قم ساهر الليل بين البدر والزهر — Mufti Fathallah

Rise, keep vigil through the night between the full moon and the shining stars,

and behold the garden between the river and the flowers.

Do you not see the full moon bestowing some of its rays

upon the garden—a canopy of light that dazzles the sight?

And that it is a crystal veil in which

the garden's brides are wrapped, though it conceals no wearer?

The wind plays with the flowers then,

and the blossoms dance like graceful maidens before dawn.

Its flowers are wide eyes grown drowsy,

concealing and revealing their beauty of contrasting black and white.

And the full moon there, where it adjoins the Pleiades,

is a golden platter beside a cluster of pearls.

The river descends from a height to a slope,

its mouth laughing aloud on height and slope.

It ripples, clear and sweet as silver, over

soil of musk, with pungent, heady fragrance.

The full moon clothes it in a robe of its own radiance,

and it captivates the mind after reflection and contemplation.

The full moon's image has been imprinted in it,

and light stretches from that image to the moon.

So I imagined two full moons, on earth and in the heavens:

the moon of the sky, and this moon in the river.

With the light between them forming an unbroken link,

I could not tell which owned it—oh, the bewilderment of thought!

The light rippled where the water rippled with it,

as blossoms sway in the trees with the surging wind.

It moves away and returns at once in its undulation,

while the water flows, untouched by murkiness.

I imagined it a mirror upon which was pictured

the forenoon sun—an image among the fairest images.

The mirror moved at that moment,

so the light comes and goes, seizing the sight.

The garden's flowers are of many varied kinds,

each strongly scented, its fragrance sweet and aromatic;

each tender and fresh, without an equal,

each radiant, splendid, sumptuous, and flourishing;

of gold, ruby, and pearl,

and silver, proud in the company of pure gold.

Look at the rose within it, open,

shining by night with the radiance of bright stars,

like stars on the horizon reddening with twilight,

and a dark-eyed beauty's cheek reddening with modesty.

What opens from its buds is the pair of lips of the

beloved, who draws them together for a kiss wherever he sees fit [reading uncertain].

Jasmine resembles the eyes of oryxes in their contrasting black and white,

but that eye-like beauty has a reddish tinge.

The fresh narcissus on emerald stems—how often

it sways haughtily, displaying the utmost pride!

It resembles crystal lamps illuminating darkness,

the light at their centers like the light within the moon.

The radiant lily—how pungent its fragrances!

In these it has surpassed all other flowers on earth.

It is as though there were crystal cups, within them

peacock feathers like fresh, gleaming gold.

As for the carnation, how sweet its qualities!

Among the blossoms it appears the finest sight to contemplate,

whether splendid red or pure white;

its appearance delights the soul and the eye.

You would imagine its white blossom, in the beauty of its appearance,

the morning star, were it to appear before dawn.

Its red blossom in the garden seems an incense burner

exhaling fragrance without aloeswood—no, nor sparks.

As for the violet, when it glories in its blue,

it is morning's turquoise, appearing to one who waits.

The ban-tree sways joyfully amid its leaves,

drunk with the east wind's sway, like an intoxicated drinker.

Wicks that the Merciful fashioned out of gold,

and God sewed upon green silk.

Blessed is God, our Master and our Creator!

How lovely the garden, with flowers and shining stars!

It has no equal among gardens, just as

the sun has no equal in wilderness or town:

the sun of the sciences, leader of the age, our master,

the full moon of perfection, the star of glory and pride;

the ocean of knowledge, whose shores have not been reached,

the land of noble deeds, lofty in rank and distinction;

the ocean of generosity—whoever sees moisture from his palm

goes away scorning the sea and the rain.

The scholar, the consummate expert, the master scholar, our exemplar,

our glorious, renowned teacher, the finest nobleman;

the spiritual knower, the scrupulous, the virtuous, great in piety,

the ascetic, the devotee, steadfast in prayer before dawn;

the righteous, sincere, earnest adviser, whose counsels have benefited

us against our perilous ignorance.

