هو العلم لا كالعلم شيء تراوده

لقد فاز باغيه وأنجح قاصده

It is knowledge: nothing you seek is like knowledge.

Its seeker has surely triumphed, and its pursuer succeeded.

وما فضل الإنسان إلا بعلمه

وما امتاز إلا ثاقب الذهن واقده

Man has no distinction except through his knowledge,

and none excels but one whose mind is keen and blazing.

وقد قصرت أعمارنا وعلومنا

يطول علينا حصرها ونكابده

Our lives are short, while our sciences—

enumerating them takes us long, and we struggle with it.

وفي كلها خير ولكن أصلها

هو النحو فاحذر من جهول يعانده

There is good in them all, but their foundation

is grammar; beware an ignoramus who opposes it.

به يعرف القرآن والسنة التي

هما أصل دين الله ذو أنت عابده

Through it are understood the Qur'an and the Sunna, which

are the foundation of the religion of God, whom you worship.

وناهيك من علم علي مشيد

مبانيه أعزز بالذي هو شائده

What a lofty science, with firmly erected

structures! How mighty is its builder!

لقد حاز في الدنيا فخاراً وسؤدداً

أبو الأسود الديلي فلا جم سائده

He attained renown and eminence in this world—

Abu al-Aswad al-Dili; may his arm never grow idle.

هو استنبط العلم الذي جل قدره

وطار به للعرب ذكر نعاوده

He devised the science whose worth is immense,

and through it spread an Arab renown that we recall anew.

وساد عطاء نجله وابن هرمز

ويحيى ونصر ثم ميمون ماهده

His son 'Ata' rose to eminence, as did Ibn Hurmuz,

and Yahya and Nasr, then Maymun, its trailblazer.

وعنبسة قد كان أبرع صحبه

فقد قلدت جيد المعالي قلائده

And 'Anbasa was the most accomplished of his companions;

his necklaces adorned the neck of lofty achievement.

وما زال هذا العلم تنميه سادة

جهابذة تبلى به وتعاضده

Masters continued to nurture this science,

great scholars tested through it and supporting it,

إلى أن أتى الدهر العقيم بواحد

من الأزد تنميه إليه فراهده

until barren time brought forth a unique man

from Azd, to which his Farahid lineage traced him:

غمام الورى ذاك الخليل بن أحمد

أقر له بالسبق في العلم حاسده

that rain-cloud for mankind, al-Khalil ibn Ahmad,

whose precedence in learning even his envier acknowledged.

وبالبصرة الغراء قد لاح فجره

فنارت أدانيه وضاءت أباعده

In radiant Basra his dawn appeared,

lighting those nearby and illuminating those far away:

بأذكى الورى ذهناً وأصدق لهجة

إذا ظن أمراً قلت ها هو شاهده

the keenest-minded of men, the truest in speech.

When he surmised something, you said, 'Look, he has witnessed it!'

وما إن يُروي بل جميع علومه

بدائه أعيت كل خبر يجالده

He did not deliberate; rather, all his knowledge consisted of

spontaneous insights that baffled every expert who contested him.

هو الواضع الثاني الذي فاق أولاً

ولا ثالث في الناس تصمى قواصده

He was the second founder, who surpassed the first,

and there is no third among men whose aimed shafts strike true.

وقد كان رباني أهل زمانه

صؤومٌ قؤومٌ راكع الليل ساجده

He was the godly sage of the people of his age,

constantly fasting, keeping vigil, bowing and prostrating at night.

يقسم منه دهره في مثوبة

وشوقاً بأن الله حق مواعده

He apportioned his lifetime in pursuit of recompense,

and in yearning, for God's promises are true:

فعام إلى حج وعام لغزوة

فيعرفه البيت العتيق ووافده

one year for pilgrimage, another for a campaign.

The Ancient House and its pilgrims knew him.

ولم يثنه يوماً عن العلم والتقى

كواعب حسن تنثني ونواهده

Never did they divert him from learning and piety—

lovely maidens swaying, or beauty's full-breasted girls.

