احكم على الثقلين الإنس والجان — Abn Qlaks

احكُمْ على الثَقَلَيْنِ الإنس والجانِ

فأنت أقومُ بالمُلكِ السُلَيْماني

Rule over the two races, humankind and jinn;

for you best uphold Solomonic kingship.

لك البسيطانِ لا تقضي انقباضَهُما

وكيف يُقبَضُ كفّاكَ البَسيطانِ

Yours are the two expanses; you decree no contraction of them.

And how could your two outstretched palms be closed?

كذا الجديدانِ مذ أُلْبِسْت بُردَهما

تطابقَ الأمر والمعْنى جديدانِ

Likewise day and night: since you were clothed in their mantle,

reality and meaning accord—the two are new.

أنسَيتنا كلَّ إنسانٍ له شرفٌ

بهمةٍ أذكرَتْنا كلّ إنسانِ

You made us forget every person of distinction

with a resolve that recalled every person to us.

لو صال سيفٌ على سيف بن ذي يزَنٍ

لفلّ أشفارَهُ في غِمْدِ غَمْدان

Were a sword to assail Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan,

it would blunt his edges within Ghumdan's sheath.

فأين كسرى ولا ساسانُ من هممٍ

غُرٍّ غدَتْ لبني كسرى وساسانِ

Where, then, are Kisra or Sasan beside ambitions

radiant, now belonging to the sons of Kisra and Sasan?

عبسٌ وذُبيانُ والأخبار واسعة

لديك بالحمدِ لولا آلُ ذُبيانِ

ʿAbs and Dhubyan—the stories are plentiful—

would win praise before you, were it not for Dhubyan's house.

تبني يمينُك وهي النيلُ كلّ عُلا

والنَيْلُ يهدِمُ دفعاً كلّ بُنيانِ

Your right hand, itself the Nile, builds every pinnacle;

and the Nile, surging, tears down every building.

وطوْدُ حِلمِكَ لا بالطيشِ مهتَضَمٌ

هذا وطيفُك يرميهم بطوفانِ

And the mountain of your forbearance is not crushed by rashness;

this, while your apparition pelts them with a deluge.

يهْمي ويحمي وحسبُ الغيثِ واحدةً

ولو رضيتَ لقُلنا حسبُك اثنانِ

It pours down and protects; one alone suffices rain,

and, were you content, we would say two suffice you.

أوطأتَ خليلَك أبكارَ الحُصونِ على

أن الحصونَ عَذارى ذاتُ إحصانِ

You made your friend tread upon virgin fortresses, although

the fortresses were maidens under strong protection.

ما طرْنَ في جوّها عقبانَ ألويةٍ

صاغ النجيعُ لها تصْحيفَ عُقبانِ

The banner-eagles did not fly through their sky:

blood fashioned them into 'gold' by respelling 'eagles'.

وزُرْتَها بأسودِ الحرب زائرةً

تخافُ من فتكِها آسادُ خُفّانِ

And you visited them with roaring lions of war,

whose deadly attacks the lions of Khuffan fear.

من كلِّ مشتهِرٍ يقْضي بمُشْتَهرِ

كأنّ غرّتَهُ والسيفَ نجمانِ

Each a renowned warrior deciding matters with a drawn blade,

as though his radiant brow and sword were two stars.

تخالُه واهتزازُ الرُمحِ في يده

ليثاً تَلاعَبُ يُمناهُ بثُعبانِ

You fancy him, with the spear quivering in his hand,

a lion whose right hand toys with a serpent.

هل الرماحُ غصونٌ باتَ يغرِسُها

من الصُدورِ طِعاناً فوقَ كُثْبانِ

Are the spears branches he spent the night planting,

with thrusts, atop dunes made of breasts?

أولا فما بالُنا بالمدْح في غزَلٍ

من كُثْبِ يبرين أم من قَضْبِ نُعمانِ

Or not? Then why are we, in praising, singing of love—

of Yabrin's dunes or Nuʿman's boughs?

فنونُ وصفِك أجنَتْنا غرائِبها

فما لها من نهاهُ بين أفنانِ

The arts of describing you let us reap their marvels;

there is no end to them among the boughs.

كلّ حَبانا بعدْن في رُبى عدَنٍ

رضوانُك ابنُ بِلالٍ قبلَ رُضْوانِ

Each of us was granted Eden upon Aden's heights

by your Ridwan, Ibn Bilal, before Ridwan.

يا طالبَ اليُسْرِ يمّم ياسرا وكفى

فياسرٌ أبداً واليُسْرُ سيّانِ

O seeker of ease, turn to Yasir—he suffices;

for Yasir and ease are forever alike.

أضرِبْ به لا بمنهل الحَيا مثلاً

ما الماءُ والمالُ في الأزمانِ مِثْلانِ

Make him, not a rain-fed watering place, your example;

water and wealth are not alike through the ages.

عمّت بصدقٍ قَراع أو قِرى يده

فخصّصَتْهُ بمِطْعامٍ ومِطعانِ

His hand reached all, true in combat or hospitality,

and thus distinguished him as lavish feeder and fierce spearman.

