أخٌ لِيَ مَشكُورُ المَسَاعِي وَسَيِّدٌ

تَسُرُّ بَوَادِيهِ إذَا سَاءَكَ الصَّحبُ

A brother to me whose efforts are appreciated and a lord

A brother of mine, praised in endeavors, and a master,

Whose valleys delight when companionship becomes unbearable

Whose open countenance gladdens when companions bring grief.

ألَمَّ يُجَالِينِي جَلاَءَ مُجَرّبٍ

عَلَى أنَّهُ حَقَّا بِيَ العَالِمُ الطَّبُّ

Has he not made me face the testing of an experienced person

He came to test and appraise me with the scrutiny of the seasoned,

On the basis that he is truly the kindest person to me

Though he is truly the knowledgeable, expert master of my worth.

يُطَالِعُ فِي سُبلِ البَلاَغَةِ مَذهَبِي

وَهَل يَستَوِي مَنهَا لِيَ الحَزنُ وَالسُّهبُ

He examines my style of eloquence

He examines my path in the ways of eloquence,

Can grief and joy be the same to me?

And whether the rugged terrain and flat plains are alike to me;

وَكَيفَ أنَا فِيهَأ إذَا مَا تَشَعَّبَت

وَضَاقَ عَلَى طُلاَّبِهَا المَنهَجُ الرَّحبُ

And how can I be patient when it branches out

And how I fare within them when its branches diverge,

And the vast path becomes narrow for its seekers

And the broad highway narrows upon those who seek it.

فَلُحتُ لَهُ خربت غفل وَمَجهَلٍ

يَضَلَّ لَدَيهِ النَّجمُ وَالقَشَمُ النَّكبُ

I shone to him, I ruined the negligence and ignorance

So I appeared to him as a trackless expanse and uncharted wilderness,

In which the star and the shooting star go astray

Wherein the guiding star and the swiftest steed go astray.

فَيَا أيُّهَا القَأضِي المُبَجَّلُ وَالَّذِي

مَوَارِدُهُ من سري البَاردِ العَذبُ

So O esteemed judge, you who

O revered Judge, whose fountains of wisdom

Draw water from the fresh, cool springs

Flow with cool, sweet, subterranean springs,

وَمَن دَان أربَابُ العُلُومِ بأسرِهِم

لَهُ بِصَرِيحِ الرّقّوَهوَ لَهُم رَبُّ

And those whom the masters of science yield to altogether

And to whom all masters of knowledge submit

Plainly and humbly, and He is their Lord

In utter subservience, while he reigns as their lord:

أعِيذُكَ أن تَرتَابَ أنَّنِيَ الذِي

أتَى سَابِقاً وَالكُلُّ يَنجُرُ أو يحبُو

I seek refuge in you from doubting that I am the one

I seek refuge for you from doubting that I am the one

Who came first while all else lags behind or crawls

Who arrived foremost, while all others crawled or limped behind;

وَمِثلَي إذَا جَدَّ الرّجَالُ وَاتعَبُوا

نُفُوسَهُم سَعياً وَكَدَّهُمُ الخطبُ

And the likes of me, when men strive and weary

And one like me, when men strive earnestly and exhaust

Their souls striving and their circumstances become difficult

Their souls in pursuit, worn down by grave matters,

تَقَدَّمَ سَبقاً ثَانِياً مِن عِنَانِهِ

وَغَادَرَ مَن جَارَاهُ فِي رَهجِهِ يَكبُو

I advance, coming second in the lead

Surges ahead, pulling at the reins with ease,

And leave behind those who raced me in their exhaustion

Leaving behind all who raced him, stumbling in his dust.

أمِثلُكَ يَعشُو عَن مَكَانِي وَيَمتَرِي

بِأنِّيَ مِن أفلاَكِ ذَا الأدَبِ القُطبِ

Do I live oblivious to my standing and boast

Could one like you be blind to my standing, or doubt

That I am from the celestial realm of the highest order

That I am the celestial pole in the firmament of letters?

أيَخفَى عَلَيكَ البَدرُ لَيلَةَ تَمِّهِ

وَلَم يَستَتِر عَنكَ البَيَازِكُ وَالشُّهبُ

Can the full moon on the night of its fullness

Could the full moon on the night of its perfection be hidden from you,

Be hidden from you, and the meteors and comets concealed?

When neither distant meteors nor blazing shooting stars escape your sight?

