أبا الحارث اسمع حديثاً جرى

على قصة راق اعجابها

Abu al-Harith, listen to this amazing tale

Abu al-Harith, hear a tale that took place,

Of a charming story that captured wonder

Regarding a story whose wonder was pleasing.

تشوقت يوماً للقياكم

كذا يجذب النفس أحبابها

I yearned one day to meet with you all

One day I longed to meet with you,

As the soul longs for its beloved

For thus are souls drawn to their beloveds.

فسرت أنص إلى بابكم

وقد أرهق النفس أتعابها

So I set out heading for your door

So I hastened towards your door,

With my soul wearied from its burdens

Though my soul was worn by its burdens.

ولما حللت بدار المزور

ومن عادة الدار ترحابها

And when I arrived at the visited abode

And when I arrived at the visited home,

With its customary welcoming

Whose custom is usually to welcome guests,

إذا نحن بالباب زنجية

تقض الشياطين أنيابها

Lo, at the entrance was a black maid

Suddenly at the door stood a Zanj guard,

Baring the fangs of her malice

Whose fangs would shatter even devils.

فقلنا لها أبلغى أمرنا

فقالت مقابركم بابها

We said to her, “Convey our matter”

We said to her, "Convey our matter,"

She said, “Your graves are its entrance”

She replied, "Your graves are its door."

وهرت علينا كما ينبغي

وجاءت قضايا وأسبابها

She rushed at us as was apt

She snarled at us as one might expect,

And her aggressions and causes came

And brought forth troubles and their causes.

فقلنا لشخص إلى جنبها

فديتك هل أنت بوابها

So we said to a man next to her

We asked a person standing beside her,

“For your sake, are you its gatekeeper?”

"May I be your ransom, are you its doorkeeper?"

فحول عن وجهنا وجهه

وجملة نحو واعرابها

He turned his face from ours

He turned his face away from ours,

And generally gestured in refusal

Like a grammar sentence and its parsing.

فقلت اقتصر يا بُنيَّ اقتصر

فما نحن حرب وأحزابها

I said, “Restrain yourself, O son, restrain”

I said, "Hold back, my son, hold back,

“We are no war nor factions”

For we are not war nor its factions."

دعونا لها قنبراً والفتى

يصف الصحاف وينتابها

Let us leave it to Qanbar and the lad

We called upon Qanbar for her sake, while the lad

To describe the tablets and study them

Arranges the platters and attends to them.

فقال اخرجوا نحو أشغالكم

فما للطفيلي أطيابها

He said, “Go about your tasks”

He said, "Go forth to your own affairs,

“The parasite has no delicacies here”

For the uninvited guest finds no delights here."

فقلت لنفسي لا تضجري

فهذي الزنوج وآدابها

I said to myself, “Don’t fret”

I told myself, "Do not be vexed,

“These are the blacks and their manners”

For such are these guards and their manners."

وقال بجنبي فتى صبركم

تخف على النفس أوصابها

And next to me, a lad of patience said

A youth beside me said, "Have patience,

“Your restraint comforts the soul, O noble one”

That the soul's ailments may be lightened.

لعل تمر بكم ساعة

فتغنى الزنوج وأشعابها

“Perhaps an hour will pass”

Perhaps an hour will pass you by,

“Wherein the blacks and vales will sing for us”

And these guards and their kin will depart,

فيقضى لنا فرج عاجل

وتعلم في الدار أصحابها

“And the house’s inhabitants will decree”

Then a swift relief shall be decreed for us,

“Swift relief, and learn of us in the abode”

And the masters of the house will know we are here."

فقلت وبالصبر ترجو لنا

فقال بصبرك يجتابها

I said, “With patience do you hope for us?”

I asked, "Do you hope for us through patience?"

He said, “With your patience it is attained”

He replied, "Through your patience, one overcomes."

فقلت نصحت وطال الوقوف

وهاضت جسوم وأصلابها

I said, “You advised well, but long we have stood”

I said, "You advised well," yet the wait grew long,

“Bodies have grown weary and ribs ached”

And bodies and loins were broken by it.

