لقد ضلَّ من قد حاد عن مورد الكشفِ

وزل عن الإيضاح في سرِّه المخفي

He who has strayed from the spring of revelation has gone astray,

And slipped in explaining its hidden secret.

وتاه كما قد تاه قدماً أبو الورى

بأكلة خُلْفٍ ثم آبَ عن الخُلْف

He wandered as Abu Al-Ward wandered,

With a morsel that led him astray, then he turned away from that morsel.

وأبقى لذاك الخلف في الأصل حالةً

بها الموت ثم البعث للدين والزَعف

Yet he left behind for that morsel a state

In which there is death, then resurrection for religion and frailty.

نُقاد إلى الموت اضطراراً كأننا

ذبيحٌ يقاد للمنية بالعُنف

We are led to death by necessity, as though we

Are a sacrifice led forcibly to demise.

إذا ما وردناهُ صدرنا إلى الردى

ومصدره يبدي لنا موردَ الحتف

If we encounter it, we turn to destruction,

And its source shows us the place of doom.

فلا وردُه يصفو بمصدره ولا

حقيقتُه تحلو فتؤذنَ بالرَشف

So its arrival does not become clear through its source,

Nor does its reality become sweet heralding relief.

كأني في جفن الردى وهو نائمٌ

إذا هبَّ يقضي حكمَ عدلٍ على النَصف

It's as though I'm in the eye of destruction and it's asleep,

When it stirs to execute the sentence of justice upon the half.

ونحن نرى ما بين وعدٍ بفعلنا

وبين وعيدٍ فالقضاء على حرف

While we see between a promise if we act

And a threat - so judgement is upon a letter.

ترانا وشَوطُ العمر يَقرَعُ طِرْفَهُ

فبعداً لشوطٍ ثم بعداً من الطِرف

You see us while the strides of life knock at its edge,

So away with a stride, then away from the edge!

ثمانون شوطاً قلَّ أو جَلَّ حَدُّهُ

ويكبو جواد العمر في حلْبة الوقف

Eighty strides, more or less is its limit,

And the steed of life stumbles at the racetrack of pause.

ولسنا بمظلومين فيه وإنما

طبيعتنا تنحو إلى الموت للخُلْف

We're not wronged in it, but rather

Our nature inclines toward death due to frailty.

ولو لم تكن بالموت ملزومةَ البِلى

لضلت بما زلت عن الخالق المُكفي

Had it not been fated with death and decay

It would have strayed in what it strayed from the All-Sufficient Creator.

ومع ذلك قد ضلت عقولٌ بما روت

وكَنَّتْ وكان الدَرْزُ في ذلك الكَفِّ

Yet minds still went astray in what they conveyed

And they boasted - and the harm was in that conceit -

مشعَّبةَ الأديان عن دين ربها

وقد شُدِهَت مما رأته من الوَجف

Branches of religions from the religion of their Lord,

Dazzled by what they saw of bedazzlement.

أَسرَّت لها سراً خفياً فأَذهلت

ولما أذاعته رأت ضِلَّةَ المخفي

A secret was intimated to them, so they were confused,

And when they disclosed it, they saw the misguidance of the secret.

وشامت شعاع الحق ضمن اعتلانها

وذيلُ رداء الشك منسدِلُ السَجف

The ray of truth shone through their claim,

And the train of the gown of doubt hangs down in tatters.

فيا ساتراً عنا حقيقة دينه

بدعواه أن الدين بالسر يستخفي

So O you who conceal the reality of His religion from us

With the claim that religion is secretly concealed!

فإن كان حقّاً فهو أولى بكشفه

وإن كان خُلْفاً ما ارتكابُك للخُلْف

If it were true, it would be more fitting to reveal it,

And if it were falsehood, why would you commit falsehood?

أتخشى على الممدوح تُظهِرُ ذاته

عياناً وخير المدح ما خُصَّ بالكشف

Do you fear revealing the one praised in his essence

Openly? Yet the best praise is that which is specially revealed.

جواهرُ نُبديها لنحظى بحسنها

وعارٌ نواريه فراراً من القذف

Jewels we display so we may enjoy their beauty,

And a defect we cover up, fleeing from vilification.

وأيَّدتَ ذا ديناً خفيّاً مموَّهاً

ببعض خُرافاتٍ بها أنت تستكفي

You supported a religion that is vague, obscured

With some myths that you use to justify yourself -

برمْلٍ واصطُرلابِ وَفْقٍ ومَنْدَلٍ

وسحرٍ وإرصادات نجمٍ مع الحفِّ

Geomancy, astrolabe, conjunction, astrolith,

Sorcery and star observations with the planets.

