في كل جنس من الأجناس معلومِ

لا بد من خادم فيهم ومخدومِ

In every kind of people it is known

There must be a servant and one served

وثالثٍ هو بالإفساد بينهما

يسعى بعقل من الخيرات معدومِ

And a third who with evil between them

Strives, with a mind devoid of good

وكل طائفة تخشى أفاضلهم

تبدو أراذلهم بالقبح والشوم

And every group fears its virtuous ones

Its wicked are shown as foul and ominous

فكم رأيت أناساً لا خلاق لهم

وظالماً ظاهراً في زيِّ مظلوم

So how many people I've seen without morals

And an oppressor, openly in the guise of one oppressed

وكم عرفت بربي مشكلاً قصرت

عنه العقول عقول العرْب والروم

And how many perplexing affairs of my Lord I've known

Beyond the minds, the minds of Arabs and non-Arabs

وكم بليت بأقوام سواسية

في حكم أمر بعين الحس موهوم

And how many smooth-tongued people I have endured

In a matter clear to the eye yet imagined

وليس من يأكل الأكوان عذْبَ جنىً

كمثل آكلها أشجارَ زقوم

Not alike are those who eat fruits fresh picked

And those who eat the bitter tree of zaqqum

كل امرئ عقله ميزان حالته

فليس صوت هزار الدوح كالبوم

Every person's mind is the balance of his state

Not alike are the howls of wolves and owls

كلامنا الحق لا تخفى فوائده

إلا على منكرٍ للحقِّ محروم

Our words of truth, their benefits are not hidden

Except from one who denies the truth, deprived

به نخاطب أهل الإتفاق على

سر عظيم من الأسرار مكتوم

With them we address the people of agreement upon

A mighty secret of secrets concealed

هم المراد به لا غيرهم أبداً

بالقول في كل منطوق ومفهوم

They alone are meant by it, none other

In every utterance and meaning

مَنُّ العلومِ وسلوَى الغيرِ أهلُهُما

في الشكلِ من عصبةِ القثَّاءِ والثوم

Refuge of knowledge and solace of strangers are they

In form, of the tribe of chaff and garlic

أبو هريرة حيث الإختلاف رأى

في الحق ما بين ممدوح ومذموم

Abu Huraira, seeing disagreement

In truth between praised and blamed

لو قال ما عنده من علم خالقه

عن النبي دهاه قطعُ بلعوم

Had he said what knowledge of his Creator

He got from the Prophet, it would have silenced the glutton

ومثلُه شعرُ زين العابدين أتى

يا ربَّ جوهرِ علمٍ قولَ منظوم

The like of it is the poetry of Zain al-Abideen which says

"O Lord, essence of knowledge, articulated verse”

فلتترك القاصرون الخوض في كلمي

هم أهل عقل من الأغيار مكلوم

So let those of narrow minds leave off wading into my words

They are people of reason from strangers, banned

ونحن قلنا عن السر المصون وعن

نطق الوجود وأمر منه معلوم

While we have spoken of the guarded secret and

The speech of existence and its known matter

لا عن خيال ولا فكر وشاهده

كنت اللسان له في قرب قيوم

Not of imagination or thought, and witness of it

My tongue was, in the vicinity of the Eternal