لله كل يرجع — Mohammed Al Shazly

للّه كل يرجع

فتصبروا واسترجعوا

To God all return.

So be patient and say, ‘To God we return.’

واستسلموا لقضائه

فقضاؤه لا يدفع

And submit to His decree,

for His decree cannot be repelled.

دنياك ظل زائل

متنقل متقشع

Your worldly life is a vanishing shadow,

shifting and dispersing.

ندري حقائقها ونح

ن يظلها نتمتع

We know its realities, yet we

take pleasure [in] its shade.

ما دامت الدنيا إلى

أحد ولا هي تنفع

The world has never endured for

anyone, nor does it bring benefit.

عش في السلامة ما تشا

فبها يكون المصرع

Live in safety as long as you wish;

for even in safety death will come.

انظر لمن سبقوا وقل

فيم ابن آدم يطمع

Look at those who preceded you, and say:

What does the son of Adam covet?

في الأرض مالك يا فتى

إلا الثلاث الأذرع

On earth, young man, you have nothing

but the three cubits.

عجبا لمهتم بها

علم المآل ويخدع

How strange that one should fret over it,

knowing the outcome, yet being deceived.

من ذا الذي لم يدر أن

نَ الموت إثره يتبع

Who is there who does not know that

death follows in his wake?

خير الأنام من الذي

للقاء ربه يسرع

The best of humankind is the one who

hastens to meet his Lord.

كخديجة هذي التي

فيها الشباب مضيع

Like this Khadija, whose

youth was lost.

دون الثلاثين اختفى

فيها الصبا المتفجع

Before thirty, there vanished

within her a grief-stricken youth.

نبكي الفقيد شبابها

ولأجله نتوجع

We weep for what is lost—her youth—

and for its sake we grieve.

هي حامل وجنتيها

في أمه يتشفع

She is pregnant, and [her unborn child]

intercedes for his mother.

هو زهرة في كمها

ذبلت وكادت تطلع

He is a flower within her calyx,

withered just as it was about to emerge.

هو رحمة في بطنها

اتصسلت بها لا تقطع

He is a mercy within her womb,

joined to her, never cut off.

وأنيسها في رمسها

تحنو عليه الأضلع

And her companion within her grave;

her ribs bend tenderly over him.

قل لا فصال ولا هي الن

فسا ولا هو مرضع

Say: there is no weaning; nor is she

in childbed, nor is he a suckling.

تأتي به فرق اليدي

ن لربها تتخضع

She brings him, with her hands apart,

humbly submitting to her Lord.

فيقول يا رباه إن

ي عند عرشك أركع

Then he says: ‘O my Lord, indeed I

kneel before Your throne.

أنا بعضها والبعض في

بعض أتى يتشفع

I am part of her, and one part within

another has come seeking intercession.

لم أعص أمرك بالحيا

ة فما بمثلي يصنع

I never disobeyed Your command in life;

so what is done with one like me?

وحجبتني فيها فما

لي غير أمي مربع

And You concealed me within her, so

I have no abode but my mother.

ما لي كساء دونها

فأنا بها متلفّع

I have no covering apart from her,

so I am wrapped in her.’

بالزوج والأبوين بر

رّت والمبرّة تنفع

To her husband and both parents she was

dutiful; and dutiful kindness benefits.

تركت لهم ذكرى ببن

تيها وذكرا يسمع

She left them a remembrance through her

two daughters, and a name that is spoken.

قل رحمة اله على

خدوجة لا تقلع

Say: may God's mercy upon

Khaduja never cease.

نسل الملوك بني الحُسي

نِ وبيت عدن أرفع

Offspring of kings, the sons of Husayn—

and the dwelling in Eden is loftier.

وكريمة المأمون واس

مه للتفاؤل مطلع

And the noble daughter of al-Ma'mun, whose

name is a dawning of hope.

وأبو الثناء الخزندا

ر حليلها المتصدع

And Abu al-Thana al-Khaznadar,

her husband, shattered by grief.

غالت حليلته المنو

ون ولم تكن تتوقع

Death snatched away his wife,

though it had not been foreseen.

واغتال أخرى إثرها

ريب المنون المنزع

And another after her was struck down

by the wrenching vicissitudes of death.

لحقت بها في حينها

جزعا كذا من يجزع

She joined her in that very hour,

from anguish; so fares one who grieves.

ما كان بين الموتتي

نِ سوى دقائق تجمع

Between the two deaths there were

only a few minutes in all.

سهم أصابهما وفي

كلتيهما له منزع

An arrow struck them both, and in

each it found its mark.

كانت وفاتهما كنو

ر الكهرباءة يقطع

Their deaths were like the light

of electricity being cut off.

عينان غمضتا معا

ومن الذي لا يهجع

Two eyes closed together,

and who is there who does not sleep?

شق المصاب على الشقي

قِ وكيف لا يتروع

The calamity weighed heavily on her brother;

and how could he not be shaken?

هي أم تربية له

في القلب منها موضع

She was a mother to him in his upbringing;

she has a place within his heart.

فاضت لزوجته أسى

وكذا السى المتفرع

She passed away in sorrow for his wife,

and such is grief as it branches out.

قل هكذا إخلاص من

بحياته يتبرع

Say: such is the devotion of one

who freely gives his life.

أين السموأل في الوفا

ءِ وأين تلك الأدرعُ

Where is al-Samaw'al in loyalty,

and where are those coats of armor?

هذا الوفاء بعينه

ما بالوفاة تصنع

This is loyalty in its very essence:

what she accomplishes through death.

لم يجزها عن صدقها

إلا الأله المبدع

None rewarded her for her sincerity

but God, the Creator.

فالفضل من ملكوته

أسمى لديه وأوسع

For bounty from His dominion

is loftier in His presence, and vaster.

هذا وبشرى للتي

منها الثرا متضوع

And now, glad tidings for her

from whom the soil breathes fragrance.

أعني الفقيدة هذه

من طاب منها المضجع

I mean this departed woman,

whose resting place is fragrant.

كانت مثال الطهر لا

ركنا تراه يضعضع

She was an exemplar of purity, not

a pillar you could see being shaken.

حسب الفتاة نزاهة

نورٌ عليها يسطع

Purity is enough for a young woman—

a light that shines upon her.

فضريحها لصيانة

ولعفّة مستودَع

Thus her tomb is, for modesty

and chastity, a repository.

لبّت مسا الإثنين دا

عيها وسال المدمع

On Monday evening she answered

her summoner, and tears flowed.

ظعنت ومن ذي القعدة ال

باقي ليال أربع

She departed; of Dhu al-Qa'dah,

four nights were left.

وبجاه أحمد سوف تر

فُل في النعيم وترتع

And through Ahmad's standing, she shall

walk in splendor amid bliss and roam at ease.

إذ جاء في تاريخها

طه الأمين مشفّع

For her chronogram reads:

‘Taha the trustworthy is an accepted intercessor.’