كذا الكيميا مع سيمياء طوالعٍ

بها العقل مفتونٌ عن الكامل الوصف

That is alchemy with the semiotics of nativities

Which captivates the mind, distracting it from the perfect description.

وصيَّرتَ مَذهبْكَ المقولَ مقلَّداً

به شيعةٌ ضلت عن الحق والعُرف

You depicted your questionable doctrine as orthodox

With which a misguided sect went astray from truth and custom.

أجبني إذا ما قست بالدين ضحكةً

فما الفضل بين الحق والكذب في الصُحْف

Answer me if the religion sneered with laughter,

What then is the merit between truth and lies in the scriptures?

إذا قيلَ أن السيفَ أمضى من العصا

فما الفضلُ للسيف الصقيل على السَّعْف

If it is said the sword is more decisive than the staff,

What then is the merit of the polished sword over straw?

وإن قيل إن الطِرْف أسرع في الوغى

من الحَرْفِ ما فضل الجواد على الحَرف

If it is said the hoof is swifter in battle

Than the script, what is the merit of the steed over the letter?

وتزعُمُ أن الحق عندك مُلغَزٌ

بحرفٍ طواه السر في ذلك الحرف

You claim the truth is enigmatically with you

In a letter concealed by mystery in that letter.

فإن كان دينُ الحق فيك اتصاله

فلِمْ تدَّعي بالخوف من نوره المُشفي

So if the religion of truth is joined with you,

Why do you claim, fearing its revealing light, that heals?

وتثلب أقواماً شنَوهُ لجهلهم

به وهو مخفيٌّ وناهيك من مخفي

You have villainized a people hostile to it due to their ignorance of it

While it is hidden - and that is quite enough from something hidden!

فما ذنبُ شانيه ودينك غامضٌ

وأنَّى يلام العقل والعلمُ مُستَخفِ

So what is the sin of its critic, while your religion is obscure?

And how can the mind and knowledge be slighted?

فحاشا لرب الأمر أن يُهلكَ الذي

عصى أمره والأمر خافٍ بلا كشف

Far be it for the Lord of Power to destroy one

Who disobeyed His command while it remains concealed without revealing!

وأنشدتَ في سر المُعمَّى الذي به

سترتَ روايات الرسائلِ باللُّطف

And you recited in the secret of the blinding darkness through which

You have concealed the narrations of the epistles gently,

إشاراتِ أعدادٍ وروحٍ مُجسَّمٍ

وصبراً ونيرانَ الحياةِ مع الحتف

The symbols of numbers and embodied spirit

And patience, and the fires of life along with doom.

فأعجمتَ يا هذا علينا خلاصَنا

وأبهمتَه بالاسم والفعل والحرف

You have rendered our salvation obscure to us, O Abu Baraqish,

And ambiguated it with the noun, verb, and letter.

وألغزتَه في طيِّ شعرٍ تعقَّدت

معانيه والألفاظُ في غاية الوقف

You made it enigmatic in the fold of complex poetry

Whose meanings and words are extremely obscure -

سِنادٌ وإيطاءُ القوافي ولحنُها

وخَزْمٌ وإقواءٌ ثم إكفا مع الزَّحف

Rhymes and incorrect rhyming, metres and upholding them

Then refraining along with exaggeration.

وعدَّدتَ من وصفيك إسماً وكُنيةً

وأبهمتَ في دعواك ما فيه تستخفي

You enumerated from those who praise you a name and agnomen

And you were ambiguous in your claim over what you conceal.

فحيناً تُرينا الخضرَ فيك مُقمَّصاً

وحيناً ترينا الفليسوف على حقف

So sometimes you show us Al-Khidr embodied in you

And sometimes the philosopher upon true accord.

وحيناً ترينا واصلاً ثم فاعلاً

وحيناً ترينا مالك الكون بالعنف

And sometimes you show us Al-Wasil then Al-Fa'il (the achiever),

And sometimes you show us the possessor of might through violence.

وحيناً ترينا أنك اللَه مرسلٌ

كتابك مع رسل البشارة والألف

And sometimes you show us that you are sending God

Your book along with the messengers of good news and harmony.

فأين كتابٌ ثم رُسْلُكَ عندنا

فإن كنتَ أت الحق تَظهرُ بالعطف

So where is a book or messengers of yours among us?

If you came with the truth, you would show with kindness!