وأكثر سكناه بقفر بحيث لا

تناغيه إلا عفره وأوابده

He lived most often in a wilderness where none

spoke softly to him but its pale gazelles and wild creatures.

وما قوته إلا شعير يسيغه

بماء قراح ليس تغشى موارده

His sustenance was only barley, which he swallowed

with pure water, whose springs were never frequented,

عزوفاً عن الدنيا وعن زهراتها

وشوقاً إلى المولى وما هو واعده

turning away from the world and its blossoms,

and yearning for the Lord and what He promised him.

ولما رأى من سيبويه نجاتة

وأيقن أن الخير أدناه باعده

When he saw Sibawayh's aptitude [unclear reading],

and knew that goodness drew even the distant near [wording unclear],

تخيره إذ كان وارث علمه

ولاطفه حتى كأن هو والده

he chose him, since he was the heir to his knowledge,

and treated him gently, as though he were his father.

وعلمه شيئاً فشيئاً علومه

إلى أن بدت سيماه واشتد ساعده

Little by little he taught him his sciences,

until his distinguishing marks appeared and his arm grew strong.

فإذ ذاك وافاه من الله وعده

وراح وحيد العصر إذ جاء واحده

Then God's promise came to him,

and the age's unrivaled man departed as its next unrivaled man arrived.

أتى سيبويه ناشراً لعلومه

فلولاه أضحى النحو عطلاً شواهده

Sibawayh came, spreading his sciences;

without him, grammar would have been bare of its evidentiary examples.

وأبدى كتاباً كان فخراً وجوده

لقحطان إذ كعب بن عمرو محاتده

He produced a book whose existence was a source of pride

for Qahtan, since his ancestral roots lay in Ka'b ibn 'Amr.

وجمع فيه ما تفرق في الورى

فطارفه يعزى إليه وتالده

He gathered in it what was scattered among mankind;

its new learning is attributed to him, as is its inherited lore.

بعمرو بن عثمان بن قنبر الرضا

أطاعت عواصيه وثابت شوارده

Through the esteemed 'Amr ibn 'Uthman ibn Qanbar,

its unruly elements obeyed, and its strays returned.

عليك قران النحو نحو ابن قنبر

فآياته مشهودة وشواهده

Hold fast to the Qur'an of grammar, the grammar of Ibn Qanbar:

its verses and its proofs are manifest.

كتاب أبي بشر فلا تك قارياً

سواه فكل ذاهب الحسن فاقده

The Book of Abu Bishr—do not read

anything else, for all else has lost its beauty and lacks it.

هم خلج بالعلم مدت فعندما

تناءت غدت تزهى وأنت تشاهده

They are channels fed with knowledge; yet when

they stretch far away, they grow proud, as you witness it.

ولا تعد عما حازه إنه الفرا

وفي جوفه كل الذي أنت صائده

Do not stray beyond what he encompassed: he is the wild ass,

and in his belly is all that you would hunt.

إذا كنت يوماً محكماً لكتابه

فإنك فينا نابه القدر ماجده

If one day you master his book,

you will be eminent in rank among us, and glorious.

ولست تتالي إن فككت رموزه

أعضك دهر أم عرتك شدائده

Once you unlock its symbols, you will not care

whether time bites you or its hardships befall you.

هو العضب إن تلق الهياج شهرته

وإلا تصب حرباً فإنك غامده

It is the keen sword: if you meet battle, you draw it;

if you encounter no war, you keep it sheathed.

تلقاه كل بالقبول وبالرضا

فذو الفهم من تبدو إليه مقاصده

Everyone received it with acceptance and approval;

the perceptive are those to whom its purposes become clear.

ولم يعترض فيه سوى ابن طراوة

وكان طرياً لم تقادم معاهده

None objected to it except Ibn Tarawa,

who was still green, his acquaintance not yet longstanding.

وجسره طعن المبرد قبله

وإن الثمالي بارد الذهن خامده

Al-Mubarrad's earlier attacks emboldened him,

but al-Thumali was dull-minded and inert.