No sooner do we hear the reminders in his admonitions

than through him we don the garment of one who takes heed.

He forbids wrong and commands right, seeking divine reward,

with gentle speech that has an effect even on stone.

You see, sincerity being his constant practice, no

aim except that we desist from wrong and obey.

He has never feared a blamer's blame in God's cause;

whoever fears his Lord does not fear any human being.

His disposition is pure, his inward character good;

indeed, his way of life is among the finest.

The star of the Sacred Law—rather, the full moon of the spiritual Path—rather,

the sun of Truth, most deserving through spiritual knowledge;

the Sa'd of rhetoric, its master in precise inquiry,

and the Malik of jurisprudence through exegesis and transmitted tradition;

reviver of schools through teaching when they had fallen into decay,

through whom the faith has become the finest victor;

supporter of the radiant Sunna—may it ever remain,

through men like him, a radiant glory among the fairest glories.

Attend his assemblies, and you will be granted his treasures,

for his companionship is benefit without harm.

The skilled, the accomplished, the peerless, lofty in intelligence:

his firesteel sparks wherever he strikes it alight.

The brilliant, the cultivated, exalted in refinement,

the perceptive, the intelligent, sound in thought;

the outstanding, the inventive, building his eloquence

from every original, newly devised meaning,

from every wise saying, finely fashioned and grown

sweeter to the ear than a reed flute or a string;

from every rare gem that has become a central pearl

in a necklace strung with the most splendid pearls.

His eloquence rises, his rhetoric rises,

in the beauty of both his verse and his prose.

Master of noble gifts—how radiant his qualities!

Companion of virtues, manifest and hidden;

the age's incomparable pearl, kept beyond any equal,

the time's unique jewel among people and humankind.

Were the stars of merit to rise in this age,

he would hold among them the station of the sun and moon.

Master of lofty honors whose ranks have risen

above Suha, arrayed in glory and pride;

a man of dignity, joined with veneration,

clothed in awe, the finest of those who wear it.

The age's conclusion, emerging from perfection's logical figure,

sound in its deduction, in thought and inquiry.

My teacher al-Masiri, whose virtues have spread

in fine renown, diffused with the loftiest praise;

son of perfections, Alexandrian by hometown,

Muhammad, possessed of glorious perfection and high standing;

cheerful of countenance, laughing and smiling of mouth,

a man of cheerfulness, at home and on the road.

What have I to gain in making him known by his finest qualities,

except lengthening the account of one already renowned?

Here, my lord, take a maiden with no equal

in beauty and wit, in person or in report:

a graceful beauty, slender and swaying,

lovely, rising like the sun and moon;

the daughter of the thought of a man betrayed by his own thinking,

who cannot distinguish poetry from hair.

She comes to you as a handmaid, kissing your two hands,

proud of you, adorning herself with that pride.

She has grown long, yet fallen short in praising her master;

oh, my shame—she has both length and shortness!

She is great when robed in praise of you;

without it, she would seem exceedingly small.

How many a lowly thing gains greatness through another,

though in itself it belongs among the despised!

I offered her to you, ocean of knowledge, as a jewel,

and in this I was like one gifting the sea with pearls.

She praises you with many kinds of praise, as

gardens praise the rains with flowers.

She has taken on musk in the sweetness of praising you,

and anointed us with its most pungent, fragrant musk.

She hopes for acceptance, which would comfort her heart,

and offers an apology for my shortcomings.

Do not break her heart, man of benevolence,

for one like you is wont to mend the broken.

Remain safe, and endure in happiness, might, and honor,

with a nobility beneath which lies every nobleman's eminence,

so long as lightning flashes and an east-wind breeze blows,

and birds sing in the evenings and at dawn,

and love's companion wanders in longing for his beloved,

and keeps vigil through the night between the full moon and the shining stars.