Sol 5.6

  1. The sublimest discourse—one never tires of its continuance—

    and making the most of it bears wholesome fruit for humankind.

  2. The story of God’s Messenger, he who is the Sea—

    —l of the Prophets, the key to guidance and its leader:

  3. Muhammad the Chosen, the noblest messenger—

    God’s blessing be upon him, and then His peace.

  4. A Prophet who became creation’s finest accepted intercessor,

    whose solicitude enfolds them on the Day of Return.

  5. Through him the horizon of existence was illumined, and forth shone

    its dawns, while its darkness cleared away.

  6. The highest honor is his, and from him it is sought;

    from him glory is won, and he is its summit.

  7. His guidance was transmitted by the Companions, then by their transmitters,

    and precision and order chained it from them in unbroken transmission.

  8. After them there rose to bear transmission’s burdens

    noble masters whose stature is hard to attain.

  9. May God reward with goodness preserver after preserver,

    and exalt his station in the Abode of Eternity.

  10. And may He requite the endeavor of the high-minded Muhammad

    with every fair, delightful boon made lasting for him.

  11. He is al-Ballabānī, the noble man, whose dignified reserve

    became a delight to the eyes of the two luminaries.

  12. How often I saw him, an ornament of the Ashrafiyya,

    steadfast there in service founded upon sincerity.

  13. For the radiant Sunna he is the sweetest wellspring;

    we rightly owe him reverence and respect.

  14. To him, after the Book, were entrusted and firmly secured

    the bonds of the true religion—may its order endure.

  15. No luxuriant garden, dewy with fresh verdure,

    upon which the raincloud’s downpour comes in unbroken succession,

  16. then mantled by the blossoms of its bowers, after

    their calyxes have opened there at evening,

  17. whose lavender breathes fragrance and whose breeze grows sweet,

    and from which the upland laurel and its balsam waft fragrance—

  18. is sweeter-scented than the perfumed hems of Ahmad’s Sunna,

    and than what his words keep offering to souls:

  19. a garden in its meanings, pearls in its composition,

    dawn in its openings, and musk in its close.

Sol 5.6