في ليلة صبغ الظلام أديمها — Khalid Al Faraj

في ليلة صبغ الظلام أديَمهَا

فاحلَولَكَت وغطا الوجودَ سواد

On a night whose skin darkness had dyed,

it grew pitch-black, and blackness veiled all existence.

لولا الكواكب في وميض شعاعها

لتدثرت بظلامها الأطواد

But for the stars, with the glimmer of their rays,

the mountains would have wrapped themselves in its darkness.

عم السكونُ فكل شيءٍ هاديءٌ

وطغي على كل الأنام رقاد

Stillness spread, so everything was quiet,

and slumber overwhelmed all humankind.

جاءَ الأمين مع البراق يقوده

برق تكوّن من سناه جواد

The Trustworthy came with al-Buraq, leading it—

lightning, from whose radiance a steed took shape.

يجرى كأمواج الأثير بسرعة

كالفكر تقصر عنده الأبعاد

It ran swiftly, like waves of the ether,

like thought: distances shrank before it.

حيث النبي بنومه مستغرق

قد أعوزته حشية ووساد

There the Prophet lay immersed in sleep,

with neither mattress nor pillow.

ما كان بعد خديجة يحلو له

بيت يذكره بها ومهاد

After Khadijah, he took no pleasure

in a home that reminded him of her, or a bed.

فأتي إلى دار أم هاني باغيا

سلوى وهل يسلو الحبيب فؤاد

So he came to Umm Hani's house, seeking

solace—but can a heart forget its beloved?

وهناك تأخذه على آلامه

سنَةٌ يطاردها العشيَّ سهاد

There, despite his pains, he was overtaken

by drowsiness, pursued at evening by sleeplessness.

وإذا بجبريل الأمين يهزه

قم للقاءِ فقد دنا الميعاد

And suddenly Gabriel the Trustworthy was shaking him:

“Rise for the meeting; the appointed time has drawn near.”

فارتاع مما قد رآه ماثلا

ملك تجنح نوره وقاد

So he was startled by what he saw standing before him:

an angel spreading his wings, his radiance blazing.

ماذا وراءك قال باسم الله قم

لله فيما قد قضاه مراد

“What news do you bring?” He said, “In God's name, rise;

God has a purpose in what He has decreed.”

فعلا على متن البراق ميمما

للقدس حيث تَهَجَّدَ العبّاد

So he mounted al-Buraq's back, making for

Jerusalem, where the worshippers prayed by night.

فدنت له الأبعاد من آفاقها

وتقاربت مع بُعدِها الآباد

Distances drew close to him from their horizons,

and ages converged despite their remoteness.

كالبرق كالفكر السريع تصورا

تُطوَى له الأغوار والأنجاد

Like lightning, like thought in its swift conceiving,

lowlands and highlands were folded up for him.

فتريثا في طور سينا برهة

وببيت لحم إذ جرى الميلاد

They paused for a while at Mount Sinai,

and at Bethlehem, where the Nativity took place.

وبثالث الحرمين صلى قانتا

بالأنبياء وهم له أنداد

And at the third holy sanctuary, he prayed devoutly,

leading the prophets, who were his peers:

موسى وعيسى والخليل جميعهم

فتصافح الأحفاد والأجداد

Moses, Jesus, and the Friend of God—all of them.

So descendants and ancestors shook hands.

وإلى السماء وقدسها عرجا معا

حيث الرجوم تقام والأرصاد

And to heaven and its holiness they ascended together,

where missiles and watchposts are arrayed.

فتفتحت أبوابها لقدومه

سبع على غير الرسول شداد

Its gates opened for his arrival—

seven, forbidding to all but the Messenger.

وهناك آدم مشفق متطلع

للأرض مما يصنع الأحفاد

There was Adam, anxious, gazing

toward the earth over what his descendants were doing.

يأتون ألوان الفساد ببغيهم

مَن أشركوا وتنصروا أو هادوا

They committed corruption of every hue through their oppression—

those who ascribed partners to God, became Christians, or became Jews.

تجري الدماءُ كأنهر ما بينهم

يؤذي الضعيف وتُوءَدُ الأولاد

Blood flowed like rivers between them;

the weak were harmed, and children were buried alive.

لا وازع يزع الذين تجبروا

فتألهوا بعتوهم أو كادوا

No restraint checked those who had grown tyrannical,

who in their insolence deified themselves—or nearly did.

ورأى الملائك خشعا يعيا بما

يأتونه النساك والزهاد

And he saw the angels bowed in humility; unable to match what

they performed were devotees and ascetics.

والأنبياء والصالحون جميعهم

حيّوه والشهداءُ والعباد

And the prophets and the righteous, all of them,

greeted him, along with the martyrs and the worshippers.

فأراه جل جلاله آياته ال

كبرى وليس لما رآه نفاد

Then He—exalted be His majesty—showed him His signs,

the greatest; and what he saw had no end.

ودنا إلى الملأ العليّ وقبله

لم يأت هذاك المقام عِباد

And he drew near to the Exalted Assembly; before him

no servants had reached that station.

فوعى يقين الكائنات بلحظة

ما ليس تدرك حصره الآماد

So in an instant he grasped the truth of all existence,

what ages cannot fully encompass.

هي حكمة المعراج عن كثب وعي

ما لا يعيه الدرس والتعداد

This is the wisdom of the Ascension: firsthand comprehension

of what study and enumeration cannot comprehend.

وكما بدا قد عاد قبل صباحه

لم يضنه الإسراءُ والإجهاد

And as he had set out, he returned before dawn;

the Night Journey and exertion had not wearied him.

قد عاد أعلمَ مَن عليها حاملا

سر الهدى وسبيلُهُ الإرشاد

He returned the most knowledgeable of all on earth, bearing

the secret of guidance, and his path was to guide others.

لكنهم قد كذبوه لجهلهم

واستهزأ الإشراك والالحاد

But in their ignorance they called him a liar,

and polytheism and atheism sneered.

قاسوه يا لضلالهم بنفوسهم

كالنمل حين تظلها الاطواد

They measured him—how astray they were!—by themselves,

like ants when mountains overshadow them.

وتفلسفوا بزمانهم ومكانهم

وحدودهم مما عليه اعتادوا

And they philosophized in terms of their own time and space,

and their limits, drawn from what they were accustomed to.

وتجبروا والله بالغ أمره

كادوا فردَّ بنحرهم ما كادوا

And they grew tyrannical, but God fulfills His purpose.

They plotted, but He cast their plots back into their own throats.

وبرغمهم عم الهدى وتقاطرت

تترى له الأفواج والأفراد

And despite them, guidance spread, and there streamed

to him, one after another, throngs and individuals.

وأضاءَ هذا الكونَ نورُ سنائه

متألقا يهدي الجميع رشاد

And the light of his splendor lit up this universe,

radiant, guiding everyone along the right path.