وَأنتَ الذِي يَلقَى الخَفِيَّاتِ ظَاهِراً

بِعَينش نُهًى لَم تُرجَ مِن دُونِهَا الحُجبُ

You before whom the unseen becomes manifest

And you are the one who perceives hidden secrets clearly,

With your insight that no veils can withstand

With an eye of intellect before which no veil is ever drawn.

فَكَيفَ بَمَا وَازَى الجَهُولَ تَمَكُّناً

ذُوُو العِلمِ فِيهِ وَاستَوَى السّودُ وَالصُّهبُ

So how can that which competes with ignorance in stability

How then with matters where the scholar and the ignorant stand equal

While those of knowledge equal the white and the black in it

In mastery, and the black and the ruddy camels are alike?

وَحَاشَايَ أن يَمتَدَّ زَهوٌ بِمَنطِقِي

وَأن يَستَفِزَّ الحِلمَ فِي قَولِيَ العُجبُ

And far be it from me that vain glory should extend through my speech

Far be it from me that vain pride should expand in my speech,

And that calm should be provoked by my words of pride

Or that conceit should agitate forbearance in my words.

وَلَكِنَّ لِي فِي يُوسُفَ خَيرَ أسوَةٍ

وَلَيسَ عَلَى مَن بَالنَّبِيّ ائتَسَى ذَنبُ

Rather I have in Joseph the best example

Yet in Joseph I find the finest exemplar,

And no fault lies with one who emulates the Prophet

And no sin falls upon whoever emulates a prophet,

يَقُولُ وَقَالَ الحَقُّ وَالصّدقُ إنَّنِي

حَفِيظٌ عَلِيمٌ مَا عَلَى صَادِقٍ عَتبُ

He says, and truth and honesty said, that I

When he said—speaking pure truth and honesty: "Indeed, I am

Am a guardian, knowing - no truthful one is blamed

A guardian, knowledgeable"—and no blame rests upon the truthful.

فَلَو كُسِيَ الفُولاَذُ حِدَّةَ خَاظِرِي

تَسَاوَى لَدَيهِ اللَّحمُ وَالحَجَرُ الصُّلبُ

If steel were to acquire the sharpness of my thoughts

For if steel were clad in the sharpness of my intellect,

Flesh and solid stone would be equal before it

Soft flesh and solid stone would be cut by it alike.

وَلَو كَانَ لِلنِّيرَانِ بَعضُ ذَكَائِهِ

وَفَاضَت عَلَيهِ لُجَّة البَحرِ لَم يَخبُ

And if fire had any of its intelligence

And if fire possessed a fraction of its fiery brilliance,

And the sea's fury overflowed onto it, it would not be extinguished

It would not be extinguished though the depths of the ocean flooded over it.

وَمَا اختَصَّ عِلمٌ دُونَ عِلمٍ بِوِجهَتِي

بَلَى مَسرَحِي فِي كُلِّهَا الوَاسِعُ الخَصب

No branch of knowledge is specialized with my disposition

No single branch of knowledge alone claims my direction;

Rather my domain in all is vast and fertile

Rather, in all of them, my pasture is vast and fertile.

تَظَلُّ فُنُونُ العِلمِ تَجلَى إذَا غَدَت

بِأيدِي رِجالٍ وَهيَ مَنجُولَةٌ غَصبُ

The disciplines of knowledge begin to shine when they fall

The arts of knowledge shine unveiled, whereas when they fall

Into the hands of men, and had been seized wrongfully

Into other men's hands, they are seized and disfigured by force.

وَمَا عَزَّنِي وَالحَمدُ لِلَّهِ مَطلَبٌ

مِنَ العِلمِ مِمَّا أبقَتِ العُجمُ وَالعُربُ

I have not been saddened - praise be to God - by any

No quest in knowledge has ever eluded me, praise be to God,

Quest for knowledge that the non-Arabs and Arabs left

From all that the non-Arabs and the Arabs have left behind.

حَلِيفِي وَمُحيِي هِمَّتِي وَمُنِيرُهَا

وَرَافِعُ ذِكرِي حَيثُمَا اتَّصَلَ الرَّكبُ

My ally, reviver of my zeal and its illuminator

It is my ally, the reviver and illuminator of my resolve,

And lifter of my mention wherever the caravan traveled

Exalting my renown wherever traveling caravans unite.

