ألا هل لداعي الله في الأرض سامع — Abu Muslim Al Bahlani

ألا هل لداعي اللّه في الأرض سامع

فإني بأمر اللّه يا قوم صادع

Is there anyone on earth who hears God's summoner?

For I proclaim God's command, O my people.

وهل من يرى للّه حقاً ومرجعاً

إليه وأن الدين لا شك واقع

Is there anyone who acknowledges God's right and a return

to Him, and that judgment is beyond doubt a reality?

وهل من يرى أن الحقوق التي دعا

إليها رسول اللّه غفل ضوائع

Is there anyone who sees that the rights to which

God's Messenger called lie neglected and lost?

وهل من يرى الشرع الشريف تدرأت

عليه حثالات مبير وخانع

Is there anyone who sees the noble sacred law assailed

by the dregs of destroyers and grovelers?

وهل من يرى أن الحنيفة سامها

بما شاء من ضيم لعين مخادع

Is there anyone who sees that the upright faith has been subjected

to whatever oppression an accursed deceiver desires?

تمالأ ظلماً خيله ورجاله

وليس لهم حد سوى اللّه مانع

His horsemen and his men have conspired in injustice,

and no restraining boundary stands before them except God.

يدوسونها دوس الحصيد كأنها

لقى وأخو الايمان في الأسر خاشع

They trample it as harvested grain is trampled, as though it were

a discarded thing, while the brother in faith lies humbled in captivity.

أفيقوا بني القرآن إن هداكم

إلى الجبت والطاغوت في الذل ضارع

Awake, children of the Quran! Your guiding light

bows in humiliation before idols and false powers.

أفيقوا بني القرآن إن كتابكم

يناقض في أحكامه وينازع

Awake, children of the Quran! Your Book

is contradicted in its rulings and contested.

تعيث قرود الجبت في سنة الهدى

إذا عقدوا شنعاء جاءت شنائع

The apes of idolatry wreak havoc upon the way of guidance;

whenever they contrive one outrage, more outrages follow.

يعدون دين اللّه بهتاً وهجنة

وإن ليس من صوب الاله شرائع

They deem God's religion falsehood and disgrace,

and claim that no laws come from God;

وأن وقوع الدين في الأرض مفسد

وإن قوانين السماء فظائع

that religion's presence on earth is corrupting,

and that heaven's laws are atrocities;

وإن الذي جاءت به الرسل كله

مضر لأسباب الرقي مصارع

that everything the messengers brought

harms the means of progress and brings destruction;

وإن هدى الاسلام في الأرض ظلمة

ولو زال بانت للرقي سواطع

that Islam's guidance is darkness upon earth,

and that, were it removed, bright lights of progress would appear;

وإن بني الاسلام في همجية

وحوش تعادي في الفلا أو ضفادع

that Islam's children live in barbarism,

like beasts racing in the wilderness, or frogs;

وإني بني الانسان في الأرض طائر

على شرك عز الجناحين واقع

and [text unclear] mankind on earth is a bird,

caught in a snare, though mighty of wing;

ولولا عرى إشراكه لتوسعت

مداركهم حيث الحدود الموانع

that, but for the bonds of its entrapment,

their perceptions would expand where restraining boundaries stand.

هلم بنا نقطع حبالة ديننا

إذ الدين عن نور التمدن قاطع

'Come, let us cut the snare of our religion,

for religion cuts us off from civilization's light.

ونرسل أطيار النفوس إلى الهوى

فإن هواها للسعادة جامع

Let us release the birds of our souls toward desire,

for their desire gathers happiness.

ونذروا وصايا اللّه في الريح تربة

فليس بها استغفر اللّه نافع

Let us scatter God's commandments as dust upon the wind,

for nothing in them—God forgive me!—is beneficial.

وفي دولة التعطيل مرعى ونضرة

وفي دولة الدين الديار البلاقع

Under godlessness there are pasture and verdure,

while under religion the lands are barren wastes.

ولا كون إلا للطبيعة إنها

لها الضر في أكوانها والمنافع

There is no existence except through nature;

harm and benefit in its worlds belong to it.

وأن ننتحل شبهاً لدين سياسةً

ففي دولة التبشير فعل مضارع

And if we adopt a semblance of religion for politics,

the missionary state offers a similar practice:

حبالة صياد ودين ودولة

وتعطيل انسانية وخدائع

a hunter's snare, a religion, and a state,

the suppression of humanity, and deceptions.'

