هَل لحيّ مِن المَمات مفرُّ
وَلريب المَنون كرّ وَفرُّ
Has any living soul an escape from death?
The calamities of doom have their charge and retreat.
هَذِهِ الدار وَهيَ دار ممرّ
لَيسَ فيها للعالمين مَقرّ
This abode is but an abode of passage;
in it no creature has a lasting home.
هِيَ إِن أَضحكت عَلى الفَور أَبكَت
وَوَفاها لِمَن تَأمَّل غَدر
If it makes one laugh, at once it makes one weep;
to anyone who reflects, its faithfulness is treachery.
كَيفَ يَرجو البَقاء فيها اِبن أُنثى
حَوله للفناء نهيٌ وَأَمر
How can the son of woman hope to abide in it,
when annihilation hems him round with command and prohibition?
يا لِقَومي قَد غاضَ بَحر عُلوم
ضَمَّه وَهوَ زائد المَد قبر
Alas, my people! An ocean of learning has ebbed away;
a grave enclosed it while its tide was still swelling.
وَهُوى كَوكب المَعارف إبرا
هيم شَيخ الإِسلام وَهوَ الأَبرّ
And the star of learning has fallen—Ibra—
—him, Shaykh al-Islam, the most righteous.
وَعَدمناه وَهوَ خَير إِمام
ما لِتأليفه المُهذَّب حَصر
We have lost him, though he was the finest imam;
his polished writings are beyond all count.
كَم لَهُ مِن رَسائل قَد تَحلَّى
بِيواقيتها البَديعة صَدر
How many epistles of his have adorned
many a breast with their wondrous rubies.
كَم شُروح عَلى متون تَباهَت
بِحَواش لَها عَلى الفَخر فَخر
How many commentaries upon texts have gloried,
with marginal glosses adding pride upon pride.
كَم لَهُ مِن مَناقب يَتمنى
بِعضَها مَن لَهُ مِن الناس قَدر
How many virtues were his—virtues of which
anyone of standing among men would covet a part.
هُوَ شَمس المَعقول مِنهُ أَضاءَت
كُل أَرض وَأَشرَقَت مِنهُ مَصر
He was the sun of rational learning; through him were illumined
every land, and Egypt shone through him.
وَعُيون المَنقول جادَت عَلَيهِ
بِدُموع مدرارُها مُستمرّ
The eyes of transmitted tradition poured over him
tears in an unceasing downpour.
وَغَدا الفقه نائياً عَن بِقاع
كانَ فيها لَهُ مَقام وَسرّ
Jurisprudence departed far from the regions
where, through him, it had a station and a secret.
وَنَعى فَقدَه صَحيحُ البخارى
وَعِن الرَوض قَد تحوّل نَهر
Sahih al-Bukhari mourned his loss,
and from the Garden a river turned away.
وَبكته مؤلفات عياضٍ
مذ تَوارت نُجومُها وَهيَ زُهر
The writings of Iyad wept for him
when their stars, though radiant, disappeared.
وَتَصانيف مسلم وَابن حزم
حارَ فيها لَمّا فَقدناه حبر
And the works of Muslim and Ibn Hazm—
in them, since we lost him, even a learned master is perplexed.
وَرُموز الكشاف في الدرس أَضحى
حلُّها فيه بَعدَما مات عسر
The symbols of al-Kashshaf in the lesson—their
solution has grown difficult since he died.
وَطَريق الإرشاد قَد ضَل فيها
مِن سِواه لَدى المَباحث فكر
On the path of al-Irshad there has strayed
in its inquiries every mind but his.
هَل لِجَمع الجَوامع الآن ثان
كَيفَ هَذا وَإِنَّهُ فيهِ وتر
Does Jamʿ al-Jawamiʿ now have a second like him?
How could it, when in it he stood alone?
يا سِهام الرَدى أَصبت إِماماً
دُونه في العُلوم زَيد وَعَمرو
O arrows of death, you struck an imam
beneath whom, in learning, stood Zayd and ʿAmr.
يا صُروف القَضاء لَو رُمت مِنا
فدية لافتداه عَبد وَحر
O turns of fate, if you sought a ransom from us,
take for his redemption slave and free alike.
يا اِبن ادريسِ عَصرِه في فُنون
هَل لدرس مِن بَعد دَرسك ذكر
O Ibn Idris of his age in every art,
can any lesson be remembered after your teaching?
أَنتَ لا زالَ بَعدَ مَوتك يَزهو
فيكَ بَينَ الأَحياء نَظم وَنَثر
After your death, may there never cease to flourish
among the living, prose and verse about you.
إِذ تَقاريرك المُفيدة للأش
ياخ وَالطالبين بَعدك ذخر
For your useful commentaries are, to the shay—
—khs and seekers of learning, a treasure after you.
أَنتَ لا زالَ في المَواقف مِنا
لكَ يَزداد يا موفق شُكر
You still remain among us in every gathering;
for you, O favored one, gratitude keeps increasing.
أَنتَ يا بَهجة الوَرى لَيسَ يُطوَى
لَكَ فَضل لَهُ مَدى الدَهر نَشر
O delight of humankind, never can be folded away
your merit, whose renown time spreads.
أَنتَ يا إِبراهيم قَد كانَ يَبدو
كُلَّ وَقت في أُفقنا مِنكَ بَدر
O Ibrahim, there used to appear
at every moment in our sky a full moon from you.
أَنتَ يا إِبراهيم مُذ غبت عَنا
عيل منا عَلى فراقك صَبر
O Ibrahim, since you vanished from us,
our patience at separation from you has run dry.
أَنتَ يا إِبراهيم بَعدكَ كسر
لِقُلوب لَها بقربك جبر
O Ibrahim, after you there is a fracture
in hearts that nearness to you once mended.
وَجنان النَعيم قَد طابَ فيها
لَكَ يا كَعبة الهدى مُستقرّ
The gardens of bliss have become sweet; within them
O Kaaba of guidance, you have found a dwelling.
وَتَحلَت لوصلك الحُور لَما
زُرتَها وَاِنقَضى صُدود وَهَجر
The houris adorned themselves for union with you when
you visited them, and estrangement and desertion ended.
فَسَقى الغَيث رَوضة أَنتَ فيها
ما لأَهل التُقى تَضاعف أَجر
May rain water the meadow where you are,
where the reward of the godfearing is multiplied.
أَو رِضا اللَه عَنكَ لي قال أَرّخ
لَكَ يا إِبراهيم في الخُلد بر
Or may God be pleased with you. It told me: “Mark the date—”
“For you, O Ibrahim, in eternity is blessedness.”
