حزن يفور ومهجة تتقطع

وأسى يجيش وعبرة تتربع

Sorrow seethes, and a heart is torn apart,

and grief surges, and a tear settles.

وتأسف متردد وتلهف

متصعد وتأوه وتوجع

And recurring regret, and yearning

that mounts, and groaning, and pain,

وزفير أنفاس يرددها الأسى

كادت تقد بها الحشا والأضلع

and sighing breaths that sorrow keeps repeating—

the entrails and ribs almost split under them.

لمصيبة كل المصائب عندها

هانت ووقع منّية لا تدفع

For a calamity beside which all calamities

pale, and the blow of a death that cannot be warded off.

هي ثلمة وقعت ولا جبر لها

أبدا وشنع مكارم لا يرفع

It is a breach that has opened, with no mending for it

ever, and a blight upon noble virtues that cannot be lifted.

هذا هو الرزء العظيم وها هو ال

خطب الجسيم وذا النبأ الأفظع

This is the mighty loss, and here is the

immense calamity, and this the most appalling news.

جبل ثوى من ال حي شنوءة

وخضم بحر غار وهو المترع

A mountain from the kin of the Shanuʾah tribe has lain to rest,

and a vast sea has sunk away, though it was brimful.

كادت لمصرعه السموات العلا

فوق البسيطة من علاها تصرع

At his death, the lofty heavens almost

fell from their heights upon the earth.

من سره دفن العلوم فهكذا

دفن العلوم وهكذا فتشيع

Whoever delights in the burial of learning—thus

is learning buried, and thus borne in funeral procession.

اليوم قد مات الذي فخرت به

عوف وإبنا تبع ومرقع

Today the man has died in whom took pride

ʿAwf, the two sons of Tubbaʿ, and Murqaʿ.

اليوم مات خليفة الرحمن من

بعد النبي اللوذعي الأورع

Today the Merciful's vicegerent has died, after

the Prophet—keen-witted and most devout.

اليوم قد أودى الذي من علمه

ملأ الدفاتر والزمان الأوسع

Today he has perished, whose learning

filled the books and the vast expanse of time.

اليوم قد مات الذي أهدى الورى

لشرائع الاسلام وهو المشرع

Today he has died who guided humankind

to the laws of Islam, himself their fountainhead.

اليوم مات فتى تموت لموته

كل البلاد ومن عليها أجمع

Today a young man has died at whose death die

all the lands and everyone upon them.

اليوم مات فتى يضر وينفع

أبداً ويحفظ من يشاء ويرفع

Today a young man has died who could harm and help,

always, and protect and exalt whomever he wished.

قد كان يخدع في الاله محبة

وعن المحامد والتقى لا يخدع

He would let himself be deceived out of love for God,

but could not be lured away from praiseworthy deeds and piety.

ذو فطنة في كشف كل خفية

وذكاؤه يدني له ما يشسع

Possessed of discernment in uncovering every hidden thing,

and his intelligence brought close to him what lay far away.

قاض يرى بفؤاده ما لا يرى

بعيونه الفطن النبيه الأصمع

A judge who saw with his heart what was not seen

even by the eyes of the astute, discerning, sharp-minded.

فكأنما الخصماء في نظراته

نبل العدو لمقلتيه تتبع

As though the litigants, in his gaze,

were enemy arrows pursuing his two eyes.

وكأنما المنصوص والمكنون وال

مجموع والاجماع منه تنبع

And as though the explicit texts, the hidden knowledge, and the

collected learning and consensus sprang from him.

ففؤاده أصل الأصول وذهنه

فرع الأصول به الفروع تفرع

So his heart was the root of all principles, and his mind

their branch, through which further branches grew.

لو علمه بحر يصور ما جرى

للخضر فلك من عباب يترع

Were his learning given the form of a sea, there would be no sailing

for al-Khidr's ship through its overflowing surge.