فيا لبني القرآن أين عقولكم

وقد عصفت هذي الرياح الزعازع

O children of the Quran, where are your minds,

now that these violent winds have blown?

أمسلوبة هذي النهى من صدورنا

وهل فقدت أبصارنا والمسامع

Has this understanding been stolen from our breasts?

Have our eyes and ears been lost?

أما كذبوا لا قبح اللّه غيرهم

ولا أفلحت تلك الوجوه اللواكع

Have they not lied? May God disgrace none but them,

and may those contemptible faces never prosper!

لقد ملأوا الآفاق افكا وخزية

وبغيا ولا مقصود إلا المطامع

They have filled the horizons with falsehood and disgrace,

and aggression, seeking nothing but their greedy ambitions.

نفوا ملة الاسلام إذ منعتهم

محارم في حكم العقول فظائع

They rejected Islam's creed because it barred them from

forbidden acts that reason judges atrocious.

ولو قلدوا الاسلام ضاق عليهم

سبيل إلى ما تشتهي النفس واسع

Had they bound themselves to Islam, there would have narrowed for them

a broad road to whatever the soul desires;

ولا أطلقتهم في الرذالة رتعاً

نذالتهم مما اقتضته الطبايع

nor would they have been loosed to graze in depravity

by their baseness, born of their natural dispositions;

ولا حرشتهم شرة وفظاظة

لهم كلب في نهبنا وتنازع

nor would voracity and harshness have incited them,

with their ravening greed to plunder us and their strife.

كأن بني الاسلام صيد رماحهم

وأملاكهم إرث لهم أو قطائع

As though Islam's children were quarry for their spears,

and their possessions an inheritance or allotted estates for them!

فلا غرو أن يستنكفوا من ديانة

وقد أسبلت فيما عداها الزرايع

No wonder they disdain a religion,

when crops elsewhere have put forth their ears.

وليتهم إذ عطلوا الدين سايروا

طبيعة تكوين العمار وتابعوا

Would that, when they set religion aside, they had followed

the natural principles of building civilization and adhered to them.

فأي عمار قام والظلم أسه

وتلكم ديار الظالمين بلاقع

What civilization can stand with injustice as its foundation?

Those are the oppressors' dwellings, lying desolate.

وليت بني الاسلام قرت صفاتهم

فما زعزعتها للغرور الزعازع

Would that the rock of Islam's children had stood firm,

unshaken by the gusts of delusion.

وليتهم ساسوا بنور محمد

ممالكهم إذ باغتتها القواقع

Would that they had governed by Muhammad's light

their kingdoms, when crashing shocks overtook them.

وليتهم لم ينحروا بسلاحهم

نحورهم إذ جاش فيها التقاطع

Would that they had not slaughtered with their own weapons

their own throats, when mutual estrangement surged among them.

لقد مكن الأعداء منا انخداعنا

وقد لاح آل في المهامه لامع

Our gullibility has given the enemies power over us,

when a shining mirage appeared in the wilderness;

وسورة بعض فوق بعض وحملة

لزيد على عمرو وما ثم رادع

and the fury of some against others, and the assault

of Zayd upon Amr, with no one there to restrain them;

وتمزيق هذا الدين كل لمذهب

له شيع فيما ادعاه تشايع

and the tearing apart of this religion, each embracing a sect

with factions supporting whatever he claims.

وما الدين إلا واحد والذي نرى

ضلالات أتباع الهوى تتقارع

Religion is but one; what we see

are the clashing errors of those who follow desire.

وما ترك المختار ألف ديانة

ولا جاء في القرآن هذا التنازع

The Chosen One did not leave a thousand religions,

nor did this strife come in the Quran.

فيا ليت أهل الدين لم يتفرقوا

وليت نظام الدين للكل جامع

Would that the people of religion had not divided!

Would that religion's order united them all!

لو التزموا من عزة الدين شرطها

لا اتضعت منها الرعان الفوارع

Had they observed the condition of religion's might,

the towering peaks would surely have bowed before it.

وما ذبح الاسلام إلا سيوفنا

وقد جعلت في نفسها تتقارع

Nothing has slaughtered Islam but our own swords,

which have begun clashing against one another.

ولو سلت السيفين يمنى أخوة

لدكت جبال المعتدين المصارع

Had the right hand of brotherhood drawn both swords,

the slaughters would have crushed the aggressors' mountains.