هما ما هما صارا مدى الدهر ضحكة

يزيف ما قالا وتبدو مفاسده

Those two—what were they?—became a perpetual laughingstock;

what they said is refuted, and its flaws become plain.

تكون صحيح العقل حتى إذا ترى

تباري أبا بشر إذا أنت فاسده

You are sound of mind until you think

you can rival Abu Bishr: then your mind is unsound.

يقول امرؤ قد خامر الكبر رأسه

وقد ظن أن النحو سهل مقاصده

A man whose head arrogance has invaded says,

thinking grammar's aims are easily reached—

ولم يشتغل إلا بنزر مسائل

من الفقه في أوراقه هو راصده

though he has studied only a handful of questions

of jurisprudence, which he records in his papers,

وقد نال بين الناس جاهاً ورتبة

وألهاه عن نيل المعالي ولائده

and has attained influence and rank among people,

while his slave girls distract him from attaining greatness,

وما ذاق للآداب طعماً ولم يبت

يعنى بمنظوم ونثر يجاوده

and he has never tasted the flavor of literature, nor spent the night

attending to verse or prose he might perfect,

فينكح أبكار المعاني ويبتغي

لها الكفء من لفظ بها هو عاقده

to wed virgin meanings and seek

their fitting mate in words he would bind to them—

رأى سيبويه فيه بعض نكادة

وعجمة لفظ لا تحل معاقده

that he found some difficulty in Sibawayh,

and awkward diction whose knots could not be untied.

فقلت اتئد ما أنت أهل لفهمه

وما أنت إلا غائض الفكر راكده

I said, 'Be still: you are not fit to understand him;

you are merely shallow in thought and stagnant.'

لعمرك ما ذو لحية وتسمت

وإطراق رأس والجهات تساعده

By your life, neither a beard and solemn demeanor,

nor a bowed head, with circumstances favoring him,

فيمشي على الأرض الهوينا كأنما

إلى الملأ الأعلى تناهت مراصده

so that he walks softly upon the earth, as though

his watchful gaze had reached the highest assembly,

وإيهامك الجهال أنك عالمٌ

وأنك فرد في الوجود وزاهده

nor your deceiving the ignorant into thinking you a scholar

and the world's peerless man and ascetic,

بأجلب للنحو الذي أنت هاجرٌ

من الدرس بالليل الذي أنت هاجده

will bring you the grammar you have forsaken

more than studying at night while keeping vigil.

أصاح تجنب من غوي مخذل

وخذ في طريق النحو إنك راشده

My friend, avoid the misguided discourager,

and embark on grammar's path: you are rightly guided upon it.

لك الخير فأدأب ساهراً في علومه

فلم يسم إلا ساهر الطرف ساهده

May good be yours: labor wakefully in its sciences;

none rises except one whose eyes remain sleepless and vigilant.

ولا ترج في الدنيا ثوابا فإنما

لدى الله حقاً أنت لا شك واجده

Do not expect recompense in this world, for only

with God will you assuredly find it, without doubt.

ذوو النحو في الدنيا قليل حظوظهم

وذو الجهل فيها وافر الحظ زائده

Grammarians have little share of worldly fortune,

while the ignorant man's share is abundant and increasing.

لهم أسوةٌ فيها علي لقد مضى

ولم يلق في الدنيا صديقاً يساعده

They have in 'Ali an example in this world: he passed away,

having found no friend in this world to help him.

مضى بعده عنها الخليل فلم ينل

كفافاً ولم يعدم حسوداً يناكده

Al-Khalil departed from it after him, without obtaining

even subsistence, nor lacking an envier to vex him.

ولاقى أبا بشر بشر سفيهها

غداة تمادت في ضلال بغادده

Abu Bishr encountered the malice of its fool [wording unclear],

when its Baghdadis persisted in error.

أتى نحو هارون يناظر شيخه

فنافحه حتى تبدت مناكده

He came to Harun to debate his master,

and contested him until his vexations became plain.