لو زهده نور يكون لكورت

شمس النهار به وسد المطلع

Were his asceticism a light, it would fold away

the sun of day and seal the place of sunrise.

لو عزمه سيفاً يشحذ لم يزل

أبدا لهامات النوائب يقطع

Were his resolve a sword to be sharpened, it would never cease

ever cutting off the heads of calamities.

أفتى سعيد يا محمد هل إذا

ناداك والدك المدله تسمع

O Saʿid's young son, O Muhammad, would you, if

your distraught father called you, hear?

فينا نشأت كمزنة في أزمة

قشعت وكان بها الرجا لا يقشع

Among us you grew, like a rain cloud in a drought,

that dispersed, though hope in it did not disperse.

وبقاء مثلك يا محمد عادم

ظرف الزمان بك امتلا لا يوسع

And lasting life for one like you, O Muhammad, lacks

a vessel of time; filled with you, it cannot expand.

إن كان ضاق بك الزمان عن البقا

فحميد صنعك يا محمد مهيع

If time was too narrow to let you remain,

then your noble deeds, O Muhammad, form a broad road.

فكأن ذكرك بعد موتك روضة

جيدت فأصبح نبتها يتضوع

So your memory after your death is like a garden

drenched by rain, whose plants now exhale fragrance.

أبكي عليك وليس يجديني البكا

عوضا ولا أرجوك عندي ترجع

I weep for you, yet weeping brings me no

recompense, nor do I hope you will return to me.

ولقد بكتك منائر ومنابر

ودفاتر ومحابر والمرفع

And minarets and pulpits have indeed wept for you,

and books, inkwells, and the bookstand,

ومدارس ومغارس وغرائس

ونفائس في المكرمات وأربع

and schools, planting grounds, and saplings,

and treasures among noble deeds, and dwellings,

ومآثر ومفاخر وعمائر

عمّرتها وعشائر بك رُوّعوا

and glorious deeds, proud achievements, and buildings

you made flourish, and clans appalled by your loss.

فعمان بعدك مقلة قد أفقئت

هيهات بعدك نورها لا يسطع

So Oman, after you, is an eye that has been gouged out;

alas, after you, her light no longer shines.

حقاً عليك بأن تشقق جيبها

حُزناً وتخمش وجهها أو تصفع

It is your due that she rend her garment's neckline

in sorrow, and claw her face or slap it.

قد كنت حاميها بعلمك مانعاً

وسواك بعدك عاجز لا يمنع

You were her guardian, shielding her with your learning,

and others, after you, are powerless, unable to shield her.

قد كُنت ذا جدل بعلمك دونها

إِن أسند السنيُّ والمتشيع

You were a man of argument, using your learning in her defense,

whenever the Sunni and the Shiʿa partisan cited transmitted authority.

فالدين بعدك يا محمد هدمت

أركانه والحلم فهو مضيّع

So religion, after you, O Muhammad, has had

its pillars demolished, and forbearance lies forsaken.

ضعضعت أركان الأباضي والرجا

بك أشيد وكان لا يتضعضع

The pillars of the Ibadi faith are shaken; the hope

built up through you once never wavered.

دفن التقى والعلم عندك والحجى

والمكرمات ببطن لحدك أجمع

Piety, learning, and reason were buried with you,

and noble virtues, all in the depths of your grave.

فبلاقع الموتى عماراً أصبحت

وعمارة الأحياء بعدك بلقع

So the desolate tracts of the dead have become inhabited,

and the dwellings of the living, after you, a wasteland.

عجباً ثلاثة أذرع في طولها

قبراً وشبراً عرضه إذ تذرع

How wondrous: three cubits in length,

a grave, and a handspan in breadth when measured,

فيه ثوى جبل المكارم والنهى

عمت وعلمك فيه بحر مترع

within it rests a mountain of noble virtues and understanding

that spread everywhere; your learning within it is a brimful sea.

