the mind and its deception,

واثبت على الشرع وما جاء من

واثبت على الشرع وما جاء من

أحكامه تظفر بتنويره

أحكامه تظفر بتنويره

And remain steadfast in the revealed law and what has come of

And stick to the Sacred Law and what judgments came from it,

its rulings; you will attain its illumination.

You will triumph through its enlightenment,

وافهم من القرآن مستدركاً

وافهم من القرآن مستدركاً

ما خرب العقل بتعميره

ما خرب العقل بتعميره

And understand from the Qur'an, restoring

And understand from the Qur’an while deducing

what reason has laid waste, by rebuilding it.

What the mind corrupted through building it up,

واقبل على الغيب وكن واثقاً

واقبل على الغيب وكن واثقاً

به وخف من حكم تدميره

به وخف من حكم تدميره

And turn toward the unseen, and be trusting

And embrace the unseen, being confident in it,

in it, and fear His decree of destruction.

While fearing the judgment of its destruction,

واقطع بعجز الكل عن دركه

واقطع بعجز الكل عن دركه

واهرب من العقل وتحكيره

واهرب من العقل وتحكيره

And be certain that all are powerless to comprehend Him,

And profess the incapacity of all to grasp Him,

and flee from reason and its confining limits.

And flee from the mind and its confusion,

عجبت ممن يترك الفهم في ال

عجبت ممن يترك الفهم في ال

قرآن لا يلوي لتفسيره

قرآن لا يلوي لتفسيره

I marvel at one who forgoes understanding the

I am astonished by one who avoids understanding in the

Qur'an, paying no heed to its interpretation,

Qur’an, not inclining to interpreting it,

ليعرف الرب به وهو لا

ليعرف الرب به وهو لا

ينهى عن العقل وتفكيره

ينهى عن العقل وتفكيره

to know the Lord through it, while he does not

In order to know the Lord through it while He

forbid reason and its thinking.

Does not prohibit the mind and thinking,

تراه يخشى الفهم في آية ال

تراه يخشى الفهم في آية ال

قرآن تلقيه لتكفيره

قرآن تلقيه لتكفيره

You see him fear understanding a verse of the

You see him fear understanding in any verse of the

Qur'an, lest it lead to his being declared an unbeliever,

Qur’an, submitting to its declaration of unbelief,

ولا يخاف العقل يطغي به

ولا يخاف العقل يطغي به

كأنه يقضي بتوقيره

كأنه يقضي بتوقيره

yet he does not fear reason, through which he oversteps bounds,

While not fearing the mind overflowing thereby

as though it decreed that he be honored.

As if commanding its veneration,

فافهم كتاب الله واحكم بما

فافهم كتاب الله واحكم بما

فيه على الأدنى وقطميره

فيه على الأدنى وقطميره

So understand God's Book, and judge by what

So understand God's Book and judge by what is in it

it contains concerning the lowliest and his date-stone's thin skin.

Over the base and its urine,

واضرع إلى ربك ترجوه في

واضرع إلى ربك ترجوه في

تهليله حقاً وتكبيره

تهليله حقاً وتكبيره

And beseech your Lord, hoping in Him through

And plead to your Lord hoping for Him sincerely

truly proclaiming His sole divinity and His greatness.

In His pronouncing His Oneness and Greatness,

وإن أراك الله فضل امرئٍ

وإن أراك الله فضل امرئٍ

من كامل الدنيا وتحريره

من كامل الدنيا وتحريره

And if God shows you the excellence of a man

And if God shows you the favor of a man

among the perfected of this world, and his refinement,

Of perfected worldly enjoyment and freedom,

فثق به واركن إلى قوله

فثق به واركن إلى قوله

واعكف على تكرار هجِّيره

واعكف على تكرار هجِّيره

then trust him, and lean upon his words,

Then trust in him, rely on his words,

and devote yourself to repeating his habitual invocation.

And devote yourself to repeating his poetry,

واشمم شذا الروضة من نفسه

واشمم شذا الروضة من نفسه

وعش به واقنع بتعطيره

وعش به واقنع بتعطيره

And breathe the garden's fragrance from his breath,

And smell the fragrance of the garden from his soul,

and live by it, content with its fragrance.

And live by it, content with its scent,