الله ربي والحنيفةُ ديني

فيه اعتقادي راسخٌ ويقيني

God is my Lord; the upright faith is my religion.

In it my belief and certainty are firmly rooted.

في المهد لقنت الشهادة وهي لي

زاد وتكفيني بها يكفيني

In the cradle I was taught the testimony of faith, and it is my

provision, and it suffices me; through it He suffices me.

لا أَبتغي دينا سواه فهديُهُ

بالحق والبرهان والتبيين

I seek no religion but it, for its guidance

is through truth, proof, and clear exposition.

بُعث النبي محمدٌ والناس في

غمراتِ جهلٍ في النفوس مكين

The Prophet Muhammad was sent while people were in

depths of ignorance firmly lodged in their souls.

شتى الطرائق والعقائد والهوى

غُلْفُ القلوب وراءَ كل ظنون

Diverse in paths, beliefs, and desires,

their hearts veiled, they followed every conjecture.

من مشرك وموحد في دينه

أو حائر في تيهه لا ديني

Some were polytheists, some monotheists in their faith,

or bewildered in their wandering, without religion.

يدعون دون إلههم نُصُباً لهم

صُنِعَت بكف العباد المفتون

They invoked, instead of their God, idols of their own,

fashioned by the hand of deluded worshippers.

حتى أَتاهم قارعا أَسماعهم

بنداءِ حق بالدليل مبين

Until he came to them, striking their ears

with a call of truth, made clear by proof:

أَن لا الهَ سوى العلي بعرشه

بارى الورى ومُكَوِّنِ التكوين

that there is no god but the Most High upon His throne,

Creator of all beings, Maker of creation.

وإلى الصراط المستقيم هداهم

ودعاهم بكتابهِ المكنون

He guided them to the straight path

and called them with His guarded Book.

هم عاندوه مكابرين بجهلهم

ولكن دعوه بشاعر مجنون

They opposed him, obstinate in their ignorance,

yet called him a mad poet.

واستكبروا ما قال في الانصاب

والأصنام من ذم ومن تهجين

They haughtily resented what he said of the sacred stones

and idols, in blame and condemnation.

فأَم لا تثنيه لومةُ لائم

كلاّ ولم يأبه بفعل مهين

So he pressed on, undeterred by any blamer's blame.

No indeed; he paid no heed to humiliating deeds.

يُصلُونَهُ حَرَّ الأذى فيجيبهم

ربِّ اهدِ قومي إنهم جهلوني

They subjected him to the burning heat of harm, and he answered them:

'Lord, guide my people, for they do not know me.'

يا قوم جئتكم بأَحسن ما أَتى

رسل به أَقوامهم فذروني

'My people, I have brought you the best of what

messengers brought their peoples; so let me

أَهديكم سبل الرشاد لخيركم

في هذه الدينا ويوم الدين

guide you along the paths of rectitude, for your good

in this world and on the Day of Judgment.

لا تشركوا بالله ربا ثانيا

سبحانه لا ينتمي لقرين

Do not associate a second lord with God;

glory be to Him—He is linked to no equal.

وثقوا بأَني مرسل بكتابه

يوحَى بروح من لدنه أَمين

Trust that I am sent with His Book,

revealed through a trustworthy spirit from His presence.

فإليه قوموا خُشَّعا بصلاتكم

لتزودوا من قربه بيقين

Rise before Him, humble in your prayers,

to gain provision from His nearness, with certainty.

واعطوا الزكاة بحقها كيلا يُرّى

من بائس فيكم ولا مسكين

Give the alms as is their due, so that none may be seen

among you destitute or needy.

صوموا تصحوا فالصيام مُطَهِّرٌ

أَدرانَكَم من أَنفس وبطون

Fast and be healthy, for fasting purifies

your impurities, of soul and belly.

وإلى اللقاء بكل عام بينكم

من حاضر أَو نازح مشطون

And meet one another every year,

whether near at hand or dwelling far away.

في بيت ربكم الحرام تعارفوا

وتآلفوا وتصافحوا بيمن

At your Lord's Sacred House, come to know one another,

grow close, and clasp hands in blessing.

ودعوا التعصب انكم من آدم

متسلسلون وآدم من طين

Abandon fanaticism: you are Adam's

descendants, and Adam is of clay.

وذروا الفواحش والكبائر والخنى

من ظاهر منها ومن مكنون

Forsake indecencies, grave sins, and lewdness,

both what is outward and what is hidden.

والويل للبيت العريق يهده

لعب القمار وحانة الزَّرَجُون

Woe to the venerable household demolished

by gambling and the wine tavern.

وتمسكوا للاتحاد بعروة

وثقي وحبل للاخاءِ متين

For unity, hold fast to a handhold

most firm, and to a strong rope of brotherhood.

هذا كتاب الله ما شئتم به

للرشد من شرح ومن تبين

Here is God's Book: in it is all you wish

of explanation and clarification for right guidance.

حتى استجابوا للهداية بعضهم

بالعنف جاءَ وبعضهم باللين

At last they answered guidance: some

came through force, and others through gentleness.

هي دوحة نشأَت بمكة أَصلها

وعلى البسيطة ظُلِّلَت بغصون

It is a mighty tree whose root sprang up in Mecca,

and the earth was shaded by its branches.

نشروا الهدى في الخافقين وطبقوا

الاقطار من خال ومن مسكون

They spread guidance through East and West and covered

all lands, uninhabited and inhabited.

في كل قطر لَلأذان منائر

أَصداؤها رعد من التأمين

In every land are minarets for the call to prayer,

their echoes a thunder of 'Amen.'

فابدأ تَرَ الإسلام يشرق نوره

بالصين وامض إلى ضفاف السين

Begin, and see Islam's light shining

in China, then journey to the banks of the Seine.