وعيدانكم ودخان السجار

شواظ على الدار الهابها

“Your staffs and smoke of cigarettes”

Your pipes and the smoke of cigars

“Are vexing in this dreadful house”

Were like a flame igniting the house.

وفوج يحط وفوج يطير

ورقص الجواري وألعابها

“A band arrives, and a band departs”

A crowd lands and a crowd takes flight,

“The slave girls dance and play”

With the dancing of maidens and their games.

وأغرق وقتي بلا طائل

تمط سعال وأضرابها

“And I waste my time fruitlessly”

My time was drowned in futility,

“Hearing coughs and yawns”

Prolonged by coughing and the like.

فقلت العطالة مشئومة

وشر وقد طال اسهابها

I said, “Idleness bodes ill”

I said, "Idleness is an ominous sign,

“An evil whose flow should cease”

An evil whose extent has grown too long."

فقمت أصلي إلى خلوة

تبين في الدار محرابها

So I rose to pray in a cell

So I rose to pray in a secluded spot,

“Wherein an altar could be seen in the house”

Where a prayer niche appeared within the house.

وطالت صلاتي ولي وقفة

إلى أن تقشر أرابها

Long was my prayer until I took a stand

My prayer was prolonged, and I stood there

“That stripped the flesh from my bones”

Until my very limbs began to peel.

وبعد الصلاة علت ضجة

من الذكر أطنب أحزابها

And after the prayers came a great clamor

After the prayer, a clamor arose

“Of chanting, most melodious”

From the chanting whose factions grew loud.

إلى أن ثغى الجن من هولها

وفر عن الدار أوشابها

Until the jinn shrieked in terror

Until the Jinn bleated from the horror of it,

“And fled the dreadful house”

And the rabble fled from the house.

وزلزلت الأرض زلزالها

وخذ على الأرض أقهابها

And the earth quaked a violent quaking

The earth shook with a mighty quake,

“Seizing the edifices by their pillars”

And the dust settled upon the ground.

فلم تغن شيئاً وطال المقام

وحالت سنون وأحقابها

Yet this availed naught, and long we stayed

Yet it availed nothing; the stay was long,

“As years and epochs passed”

And years and eras passed by.

وفيها بنينا لنا حارة

وشقت من الهند أخشابها

And we built for ourselves a quarter

There we built a neighborhood for ourselves,

“Hewing its wood from India”

Its timber hewn from India.

ومن حولها جنة زخرفت

وزانت وأقطف أعنابها

And around it, a verdant garden

Around it, a garden was adorned and decked,

“Lush, heavy with fruit”

And I plucked its grapes.

وقارنت في منزلي زوجة

أطالت وأنجب انجابها

And I took in my dwelling a wife

In my home, I took a wife,

“Who lived long and bore offspring”

Who stayed long and bore many children.

ولم نرزق الاذن من عندكم

وضوعف في الدار حجابها

Yet no permission from you was granted us

Yet we were granted no permission from you,

“And the veil in the house grew weak”

And the house's veil was doubled.

ولما ضجرنا انقلبنا إلى

ديار تطاول تقلابها

And when we despaired, we returned

When we grew weary, we returned

“To lands whose affairs are far-reaching”

To homes that had long been shifting.

وعند الرجوع جهلنا الطريق

وزال عن الدرب أنصابها

And upon returning, we knew not the way

Upon return, we did not know the way,

“And the roadmarks were gone”

And the markers had vanished from the path.

ولا غرو هذا فإن السنين

يدور على الناس دولابها

No surprise - for years

No wonder in this, for the years

“Turn the wheel upon mankind”

Turn their wheel upon all people.

وأضللت داري إلى أن بدت

رسوم حوتهن أعتابها

My abode strayed until finally appeared

I lost my home until there appeared

“Traces of its familiar thresholds”

Traces held within its thresholds.

وألفيت ذريتي كلها

لطول المدى شاب أعقابها

And I found all my children

I found all my offspring,

“Grown old, their youth turned gray”

Their descendants gray from the passage of time.