وجانسَ الحربَ بالمحراب يعمُرُه

فلا قِرىً وقِراعٌ دون قُرآنِ

And he paired war with the prayer-niche he frequents:

no hospitality or combat without the Qur'an.

وشنّ دِرْعاً على درّاعةٍ فزَرى

بكلِّ صاحبِ إيوانٍ وديوانِ

And he cast mail over his robe, putting to shame

every master of a palace hall and chancery.

ما فوقَ سُلطانِه في ملكِه أحدٌ

دعِ الأميرَيْن واذكُرْ كلَّ سُلطانِ

No one in his realm stands above his authority;

set aside the two emirs, and name every sultan.

هما اللذانِ به دانَ الوَرى لهما

بلا خلافٍ من القاصي أو الداني

They are the two to whom mankind submitted through him,

without dissent from far or near.

بدرانِ للمُلْكِ سعداهُ اقترانُهما

كذاك ما يقترنْ بالسعدِ بَدرانِ

Two full moons of kingship: their conjunction is its double good fortune;

no two full moons conjoin so auspiciously.

وصارمانِ إذا هُزّا بمعركةٍ

فإنما لهما الجفنان جفانِ

And two keen blades: when brandished in battle,

their two scabbards are nothing but serving bowls.

فإن عَلا بهما قحطان في شرَفٍ

هما قد انتمَيا فيه لقَحْطانِ

If Qahtan has risen in honor through the two,

the two, in that honor, have traced their lineage to Qahtan.

فإنْ عدنانَ منه أحمدٌ وبه

كان السُموّ فلم يبرَحْ لعدْنانِ

For Ahmad is of Adnan, and through him

came eminence, which has never departed from Adnan.

فضَلْتُمُ آل عِمرانِ الورى شرَفاً

والله فضّلَ قِدْماً آل عِمرانِ

You surpassed mankind in nobility, house of Imran,

and God favored the house of Imran long ago.

ثانٍ هو الأولُ الماضي عُلاً وبهاً

وأولُ هو في هذا وذا الثاني

A second who is the former first in greatness and splendor,

and a first who, in this and that, is the second.

أيُّ اقتبالٍ وإقبالٍ لمملكةٍ

قد عقّباها على يُمنٍ بإيمانِ

What youthful vigor and prosperity for a kingdom

to which both succeeded, with good fortune and faith!

يا منْ له يدّعي الأملاكَ قاطبةٍ

ومن يُخِبّ إليه كلّ أظْعانِ

O you for whom all dominions are claimed,

and you toward whom every caravan hastens,

ومن سرَيْنا على نجمي مكارمهُ

فأنزلانا على سعدٍ وسَعْدانِ

and you by whose twin stars of generosity we journeyed by night,

and they lodged us with Saʿd and Saʿdan,

ومن به يُرْغَمُ الشاني وحقّ له

فإنّما يرغَمُ الثاني من الشانِ

and you through whom the hater is humbled, as he deserves—

for only the second of 'shan' is humbled.

للناسِ في كلّ قطرٍ لم تحُلّ به

عيدٌ وللناسِ في ذا القطرِ عيدان

People in every land where you have not alighted

have one festival; people in this land have two.

كم راحَ في نحْرِ عيد النحْرِ مُنتظِماً

بيُمنِ جدِّكَ من درّ ومُرجانِ

How much went strung upon the Feast of Sacrifice's neck—

pearls and coral, through your blessed fortune!

ركبتَ يا بحرُ بحراً بالعُباب جرى

فسالَ بينكُما في البرّ بحْرانِ

You rode, O sea, a sea rushing with swelling waves,

and between you two, two seas flowed over dry land.

وسرتَ تحت لواءِ النصرِ مُعتلياً

تهدي كأنّكما طرّاً لِواءانِ

And you advanced beneath victory's banner, towering high,

leading, as though you both were two banners together.

في موكبٍ كم به من كوكب شرِقٍ

يسْمو على المُشتري قدْراً وكيوانِ

In a procession with so many radiant stars

surpassing Jupiter and Saturn in rank.

عساكرٌ كسطورِ الطُرْسِ تقدمُها

كأنّما أنت فيها سطرُ عُنوانِ

Armies like lines upon parchment, with you at their head,

as though among them you were the heading's line.

حتى أتيتَ المُعلّى ناشراً سبباً

رآكَ فيها على ضيقٍ سُليمانِ

Until you reached al-Muʿalla, unfurling a cord,

Sulayman saw you there in straitened circumstances.

ولو أردت بفضلِ القولِ قمتَ به

يوماً مَقاماً بفضلِ حول سحبانِ

Had you wished, through excellence of speech you could have taken your stand

one day, in a performance surpassing a year of Sahban's,

وعدتَ تستبدلُ الإحسان مرتجلاً

ما قالَ حسانُ في أبناءِ عفّانِ

and returned, seeking kindness in exchange, improvising

what Hassan said about the sons of Affan:

لو أنّ إجماعنا في فضل سؤدَدِه

في الأصلِ لم يختَلفْ في الأمّةِ اثنانِ

“Had our consensus on the excellence of his lordship

existed from the outset, no two in the community would have differed.”