وما صدعة الاسلام من سيف خصمه

بأعظم مما بين أهليه واقع

The wound Islam receives from its enemy's sword

is no greater than what occurs among its own people.

فكم سيف باغ ز أوداج دينه

بأفظع مما سيف ذي الشرك باخع

How often a rebel's sword [text unclear] his faith's jugulars,

more terribly than a polytheist's sword slays!

هراشاً على الدنيا وطيشاً على الهوى

وذلك سم في الحقيقة ناقع

Snarling over worldly things, recklessly following desire:

that is, in truth, a deadly poison.

وما حرش الأضغان في قلب مسلم

على مسلم إلا من النعي وازع

Nothing stirs rancor in a Muslim's heart

against another Muslim but a prompting born of death's summons.

ولو نصع القلبان لم يتباغضا

ولا ضام متبوع ولا ضيم تابع

Were both hearts pure, they would not hate one another;

no leader would oppress, nor any follower be oppressed.

وما هذه الدنيا لها قدر قيمة

يضاع له ذخر من اللّه نافع

This world has no worth

for which a beneficial treasure from God should be squandered.

وما نال منها لهائلاً غير اثمها

وأكدارها المستأثرون الأمانع

None have gained anything great from it, save its sin

and its troubles—the selfish, withholding hoarders.

ولو بعدت في النفس منزعة التقى

لما نزعت نحو الشقاق المنازع

Had the impulse toward piety reached deep within the soul,

its impulses would not have turned toward discord;

ولا ضبحت تعلو بأسباب وهمها

على غير ذي ثبت جداه القوارع

nor would it pant, climbing by the means of its illusion,

upon no firm support, its gains mere calamities.

أما هذه الدنيا التي يقتنونها

ستقتضب الاعمار منها الفجائع

This world that they acquire—

its calamities will cut their lifetimes short.

قراضة آجال ومطلب جاهل

ونحن لناعيها إلينا ودائع

Scraps of lifespans, and a fool's pursuit:

we are deposits awaiting the announcer of its death.

فما بيعنا الحسنى ومرضاة ربنا

بها بيعة ينمى بها الربح بائع

Our selling the ultimate good and our Lord's pleasure

for it is no sale by which a seller increases his profit.

على أي شيء يقتل البعض بعضنا

وتذكي فظاظات النفوس المطامع

For what do some of us kill others,

while greedy ambitions kindle the souls' brutalities?

ولسنا برغم العقل نطلب وادعاً

ولا أحد منا وإن عاش وادع

Against reason, we do not seek a peaceful life;

yet none of us, though he lives, is secure.

ويكشف عن ساق لنا الحتف دائباً

ونعجله في باطل نتقارع

Death continually bares its shin before us,

and we hasten it by clashing in falsehood.

أليس الذي يأتي من العمر مقبلاً

كمثل الذي ولى وفيه المصارع

Is not the portion of life approaching us

like that which passed, with death within it?

ولو أشربت منا النفوس تبصراً

لما كان منها للشرارة ناقع

Had our souls been imbued with insight,

none of them would have been steeped in wickedness.

بلى أشربت داءاً دخيلاً أصارها

كما كمنت في حجرهن الأقارع

Instead, they were imbued with an invading sickness that made them

like bald-headed vipers lurking in their burrows.

ولو بحثت عن دائها كان كبرها

فمنه بلا قيد تثور الشنائع

Were a soul to search out its sickness, it would find its pride;

from that, unchecked, outrages arise.

ولو فكرت في أصلها ومصيره

لدافع داء الكبر منها التواضع

Were it to ponder its origin and its destiny,

humility would drive the sickness of pride from it.

رويداً بني الانسان إن شروركم

يعود عليكم ويلها المتتابع

Gently, children of mankind! Your evils

bring their successive woes back upon you.

فما أرسل الانسان سهماً محرماً

سوى أنه في نحر راميه راجع

No human sends forth a forbidden arrow

without its returning into the throat of its archer.

ولست وإن برأت نفسك خالصاً

من الشر والدعوى إليه ذرائع

You are not free of evil, even if you declare yourself innocent;

such claims are themselves ways toward it.

أنلزمها الاشرار والداء شامل

وننفي اشتراكاً فيه والسم نافع

Shall we pin it on the wicked, when the sickness afflicts all,

and deny our share in it while the poison works?

ولو سلمت من صبغة الشر نسمة

لما راع في أوكاره الفرخ رائع

Had one living soul escaped the stain of evil,

no frightening creature would have terrified a chick in its nest.

