أينَ اسْتقرّ السَّلَفُ الأولُ
عَمَّا قَريبٍ بِهمُ نَنْزلُ
Where did the first ancestors settle,
Far from us, where we now dwell?
مَرّوا سِراعاً نحْو دَارِ البَقا
ونحنُ في آثارَهم نرحْل
They passed quickly to the abode of eternity,
While we follow in their tracks.
ما هذه الدُّنيا لَنَا مَنْزِلاً
وإنما الآخرة المنزلُ
This world was never a home for us;
The hereafter is the home.
قَدْ حذّرَتْنا مِن تَصاريفها
لو أنّنا نَسمعُ أو نَعْقلُ
It has warned us of its twists and turns
If only we would listen or understand.
يُطيلُ فيها المرءُ آمَالَهُ
والموْتُ من دُونِ الذي يأملُ
One lengthens his hopes in it,
While death comes to the hopeful unawares.
حَلاَ لَهُ ما مَرَّ مِنْ عيشِها
ودونَه لو عقَلَ الحنظَلُ
The pleasures that passed brought delusion,
Had the horseflies been reasonable.
أَلْهَتْهُ عَنْ طاعةِ خلاّقِه
واللهُ لا يلْهُو ولا يَغْفُلُ
It distracted him from obeying his Creator,
While God neither falters nor neglects.
يُدْبِرُ هَمُّ المرْءِ إن أَدبَرتْ
ويُقْبِلُ الهمُّز إذا تُقبِلُ
He manages the worries of man if they disappear,
And accepts the anxious when he returns.
يا صَاح ما لذّةُ عَيشٍ بهَا
والموتُ لا نَدْري مَتَى يَنْزِلُ
Oh friend! What pleasure is there in a life
When we know not when death will befall?
يدْعوا إلى الأحباب من بَيْنِنا
يجيبُهُ الأَوّلُ فالأوّلُ
It calls the loved ones from among us;
The first answers, then the next.
يا كادِحاً يَجْهُدُ في كَسْبِها
أغرَّكَ المشربُ والمأكلُ
Oh struggling one, exerting yourself in pursuit of it!
Has drink and food deceived you?
ويا أخَا الحِرصِ على جَمْعِها
مَهْلاً فَعَنْها في غَدٍ تُسْأَلُ
Oh greedy one, desiring to accumulate it!
Wait! For tomorrow, you will be asked about it.
لا تَتْعَبَنْ فيها ولاَ تأسَفَنْ
لِمَا مَضَى فالأمرُ مُسْتَقْبَلْ
Do not weary yourself in it or grieve
For what is past, for the matter is still ahead.
مَا قولُنا بَيْنَ يدَيْ حاكِمٍ
يَعْدِلُ في الحُكمِ ولا يَعْدِل
What can we say before a Judge
Who judges justly and does not act unjustly?
ما قولنا للهِ في مَوقِفٍ
يخرسُ فيه اللَّسِنُ المِقْوَلُ
What can we say to God at a station
Where tongues are silenced and speech fails?
إذا سُؤِلْنا فيهِ عَنْ كلِّ مَا
نَقُول في الدُّنيا وما نَفعَلُ
When we are asked there about all
We say and do in this life?
ما الْفَوزُ لِلْعالِمِ في عِلمِهِ
وإنّما الفَوزُ لِمَنْ يَعْمَلُ
What value is knowledge to the scholar
When triumph is only for the doer?
