ليوم واحد لك في الصيام

يفي بصيام غيرك ألف عام

Surely a single day of fasting on your part

equals a thousand years of fasting by another.

وما أحد بصوم سواه يجزى

وأنت تثاب في صوم الأنام

No one is rewarded for another's fasting,

yet you are rewarded for the fasting of humankind.

وأنت لمن يصوم ومن يصلى

شريك في الصلاة وفي الصيام

To those who fast and those who pray, you are

a partner in prayer and in fasting.

ومن للمرء أن يحيى الليالي

ويكتب أجره لك بالتمام

And who could secure that a man keep vigil through the nights,

and his reward be recorded for you in full?

لقد صابرت هذا الشهر فيما

أمرت به مصابرة الكرام

Indeed, you persevered throughout this month in what

you were commanded, with the perseverance of the noble.

ظللت به نهارك في صيام

مكابدة وليلك في قيام

During it, you spent your day fasting,

striving hard, and your night standing in prayer.

أقمت شعار دين الله فيه

بما أحييت من هذا المقام

You upheld the rites of God's faith within it,

through the life you brought to this place of prayer.

جمعت على الصلاة تصف فيه

ذوى الألباب والهمم السوامي

You gathered for prayer, drawing up in rows there

men of understanding and lofty aspirations:

فمن بحر من العلماء طام

ومن ليث من العظماء حامي

one, among the scholars, a surging sea;

another, among the great, a protecting lion.

وقد لبسوا السكينة واستلاثوا

جلابيب الحيا والإِحتشام

They had donned serenity and wrapped themselves

in cloaks of modesty and decorum.

فلا الأسماع تستملى حديثا

ولا الأفواه تنطق بالكلام

No ears sought out conversation,

and no mouths uttered any words.

وقد جمعت شملهم كعقد

جمعن به الفرائد في نظام

You had brought them together like a necklace,

in which choice pearls were gathered on an ordered string.

وقامت للصلاة بهم صفوف

تغص لها الأماكن في الزحام

And rows of them stood for prayer,

the places packed tight with their throng.

وقامت حولك القراء تتلو

حكيم الذكر والآى العظام

Around you the reciters stood, reciting

the wise Remembrance and the mighty verses,

مرجعة بأصوات حسان

مغردة كتغريد الحمام

chanting melodiously in beautiful voices,

warbling like the cooing of doves.

وقد أبكت مواعظهم وأمست

جراحات القلوب بها دوامي

Their admonitions brought tears, and

the wounds of hearts lay bleeding from them.

مواعظ وقعها في القلب يحكي

لما ضمنته وقع السهام

Admonitions whose impact on the heart resembles,

because of what they contain, the impact of arrows;

وذكرى لا يضل بها وحكم

يبين به الحلال من الحرام

and a reminder by which none goes astray, and judgment

by which the lawful is distinguished from the forbidden.

وقد صبت به البركات صبا

عليك وفضن كالديم السجام

And blessings were poured through it in showers

upon you, overflowing like steady, streaming rains.

ولاحمن القبول عليك نور

تضيء به دياجير الظلام

And a light of acceptance shone upon you,

by which the deepest darkness is illumined.

وشفعك الإله وأنت أهل

لذلك في بنى حام وسام

And may God accept your intercession—you are worthy

of that—for the descendants of Ham and Shem.

ابا العباس هذا الشهر ولى

ببهجته وأذن بانصرام

O Abu al-Abbas, this month has departed

with its splendor, and announced its close.

وقد أودعته حمدا وأجراً

غنمت صنيعه أى اغتنام

You have stored within it praise and reward;

you reaped its bounty—what a rich gain!

فوا أسفا على تلك الليالي

وطيب العيش فيها والمقام

Ah, what sorrow for those nights,

and the sweetness of living and abiding in them!

طواها في يديه الدهر طيا

فكانت مثل أحلام المنام

Time folded them away in its two hands,

so they became like dreams in sleep.

رضعت ثديها وفطمت عنها

فما أدنى الرضاع من الفطام

I suckled at their breast and was weaned from them;

how close is suckling to weaning!

نودعها وفي الأحشا عليها

ذبالات توقد باضطرام

We bid them farewell, while within us, in grief for them,

wicks burn with fierce flame.

فيا شهر التلاوة قد تدانى

فراقك وانقضى عقد الذمام

O month of recitation, now draws near

your departure, and the covenant's bond has ended.

رحلت فليت شعري هل لصدع

رميت به القولب من التئام

You have departed—would that I knew: can the rift

you inflicted upon hearts ever heal?

على أنا سيجمعنا التلاقى

إذا عشنا ولكن بعد عام

Yet reunion will bring us together,

if we live—but only after a year.

وهذى ليلة القدر افتتحنا

مواهبها بآيات الختام

And this is the Night of Decree; we have opened

its bounties with the concluding verses.

مباركة يفك الله فيها

رقاب المكثرين من الأثام

A blessed night, in which God frees

the necks of those who have committed many sins.

فكم من دعوة رفعت لداع

فنال بها البعيد من المرام

How many a prayer has been raised for a supplicant,

who through it attained a far-off goal!

وكم خرجت تواقيع ببشرى

على أيدى الملئكة الكرام

And how many decrees have gone forth with glad tidings

at the hands of the noble angels!

وابواب السماء مفتحات

لمن يدعو الإله من الأنام

And the gates of heaven stand open

to anyone among humankind who calls upon God.

فمدوا بالدعا الأيدي إليه

لدولته السعيدة بالدوام

So stretch out your hands toward Him in supplication,

for the continuance of his fortunate reign.

فان بقاء دولته بقاء

لافشاء التحية والسلام

For the continuance of his rule is the continuance

of greetings and peace spread abroad.

فإن دوام ملك أبي حسين

شفاء للقلوب من السقام

For the continuance of Abu Husayn's rule

is a cure for the sickness of hearts.

يخالط حبه الأشباح منا

ويجرى في العروق وفي العظام

Love for him mingles with our bodies

and flows through the veins and through the bones.

فحب سواه في الاحشاء داء

وغرس وداده في القلب نامى

For love of anyone else is a sickness in the inward parts,

and the plant of love for him flourishes in the heart.