وكل لجاج المرء في الشر نهمة

من النفس تغريها عليه الطبائع

Every person's persistence in evil is an appetite

of the soul, toward which its dispositions entice it.

أليس عجيباً زرع نفس شرورها

وعند حصاد الزرع يحصد زارع

Is it not strange that a soul should sow its evils,

when at harvest the sower reaps what was sown?

ولولا نواميس السماء لما زكت

نفوس ولم يعرف مضر ونافع

But for heaven's laws, no souls

would grow pure, nor would harm and benefit be known.

ومن سنن اللّه التدافع بيننا

ليصلح مدفوع ويصلح دافع

Among God's ways is our checking one another,

so that both the checked and the checker may be set right.

ومن سنن اللّه اختبار عباده

وابلاؤهم وهو الحبى والصنائع

Among God's ways is testing His servants

and trying them—these are gifts and kindnesses.

يصب على من شاء صبا بلاءه

وذاك بلاء للمواهب جامع

He pours His trial abundantly upon whom He wills;

that is a trial encompassing gifts.

ومن سنن اللّه اختفاء اصطناعه

فكم شق أمر ضيق وهو واسع

Among God's ways is concealing His beneficence:

how often an affair seems grievous and narrow, yet is spacious!

ومن سنن اللّه التفاضل في العطا

فذو الجهل موفور وذو العقل جائع

Among God's ways is disparity in giving:

the ignorant has abundance, while the intelligent goes hungry.

ومن سنن اللّه التأني بمن طغى

وتعجيل عقبى هفوة إذ تواقع

Among God's ways is patience with one who transgresses,

and hastening a lapse's consequence when it occurs.

ومنها انتقام من ظلوم بظالم

وهذا حسام للمظالم قاطع

Among them is vengeance upon an oppressor through another oppressor:

this is a sword that cuts through injustices.

ألم ترى أن اللّه سلط مشركاً

على مسلم والعدل للكل وازع

Have you not seen that God empowered a polytheist

over a Muslim, while justice governs them all?

فما الشأن إلا العدل في أي حادث

وإلا خفي اللطف للزيغ رادع

In every event the matter is nothing but justice,

or else hidden kindness restraining deviation.

وفي الشأن أسرار تجلت لذي النهى

عليها جمال اللّه باللطف شايع

Within the matter are secrets revealed to the discerning,

over which God's beauty spreads through kindness.

ترى سلطة لا تعرف اللّه أفظعت

بعارفه والعدل تلك الفظائع

You see a power that does not know God wreak horrors

upon one who knows Him; those horrors are justice.

فأنت إذا فكرت لم تلف ذرة

من الظلم في شيء له اللّه صانع

If you reflect, you will find not an atom

of injustice in anything God has made.

وما يوجب المقت الالهي عدوة

عدوت بها في خرق ما هو شارع

What calls forth divine loathing is a transgression

you commit in breaking what He has ordained.

ولو ثبتت رجلاك دون حدوده

لما كان عن رضوانه لك قاطع

Had your feet stood short of His boundaries,

nothing would have cut you off from His pleasure.

وما يوجب الجود الالهي رحمة

وفضل وتوب منه للتوب زارع

What divine generosity brings is mercy,

favor, and His forgiving return, sowing repentance.

أيحظر أمراً ثم تهتك حظره

كأنك مدعو بما هو مانع

Does He forbid something, and then you violate His prohibition,

as though you were invited to what He forbids?

وأنت مع الاعاد للسخط تنتحي

ومن حيث اتيان المساخط طامع

Alongside the enemies, you make for His wrath,

yet hope for favor while doing what displeases Him.

فما من وعيد اللّه يمنع عاصم

إذا لم يزع من حرمة اللّه وازع

No protector can shield you from God's warning

unless reverence for God's sanctity restrains you.

نضج ضجيج النيب مما ينوبنا

ونحن إلى ما تقتضيه نسارع

We bellow like old she-camels at what befalls us,

yet hasten toward the deeds that bring it about.

نطاوع أسواء المغبة رغبة

ولسنا لمحمود الجزاء نطاوع

We willingly comply with what brings the worst consequences,

but do not comply with what brings a praiseworthy reward.

وما هذه الأوقار فوق رقابنا

يدافع عقباهن عنا مدافع

These burdens upon our necks—

no defender can ward their consequences away from us.