وعلا على سود الزنوج لواؤه

في الكاب حتى موطن السكسون

Its banner rose over the Black Africans

at the Cape, as far as the Saxons' homeland.

دين هو الماءُ المعين ملائم

للدهر كل تحرك وسكون

A faith that is flowing water, suited

to time in all its movement and repose.

يدعو إلى أمسى الكمال وأعدل ال

تشريع والتنظيم والتقنيني

It calls to the loftiest perfection and the fairest

legislation, organization, and codification.

روح الحقائق روحه خلو

من التخريف والتدجيل والتلوين

The spirit of truths is its spirit, free

of superstition, charlatanry, and dissembling.

تجد الحقائق خالصات فيه من

سخف الطقوس وقُحَّةِ اللاديني

In it you find truths untainted by

the folly of rituals and the impudence of the irreligious.

يا أيها الرجل الحنيف تحية

فأمدد يمينك ممسكا بيميني

O man of the upright faith, greetings!

Stretch out your right hand and clasp mine.

هذي تحية أَحمد في دينه

رمز الاخا لاشارةَ الماسون

This is Ahmad's greeting in his religion,

a symbol of brotherhood, not a sign of the Freemasons.

لم تدخل الإسلام أنت لرهبة

أو رغبة بل عن جلاءِ يقين

You did not enter Islam out of fear

or desire, but from clear certainty.

حكَّمت عقلك وهو خير محكم

بالهدى والارشاد غير ضنين

You made your reason judge, and it is the best of judges,

unstinting in guidance and direction.

فأَراك في دين الجدود مطاعنا

تبدو لَلأول وهلة وبهون

It showed you flaws in your forefathers' religion,

apparent at first glance, with ease.

ياليت نانك لم يزغ عن رشده

فيضيع منا نيّف المليون

Would that Nanak had not strayed from his right course,

thus losing us more than a million.

رام السيادة والسيادة بعضها

سحر يُمَسُّ مُحبُّهَا بجنون

He sought supremacy, and supremacy is in part

a spell that strikes its lover with madness.

فَتَّشتَ في كتب الديانة باحثا

ومقلبا من أَظهر لبطون

You searched the books of religion, investigating,

and leafing through, from covers to inner pages.

فوعيت آياتِ الكتاب مترجما

بقرار صدق من نهاك رزين

You absorbed the Book's verses in translation,

with a sincere, sober judgment from your reason.

ولو اطلعت عليه في اعجازه

لنهلت من آياته بمعين

Had you beheld it in its inimitability,

you would have drunk deeply from its verses at a flowing spring.

اقرأ كتاب باسم ربك واجنِ من

آياته وحُلاه كل ثمين

Read the Book in your Lord's name, and gather from

its verses and ornaments every precious thing.

وتدَّبر الآيَ الكريمة واتعظ

بالعصر أَو بالتين والزيتون

Ponder the noble verses, and take admonition

from 'Time,' or 'The Fig and the Olive.'

واختر من الدين اللباب ولا تكن تبعا

تبعا لكل مخرف مفتون

Choose the kernel of religion, and do not become a follower,

a follower of every deluded purveyor of superstition.

واحذر من البدع المحيطة انها

أَضحت كداءِ في العقول دفين

Beware the religious innovations surrounding you: they

have become like a sickness buried in minds.

تبت يدا ابنِ سبا وكعب بعده

والمنتمي نسبا إلى ميمون

May the hands of Ibn Saba perish, and Ka'b's after him,

and those of the man descended from Maymun.

هم سمموا دين الاله ونافقوا

بدخولهم فيه دخول خؤون

They poisoned God's religion and acted hypocritically,

entering it in the manner of traitors.

وتلبسوا بولائه لبلائه

وغَزوهُ من ويلاتهم بكمين

They clothed themselves in loyalty to it, to afflict it,

and attacked it from ambush with their scourges.

وجدوا السياسة تربة لبذورهم

يغرون بين آَب وبين بنين

They found politics a soil for their seeds,

stirring strife between father and sons.

لولا الاله وحفظُه لكتابه

لقضوا على الدين الحنيف بحين

Were it not for God and His preservation of His Book,

they would have condemned the upright faith to doom.

في كل عصر حاولوا من هدمه

بَعَث الإلهُ لهم صلاح الدين

In every age when they sought to demolish it,

God sent them a Salah al-Din.

حتى قضوا لكنهم أبقوا به

أثرا كندبة طعنة المطعون

Until they perished, though they left in it

a mark like the scar of a stab upon its victim.

هذا التفرق والتخاذل بيننا

آثار ما بذلوه منذ سنين

This division and mutual abandonment among us

are traces of what they labored at years ago.

وذه الطرائق والقباب مشيدة

من بيننا أثر من التوهين

And these religious orders, and the domes erected

among us, are a legacy of enfeeblement.

الله والإسلام يبرأُ منهم

فالجأ لحصن من هداه حصين

God and Islam disavow them;

so seek refuge in an impregnable fortress of His guidance.

فخذ اللباب من الكتاب وعش به

من حكمة المفروض والمسنون

Take the kernel of the Book, and live by it,

by the wisdom of obligations and prophetic practice.

عبدَ اللطيف لك السعادة والهنا

فاقبل هناءً مبشر وضمين

Abd al-Latif, may happiness and joy be yours;

accept congratulations from one who brings glad tidings and assurance.

هذا اجتماع للاخاءِ مؤسَّسٌ

يبدي عواطف أُخوة في الدين

This gathering is founded for brotherhood,

expressing feelings of brotherhood in faith.

فاقبل تحيات الجميع أَزفها

بلسانهم ولأنت خير قمين

Accept everyone's greetings, which I convey

in their voice; you are indeed most worthy.