فضل الإمام أمام الكل مشهود

وبحره العذب للقصاد ممدود

The Imam's excellence is witnessed before all.

And his sweet-water sea lies open to those who seek him.

سفينة العلم أضحت فيه جارية

شراعها من نسيج الشرع مقدود

The ship of knowledge has come to sail upon it;

Its sail is cut from the fabric of sacred law.

رحب الرحاب منيع الجاه ذو كرم

خصب الجناب لكل الناس معهود

His courts are spacious, his standing unassailable; he is generous.

His precincts are fertile; all people know him.

روض بأفنانه الأزهار زاهيةٌ

وظلّه وارف في الكون ممدود

A garden whose flowers shine brightly on its branches,

And its abundant shade stretches across the universe.

قطوفه بثمار العلم دانية

فكل غصن بطلح الفضل منضود

Its clusters, bearing the fruits of knowledge, hang within reach;

So every bough is laden with clustered bananas of excellence.

حبر العلوم وبحر الفضل زاخره

وكعبة لذوى الحاجات مقصود

A master of the sciences, a sea of excellence in full flood,

And a Kaaba sought out by those in need.

هذا الإمام همام لا يضارعه

بعد النبي وآل البيت موجود

This Imam is a man of great resolve, rivaled by none

Among all beings, after the Prophet and his Household.

من هذه القبة الشماء قد نبع الش

رع الشريف وفاض الفضل والجود

From this lofty dome has welled forth the

Noble sacred law, and bounty and generosity have overflowed.

يا قوم إن الإمام الشافعي له

ذكر جميل بحسن الرأي محمود

O people, indeed Imam al-Shafi'i has

A fair name, praised for sound judgment.

لكن حساده في الناس قد كثروا

إذ صاحب الفضل بين الناس محسود

But his enviers among the people have grown numerous,

For a man of excellence is envied among people.

كم بات يطوى بساط الأرض في سفر

لنصرة الشرع لا يثنيه مجهود

How often he spent the night traveling, folding up earth's carpet,

To champion sacred law, undeterred by exhaustion.

كم بات يستنبط الأحكام منفردا

وكم له في ظلام الليل تسهيد

How often he spent the night deriving rulings alone,

And how often he was sleepless in the darkness of night.

وكم تجافى بجنب عن مضاجعه

وكم له في بناء الشرع تشييد

And how often he drew his side away from his beds,

And how much he strengthened the edifice of sacred law.

وكم أفاد وكم أفتى وكم نفعت

علومه وسداد الرأى مشهود

And how much he taught, how often he gave rulings, how much good

His learning brought; his sound judgment is attested.

لذا دعوه بقاضى الشرع من صغر

إذ كان في الحكم لا يعروه ترديد

Thus they called him judge of sacred law from an early age,

For in judgment he was never beset by hesitation.

وكم ملوك على أعتابه وقفت

واستمطر الفضل منه البيض والسود

And how many kings stood at his thresholds,

And white and black alike sought a rain of bounty from him.

أم الإمام من الأعلام كم ولدت

فكل حبر لهذى الأم مولود

The Imam's al-Umm—how many luminaries she has borne!

So every learned scholar is a child of this mother.

وأرضعت بلبان الفضل كل فتى

بين الرجال ذوى الألباب معدود

And she has suckled with the milk of excellence every youth

Numbered among men endowed with understanding.

أم لها المنزل الأسمى فمقدها

فوق العلا بمناط النجم معقود

A mother of the loftiest station; her stature

Is bound above the heights, where the star hangs.

فيها أصول وفقة مع أدلته

فيها حديث وتفسير وتوحيد

Within her are foundational principles and jurisprudence with its proofs;

Within her are prophetic tradition, exegesis, and the teaching of divine oneness.

كالروض يزهو ابتهاجا في محاسنه

منه الثمار ومنه الند والعود

Like a garden, it flourishes joyfully in its beauty.

From it come fruits, and from it fragrant incense and aloeswood.

هذا هو القرشي الحبر من شهدت

له الأحاديث ثم السادة الصيد

This is the Qurashi scholar, for whom witness was borne

By the prophetic traditions, and then by the noble lords.

له المكارم لا يحصى لها عدد

فمنه يرجى الندى والفضل والجود

His noble qualities cannot be numbered;

So from him one hopes for largesse, bounty, and generosity.

من احتمى بحماه الرحب كان له

عز وسعد وإقبال وتمحيد

Whoever takes shelter in his spacious sanctuary shall have

Honor, happiness, prosperity, and praise.

هذا ابن عم رسول الله من ظهرت

به العلوم وعز العلم مفقود

This is the cousin of God's Messenger, through whom

The sciences appeared, while learning's honor lay lost.

بالله زوروا ولا تصغوا لمعترض

فكل معترض يا قوم مطرود

By God, visit him, and do not heed an objector;

For every objector, O people, is cast out.

فتلك طائفة أبصارهم عميت

فحظهم دون خلق الله منكود

For that is a band whose eyes have gone blind,

So their lot, below that of God's creatures, is ill-fated.

لكن زيارتنا لله خالصة

وذلك الجمع بالإخلاص محشود

But our visit is purely for God,

And that gathering is assembled with sincere devotion.

فالحظهم بالرضا واقبل زيارتهم

إنا ضيوف وهذا يومكم عيد

So look upon them with favor and accept their visit;

Indeed, we are guests, and this day of yours is a festival.

يا رب بلغ رجال الشرع مطلبهم

فما لفضلك حد قط محدود

O Lord, let the men of sacred law attain their goal;

For Your bounty has no fixed limit, ever.