وبعض عقاب الاثم أخذ معجل

وبعض على الاملاء جانيه وادع

Some punishment for sin is an immediate seizure;

some is deferred, its perpetrator remaining at ease.

ولو أمحض التقدير عقل لأظهرت

شوارقها بالحكمتين مطالع

Were an intellect to devote itself wholly to pondering providence,

its dawns would reveal horizons of both wisdoms.

فما هو في تعجيله البطش عابث

ولا عارضته في التأني موانع

He is not heedless when He hastens His mighty seizure,

nor do obstacles confront Him when He delays.

ولا هو بالاعجال يحذر فائتاً

سواه تعالى قبل فوت يسارع

He does not hasten through fear of something escaping;

others, unlike Him—exalted is He—hurry before a chance is lost.

فجل في مجاري حكمه وشئونه

تبن لك فيها حكمة وبدايع

Roam through the courses of His judgment and His affairs:

wisdom and wonders will become clear to you within them.

وفي عدله حسب اقتضاه شئونه

تدابير وحدانية لا تمانع

Within His justice, as His affairs require,

are dispositions of oneness that cannot be opposed.

فلا تخبطن في فهم أحكام عدله

إذا اختلفت أشكالها والمواقع

Do not stumble blindly in understanding His just decrees

when their forms and circumstances differ.

ورب بلاء حل في شكل عدله

وما هو إلا الفضل واللطف واقع

Many a trial arrives in the guise of His justice,

yet is nothing but favor and kindness coming to pass.

فمن ذاك للتوفير وهو أجله

ومنه لتمحيص لذنب يواقع

Some of it increases one's portion—and this is its noblest form;

some purifies a sin one commits.

وتقديمه انذاره ووعيده

إلى عبده حد عن العدل مانع

His sending His admonition and warning beforehand

to His servant sets a barrier against justice's sentence.

وفي عين هذا العدل فضل محقق

إلى مستقر الفضل والجود دافع

Within this very justice is assured favor,

urging one toward the abode of favor and generosity.

وذلك في الجود الالهي لازم

ليذكر اللاهي وينزع نازع

That is inherent in divine generosity:

to remind the heedless and make one desist.

وعاقبة الانذار انقاذ عبده

حذارك مما قيل خلف وشافع

The outcome of admonition is the rescue of His servant;

beware talk of a threat's being withdrawn or an intercessor.

فقم نحو ما يدعو إليه بفضله

فداعيك قيوم برحماه واسع

Rise toward what He graciously calls you to:

your summoner is the Self-Subsisting, boundless in mercy.

ولا تعجب إن خالفته كيف بطشه

فمالك إلا صحة التوب نافع

Do not marvel at His seizure if you disobey Him;

nothing benefits you but sound repentance.

ولا تعجبن مما تراه مسارعاً

إلينا فعدل اللّه هذا المسارع

Do not marvel at what you see rushing

toward us: God's justice is what rushes.

إلى ما أفضنا فيه من ترك أمره

واتيان منهياته العدل صادع

Against our plunging into neglect of His command

and committing His prohibitions, justice speaks out.

ففيم صراخ المسلمين وجأرهم

وأغلبهم للمقسطين منازع

Why, then, the Muslims' screams and cries,

when most of them oppose those who act justly?

لهم في أساليب الشقاق طرائق

وكل طريق في الضلالة شارع

They have many paths in the methods of discord,

and every path opens into error.

وأغلبهم للاستقامة شانيء

بسيف التعدي في حمى اللّه شانع

Most of them hate uprightness,

committing outrages in God's sanctuary with aggression's sword.

ولو شملتنا الاستقامة لم نزل

لنا ألفة ترفض عنها المطامع

Had uprightness encompassed us, we would have continued

in fellowship from which greedy ambitions fall away.

سقى اللّه أرضاً تنبت القسط سوحها

وين رباها العلم والحق راتع

May God water a land whose open spaces grow justice,

where, on its hills [text unclear], knowledge and truth graze.

ربوع بحمد اللّه نور محمد

عليها بنور اللّه أبلج ساطع

Dwellings where, praise be to God, Muhammad's light

shines clear and radiant through God's light;

وحيث يمين اللّه بالروح والرضا

رجالاً لهم تلك العراص مرابع

where God sustains, with solace and favor,

men for whom those courts are grazing grounds.

رجال سعوا للّه سعياً مباركاً

فما قطعتهم عن رضاه القواطع

Men who strove for God with blessed striving,

whom no obstacles cut off from His pleasure.