وألفيت كتبي محشورة

فقيل بنو الفار تنتابها

And I found my books amassed

I found my books gathered in a pile,

“It was said mice had nibbled them”

And was told the mice had been feasting on them.

فهذا أبا الحارث المنتهى

لأعجوبة طال أغرابها

So this, O Abu al-Harith, is the tale’s end

This, Abu al-Harith, is the conclusion

“Of a wondrous story, long drawn out”

To a wonder whose strangeness was prolonged.

فكل بلايا أبي مسلم

عليك ونومك أسبابها

But all the afflictions of Abu Muslim

So all the afflictions of Abu Muslim fall on you,

“Were by your sleep and self caused”

And your sleep is the cause of them.

مدد الحق للقلوب الصوادي

هن ملقى الأنوار والأمداد

May the Truth extend to yearning hearts

The aid of the Truth to thirsty hearts,

The repository of lights and aid

They are the recipients of lights and support.

أخذة الحق للقلوب إليه

بعد نسف الوجود نسف الرماد

Taking hearts to Him

The Truth seizing hearts unto Itself,

After annihilating existence, annihilating ashes

After scattering existence like scattered ash.

بعد محو الآثار في طلب ال

عين وكون المريد عين المراد

After effacing traces in seeking

After erasing traces in pursuit of the Essence,

The Essence, and the seeker becoming the Essence's aim

And the seeker becoming the very object sought.

بعد إدراك وحدة الحق لل

خلق والغاء وحدة الاحاد

After realizing the Truth's oneness with

After realizing the Oneness of the Truth for creation,

Creation, and annulling the oneness of individuation

And annulling the solitude of individuals.

آه والحب لا تسليه آه

وحرام آه على ذي وداد

Ah, love cannot be consoled - ah!

Ah! Love is not consoled by "Ah!"

And "ah" for one in amity is forbidden

And "Ah!" is forbidden to one of true affection.

لي نفس أذابها وهج الشو

ق فلم يبق غير خفق الفؤاد

I have a soul melted by ardent passion

I have a soul melted by the glow of longing,

Naught remains but the throbbing of my heart

Leaving nothing but the beating of the heart.

قمت أشكو سري بسري إلى ال

حب فكان الشكوى كوري الزناد

I rose to complain of my secret to passion itself

I rose to complain of my secret, through my secret, to the Beloved,

So complaining became like rubbing flint on steel

And the complaint was like striking flint.

ثم ألقت إليَّ هيمنة ال

حق اصطبر في محبتي يا مرادي

Then the Truth cast its protection upon me:

Then the dominance of the Truth cast unto me:

"Have patience in My love, O intended one"

"Be patient in My love, O object of My desire."

أيها الراكب المغذ إلينا

يا ترى هل شارفت ذاك الوادي

O rider traveling to us

"O rider hastening towards Us,

Tell me, have you reached that valley?

Have you, I wonder, neared that valley?"

هل ترحلت منك شبراً إلينا

أنت في مركز الهوى متمادي

Have you journeyed from yourself one span toward us?

"Have you journeyed a handspan from yourself to Us?

You remain centered in passion, persisting

You are persisting in the center of desire."

لو سبرت الأغوار منك لأبصر

ت جثى الأغيار كالأطواد

If you probed the depths from yourself you would see

"If you probed your own depths, you would see

The corpses of calamities like pegs

The corpses of 'others' like great mountains."

لو خلعت الملابس السود سود

ناك بين الرجال وسط النادي

If you shed your black garb, the darkness

"Had you cast off the black garments, We would have made you a master

There among men, amid the throng, would lift

Among men in the midst of the assembly."

أنت مفتاح الكنز لو كنت تدري

ومدار الاصدار والايراد

You are the key to treasure, if only you knew

"You are the key to the treasure, if only you knew,

The axis of issuance and income

And the axis of all outcome and influx."

أنت منا ونحن منك ولكن

حال ما بيننا سواد الأعادي

You are of us, and we of you, but

"You are of Us, and We are of you, but

The state of separation intervenes

The blackness of enemies stands between us."

