أمسى ضريحك موطن الغفران

ومحل وفد ملائك الرحمان

Your tomb has become the abode of forgiveness,

And the lodging of a delegation of the Merciful's angels.

حيا المهيمن منك روحا مذ علت

حييت بذاك الروح والريحان

The Guardian greeted your spirit as it ascended;

It was welcomed with that repose and sweet basil.

وتبوأت غرف الجنان وجوزيت

فيها على الإحسان بالإحسان

And it settled in the Gardens' chambers and was rewarded

There for goodness with goodness.

وتلقيت بتحية وأتت لها

تحف الجنان على يدي رضوان

And it was received with a greeting, and to it came

The Gardens' gifts at the hands of Ridwan.

واستبشرت بقدومها أملاكها

وسعى لها رضوان بالرضوان

And their angels rejoiced at its arrival,

And Ridwan hastened to it with divine favor.

روح لها حور الجنان تشوقت

حبا لها كتشوق الولدان

A spirit for which the Gardens' houris yearned,

In love for it, as did the youthful attendants.

كانت لها الدنيا محلا أولا

والجنة العليا محلا ثان

This world had been its first abode,

And the highest Garden its second.

لا شيء بعدك يا علي من الورى

حسن بعين بصيرتي وعياني

Nothing among mankind, after you, O Ali,

Seems fair to my inward vision and my outward sight.

سقيا لمعهدك الذي قد شاقني

ومحل منزلك الذي أبكاني

May rain water your old abode, which has stirred my longing,

And the site of your dwelling, which has made me weep.

قبر عليه من العلوم مهابة

تبدو وأنس تلاوة القرآن

A grave upon which an awe born of learning

Appears, with the solace of Qur'an recitation.

ناديته فأجابني بعلومه

مستبشرا فكأنه ناداني

I called to it, and it answered me with its learning,

Rejoicing, as though it had called to me.

من للمذاهب والمواهب عندما

يخشى ظهور الفقر والحرمان

Who will uphold the schools of law and generous giving when

The onset of poverty and deprivation is feared?

ومدارس العلم التي قد أصبحت

وكأنهم دواوس البنيان

And the schools of learning, which have now become

As though they were 'tramplers of buildings' [reading uncertain].

من بعد ما قد كان في أفلاكها

شمسا يشار لنحوها بنيان

After he had been within their celestial spheres

A sun toward which people pointed [final word: 'building'; reading uncertain].

يأبى الجواب فما يراجع هيبة

والسائلون نواكس الأذقان

He declines to answer; none presses him, out of awe,

And the questioners keep their chins bowed.

ما خف فوق صراطه إلا وقد

ثقلت له الحسنات في الميزان

He passed lightly over his Sirat only after

His good deeds had weighed heavily in the Balance.

في حالتي حفظ الشريعة والندى

سيف على الجاني وروض الجاني

In his two roles—guarding sacred law and showing generosity—

A sword against the wrongdoer, and a garden for the fruit-gatherer.

إن صال وقت البحث قلنا هكذا

فليفعل الأقران بالأقران

When he charged forth in debate, we said: 'Thus

Let peers deal with their peers!'

إن أجريت مستنبطات علومه

وقف البرية موقف الإذعان

When the deductions of his learning were put forth,

All mankind took their stand in submission.

كم شبهة كالليل يعدو لبسها

فيردها كالصبح بالبرهان

How many a doubt, dark as night, whose confusion swept forth,

He made clear as dawn by proof!

أبكيك يوم تنازع الخصمين في

شك يحار بأمره الخصمان

I weep for you on the day two litigants contend over

A doubt whose nature leaves both bewildered.

يا شمس طال الليل بعد مغيبها

كيف الصباح وأنت في الأكفان

O sun, the night has lengthened since your setting;

How can morning come while you are in shrouds?

يا ثاني الفجرين بل يا ثالث القمرين

بل يا واحد الأزمان

O second of the two dawns—nay, O third beside the two moons,

Nay, O peerless one of all ages!

يمضي الجديد من الزمان وحزننا

باق على قدم الزمان الفاني

The newness of time passes, while our grief

Endures as fleeting time grows old.

قف بالقبور وناد فيها نادبا

من كان في شغل عن الحدثان

Stand by the graves and call among them, mourning

Those who were preoccupied, heedless of time's calamities.

أين الذين إذا هم عقدوا الحبى

حلوا بأرفع رتبة ومكان

Where are those who, when they tied their sitting-bands,

Occupied the loftiest rank and place?

قوم إذا حضروا مجالس علمهم

حكمت عمائمهم على التيجان

Men who, when they attended their assemblies of learning,

Had turbans that ruled over crowns.

قم باكيا متأوها مسترجعا

لمصاب هذا العالم الرباني

Rise weeping, groaning, and saying, 'To God we belong and return,'

At the loss of this godly scholar.

أعظم بيوم مصابه من مصرع

في مصر حل بسائر البلدان

How grievous the day of his loss—a death

In Egypt that struck every land!

حبر له بالشام أعظم موقع

ساق العداء إلى شج حران

A scholar of the highest standing in al-Sham,

Who brought foes to grief in Harran [reading uncertain].

أدى البريد نعيه فيها فيا

فضل الأصم على ذوي الآذان

The courier delivered news of his death there—oh,

What an advantage the deaf have over those with ears!

أعزز علي بأن أصوغ رثاء من

كان المديح لبابه من شاني

How hard for me to fashion an elegy for one

To whose door I was accustomed to offer praise.

أهدي إليه طيبات تحية

من عبده القاصي المحل الداني

I offer him the sweetest greetings,

From his servant, far in dwelling yet near.

وأزور بالتسليم تربة قبره

متتابع العبرات والأشجان

And I visit his grave's earth with salutations of peace,

With tears and sorrows coming one after another.

قبر لثمت تراه فتعرفت

في تربه الأنفاس عرف جنان

A grave I kissed—you see it [reading uncertain]—and then

My breath recognized in its soil the fragrance of gardens.

لا زال عفو الله في أرجائه

هامي السحائب دائم الهملان

May God's pardon ever remain throughout its precincts,

Its clouds pouring, its downpour unceasing.