أنابوا إلى اللّه اتباع سبيله

فما صدعتهم في السبيل الصوادع

They turned to God by following His path;

no disruptive blows broke them upon that path.

وقاموا بمفروض القيام عليهم

فما عز جبار ولا ذل ضارع

They fulfilled the duties laid upon them:

no tyrant grew mighty, nor any suppliant abject.

فما جمعوا ما فرق اللّه جمعه

ولا فرقوا في الدين ما اللّه جامع

They did not unite what God had separated,

nor divide in religion what God unites.

ولا شرفوا إلا بخالصة التقى

حظوظهم منها البحور الجوامع

They attained nobility only through pure piety;

their portions of it are all-encompassing seas.

بهم يقتدى في العلم والهدي والهدى

وعن خلقهم تروى النجوم السواطع

They are followed in knowledge, conduct, and guidance;

the shining stars recount their character.

عليهم وقار الرسل أرست جباله

وهم لكمالات النفوس مطالع

The messengers' dignity rests upon them, its mountains firmly set;

they are rising places for the souls' perfections.

تجلت لهم من باطن الشرع حكمة

ولو أظهروها ناقضتها الشرائع

Wisdom from the inward sacred law was revealed to them;

were they to disclose it, the outward laws would contradict it.

ألحوا على الاخلاص حتى تفجرت

على لسنهم بالحكمتين ينابع

They persisted in sincerity until springs burst forth

upon their tongues with both wisdoms.

ولو أظهروا من حكمة السر ذرة

لكانوا بحكم الظاهر الشرك واقعوا

Were they to reveal one atom of the secret wisdom,

by the outward ruling they would have fallen into polytheism.

فبورك علماً طابع الشرع باطناً

وفي ظاهر الأحكام للعذر قاطع

Blessed be knowledge that inwardly bears the sacred law's imprint

and, in outward rulings, cuts off excuses.

أولئك أهل اللّه رحمة أرضه

بهم تمطر الأرض السحاب الهوامع

Those are God's people, the mercy of His earth;

through them, pouring clouds rain upon the land.

أولئك أوتاد الوجود وغوثه

وأحوالهم في الاعتبار شوافع

Those are the pegs of existence and its succor;

their spiritual states, when considered, are intercessors.

أولئك أهل الحق ما ضل مقتف

هداهم ولا يغوي عليهم متابع

Those are the people of truth: no one following

their guidance goes astray, nor is their follower misled.

أولئك أهل الفهم ما جار فهمهم

عن اللّه ما يقضي وما هو شارع

Those are the people of understanding: their understanding never swerves

from God, from what He decrees and what He ordains.

أولئك أهل الخير أما حياتهم

فغنم وأما ذكرهم فذرايع

Those are the people of goodness: their lives

are a gain, and their remembrance a means of access.

أولئك أهل الفضل حتى ولو فنوا

لهم بركات في الدنا ومنافع

Those are the people of favor: even when they pass away,

they have blessings and benefits in this world.

أولئك أشياخي فجئني بمثلهم

إذا جمعتنا يا جرير المجامع

Those are my masters: bring me their like

when assemblies bring us together, O Jarir.

ولست بجاء في الوجود بمثلهم

وللقوم شأن في الولاية شاسع

You cannot bring their like into existence;

these people have a vast station in sainthood.

وللقوم ارث صادق من محمد

لكل هدى للرسل لا شك جامع

These people have a true inheritance from Muhammad,

encompassing, without doubt, all the messengers' guidance.

وماذا عسى أن يبلغ الحمد فيهم

وهم لضياء المرسلين مطالع

How far could praise ever reach in describing them,

when they are rising places for the messengers' radiance?

نعم أن نور الرسل في قلب ختمهم

وفي القوم نور الختم أبلج ساطع

Yes, the messengers' light is in the heart of their Seal;

among these people, the Seal's light shines clear and radiant.

سرى علمهم باللّه في سر سرهم

وهذا لصدق الاتباعين تابع

Their knowledge of God pervaded the secret of their innermost selves;

this follows from the sincerity of their twofold following.

وما صدقوا في الاتباع لغاية

ولكن لحب اللّه فيهم نوازع

They were not sincere in following for some ulterior end;

rather, impulses toward God's love moved within them.

ومحترق الأركان من خوف ربه

له صعقات بينه ومصارع

There is one whose limbs burn with fear of his Lord,

who has evident swoons and falls.