فأطرق شيئاً ثم أبدى جوابه

بحق ولكن أنكر الحق جاحده

He lowered his head a while, then gave his answer

truthfully, but the denier rejected the truth.

وكاد علي عمراً إذ صار حاكماً

وقدماً علي كان عمرو يكايده

'Ali plotted against 'Amr when he became the judge,

though earlier 'Amr had been contending with 'Ali.

سقاه بكأس لم يفق من خمارها

وأورده الأمر الذي هو وارده

He made him drink from a cup whose intoxication never left him,

and brought him to the fate he would meet.

ولابن زياد شركة في مراده

وكابن زياد مشرك القلب زائده

Ibn Ziyad shared in his intention,

and, like Ibn Ziyad, his accomplice was idolatrous at heart [unclear reading].

هما جرعا إلي عليّ وقنبر

أفاويق سم لم تنجذ أساوده

The two forced 'Ali and Qanbar to drink [wording unclear]

draught after draught of poison, though its black snakes had not grown fangs.

أبكي على عمرو ولا عمرو مثله

إذا مشكل أعيا وأعوز ناقده

I weep for 'Amr—there is no 'Amr like him—

when a difficulty baffles and no discerning critic can be found.

قضى نحبه شرخ الشباب ولم يرع

بشيب ولم تعلق بذام معاقده

He met his death in the bloom of youth, never startled

by gray hair, nor did blame cling to his character.

لقد كان للناس اعتناءٌ بعلمه

بشرق وغرب تستنار فوائده

People once took a keen interest in his knowledge;

in east and west, his insights gave illumination.

ولان فلا شخص على الأرض قارئ

كتاب أبي بشر ولا هو زايده

Now there is no one on earth who reads

the Book of Abu Bishr, nor anyone adding to it,

سوى معشر بالغرب فيهم تلفت

إليه وشوق ليس تخبو مواقده

except a company in the West whose attention turns

toward it, with a longing whose fires never fade.

وما زال منا أهل أندلس له

جهابذ تبدي فضله وتناجده

Among us, the people of al-Andalus, it has always had

masters who reveal its excellence and champion it.

وإني في مصر على ضعف ناصري

لناصره ما دمت حيا وعاضده

And I, in Egypt, despite the weakness of my supporters,

will support and uphold it as long as I live.

أثار أثير الغرب للنحو كامناً

وعالجه حتى تبدت قواعده

Athir of the West roused what lay dormant in grammar,

and worked upon it until its foundations became apparent.

وأحيا أبو حيان ميت علومه

فأصبح علم النحو ينفق كاسده

Abu Hayyan revived its lifeless sciences,

so grammar's once-unsold wares now find a market.

إذا مغربي حط بالثغر رحله

تيقن أن النحو أخفاه لاحده

When a Maghribi sets his pack down at the port,

be certain that grammar has been hidden by its gravedigger.

بلينا بقوم صدروا في مجالس

لاقراء علم ضل عنهم مراشده

We have been afflicted with men installed at the head of assemblies

to teach a science whose right paths elude them.

لقد أخر التصدير عن مستحقه

وقدم غمر خامد الذهن جامده

The teaching chair has been withheld from its rightful occupant,

and an ignorant man advanced, dull-minded and rigid.

وسوف يلاقي من سعى في جلوسهم

من الله عقبى ما أكنت عقائده

Whoever worked to seat them will encounter

from God the consequence of what his convictions concealed.

علا عقله فيهم هواه فما درى

بأن هوى الإنسان للنار قائده

His desire overruled his reason concerning them; he did not know

that man's desire leads him to the Fire.

أقمنا بمصر نحو عشرين حجة

يشاهدنا ذو أمرهم ونشاهده

We have lived in Egypt for some twenty years;

their ruler sees us, and we see him.

فلما ننل منهم مدى الدهر طائلاً

ولما نجد فيهم صديقاً نوادده

Yet all this time we have gained nothing from them,

nor found among them a friend to cherish.