فحيَّرتَنا يا اَبا بَراقشَ قل لنا

مرادَك لا تخش العِيانَ مع الكشف

So you confused us, O Abu Baraqish! Tell us

Your purpose - do not fear revelation along with revealing!

وورَّيتَ عنا خُبرَ عينك خائفاً

من الكشف إن العقل بالكشف يستكفي

You denied us news of your eye, fearing revelation.

But the mind is satisfied with revealing!

وإكسيرك الممدوح عنّا خبأْتَه

ودانِقُهُ المحمودُ من ألمٍ يشفي

You concealed your praised elixir from us

And its praised remedy from pain that heals.

فأبرز به إن كان حقّاً مصدقاً

لنَشفَى به من داء كفرٍ ودا قَذف

So produce it if it be true and verifying

That we may be healed from the malady of blasphemy and vilification!

ولا تُبدلنَّ الحق بالكذب عنوةً

ولا تُرضِنا عن ذاك بالأفِّ والتُّفِّ

Do not stubbornly substitute truth for lies

Nor reconcile us to that with coarseness and sweetness!

وعَرَّضتَ في علم الرياضة مُعلِناً

تُفيدُ وخير العلم ما تمَّ بالوصف

You have proposed in the science of mathematics, declaring

It benefits - and the best knowledge is that which is complete in description.

فقل ليَ ما علم الرياضة مُعلِناً

وما الزهدُ ما حدُّ الطهارة باللطف

So tell me, what is the knowledge of mathematics declaring?

And what is asceticism? What are the limits of purity gently?

وما الفكر ما أنواعه ما صفاتُه

وماذا الحواسُ العشر في ذلك الظَرف

What is contemplation? Its categories? Its attributes?

And what are the ten perceptions in that circumstance?

وما القصد في تعريف كل كبيرةٍ

من الإثم ما حدُّ الصغيرة في العُرف

What is the purpose in defining each major sin,

What is the limit of minor ones in custom?

وما العقلُ ما إدراكُهُ سيِّد الورى

وما الناظر المعقول في عالم السَجف

What is the intellect? What is its comprehension, Master of Creation?

And what is the viewer of the mental in the world of drinking vessels?

وما ضعف داء الطبع فينا ونقصه

وما هو شفا كلٍّ من النقص والضعف

What is the weakness of the innate failing in us and its deficiency?

And what is the cure for every deficiency and weakness?

وما العُجب ما الإفرازُ في كل حالةٍ

وتفصيلها بالكم والكيف والوصف

What is conceit? What is discrimination in each case?

And its details in quantity, quality and description?

وما النسك ما الإمساك في كل شهوةٍ

برهبنةٍ قامت على الزهد والقشف

What is devotion? What is abstinence from every desire

Through monasticism built upon asceticism and rough garb?

أَجِب مسفراً عن فطنةٍ ألمعيةٍ

وخُض في علوم اللَه يا عالماً يكفي

Respond openly, from brilliant acumen,

And delve into the sciences of God, O knowledgeable one, it suffices!

إلهٌ رأيناه بآثار خلقه

وإبداعِه الكونين في قبضة الكف

A God we have seen through traces of His creation

And origination of the two worlds in the grasp of Power.

ينزَّهُ عن قَبلٍ وبعدٍ بذاته

وعن زمنٍ يحصيه بالحصر في ظَرف

Transcendent is He in His Essence beyond front or behind,

Nor time that can be counted within a circumstance.

وكِلْمَتُهُ الأقنومُ ثانٍ لأولٍ

وثالثُه الروح المُعَزِّي بلا خُلف

His Word is a second hypostasis to the First,

And its third is the Comforting Spirit without contrast.

ولكنه بالذات والملك واحدٌ

إلهٌ له التصريف في خلقه الصِرف

But He in Essence, Kingdom and actions is One God

To Him belongs all arrangement in His creation without rival.

ونعبده بالوهم شخصاً محيَّزاً

وحاشاه من شخصٍ يُحيِّزُه وصفي

We worship Him imagining a delimited person

And transcendent is He above a person that a description would delimit!

فأوصافه تحوي معاني جلاله

وآثار قُدرتْهِ على كل مُستخف

For His attributes contain meanings of His majesty

And traces of His Power over all the arrogant.

يُرَى من جنودٍ قد يراهم بأمره

بفطرة روحٍ ليس بالجسم ذي النُطف

He is seen from spiritual armies He may show at His command

With an innate spirit, not of the embodied seed.