له ما عدا العلم القديم صحيفة

يشاهد فيها صنعه ويطالع

Everything except eternal knowledge is a page to him,

in which he witnesses and reads His handiwork.

ومهما يكن في الملك والملكوت من

بدائع لم تحجبه تلك البدايع

Whatever wonders there may be in the earthly

and heavenly realms, those wonders do not veil Him from him.

يرى كل شيء غير مرضاة ربه

رماداً به اشتدت رياح زعازع

He sees everything other than his Lord's pleasure

as ashes swept by violent winds.

ولو خالست منه العلائق لفتة

كفاها من التوفيق عنه ممانع

Were worldly attachments to steal a glance from him,

divine aid would provide enough to ward them away.

يطارد آفات الوجود بعزمه

فتنكص حسرى عنه والعزم ناصع

With his resolve he pursues existence's afflictions;

they retreat exhausted from him, while his resolve stays pure.

رمى عرض الدنيا وراء يقينه

بأن وراء الحد شأناً يسارع

He cast worldly goods behind him, certain

that beyond the boundary lies a matter he hastens toward.

يحرر نفساً من عبودة مطمع

سوى رغب فيه إلى اللّه طامع

He frees a soul from slavery to any coveted thing,

except a longing in which he hopes toward God.

به أنف الأملاك في نضرة الغنى

وما نال منه ما تقل الأصابع

He has the pride of kings in flourishing sufficiency,

though he has not obtained even what fingers can carry.

كفته لقيمات يقومن صلبه

وطمر من الانهاج يأباه رافع

A few morsels that support his spine suffice him,

and a threadbare rag that anyone picking it up would spurn.

يلذ فطام النفس عن كل لذة

ولذات هذا العيش بئس المراضع

He delights in weaning the soul from every pleasure;

the pleasures of this life are wretched wet nurses.

يبيت وللأحزان جمرة قلبه

تشب إذا سالت عليها المدامع

He spends the night with his heart an ember for sorrows,

flaring whenever tears flow upon it.

إذا ذكر الأخرى تضاءل جازعاً

كأن راعه من هادم العمر رائع

When he recalls the hereafter, he shrinks in dread,

as though a terror from life's destroyer had frightened him.

وإن ذكر الدنيا تفانى وأصعقت

مشاعره تلك الصعاب القوارع

When he recalls this world, he wastes away, and

those harsh, striking calamities stun his senses.

على وحشة في السجن من بغتة الفنا

وما خلف يوم الموت كيف المفازع

He is lonely in the prison, fearing sudden extinction

and what follows the day of death—how dreadful its terrors!

وما زخرف الدنيا وإن راق رونقاً

على عينه إلا العنا والفجائع

The world's adornment, however pleasing its luster,

is to his eye nothing but toil and calamities.

أحال على أنفاسه البر والتقى

فللبر والتقوى عليها طوابع

He has devoted his breaths to goodness and piety;

goodness and piety have set their stamps upon them.

على الأرض منكور ويعرف في السما

له مخبر بين الملائك شايع

Unrecognized on earth, he is known in heaven;

his reputation is widespread among the angels.

تراه متى ما الليل عمد بيته

عموداً على محرابه وهو راكع

You see him, whenever night props up its house,

a pillar beside his prayer niche, though he bows.

يشعشع بالقرآن أنوار قلبه

فعنهن شقت للعيون المدارع

Through the Quran he makes his heart's lights shine;

their light rends the garments before watching eyes.

يرجع في الديجور رنة ثاكل

نحيباً كما ناح الحمام السواجع

In the darkness he repeats a bereaved one's cry,

sobbing as cooing doves lament.

يناوحه همان هم مخافة

وهم رجاء والبرايا هواجع

Two concerns answer his lament: the concern of fear

and the concern of hope, while all creatures sleep.

بأمثال هذا يرحم اللّه خلقه

وإن عظمت أحداثهم والشنائع

Through people like this, God has mercy on His creation,

however great their offenses and outrages.

بأمثال هذا تحفل الشاة ضرعها

ويسمن مهزول ويقطع يانع

Through people like this, a ewe's udder fills,

the emaciated grows fat, and ripe fruit is harvested.

بأمثال هذا يخصب اللّه أرضه

ويشرب عطشان ويشبع جائع

Through people like this, God makes His earth fertile;

the thirsty drinks, and the hungry is satisfied.