وَأنسِيَ مُذ خَمسٍ وَعِشرِينَ حِجَّةً

أرُوحُ وَأغدُو وَهوَ صَارِمِيَ الغَصبُ

And my companion since twenty five pilgrimages

And my intimate companion for five and twenty years,

I go and return while it is my drawn sword

Through my evenings and mornings, my sharp, unforgiving sword.

وَخِطَّتِيَ العُليَا الَّتِي لَستُ أتَّقِي

حَيَاتِيَ مِنهَأ العَزلُ مَا رَتَعَ الضَّبُ

And my lofty approach which I do not fear for my life

And my supreme station, from which I never fear

To abandon - what harm did isolation bring?

Deposition in my lifetime, as long as the lizard roams the earth.

وَمَالٌ عَمِيمٌ لَستُ أخشَى نَفَادَهُ

بِإنفَاقِهِ لاَ بَل يَزيدُ وَيَنصَبُّ

And an abundant wealth I do not fear its depletion

And an abundant wealth whose exhaustion I never fear

By spending it - rather it increases and flows

By spending; nay, it only multiplies and pours forth.

سَمَوتُ بِنَفسِي لاَ بِمَجد هَوَت بِه

مِنَ الزَّمَنِ العَدَّاءِ آلاَتُهُ الحُدبُ

I transcended myself, not with glory which

I elevated myself by my own soul, not through an ancestral glory

The hostile time targeted with its instruments

Cast down by the crooked, hostile blows of relentless time.

عَلَى أنَّنِي لَو شِئتُ قُلتُ مُصَدَّقاً

وَأقبَحُ قَولٍ مَا ألَمَّ بِهِ الكَذبُ

Though I could have said, claiming so, and the ugliest saying

Though were I to boast of ancestry, I would speak truthfully,

Is that which is touched by lies

For the ugliest speech is that which is tainted by falsehood.

وَلَكِنَّهُ مَن لَم يُشِد مَا حَلاَ لَهُ

رَغَا فِي مَبَانِيهِ وَضعضَعَهَا السَّقبُ

But one who does not fortify what befalls him

Yet whoever fails to build what sweetens his own name

Babbles in his structures and weakness shakes them

Merely roars amidst his ruined foundations, shaken by collapse.

فَإن شِئتَ فِي عِلمِ الدّيَانَةِ تَلقَنِي

نِقَاباً لَهُ لَم يَخفَ عَنِّي لَهُ نَقبُ

So if you wish, question me about religious knowledge

So if you wish, in the science of religion you will find me

An aperture that has not been hidden from me, it has a hole

Its keen scrutinizer, with none of its deep paths hidden from me.

وَأمَّا أفَانِينُ الحَدِيثِ فَإنَّنِي

أنَا بَحرُهَا الطَّامِي وَيُنبُوعُهَا السَّكبُ

As for the springs of hadeeth, I

And as for the branches of Prophetic Traditions,

Am their turbulent sea and their pouring well

I am its overflowing sea and its gushing spring.

وَقَيَّدت مِن فُتيَا ذَوي الفِقهِ ضَابِطاً

بِحِفظِيَ مَا طَالَت بِهِ قَبلَهَا الحِقبُ

And I compiled from the jurists' opinions a framework

And I have mastered and recorded the edicts of the jurists with precision,

By my memory, of what eons had elapsed with it

Retaining in my memory what took long ages to compile.

وَإن لاَذَ طُلاَّبُ الكَلاَمِ بِجَانِبِي

فَإنَّيَ سَاقِيهِم وَكُلُّهُمُ شَربُ

And if students of dialectics stand by my side

And if seekers of scholastic theology take shelter at my side,

Then I am their drink and all of them imbibe

I am their cupbearer, while they are all eager drinkers.

وَعِلمِي بِمَا فِي سِرّ خَصمِي كَعِلمِه

فَمَا غَأبَ عَنِّي مِنهُ سَهلٌ وَلاَ صَعبُ

And my knowledge of what is in secret with my opponent is like his knowledge

And my knowledge of what lies in my adversary's mind equals his own;

So nothing, difficult or easy, was hidden from me

Neither the plain nor the intricate of it is veiled from me.

وَإن تُذكَرِ الأشعَأرُ لَم يَكُ خَارِجاً

أمَامِي جَريرٌ فِي الرّهَانِ وَلاَ كَعبُ

And if poetry is mentioned, Jarir would not be

And if poetry is mentioned, neither Jarir

Ahead of me in wagering, nor Ka'b

Nor Ka'b could outpace me in the race.

