إني لأقسم بالذي تدريه

في كل ما أمضيه أو أجريه

I swear by Him whom you know

In all I decide or execute

لو بيع من منع المشرع بيعة

لحق الخسار ببائع يشريه

If what the Legislator has forbidden were sold

The seller would suffer loss though he feigns to offer it

وإن اقتدى فيه بإخوة يوسفَ

فلذاك حكمٌ كلنا ندريه

And if he follows the example of Joseph's brothers

That is a judgment we all know

إنا تعبدنا بشرع محمدٍ

وكفاك هذا القدر من تنبيه

We worshipped according to Muhammad's Law

And this much advice suffices

أنا لا أفضل أمّة قد أخرجت

للناسِ في تنزيه أو تشبيه

I do not prefer any community

Brought out to mankind in glorification or analogy

إن الذي قال الزمان بفضله

حكمُ القضاءِ بما يرضيه

He by whose excellence time has been judged

Judgment of destiny satisfies him

فتراه واحدَ عَصرِه في حاله

في كلِّ ما يبغيه أو يمضيه

You see him unique in his time in his state

In all he desires or decrees

إني اتبعت لكلِّ صاحبِ علةٍ

استحكمت منه التي تشفيه

I have followed for every proponent of a doctrine

That which cures him that is established with him

فإذا الخطاب لربنا من سرِّنا

أني لما أُبديه ما أخفيه

So when the discourse is to our Lord from our secret

I do not disclose what I hide of what I divulge

من ليس يقدر قدر ما أعطيته

في نفسه مني فما أبغيه

He who cannot appreciate what I have given him

In himself from me, I do not want him

جهلَ الحقائقَ من يخلط أمرها

والعالمُ المسعودُ من يلغيه

He is ignorant of the realities who confuses their matter

And the learned man made happy is he who transcends him

إني جعلت لكلِّ حقِّ موطناً

يدري به الشخصُ الذي في فيه

I have made for every right a place

Which the person possessing it knows

دررُ البيانِ مسرَّحاً ومقيَّداً

فله التحكم من وجودي فيه

The jewels of rhetoric arranged and rhymed

So he has sway over me by existing in it