من النار قد جاءت بقدرة قادرٍ

بغير هيولي الجسم صفّاً على صف

Of fire they came through the Power of an Able One

Without bodily primal matter, a detachment upon detachment.

تَنَزَّهُ عن موتٍ وأكلٍ سريعةُ ال

تنقُّل لم تُحجَر بأرضٍ أو السقف

Transcending death, food, swiftly moving about,

Not confined to land or heaven.

بلى إنما بالحَصر خُصَّ مكانُها

لِتُفصلَ عن باري البريّة باللُطف

Rather, the confines defined their place

To distinguish them from the Creator of beings gently.

تُخالُ بأشكالٍ وأشخاصِ صورةٍ

مُكلَّفَةٍ أمرَ التحرُّك والوَقف

Taking shapes and forms of pictured embodiment

Commanded to move and pause.

ولما طغى إبليس وهو مُخيَّرٌ

نفاه إلهُ المُلكِ عن مُلكه المَكفي

When Satan rebelled while being left to choose,

The God of the Kingdom exiled him from His Kingdom that suffices.

ولم يرجُ بعد النفي والطرد عودةً

وناهيك من نارٍ دهت ذلك المنفي

He did not return after exile and banishment,

Not to mention the fire that subdued the exiled one.

وشاد السماواتِ البديعَ انتظامها

قويٌّ تعالى في قُواه عن الضعف

He constructed the heavens, the excellent harmony of them,

A Mighty One transcendent in His Might over weakness!

تزيِّنُها في السائرات بسيرها

ثوابتُها كالدرِّ في رَونق الصف

He adorned them among those moving with their motion

While the fixed ones are like pearls in graceful splendor.

دحا الأرضَ لما شاء جلَّ اقتدارُه

على الماء والأمواه تجري بلا وقف

He stretched out the earth when He willed, exalted is His Power

Over the water and the waves flowing without pause.

أحاط بها اليمَّ الثجاجَ كأنه

طفاوةُ بدرٍ خَفَّ في ليلة النصف

He encircled it with surging, turbulent seas

Like the new moon's crescent fallen on the night of mid-month.

وأذكى بها النَيْرَيْنِ شرقاً ومغرباً

وكادهما بالنقص والخسف والكسف

He ignited in it the two luminescent bodies east and west

And sustained them through decrease, eclipse and concealment.

برا آدماً من طينة التُرب ناطقاً

وزيَّنه بالنفس والعقل والظرف

He created Adam from clay, speaking

And adorned him with spirit, intellect and aptitude.

قُوَى نفسِه فكرٌ وفهمٌ وبَعدَه ال

إرادةُ في عقلٍ رصينٍ أخي لطف

The strength of his soul is contemplation, comprehension and judgment after which

Comes the will in a steadfast intellect, most gentle kinship.

برا الجسم قبلاً ثم بعدَ هنيهةٍ

برا النفس حقّاً هكذا حالُنا النطفي

He first created the body then after a moment

He truly created the soul - thus is our embryonic state.

تبارك ربٌّ بل إلهٌ أَخَصَّهُ

فأكرِمْ به مولىً غدا كاملَ الوصف

Blessed is the Lord! Nay, the God who specified him -

So honor through him a Master soon perfect in description!

ترَّى بنا حقّاً وخلَّصَ آدماً

وكانت له العذراءُ أمّاً بها استَشْفِ

He appeared to us truly and delivered Adam

And the Virgin became His mother through whom he was healed.

أتانا بأقنومٍ إلهاً مؤنَّساً

لينقذَنا من دين كفرٍ ولا يشفي

He came to us in a hypostasis, a God in company

To save us from the religion of blasphemy which offers no healing -

يسوعُ ومعناهُ الإله مُخَلِّصٌ

كما قد أبانته النبوة بالعُرف

Jesus, whose meaning is God the Savior,

As the prophecy made it clear in custom.

فهذا هو السر البديع اعتلانُه

وأبديته جهراً وحاشايَ أن أُخفي

This then is the wondrous mystery of His manifestation

And eternality openly - far be it for me to conceal!

ولم أُخفه ضنّاً به وصيانةً

عليه من الجهّال والعالم الشَظف

Nor have I concealed it resentfully nor to protect it

From the ignorant and violent world.

فهاك الذي أُبدي وإنَّك مُفحَمٌ

لتبصرَ من يَرتدُّ منجدِعَ الأنف

So this is what I have disclosed, and you are proven false!

See who turns away headlong with his nose in the ground!