لنا سلوة فيمن سردنا حديثهم

وقد يتسلى بالذي قال سارده

We find solace in those whose stories we have recounted;

a narrator may be comforted by what he himself has told.

أخي إن تصل يوماً وبلغت سالماً

لغرناطة فانفذ لما أنا عاهده

My brother, if one day you arrive and reach safety

in Granada, carry out what I charge you to do:

وقبل ثرى أرض بها حل ملكنا

وسلطاننا الشهم الجميل عوائده

kiss the dust of the land where our king dwells,

our gallant sovereign, whose ways are beautiful,

مبيد العدا قتلاً وقد عم شرهم

ومحيي الندا فضلاً وقد رم هامده

destroyer of enemies in battle, when their evil had spread,

reviver of generosity through bounty, when its lifeless form had decayed.

أفاض على الإسلام جوداً ونجدةً

فعز مواليه وذل معانده

He poured liberality and valor upon Islam,

so his allies rose in honor and his opponent was humbled.

وعم بها إخواننا بتحية

وخص بها الأستاذ لا عاش كائده

Extend a greeting there to all our brothers,

and especially to the teacher—may his schemer not live!

جزى الله عنا شيخنا وإمامنا

وأستاذنا الحبر الذي عم فائده

May God reward on our behalf our shaykh and imam,

our learned teacher, whose benefit reaches all.

لقد أطلعت جيان أوحد عصره

فللغرب فخراً أعجز الشرق خالده

Jaén has indeed brought forth the peerless man of his age,

an enduring glory for the West that left the East powerless:

مؤرخه نحويه وإمامه

محدثه جلت وصحت مسانده

its historian, its grammarian, and its imam,

its hadith scholar, whose chains of transmission are lofty and sound.

نماه عظيمٌ من ثقيف وإنما

به استوثقت منه العرى ومساعده

A great man of Thaqif was his forebear; and only

through him were his bonds and supports made secure.

وما أنس لا أنسى سهادي ببابه

بسبق وغيري نائم الليل راقده

Whatever else I forget, I shall not forget my vigil at his door,

arriving early, while others slept through the night.

فيجلو بنور العلم ظلمة جهلنا

ويفتح علما مغلقات وطائده

He dispelled the darkness of our ignorance with learning's light,

and unlocked the closed strongholds of knowledge.

وإني وإن شطت بنا غربة النوى

لشاكره في كل وقت وحامده

Though the estrangement of exile has carried us far apart,

I thank and praise him at every moment.

بغرناطة روحي وفي مصر جثتي

ترى هل يثني الفرد من هو فارده

My soul is in Granada, my body in Egypt:

will He who made him solitary ever make the solitary one a pair?

أبا جعفر خذها قوافي من فتى

تتيه على غر القوافي قصائده

Abu Ja'far, take these rhymes from a young man

whose poems proudly surpass the brightest rhymes.

يسير بلا إذن إلى الأذن حسنها

فيرتاح سماع له ومناشده

Their beauty enters the ear without permission,

delighting its listeners and its reciter.

غريبة شكل كم حوت من غرائب

مجيدة أصل أنتجتها أماجده

Unusual in form, how many marvels it contains,

noble in origin, brought forth by its noble forebears.

فلولاك يا مولاي ما فاه مقولي

بمصر ولا حبرت ما أنا قاصده

Without you, my master, my tongue would not have spoken

in Egypt, nor would I have composed what I intended.

لهذبتني حتى أحوك مفوفا

من النظم لا يبلى على الدهر أبده

You refined me until I could weave a patterned fabric

of verse, never worn out through time's eternity.

وأذكيت فكري بعدما كان جامداً

وقيد شعري بعدما ند شارده

You kindled my thought after it had been inert,

and my verse was bound after its stray had run loose.

جعلت ختاماً فيه ذكرك إنه

هو المسك بل أعلى وإن عز ناشده

I made mention of you its conclusion, for it

is musk—indeed, loftier—though rare is its seeker.