وَمَا ضَرَّ شِعرِي ان منو شهر والذي

وَلَم يَحظَ بِي عِلماً تَمِيمٌ وَلاَ كَلبُ

And my poetry was not harmed that it grew popular while

And it harms not my poetry if its fame was withheld

Tameem and Kalb did not gain knowledge of me

And neither Tamim nor Kalb possessed knowledge of my worth.

وأمّا تُسَائِل بِاللُّغَات وَنَحوهَا

فَمَا غَابَ عَنِّي مِنهُ سَهلٌ وَلاَ صَعبُ

And if you ask about languages and grammar

And if you inquire into philology and grammar,

Nothing, difficult or easy, was hidden from me

Neither their straightforward nor their difficult aspects escape me.

وَمَا إنَّ شَأنِي عِندَ ذَلِكَ سَابِقٌ

عَلَى أنَّنِي لَم يُغرنِي التَّعبُ وَالوَطبُ

And my position in that is not preceding

Nor was my stride in that ever surpassed,

Despite that fatigue and affliction did not tempt me

Though toil and exhaustion could never distract me.

وَحَسبُكَ بِي فِي ذي الأعَارِيضِ مَمنَعاً

إذَا عُدَّتِ الأوتَادُ وَالشَّطرُ وَالضَّربُ

It is enough that in rhythmic composition I forbid

And suffice it that in poetic meters I am an impregnable fortress,

When strings are counted, and refrain, and tempo

When watids, hemistichs, and rhyming feet are weighed.

وَإن شِئتَ أخبَارَ الدهُورِ فَإِنَّنِي

أنَا جَامِعُ التَّارِيخ مُذ نَبَتَ الهُضبُ

And if you mention history, then I

And if you seek the chronicles of the ages,

Am its collector since the hillocks sprouted

I am the gatherer of history since the hills first rose from the earth.

فَمَا غَابَ عَنِّي أمرُ مَلكٍ مسونه

وَلاَ شَدَّ دُونِي أمرُ سِلمٍ وَلاَ حَربُ

No command of a ruled king was hidden from me

No affair of a monarch has eluded me,

Nor was any matter of Sulaym or war concealed from me

Nor has any matter of peace or war remained barred from me.

سَوَاءٌ عَلَى ذِكرِي قَرِيبٌ وَنَازِحٌ

وَمَن حَمَلَت أرضٌ وَمَن ضَمَّهُ التُّربُ

Equal to my mention are the near and the remote

Alike to my memory are the near and the far-off,

And those whom earth carried and those dust covered

Those walking upon the earth and those embraced by the dust.

وَإن تُذكَرِ الأنسَابُ كُنتُ نَقِيبَهَا

وَلم يَخفَ عَن ذِكرَايَ حَيٌّ وَلاَ شِعبُ

And if genealogies are mentioned, I was their investigator

And if genealogies are recounted, I am their foremost arbiter;

And no living soul or branch was hidden from my mention

No clan or tribe is hidden from my recollection.

وَلَو أنَّ رُسطَالِيسَ حَي بَدَدتُّهُ

وَمَا عَاشَ إلاَّ وَهوَ لِي بِالحَرَى تِربُ

Had Aristotle been alive I would have refuted him

And were Aristotle alive today, I would refute his arguments,

He did not live except that he was for me like ashes

Nor could he live except as my humble peer at best.

يُسَافِرُ عِلمِي حَيثُ سَافضرتُ ظَاعِناً

وَيَصحَبُنِي حَيثُ استَقَلَّت بِيَ الرَّكبُ

My knowledge travels wherever I traveled, wandering about

My knowledge journeys wherever I travel abroad,

And accompanies me wherever the caravan lightened its load

Accompanying me wherever the mounts carry me.

مَحَلَّتُهُ صَدرِي وَمَسكَنُ عُمرِهِ

بِحَيثُ التَقَى مِنِّي التَّرَائِبُ وَالتِّربُ

Its place is my chest and the dwelling of its life

Its abode is my breast and its lifelong dwelling

Where my sides meet from me, and the dust

Where my collarbones and ribs meet within.

إذَا مَا الجَنوبُ استَوطَأت فِي ضِجَاعِهَا

فَعَنهُ نَبَا عَن مَضجَعِي مِنِّيَ الجَنبُ

When slumber settles into its bed

When others find comfort in the soft repose of their sides,

It alerts about my bedding - I turn my side from it

My flank recoils from the resting-place, restless for truth.