يا ليت قبرك يا محمد مقلتي

فلعلني ما أنت فيها أهجع

Would that your grave, O Muhammad, were my eye,

so perhaps, while you lay within it, I could sleep.

أبقيت لي حزناً عليك مدلها

يختار من يبلى بحزنك ينجع

You have left me bewildering grief for you;

whoever is worn down by grief for you would choose to be healed.

بي مثل ما بك ما حملت من الثرى

هذاك فالمبلى وذا فالمنجع

In me is the like of what is in you—the earth you bear:

that is what wears away, and this is what brings relief.

هيجت بعدك في البكاء حمائماً

فوق الغُصون على هديل تسجع

After your passing, you stirred doves to weeping,

upon the branches, chanting their cooing song.

وتلقنت مني الفوارق أنة

فغدت كما رجعت فيك ترجع

And the bereft she-camels learned a groan from me,

and began repeating for you the refrain that I repeated.

هذا الفراق متى اللقاء محمد

أو ما لنا قبل القيامة مطمع

This is separation—when shall we meet, Muhammad?

Or is there no hope for us before the Resurrection?

بغضت لي الأحياء بعدك إنهم

عندي فهم سم وجدك منقع

You have made the living hateful to me after you; they

are, to me, a steeped poison—by your fortune.

وأنا الغريب خلاف موتك عندهم

فكأنني في قومه أنا يوشع

After your death, I am a stranger among them,

as though I were Joshua among his people.

قد كُنت لي في الدين أخلص ناصح

فاليوم راج منك أنك تشفع

You were my sincerest counselor in religion;

so today I hope that you will intercede for me.

حببت لي هذي القبور وأهلها

فيهن أسراري عليك تذيع

You have made these graves and their inhabitants dear to me;

within them my secrets concerning you are made known.

تكبيرتان حيال قبرك حجة

بفنائه يتضرع المتضرع

Two cries of 'God is greatest' before your grave are a pilgrimage;

in its courtyard the supplicant humbly pleads.

وأنا المعزي فيك قد عز العزا

عندي عليك ففيك قلبي مولع

And I offer consolation for you, though solace has become scarce

for me in your loss, for my heart is devoted to you.

ومن العجائب ميت في ميت

ميتاً يعزي والمعزي أفجع

And among wonders is a dead man, over a dead man,

consoling a dead man, the consoler more bereft.

وإذا بنو عبد السلام بقوا لنا

فالعلم طام والأَباضي أنصع

And if the sons of ʿAbd al-Salam remain with us,

then learning overflows, and the Ibadi faith shines purer.

عياد يا ابن محمد فلك العزا

فيمن يعزي الدين فيه مورع

ʿAyyad, O son of Muhammad, to you belongs consolation

for a pious man over whose loss religion itself is consoled.

فالموت باب كلنا ولاجه

وهو السبيل بمن تمر وتسرع

For death is a door that all of us will enter,

and it is the road that carries its travelers onward in haste.

جادت على قبر الفقيه محمد

وطفاء سارية تهل وتهمع

May generous rain fall upon the grave of Muhammad the jurist,

from a dense, night-traveling cloud, pouring and streaming,

تبكي عليه بعبرة كبكائنا

لم ترق منها للكآبة أدمع

weeping for him with tears as we weep,

its tears never drying because of sorrow,

تروي ضريحاً حله ومقابرا

من حوله فيها عظام زمزع

watering the tomb he has inhabited, and graves

around it, where scattered bones lie.

ولرحمة الرحمن راحت روحه

وإلى مراتب في العلى فترفع

And to the Merciful's mercy his soul has departed,

and to ranks on high, where it is exalted.

وعليه صلى اللَه بعد نبيه ال

مختار ما رقلت أمون خرشع

And may God bless him, after His Prophet, the

Chosen One, as long as a trusty, supple-bodied she-camel trots,

وعلى الضجيعين الكرام وآله

والتابعين لهم ومن هو يتبع

and the two noble ones laid beside him, and his family,

and their followers, and whoever follows.