1. زَمَنَ التّقى اغْرُبْ ما عليك مَلاَمُ

    تَقْوَى المُتيَّمِ لَوْعَةٌ وغرامُ

    O age of piety, depart; no blame rests on you.

    The piety of the love-stricken is burning longing and passion.

  2. مَنْ يرتجي عَدْناً بفضل تنسّكٍ

    فالنّاس في سُبُلِ الهوى أقسام

    Some hope for Eden through ascetic devotion;

    For people follow different paths of love.

  3. وتَوَلُّعي بمحمّدٍ وبآله

    حظّي ويا كلَّ الحظوظ سَلاَمُ

    My ardent love for Muhammad and his family

    Is my share; farewell, all other shares!

  4. قل للعواذل فيهمُ أحسنتمُ

    إنّ الملامة في الغرام مُدام

    Tell those who reproach me over them, ‘Well done!’

    For in passionate love, reproach is aged wine.

  5. حاولتمُ بالعذل نزعَ محبّةٍ

    ثَمِلَتْ بها يوم الخطاب نِدَامُ

    You tried through reproach to uproot a love

    On which drinking companions grew drunk on the day of the address.

  6. عاقرتها صِرْفاً كما شاء الهوى

    ومزاجُها يا حبّذا الأنغامُ

    I drank it unmixed, as love willed;

    And its admixture—how delightful!—was melody.

  7. فهناك لي طاب الشّرابُ ولم يكن

    في كأسه لَغْوٌ ولا آثام

    There the drink pleased me, and there was

    No idle talk or sin in its cup.

  8. إن تطلبوا التّقليد منّي في الهوى

    فَلِمِثْلِيَ التَّقْلِيدُ فيه حَرَامُ

    If you ask me for imitation in love,

    For one like me, imitation in it is forbidden.

  9. وضحت فصحّت للفؤاد أَدِلَّةٌ

    حَجَبَتْكُمُ عن دركِهِنَّ سِقام

    Proofs became clear and stood confirmed for my heart;

    Ailments barred you from grasping them.

  10. ونظرتُها والشّمسُ دون ضيائِها

    إذا أنتمُ كَلْمى الجفونِ نِيام

    I beheld them, the sun falling short of their radiance,

    While you lay asleep, your eyelids wounded.

  11. وشممتُ عَرْفَ حديثِها وسمعتُه

    دُرّاً يغير الدُّرّ وهو نظام

    I smelled the fragrance of their discourse and heard it

    As pearls that make pearls jealous, strung in order.

  12. للّه هُمْ ومحاسنٌ خُصُّوا بها

    سَمَحَتْ بها الأيّام وهي جهام

    God be praised for them and the graces bestowed uniquely on them,

    Lavished by the days, though themselves rainless clouds.

  13. ومكارم هِمَمُ الزّمان قصيرة

    عنها وألسنُهنّ والأقلام

    And noble virtues: the aspirations of time fall short

    Of them, as do their tongues and pens.

  14. ماذا يقال لهم إذا قالوا بنا

    مُحِيَ الضّلالُ وكُسِّرَ الأصنام

    What can be said to them when they say, ‘Through us

    Error was erased and idols were shattered;

  15. مَنْ يَتَّبِعْ آثَارَنَا فَلَهُ الهنا

    دارُ النَّعِيمِ ودينُه الإسلام

    Whoever follows our footsteps shall have bliss—

    The abode of delight—and Islam shall be his faith’?

  16. هذا هو الشرّف الأثيل فَلُذْ به

    لا ما سواه فإِنّه أوهام

    This is deep-rooted nobility; seek refuge in it,

    Not in anything else, for all else is illusion.

  17. واسنَنْفِذِ المقدورَ في تعظيمهم

    قَوْمٌ أَجَلَّهُمُ الكتابُ عِظَامُ

    And exhaust all that lies in your power in honoring them:

    A mighty people whom the Book has exalted.

  18. واصْرِفْ لنجلهمُ السّعيدِ محمّدٍ

    وجهَ الثنا تَسْعَدْ لكَ الأيّامُ

    And turn toward their blessed scion, Muhammad,

    The face of praise; your days will be happy.

  19. ذاك الذي وضحت محاسن نوره

    نورُ النبوّة واضحٌ بسّامُ

    That is he whose light's beauties have shone clear;

    The light of prophethood is radiant and ever-smiling.

  20. وتبينت في وجهه نَضَّارة

    إنّ السّعادة نضرة وكلام

    And radiance has appeared upon his face;

    Indeed, felicity is radiance and speech.

  21. جلّ الذي سوّاه حُسْناً خالصاً

    فكأنّه لم تَحْوِهِ الأرحام

    Exalted is He who fashioned him as pure beauty,

    As though wombs had never contained him.

  22. لا تعجبوا فجمال أرباب العبا

    لجمال مولانا السّعيدِ قوام

    Do not marvel: the beauty of the People of the Cloak

    Is the foundation of our blessed master's beauty.

  23. أو تحسبوه جهالةً شمسَ الضُّحَى

    ولها على نقض الغروب ظلام

    Nor ignorantly deem him the midmorning sun,

    For darkness overtakes it when sunset undoes its light.

  24. أو تظلموه بجعله بحرَ النّدى

    والبحرُ رشح أنامل وسجام

    Nor wrong him by making him a sea of generosity,

    For the sea is but the seepage and outpouring of fingertips.

  25. ولئن حوى كلَّ العلوم فإنّما

    من بيتهم حَظِيَتْ بها الأعلام

    And if he indeed encompasses all the sciences, it is only

    From their house that eminent scholars received them.

  26. فمتى تَرِدْ صَفْوَ المعارفِ منهمُ

    فاشرب فما بعد الشّراب هُيَامُ

    So whenever you come to draw pure knowledge from them,

    Drink, for after this draught no burning thirst remains.

  27. واقْبِسْ مَصُونَ السِّرِّ من نَفَحَاتِهِمْ

    فهمُ فقط دون الأنام كِرَامُ

    And draw the guarded secret from their breaths,

    For they alone, of all humankind, are noble.

  28. صلّى الإله عَلَيْهِمُ وِفْقَ الرِّضَى

    مِنْ بَعْدِ مَنْ هو فاتحٌ وخِتَامُ

    May God bless them in keeping with His good pleasure,

    After him who is the opener and the seal,

  29. ما حَرَّكَتْ ريحُ الغرام سواكناً

    وترنّمت فوقَ الغصون حَمَامُ

    As long as the wind of love sets still things stirring,

    And doves warble above the branches.