لو نعارضك للجفا لم نطالب

ك بصدق الدعوى وصفو الوداد

If we opposed your aloofness, we would not demand

"If We opposed you with harshness, We would not demand

Sincerity of claim nor amity's purity

Truth in your claim and purity of affection."

ما رأى الحق فيك ذرة مشهو

د سواه فالقرب عين البعاد

The Truth saw in you no speck but Him

"The Truth saw in you not an atom witnessed

So nearness is the essence of distance

Other than Itself, so nearness is the very essence of distance."

فتخلص محمدياً من ال

علة واشطح على رؤوس العباد

So free yourself, O Muhammadan, of fault

"So become purely Muhammadan, free from the defect,

And transcend above the servile herd

And ecstatic above the heads of the servants."

وافن فينا فلا حياة لحي

وحياة الاحياء بعد النفاد

And perish in us - no life for the living -

"And annihilate yourself in Us, for there is no life for the living

The life of the living is through depletion

Save the life of the living after depletion."

واحتجب منك بي ولا تحتجب م

ني بسجف التأثير والايجاد

And veil yourself from me, but do not veil

"Veil yourself from yourself with Me, and do not be veiled from Me

Yourself from me through impression and origination

By the curtains of influence and creation."

دعك من ذا وتلك والرسم والاس

م فما في الميدان إلا جوادي

Leave that and these and form and name - in the field

"Leave this and that, the form and the name,

Is none but my steed

For there is nothing in the field but My steed."

واحترق من محبتي أنا وحدي

من طباق النيران في كل وادي

And burn from my love, I alone

"Burn with love for Me alone,

In fires' folds in every vale

From the layers of fire in every valley."

فعلى صحة المحبة تستع

ذب تعذيب الصد والابعاد

For in the health of love, one is tormented -

"For upon the validity of love, one finds sweet

The torment of rejection and separation

The torture of rejection and banishment."

وإذا صحت المحبة لم تح

فل برقص النعيم والانكاد

And if love is true, the bliss of delight and intimacy

"And if love is true, one does not heed

Will not avail beside the dance

The dance of bliss or of miseries."

لي في كل ذرة من وجودي

حكمة قد طويتها عن عبادي

Within each atom of my existence is

"I have in every atom of My existence

A wisdom I have veiled from My servants

A wisdom I have folded away from My servants."

تتضنى من الهوى والهوى عن

ك بواد وأنت عنه بواد

It crumbles with passion, and passion from

"You suffer from passion, while passion is in a valley

You is a valley, while you from it are a valley

Apart from you, and you are in another valley."

لو صدقت الهوى لأغناك حبي

وتمسكت في الهوى بمرادي

If passion proved true, my love would suffice you

"Had you been true in passion, My love would have sufficed you,

And you would adhere in passion to My will

And you would have held fast in passion to My desire."

نطلب الوصل والمقام صدود

قبل قض الحصا وخرط القتاد

We seek union, and the station is rejection

We seek union while the station is rejection,

Before the arrows are spent and the spears broken

Before crushing pebbles and stripping thorns.

رب لبيك حجة الحق أعلى

وعيون الجلال بالمرصاد

Lord, I am here! The Truth's conclusive argument

Lord, at Your service! The argument of Truth is highest,

And the eyes of majesty lie in wait

And the eyes of Majesty are lying in wait.

من توليته تجلت عليه

من كمالات الحق شمس الرشاد

Whosoever takes me as his master, upon him

Whomever You take charge of, upon him shines

Dawns the sun of guidance of the Truth's perfections

The sun of guidance from the perfections of the Truth.

من أنا والأنا فناء ومحو

في مقام التعذيب والأشهاد

Who am I, while "I" is annihilation and effacement

Who am I? When "I" is annihilation and erasure

In the station of torment and martyrdom

In the station of torment and witnessing.

من أنا والأنا خيال ووهم

في مقام الخطاب والارشاد

Who am I, while "I" is fiction and illusion

Who am I? When "I" is imagination and illusion

In the station of address and guidance

In the station of address and guidance.

