الفسح يطلب منكم الكرماني

ليحج أو ليسيح في البلدان

Al-Kirmani asks you for leave,

to make the pilgrimage or roam through the lands.

قد كان صوفيا فليس بقاطن

في بلدة مع أهلها القطان

He has been a Sufi, so he is no settled resident

in a town among its resident folk.

بل رأيه التطواف من أرض إلى

أرض ومن وطن إلى أوطان

Rather, his wish is to roam from land to

land, and from a homeland to other homelands.

ولو أنه يهوى المقام بأرضكم

لأقام فيها في نعيم جنان

And if he loved to dwell in your land,

he would dwell there in the bliss of gardens.

لكنه يخشى من الفقهاء ما

يخشاه كل طلا من الذوبان

But he fears from the jurists what

every fawn fears from wolves.

فإذا رأى اليمن السعيد كجنة

ألفى بها الفقهاء كالنيران

So when he sees Happy Yemen as a paradise,

he finds its jurists like fires.

وجحيمه منهم أضر عليه من

حر الجحيم ومن حميم آن

And his hell at their hands is worse for him than

the heat of Hell and fiercely boiling water.

ومن ادعى منهم له حبا فما

هو غير حب الهر للفيران

And if any of them professes love for him, it is nothing

but the cat's love for mice.

أولو التفقه ليس يبرح عندهم

لأولي التصوف أعظم الشنئان

Those versed in jurisprudence never cease to harbor

the deepest hatred for those devoted to Sufism.

فئتان مختلفان جدا هذه

مثل الضباب وتلك كالنينان

Two utterly different factions: this one

is like desert lizards, and that one like fish.

يحمى وطيس الحرب بينهما ولا

طعن ولا ضرب بغير لسان

The furnace of war grows hot between them, yet there is no

thrusting or striking except with the tongue.

كل يكفر خصمه ويراه من

حزب الضلال وزمرة الشيطان

Each declares his opponent an unbeliever and sees him as one of

the party of error and Satan's band.

فترى الفقيه يود للصوفي أن

يفني وكل غير ربي فاني

So you see the jurist wishing that the Sufi should

perish—and all but my Lord must perish.

ما حجر إسمعيل يقضي غير أن

يغدو الذبيح محمد الكرماني

Isma'il's mind decrees nothing except that

Muhammad al-Kirmani become the sacrificial victim.

كم ود إسماعيل إسحاقا له

أو ذبحه بيدي عدون شاني

How often Isma'il wished him banishment,

or slaughter at the hands of a hateful enemy.

ما زال يسعى جاهداً في قتله

لا وانياً عنه ولا متوان

He has never ceased striving earnestly to kill him,

neither wearying of it nor slackening.

ويسير الأشعار فيه محرضا

فيها عليه لكل ذي سلطان

And he circulates verses about him, inciting

through them every holder of power against him.

ويذب أقوالا تبيت سواريا

منه إلى الأمراء والغلمان

And he sends forth sayings that travel through the night

from him to the emirs and the pages.

ما هنأ السلطا إلا بالهجا

لمحمد ذاك الضعيف العاني

He never congratulated the sultan except with invective

against Muhammad, that weak, afflicted man.

كم قال فيه أهاجيا واتى بها

مدحا لكل خليفة وتهاني

How often he composed lampoons about him and brought them

as praise and congratulations to every caliph.

كم عصب الفقها عليه مبالغاً

في ذاك ذا جد وذا إمعان

How often he rallied the jurists against him, going to extremes

in this, with earnestness and relentless persistence.

في دولة المنصور كان اباده

لولا وقته حماية الرحمن

In al-Mansur's reign he would have destroyed him,

had not the All-Merciful's protection shielded him.

قد كان شب عليه أعظم وقدة

حميت على قاصي الورى والداني

He had kindled against him the fiercest blaze,

which burned against mankind, far and near.

كانت لعمري وقدة مشبوبة

بهبوب ريح الظلم والعدوان

By my life, it was a blaze kindled

by the blowing wind of injustice and aggression.

كادت تذيب بحرها أرواحنا

من قبل أن تدنو إلى الأبدان

It nearly melted our souls with its heat,

before it even drew near our bodies.

كم حرقت من صوف صوفي وهل

للصوف من بقيا مع النيران

How much Sufi wool it burned! And can

any wool survive amid the fires?

قد كان إسمعيل مسعرها ولم

يجعل لها حطبا سوى الكرمان

Isma'il had been its stoker, and had not

given it any firewood but al-Kirmani.

لكن وقاه الله جل جلاله

من حرها المشبوب واللهبان

But God—exalted be His majesty—protected him

from its raging heat and blaze.

والآن قد جدت عزيمته على

سفر يذيب ركائب الركبان

And now his resolve has grown firm for

a journey that melts the riders' mounts,

هرباً من القوم الأولى يسعون في

إهلاكه في السر والإعلان

fleeing those people who strive for

his destruction, in secret and openly.

فامنن له بالفسح يا ملك الورى

فالفسح فيه له أجل أمان

So favor him with leave, O king of mankind,

for in that leave lies his greatest safety.

واذن له بالسير كي ينجو به

من وقع كل مهند وسنان

And permit him to travel, so that through it he may escape

the stroke of every Indian sword and spear-point.

فالفسح منك له عطاء صائن

للنفس منه فجد له بصيان

For leave from you is a gift to him that protects

his life from that man; so grant him protection.

وارح على الفقهاء منه بسيره

وعليه منهم يا فتى قحطان

And by his departure give the jurists relief from him,

and him relief from them, O youth of Qahtan.

واحسم بهذا الرأي داء تشاجر

قد كان يسقم مهجة الإيمان

And with this decision cut away the disease of strife,

which has been sickening the heart of faith.

لا زلت تفعل كل مصلحة ولا

برحت يمينك ذات جود هاني

May you never cease to do every good deed, and may

your right hand never cease its joy-giving generosity.