بأمثال هذا يدفع اللّه سخطه

وليس لسخط اللّه في الأرض دافع

Through people like this, God wards off His wrath;

none on earth can repel God's wrath.

لهم منزل في القرب للخلق نافع

وحدّث وأطلق كيف تلك المنافع

They have a station of nearness beneficial to creation;

speak freely of how great those benefits are.

أولئك أبرار الأباضية الألى

على نهر حرقوص وزيد كوارع

Those are the righteous Ibadis who

drink at the river of Hurqus and Zayd.

هم القوم أحرار الوجود سمت بهم

إلى اللّه عن حظ سواه المنازع

They are the free people of existence, whose impulses raised them

toward God, above any share in anything besides Him.

محبتهم ديني بها أبتغي الرضا

إلى اللّه والزلفى وهم لي ذرائع

Loving them is my religion; through it I seek favor

with God and nearness, and they are my means.

ودعوتهم لي سنة وجماعة

أجاهد في احيائها وأقارع

Their call is my tradition and community;

I strive to revive it and contend for it.

وإني وإن يتركني السيف قعدداً

فذلك للأمر الذي لا أدافع

Though the sword leaves me one who stays behind,

that is because of a decree I cannot resist.

قضى اللّه أن أحيا من العجز قابعاً

وما أنا في همي إلى اللّه قابع

God decreed that I live secluded through incapacity;

yet in my aspiration toward God I am not secluded.

إذا لمت نفسي أقنعتني قيودها

وما أنا دون النصر للّه قانع

When I reproach my soul, its fetters persuade me;

but I am not content with anything short of aiding God's cause.

وما نصرتي بالقول والقول تشتفي

من الغيظ لولا دون عزمي موانع

My support would not be merely words—words bring relief

from anger—were obstacles not barring my resolve.

إلى اللّه أشكو حائلاً صد همتي

فعشت كما عاش الجبان الموادع

To God I complain of a barrier that blocked my aspiration,

so that I lived as a peace-seeking coward lives.

أأحيا كسير النفس والسيف عانيا

وسيف الأباضيين في الخصم شارع

Shall I live broken in spirit, my sword captive,

while the Ibadis' sword is leveled at the foe?

على أنني إن هدني الحزن هدة

ونهنهني مما قضى اللّه قادع

Yet even if sorrow crushes me utterly,

and a restraint from God's decree holds me back,

ليعلم قصدي عالم الجهر والخفا

وللعبد ما ينوي وإن سد مانع

let the Knower of the open and hidden know my purpose:

the servant has what he intends, though a barrier blocks him.

لعل ختام القصد نيل موفق

يهيئه حول من اللّه واسع

Perhaps the culmination of my purpose will be a divinely aided attainment,

prepared by ample power from God.

فأضحى بتهليل السيوف مهلالاً

متى حيعلت نحو الجهاد الوقائع

Then I may proclaim God's oneness amid the swords' proclamations,

whenever battles cry, 'Come to jihad!'

ويرضى الهي في مواطن حربه

قيامي إليه والرماح كوارع

And may my God approve, in the fields of His war,

my standing for Him while the spears drink deep.

لعلمي إن لاقيت حتفي مجاهداً

فذلك فوز عشت فيه أنازع

For I know that, if I meet my death striving in jihad,

that is the triumph for which I have struggled throughout my life.

وإن وقوع الموت للمرء موضع

وليس لموت كالجهاد مواضع

Death's occurrence has a place for each person,

but no setting for death is like jihad.

وما مات من ألقى إلى اللّه نفسه

وإن حولت وسط اللحود المضاجع

One who casts his soul toward God has not died,

though his resting places are moved into the graves.

وأي رجاء بعد ستين حجة

لعيش وهل ماض من العمر راجع

What hope of life remains after sixty years?

Does any departed portion of life return?

فهلا انقطاع العمر للّه لحظة

أحق به والعمر يبليه قاطع

Would not life's ending for God, even for a moment,

be worthier of it, while a severing force wears life away?

ولم يبق منه غير فضلة ساغب

سيخطفها من طائر الموت واقع

Nothing remains of it but a hungry person's leftover morsel,

which a swooping bird of death will snatch.

وأمنيتي في بيعها من إلهها

بسوق جهاد حيث تزكو البضائع

My wish is to sell it to its God

in the market of jihad, where merchandise flourishes.

على اللّه احسان الخواتم أنه

إذا شاء بين العبد والخير جامع

To God belongs the granting of good endings; He,

when He wills, brings the servant and goodness together.