من أنا والأنا مجاز وظل

في مقام الابعاد والايجاد

Who am I, while "I" is metaphor and shadow

Who am I? When "I" is metaphor and shadow

In the station of distance and creation

In the station of distancing and bringing into being.

بل أنا نسبة إلى أثر ال

حق شهيد للحق بالانفراد

Rather, I am but a relation to the Truth's effect -

Nay, I am a relation to the trace of the Truth,

A martyr of the Truth in singularity

A witness to the Truth in isolation.

وأنا من حيث انتسابي إليه

ملك الحمد والثنا والمجاد

And I, insofar as my ascription is to Him, am

And I, regarding my attribution to Him,

The Angel of Praise, laudation, and glory

Possess praise, laudation, and glory.

وأنا من حيث انتسابي إليه

كل نقص ووصمة في عدادي

And I, insofar as my ascription is to Him, am

And I, regarding my attribution to Him,

Every blemish and disgrace in estimation

Count every deficiency and stigma as mine.

وأنا من حيث انتسابي إليه

منعش الروح باعث الأجساد

And I, insofar as my ascription is to Him, am

And I, regarding my attribution to Him,

The reviver of spirits, resurrector of bodies

Am the refresher of the spirit, the resurrector of bodies.

نسبة الحق صرفتني إلى أن

قمت أتلو الزبور بين الجماد

The Truth's relation made me recite Psalms

The relation to the Truth has turned me until

Among the inanimate with celestial voice

I stood reciting the Psalms among inanimate objects.

إن يكن في الوجود سمع شهيد

فأنا في الوجود أحسن شادي

If there is in existence a witnessing hearing

If there is a witnessing ear in existence,

Then I in existence am the finest singer

Then I am the best singer in existence.

ما ألنت الحديد إلا لأني

قمت أشدو بنغمة الحداد

I softened iron only because

I softened iron only because

I sang in the chant of the blacksmith

I rose chanting the melody of the Smith.

وارث الفيض والكمالات والحك

مة من جده الرسول الهادي

The heir of grace, perfection, and wisdom

Inheritor of the overflow, perfections, and wisdom

From his grandfather the guiding Prophet

From his grandfather, the Guide Prophet.

موصل السالكين بالحق لل

حق ومُجلي مشارق الامداد

The conduit of wayfarers to the Truth

Connector of the wayfarers by the Truth to the Truth,

And discloser of the dawning-places of aid

And revealer of the eastern lights of support.

مد من فيضه على الكون بحراً

في قصيد كالجوهر الوقاد

Extending from his overflow upon the cosmos a sea

He extended from his overflow a sea upon the universe,

In a cup like glowing embers

In a poem like glowing jewels.

فشهدنا من مدّه مجمع ال

بحرين من غامض هناك وباد

We witnessed from his extension the confluence

So we witnessed from his tide the meeting of the two seas,

Of the two seas from the dark unseen beyond

Of what is hidden there and what is apparent.

من سقته المحمدية بحراً

غير بدع ارواؤه للعوادي

He whom the Muhammadan watered with a sea

He whom the Muhammadan presence gave a sea to drink,

Whose freshness does not stale for the returnees

It is no wonder his quenching of the thirsty.

فتلقى تلك المعارف كشا

ف المعمى خبيئة الأفراد

So he received those knowledges like

So he received those knowledges, a revealer

The opening of the blind, the unseen of the unique

Of the obscure, the hidden treasure of the singular ones.

من هيولاوة النبوة سيطت

قبل اظهار نشأة الايجاد

From the primordial chaos of prophecy

From the prime matter of Prophecy, mixed

Before the manifestation of the genesis of being

Before the manifestation of the genesis of creation.

مصدر الفضل أحمد ابن أبي بكر

شريف الأباء والأجداد

The source of grace is Ahmad son of Abu Bakr

The source of grace, Ahmad son of Abu Bakr,

Noblest of fathers and ancestors

Noble of fathers and ancestors.

