يا صاح شمس العلوم اليوم قد غربت — Mufti Fathallah

O friend, the sun of learning has set today.

And the stars have dimmed, and the Hour has drawn near.

And the earth cried out and shook, convulsed by tremors;

So, when it quaked, people thought the Hour had arrived.

And people were stunned by what befell them,

And what struck them now roused them, and they were shaken.

And reason has wandered, and eyes stare fixedly;

And understanding is lost, and thoughts have fled.

And the universe has darkened, and birds are bewildered;

And people are drunken, their reason stolen from them.

And the heart is rent, and the soul has departed,

And fire has flared in the livers and blazed.

And the eye has shed its tears,

Like agate, pouring them out like clouds.

It weeps for him whose loss afflicted the Muslims,

The sun of learning that has been veiled from them.

The peerless gnostic, the spiritual pole, the saint, and one

Whose miracles were proven true, never false.

The ascetic, the God-fearing, a mountain of knowledge, one

Upon whom its banners were raised for guidance.

An ocean of knowledge whose shores have not been reached;

From him the pearls of mysteries were brought to us.

As though the seas of gnosis, however vast,

Were rivulets if compared with his gnosis.

The discerning expert, the scholar, the consummate authority, our master,

An ocean of learning whose words were sweet.

The brilliant, accomplished sage and imam; through him

All imams stood forth, seeking to follow his example.

All branches of learning appeared within his thought,

As though pictured there or inscribed.

A meticulous scholar: his precision in scrutiny came

To be seen inscribed upon the brow of inquiry.

The age's exegete, the Baydawi of his time, and one

In whom commentaries aspired to perfection.

The hadith master, trustworthy, reliable, truthful, and one

Who was al-Bukhari in this age, truly and assuredly.

The jurist of this age, jurisprudence's full moon, its Malik;

The Subki of legal principles: through him they gained glory, in him they flourished.

The Ash'ari whose swords of argument

Were drawn against the deviation of the errant and cut it down.

The peerless poet whose inspiration remained

A gushing spring, neither dwindling nor running dry.

Muhammad, sun of God's faith, our master,

And one held up as a proverbial model of guidance.

He is al-Masiri, whose equals were few,

And would not, would not, come into being in this age.

How noble his character! Its fine qualities shine,

Having grown in beauty and acquired grace.

The fates of death assailed him, treacherous as they are,

And so into him, alas, their claws sank.

Indeed, the fates of death are ravening lions,

That have surely leapt upon souls, without doubt.

Treacherous raiders, snatching the good away;

Do you not see how they seized him from among us?

All souls have fallen captive in their grasp;

No soul, by the Lord of the House, has escaped them.

How many towers of life they have demolished and destroyed!

Have not the towers of lifetimes been ruined by them?

If they would accept souls, I would ransom him;

Our souls would be given by us to them in his stead.

We weep blood for him, staining the earth;

Do you not see the earth dyed with that blood?

We almost poured our souls out through our eyes,

And each thinks his soul was drawn from the corners of his eyes.

His Lord called him to dwell in Paradise,

And there, no doubt, the houris were betrothed to him.

He answered the call, hastening on, borne

To it by the mounts of favor, as they went along the way.

If he has vanished from us, he has left us a successor,

A sun of excellence—may it neither vanish nor be veiled.

And when the sun sets, the full moon takes its place,

As though it had neither left us nor set.

He is his son Mustafa, of lofty distinction and honor,

And among his distinctions are those chosen from the loftiest heights.

The accomplished, noble man, learning's full moon and star,

Whose lights have overcome ignorance's darkness.

A branch of perfection, sprung from perfection's garden;

How beautiful the branch that grew in perfection's garden!

Grace courses through the parts of his form,

As though his form had drunk from the waters of grace.

Eloquence's companion—tell of his eloquence,

For it has now been granted to no other.

Masters of eloquence never heard his eloquence

Without marveling at its radiant beauty.

He never spoke but the soul rejoiced,

And the eye found solace, and the ear was delighted.

And how often we plundered precious pearls from his mouth!

From his prose, our ears plundered his pearls.

May his Lord bless him, and may time keep him alive for us,

And may God grieve his adversaries and bring them low.

May he remain with us, so that through him we may breathe

His father's fragrance, and ailing livers may be healed.

O noble man, submit to the decree, for nothing

But extinction is certain for anyone but the Eternal.

And, O man of understanding, be patient: you are bereaved of

One from whom calamities recoiled, O discerning man.

Whoever bears patiently has a bountiful reward, just as

The gardens of eternity are his due for that patience.

And death is inevitable, and all people taste it;

Did not the messengers drink the cup of death?

For this we were created; for this people were brought into being.

Thus, through it, the edifice of lifespans has crumbled.

And in the loss of the proud one there is consolation

For every calamity in which mankind has been afflicted.

And may God grant him a station in Paradise,

Near Him—exalted is He—indeed brought close to Him.

And be safe; remain in God's protection as long as rain falls

From the horizon's clouds, as long as they pour their downpours,

As long as al-Fath, in his elegy for him, recites to you:

“O friend, the sun of learning has set today.”