أنَا الشَّمسُ فِي جَوّ العُلُومِ مُنِيرَةٌ

وَلَكِنَّ عَيبِي أنَّ مَطلَعِيَ الغَربُ

I am the sun in the atmosphere of sciences, illuminating

I am the sun shining in the skies of knowledge,

But my defect is that my rise is the west

But my only flaw is that my rising is in the West.

وَلَو أنَّهُ مِن جَانِبِ الشَّرقِ طَالِعٌ

لَجَدَّ عَلَى مَا ضَاعَ من ذِكرِيَ النَّهبُ

If it were rising from the east

Yet had it risen from the horizon of the East,

It would find what was lost of my mention returned

Men would have rushed in plunder to seize all my neglected fame.

وَلِي نَحوَ أكنَافِ العِرَاقِ صَبَابَةٌ

وَلاَ غَروَ أن يَستَوحِشَ الكَلِفُ الصَّبُّ

And I have some yearning towards the sides of Iraq

And I harbor a deep longing for the lands of Iraq,

No wonder the frigid longs for the morning warmth

And no wonder that the ardent, impassioned lover feels desolate.

فَإن يُنزِلِ الرَّحمَانُ رَحلِيَ دُونَهُم

فَحِينَئِذٍ يَمضِي التَّأسُّفُ وَالكَربُ

If the Merciful should settle my belongings among them

So if the Merciful brings my caravan to their gates,

Then sorrow and anguish would pass

Then at last all regret and sorrow will depart.

فَكَم قَائِلٍ أغفَلتُهُ وَهوَ حَاضِرٌ

وَأطلُبُ مَا عَنهُ تَجِيءُ بِهِ الكُتبُ

How many have I neglected while present

For how often is one neglected while present among his people,

And I seek what reports would bring about books

Only to have men seek after what the books record of him?

هُنَالِكَ يُدرَى أنَّ لِلبُعدِ قِصَّةً

وَأنَّ فَسَادَ العِلمِ آفَتُهُ القُربُ

There it will be realized that distance has a story

Then it is known that distance weaves its own renown,

And that the corruption of knowledge has proximity as its detriment

And the bane that corrupts true knowledge is being too near.

فَيَا عَجَباً مَن غَابَ عَنهُم تَشَوَّقُوا

لَهُ وَدَنَوا لِمُزمِنِ دَرَاهِم ذَنبُ

So strange are those who when absent, they yearned

O wonder of wonders: for him who is absent they yearn,

For him, and drew near to the sinner with coins of sin

Yet they scorn the one near, as though proximity were a fault!

وَإنَّ مَكَاناً ضَاقَ عَنِّي لَضَيِّقٌ

عَلَى أنَّهُ فَيحٌ مَذَاهِبُهُ سُهبُ

A place too narrow for me is constricting

Indeed, any land that proves too narrow for me is confined,

Though its horizons are spacious and its directions vast

Even if its expanses are wide and its tracts open plains.

وَإنَّ رِجَالاً ضَيَّعُونِي لَضُيَّعٌ

وَإنَّ زَمَاناً لَم أنَل خِصبَهُ جَدبُ

And men who lost me are lost

And men who have squandered me are the truly ruined,

And a time whose fertility I did not attain is barren

And an age whose abundance I have not attained is utter drought.

وَلَو إنَّنِي خضاطَبتُ فَي النَّاسِ جَاهِلاً

لَقِيلَ دَعَأوٍ لاَ يَقُوم لَهَا طُنبُ

If I had addressed the people ignorantly

Had I addressed an ignorant fool among the people,

It would be said, "This claim stands on no sand dune"

It would be dismissed as idle boasts that have no pillar to stand on.

وَلَكِنَّنِي خَاطَبتُ أعلَمَ مَن مَشَى

وَمَن كُلُّ عِلمٍ فَهوَ فِيهِ لَنَا حَسبُ

But I addressed the most knowledgeable of those who walked

Yet I have addressed the most learned of all who walk the earth,

For whom all knowledge, we have enough of it

One in whom every branch of knowledge is our highest pride.

يُصَدّقُنِي فِي وَصفِهِ كُلُّ سَامِعٍ

يَقِيناً وَلاَ يَأبَى لِسَانٌ وَلاَ قَلبُ

Every listener believes me in describing him

Every listener confirms my praise of him with certainty,

With certainty, no tongue or heart refuses

Nor does any tongue or heart ever deny it.