عَلويّ محمدي عليه

من سنا النسبتين سيما السداد

'Alawi, Muhammadi - upon him

An Alawite, a Muhammadan, upon him

From the two ascriptions are the marks of rectitude

From the brilliance of the two lineages is the mark of rectitude.

جَمَع العلم في مزاد من التق

وى وللّه جمع ذاك المزاد

He gathered knowledge in the measure of his

He gathered knowledge in a pouch of piety,

Godwariness - and to God belongs that measure

And by God, excellent is the gathering of that pouch.

واقتنى الدر من علوم الاشارا

ت فحلى به صدور النوادي

And acquired riches from the esoteric sciences

He acquired pearls from the sciences of allusions,

Adorning hearts of intimates therewith

And adorned with them the chests of assemblies.

جرَّد النفس من كتائفها فانه

لت عليها لطائف الامداد

He stripped his soul of its shoulders, whereupon

He stripped the soul of its shackles, so

The subtleties of aid alighted upon it

Subtleties of support poured down upon it.

وتلقى من ربه كلمات

صبها الفيض في لباس المداد

And he received from his Lord words

And he received words from his Lord,

Which the overflowing cast in the mold of ink

Which the Overflow poured into the garment of ink.

برزت من مضارب الوهب ثكلى

فهي من فقد أهلها في حداد

There emerged from the tent pegs of divine inspiration poems

They emerged from the tents of Bestowal bereaved,

That, having lost whom they were about, mourn

Mourning the loss of their people.

فترامت تبين منه خفيا

ت طوَتها فريدة الحداد

So they flocked to glean from him secrets

They threw themselves down, explaining hidden things

Unique in his peerless mourning

That the unique gem of the Smith had folded.

كُن شرحاً لها وأعظم بهذا الش

رح كنزاً ما إن له من نفاد

Be a commentary upon them and magnify by this commentary

Be a commentary for them, and how great is this commentary

A treasure whose outpouring will never be exhausted

As a treasure that has no exhaustion.

يبرق الحق من مصادره العل

يا وينهل حكمة للعباد

The Truth flashes from its springs the sublime

The Truth flashes from its supreme sources,

And the wise imbibe wisdom for the servants

And pours down wisdom for the servants.

قام بالشرع والحقيقة يدعو

باللسانين للهدى والرشاد

He stood by Shari'a and Truth, calling

He stood with the Law and the Reality, calling

With both tongues to guidance and probity

With both tongues to guidance and rectitude.

شكل نور بهِ خبايا زوايا

رقبتها دوائر الافراد

He formed a light wherein the recesses of its corners

A form of light by which hidden corners

Were the circles of sanctity

Were watched by the circles of the singular ones.

جامع من ذخائر العلم والحك

مة ذخراً يبقى ليوم المعاد

Collector of the treasures of knowledge and wisdom,

A gatherer of the stores of knowledge and wisdom,

A treasure remaining for the Day of Return

A provision that remains for the Day of Return.

حاصر من معارف القوم ما يف

تح للسالكين بابَ المراد

He grasped from the intimates' knowledges what

Encompassing knowledges of the folk that open

Opens for wayfarers the door of desire

The door of desire for the wayfarers.

ولعت بانتشاره مكة اللّه

لتسري أنواره في البلاد

And Mecca yearned for its dissemination

God's Mecca was fond of its spreading,

That its lights may flow through the lands

That its lights might travel through the lands.

فادارت عليهِ من فلك الطب

ع نجوم التوفيق والاسعاد

So it set upon him the constellations

So it turned upon it, from the orbit of printing,

Of printing fortune and blessings

The stars of success and happiness.

جاء تاريخ طبعه ضمن بيتٍ

كان تاجاً لمفرق الانشاد

The date of its publication came in a line

The date of its printing came within a verse

That crowned the diadem of composition

That was a crown for the parting of recitation.

سلسبيل مزاجه زنجبيل

فاشربوه بمنهل الوراد

Its flowing style, soothing as ginger -

A spring whose mixture is ginger,

So drink it from the basin of loving cups!

So drink it at the watering place of those who arrive.