تولدتَ عني وعن واحدٍ

فسميتَ بالغائبِ الشاهد

You were born of me and of the One

So you were named the Absent, the Witness

فلولا قبولي وأسماؤه

لما كنت عني وعن واحد

Had I not accepted and named Him

You wouldn't have existed from me and the One

فيا من هو النعتُ في عينه

ومَن نعتُه ليس بالزائدِ

O you whose attribute is in His eyes

And whose attributed isn't redundant

لقد رمتُ أمراً فلم أستطع

كما رامه الصَّيد بالصائدِ

I have attempted something I couldn't do

As prey attempts against the hunter

تراوغُ عن سهمه قاصداً

وأين الفِرارُ من القاصد

It evades his arrow intentionally

But how can it evade the intent?

ومِن أعجبِ الأمر أني به

صدرت ولم يك عن واردِ

Of the wondrous matters is that I, by it

Initiated though it wasn't of my own accord

وكيفَ الصدورُ وما في الصدورِ

سوى مقبلٍ عنه أو شارد

How can I initiate when in my heart

Is either a reciter or a distracted one?

تعاليتُ لما تعاليتم

وما أنت بالواحد الواجد

I transcended when you transcended

And you aren't the One, the Findable

أنا واحدٌ واجدٌ كونكم

ولستُ لعيني بالفاقد

I'm one, findable since you are

And to my eyes I'm not lacking

أنا ثابتٌ لستُ عن مثبت

كما أنا عن موجِدٍ ماجد

I'm fixed, I'm not in need of one who affirms

Just as I'm not in need of an ennobler

فإنّ غناه بأعياننا

مُحالٌ عليه لدى الناشد

His riches in our entities

Is impossible, according to the petitioner

ولكنه مثلُ ما قاله

غنيٌ عن العالم الراصد

But it's as He said it Himself

Needless of the observing world

وذاك الغنيُّ بلا مِرية

وإياك من نفثةِ العاقد

That Needless One, without doubt

And beware the grip of the binder

تعالى عن الفقر في ذاته

علوّ الحفيظِ على الراقد

Exalted in His essence from poverty

Is the ascendance over the dormant

تعوّذتُ منه به مثلَ ما

تعوّذت من غاسقٍ حاسد

I sought refuge in Him from Him

As I sought refuge from an envious concealer

فنعتي الإقامة في موطني

كما نعته عنه بالوافد

So my attribute is staying in my abode

As His attribute from Him is the visitor

فينزل ربي إلى خلقِه

ولا وَصفٌ للخلقِ بالصَّاعد

My Lord descends to His creation

No description of the creation as ascendable

إليه ولكن لآياته

كما جاء في المحكم النافذ

To Him, but by His signs

As stated in the decisive Scripture

يقرّ ويجحّد إقرارُه

وأين المقرُّ من الجاحدِ

He accepts and denies, His acceptance

And where is the accepter from the denier?

أزينه وهو لي زينة

كما زيّن القلبُ بالساعدِ

I adorn Him and He is my adornment

As the heart adorns the wrist

طردتَ الذي لم تُرد قربَه

وسميتَ عبدَك بالطاردِ

You dismissed those whose nearness you disliked

And named Your servant the dismissive

إذا امتحن الله عبّادَه

نفوزُ بمعرفةِ العابدِ

If God tests His servants

The knower of the worshipper wins

كما الأمُّ تضربُ أولادها

لتظهر مرتبةُ الوالدِ

As a mother beats her children

To expose the station of the parent

دعاني إلى رفدِه جودُه

فجئتُ مع الوفدِ كالوافد

His generosity called me to sustain it

So I came with the delegation like a visitor

وكان معي حالَ ما جئتُه

وما كلُّ من سارَ كالقاعدِ

And with me was my state when I came to Him

Not all who walked are like the sitter

فسيري به مثلَ سيري له

فأنعتُ بالسائقِ القائد

So my travel with Him is like my travel to Him

Thus I'm attributed as the driver, the guide

أذود الردى عن جناب الهدى

لا علم في الناس بالذائد

I ward off harm from the side of guidance

No knowledge among people of the warder

وما ذدته عنه إلاّ به

فيا خيبة العالمِ الحائدِ

And I didn't ward it off from Him except by Him

So what a disappointment for the deviant world!