1. استغفر الله إن الله يغفر لي

    ما كان مني من ذنبٍ ومن زلل

    I seek God's forgiveness; surely God forgives me

    Whatever sins and slips have come from me.

  2. لقد حباني بخيرٍ لستُ أعرفه

    ما خاب فيه وفي إحسانه أملي

    He has indeed bestowed on me a goodness I do not know;

    My hope in Him and in His kindness has not failed.

  3. إني اعتمدت عليه في تصرفنا

    ما كان من خلقي فيه ومن عملي

    I have relied on Him in our conduct,

    In whatever pertains to my nature therein and my deeds.

  4. ما كان لله من سكم ومن حكم

    فإنّ تكوينه عند الحقيقة لي

    Whatever belongs to God of [unclear word] and judgment—

    Its bringing-into-being, in truth, belongs to me.

  5. لله سرٌّ ومن أسمائه ظهرت

    أحكامه ليس من شمسٍ ولا زُحل

    God has a secret; and from His names appeared

    His decrees—not from the sun, nor from Saturn.

  6. وعندما اتصلت أنواره وبدتْ

    أنوارها في على الأكوانِ والسفل

    And when His lights joined, and there appeared

    Their lights in the heights of the worlds and the depths,

  7. ترتب الحكم منها في العماء وفي

    عرش استواء وفي الأفلاك والدول

    The governing order arose from them in the Cloud, and in

    A throne of enthronement, and in the spheres and cycles.

  8. منها بروجٌ أبانتها منازلها

    مع الدراري التي تجري إلى أَجَل

    Among them are zodiacal signs, revealed by their stations,

    Along with the bright stars that run toward an appointed end.

  9. أعطت لكل مقامٍ منه مدّته

    منها سريعٌ وما يمشي على مهل

    They allotted each station within it its duration;

    Among them are swift ones and those that move at leisure.

  10. لذاك قيل بأن الدهر يحكمنا

    عن إذن خالقه في عالم المثل

    For that reason it was said that Time rules us,

    By its Creator's permission, in the realm of images.

  11. رجلَّ قدراً فلم يضرب له مثل

    وليس يعرفه عقلٌ بلا مِثل

    [Exalted] in rank, no likeness was set forth for Him;

    Nor can an intellect know Him without a likeness.

  12. أعطتك أدواره علماً بسيرته

    في خلقه وبما قد كان في الأزل

    Its cycles have given you knowledge of His way

    In His creation, and of what was in beginningless eternity.

  13. به تسمى الذي قام الوجود به

    سبحانه جلَّ عن فكرِ وعن ملل

    The One through whom existence stands named Himself by it.

    Glory be to Him, exalted above thought and tedium.

  14. لا يرتضي من وجودِ الخلق غير فتى

    يأتي إليه مع الأملاك في ظلل

    Of all created being, He is pleased with none but a youth

    Who comes to Him with the angels within canopies of shade.

  15. لكونه باسمه الله يزينه

    علامه بالذي فيه من الحلل

    Because he bears His name, 'Allah,' he is adorned

    By the One who knows him fully, with the robes within him.

  16. مسارعاً سابقاً والأصل يعضده

    بقوله خُلق الإنسانُ من عَجَل

    Hastening, outstripping, while the Origin supports him

    With His saying: 'Man was created of haste.'

  17. يقول ما منتهى الآمالِ يا أملي

    ما لي بكم أمل في غير ذي أمل

    He says: 'What is the utmost reach of hopes, O my Hope?

    In you, I have hope in none but one who has hope.'

  18. أمّا المسيحُ الذي يفني دجاجلكم

    وهم ثلاثون لم تبرحْ ولم تزل

    As for the Messiah who annihilates your Dajjals—

    And they are thirty—you never ceased, never stopped,

  19. حتى ظهرت فذابوا كالرصاصِ يرى

    تذيبه النار بالأبصار والمقل

    Until you appeared; then they melted like lead seen

    Being melted by fire, before eyes and eyeballs.

  20. مشت على السنةِ البيضاء سنتاً

    مشي النبيين والأملاك والرُسُل

    It walked upon the white Sunnah, [unclear word],

    With the tread of the prophets, angels and messengers.

  21. وما أنا بنبيٍّ لا و لا ملكٌ

    ولا رسولٌ وأرجو أن أرى بِوَلي

    And I am no prophet—no—nor an angel,

    Nor a messenger; and I hope to be regarded as a saint.

  22. إني لمن أهلٍ َنْ يعلو السبيلُ به

    كما علوتُ بها من سائر السبل

    I am indeed one worthy through whom the path may rise,

    Just as I rose through it above all other paths.

  23. سبيل أحمدَ خير الناسِ كلهم

    من ساد مجداً على حافٍ ومنتعلِ

    The path of Ahmad, the best of all mankind,

    Who was preeminent in glory over barefoot and shod alike.

  24. ذاك الإمام الذي صجَّت سيادته

    على الجميع بيومِ الحادث الجلل

    That is the imam whose sovereignty [was affirmed]

    Over all, on the day of the momentous event.

  25. أنت المعينُ لي في كلِّ قافية

    من المعارفِ في مدح وفي غزل

    You are my helper in every rhyme

    Of knowledge, in praise and in love poetry.

  26. والله ما نظرتْ عيني إلى أحد

    إلا رأيتك فيه واضعاً حيلي

    By God, my eye never looked upon anyone

    Without seeing You in him, laying aside my devices,

  27. وقبله ومع المنظور في قرن

    وبعده لست أبغي عنه من حول

    And before him, and paired with what is beheld,

    And after him; I seek no departure from Him.

  28. أقول بالشرط فيه لا أقول كما

    قالت أوائلنا يا علة العلل

    I speak of Him in terms of condition; I do not say, as

    Our predecessors said: 'O Cause of causes!'

  29. الله أعظم أنْ يعطي هويته

    بالذاتِ معلومها والذاتُ لم تزل

    God is too great for His identity to yield

    By essence its known object; and the Essence has ever been.

  30. لكنَّ أسماءَه الحسنى حقائقها

    هي التي طلبته وهي من قبلي

    But His most beautiful Names—their realities

    Are what called for it, and they come from my side.

  31. هذا الذي قلته الشرع جاء به

    كذا رويناه عن أسلافنا الأول

    This that I have said is what the sacred Law brought.

    Thus we have transmitted it from our earliest forebears.