لقد غاض بحر العلم بعد أخي العلم

فكل حليمٍ بعده عازب الحلم

The sea of knowledge has indeed ebbed after knowledge's companion.

So every forbearing man, after him, is bereft of forbearance.

هوى نجمه فالدهر ليلٌ لفقده

وأي اهتداءٍ في الليالي بلا نجم

His star has fallen; time is night for loss of him.

And what guidance is there in the nights without a star?

ثوى شامخ العلياء وانهال شامخ ال

حجى وخبت من سعيه شهب العزم

The lofty peak of glory lies buried; collapsed is the lofty peak of

intellect, and the meteors of resolve from his striving have gone out.

مضى وارثاً علم النبي وصحبه

وسنته والآي محكمة النظم

He departed, heir to the knowledge of the Prophet and his Companions,

and to his tradition and the verses, perfect in their ordering.

وما كان إلا قطب كل فضيلةٍ

ونيرها العلوي في العرب والعجم

He was none other than the pole of every virtue,

and its heavenly luminary among Arabs and non-Arabs.

لقد شيد الإسلام حيناً وكم رمى

قواعد أركان المعادية بالهدم

Indeed he raised Islam high for a time; how often he struck

his adversaries' pillars at their foundations, tearing them down!

أقام لواء الدين بعد اعوجاجه

ولاقى لواة الحق بالسحق والحسم

He set religion's banner straight after it had bent,

and met those who twisted truth with crushing, decisive force.

هو الشهد إن تسأله علماً وإن ترد

جدالاً تجده علقماً مقر الطعم

He is honey if you ask him for knowledge; but if you seek

debate, you find him colocynth, bitter to the taste.

هو السيد القرم الجميل ثناؤه

فيا مقلتي سجي على السيد القرم

He is the lord, the noble chief, whose praise is fair.

So, my eye, pour tears over the lord, the noble chief!

متى فا أبدى حكمةً معنويةً

على أعذب الألفاظ نافذة الحكم

Whenever he spoke, he revealed wisdom rich in meaning,

in the sweetest words, authoritative in judgment.

أبو الفضل أودى فالفضائل كلها

لمهلكه في غاية الذل لليتم

Abu al-Fadl has perished; all the virtues,

at his death, are utterly abased by orphanhood.

فلا صبر من بعد الفضائل والعلى

وصفو النهى والعلم والأدب الجم

So no patience remains after the passing of virtue and eminence,

pure intellect, knowledge, and abundant literary refinement.

أخطب لقد عمت رزية خطبه

أكلمٌ لقد جل المصاب عن الكلم

A calamity? The grief of his loss has engulfed all!

A wound? The affliction is far greater than a wound.

هو الموت عدلٌ في البرية كلها

ولكنه فيمن تراه من الظلم

Death is just toward all creation,

yet toward the one you see, it is injustice.

لقد قوضت أيامه البيض وانقضت

فأيامنا من بعد في شية الدهم

His bright days have indeed been folded away and ended;

our days since then wear the hue of black steeds.

زمانٌ حمدنا صنعه للقائه

وعاد بتفريقٍ فعدنا إلى الذم

Time, whose handiwork we praised for our meeting with him,

returned to separate us, and we returned to blame.

غدا خصمنا يقضي علينا بظلمه

إذا ظلم القاضي فما حيلة الخصم

It has become our adversary, judging us unjustly;

if the judge is unjust, what recourse has the litigant?

هو السهم أصمى كل مرمى سداده

وياكم رأينا رامياً مخطئ السهم

It is the arrow whose true aim has slain every target outright;

yet how many an archer have we seen whose arrow missed!

فقدنا إمام الأرض علماً وسؤدداً

بدهرٍ رمى عقد الأئمة بالفصم

We have lost earth's imam in knowledge and nobility,

in an age that has snapped the necklace of imams.

عهدنا كسوف الشمس يخفي شعاعها

وإعدام جرم الشمس من أعظم الجرم

We have known the sun's eclipse to hide its rays;

but to annihilate the sun's orb is among the gravest crimes.

وما كان إلا شافعي زمانه

وإلا فثاني علمه الفخم والفهم

He was none other than the Shafi‘i of his age,

or else a second to him in vast knowledge and understanding.

لئن مات مسعودٌ لما مات علمه

وقد بات مسعوداً به وافر الغنم

Though Mas‘ud has died, his knowledge has certainly not died,

and through it he has become fortunate, abundant in gain.

ثوى فأرح كوم المطايا من السرى

وحزمك تعطيل الجياد من الحزم

He lies buried; give the high-humped riding camels rest from night travel,

and your wise course is to free noble steeds from their saddle girths.

أرحها فأرباب العلوم جميعهم

نجومٌ وهذا مصرع القمر التم

Give them rest, for all the masters of learning are

stars, and this is the fall of the full moon.

كتمت عليه فرط حزني فلم أفه

بقافيةٍ حتى عجزت عن الكتم

I concealed my overwhelming grief for him, not uttering

a rhyme until I could no longer conceal it.

ولولا التأسي بالقرون التي خلت

وكون المنايا غير جائرة القسم

Were it not for solace in the generations gone by,

and for death's impartial allotment,

وذكرى ملوكٍ لم تقل عثراتهم

صدور العوالي والمثقفة الصم

and remembrance of kings whose stumbles were not set right

by the points of long lances and straightened, solid spears,

ومن باد من بادٍ شريفٍ وحاضرٍ

بما شد من ملكٍ وما سد من ثلم

and of those who perished, noble nomad and townsman,

despite the dominion they strengthened and the breaches they sealed,

لجدنا عليه بالدماء ترفعاً

عن الدمع لكن شيمة الزمان الفدم

we would have wept blood for him, disdaining

mere tears; but such is the way of dull-witted time:

تجد لنا الدنيا بحلو حياتها

خبيثة عهدٍ تمزج الشهد بالسم

you find our world, for all the sweetness of its life,

faithless in its pledge, mixing honey with poison.

وبي مضجعٌ لازال تلثم تربه

ثغور الغوادي وهي باردة الظلم

And I would ransom with myself a resting-place—may its dust ever be kissed

by the mouths of morning rainclouds, their saliva cool,

سواحب أذيال السحاب بقبره

فلو حاز طوقاً أمه زاخر اليم

trailing the skirts of clouds across his grave;

were it able, the surging sea would seek his grave.

عليك سلام الله يا خير هالكٍ

ينم ثناً كالمسك من ذكره ينمي

May God's peace be upon you, O best of the departed,

from whose remembrance praise wafts like musk and grows.

لقد لان عود المجد بعدك ذاهباً

وقد كان حيناً لا يلين على العجم

Glory's bough has indeed softened after you, wasting away,

though once it would not yield under the testing bite.

فلا زال جودُ صادق الوعد جائداً

عليك بمنهل الحيا دائم السجم

May the bounty of the One true to His promise ever pour

upon you with drenching, life-giving rain, unceasing in its flow.