هذا الذي عنت له الأوجه

ليس له من خلقه مشبه

This is the One before whom faces bow.

None among His creatures resembles Him.

ولو بدا للعين في صورتي

له المقامُ الأفخم الأنزهُ

And even if He appears to the eye in my form,

His is the most majestic, most transcendent station.

قد استوى فيه وفي نفسه

العالمُ الهمهمُ والأبله

Indeed, equal in this and in His own self stand

the magnanimous scholar and the fool.

ما يعرفُ الحقَّ سوى نفسهم

إن عرفوا وكلُّ ذا كنهه

Only their own self knows the Real,

if they know; all this is His innermost essence.

فإن تجلّى لعيونِ الورى

رأوه منهم ولذا نزهوا

So if He manifests Himself to the eyes of humankind,

they see Him as one of themselves, and thus declare

أنفسهم في بعض أقوالهم

قال به أربابه الوله

themselves free of imperfection in some of their sayings.

Its masters, bewildered with love, have said so.

تنزيههم عاد عليهم كما

جاء به النص الذي نزهوا

Their declaration of transcendence rebounds upon them, just as

the text they held above reproach has stated.

وفيه قال العبد سبحانه

عليه أهل الله قد نبهوا

And in it the servant said, 'Glory be to Him';

the people of God have drawn attention to this.

فإنه ليس بأنفاسهم

ما اعتقد الناس وما شبهوا

For He is not, in their breaths,

what people have believed and what they have likened.