أما من بني حوا خليل محالم — Alluah

Is there not among Eve's children a forbearing friend

who shares loyalty's breast with me and never weans me?

This is a strange request of mine, for it is

rare as the far-off ‘Anqa bird, which keeps no company.

Is any companion as close as a person's own soul?

It obeys him sometimes, and sometimes grows unruly.

Every person's nature is marked with a flaw,

and, by God's power, there is one to mark him with it.

No creature escapes a fault-finder's censure—

ask the solid, unyielding stones:

the builder sorts them and takes some,

and leaves some of them as he sorts.

I have seen a young man amid his times and his kin;

they side with whoever possesses the dirhams.

So guard your proud soul from them; indeed, they...

For you are in the Maker's shelter, even while doing wrong.

If you are beset by a grave affair, seek counsel

from a man forbearing in every matter of consultation.

Do not offer counsel, it is said, to five kinds of men—

Jabir, son of Zayd, related it, and he is learned:

a rich man among the people, made arrogant by wealth;

a man short of wealth, who is therefore dejected;

a drunkard, or one attending to a need in his privy;

and a lover afloat in the sea of passion.

How strange I am, showing honor to others,

yet tainting piety with desires and contending [wording unclear].

My day and night are spent pursuing a livelihood,

as beasts are occupied with their grazing.

Nor have I busied myself with good deeds, for they are

ladders for whoever seeks the gardens of Eden.

I know that death's blow is inevitable.

Why are the obligations not fulfilled by us?

I obeyed my soul's desire, and the soul has a guide

toward everything that brings punishment and blame.

When a desire from his soul leads a man,

he regrets it, for the soul is a wretched boon companion.

Such is the soul: knowledge and forbearance are acquired in it,

but its root is injustice, and wrongs spring from it.

You find it attached to injustice, fondly nursing it,

tender toward it, but not tender toward faith.

I struggle against it to curb its waywardness,

but it refuses, and the soul's love of itself rules.

My reproach of it—if only blame could help its kind!

Can reproaches restrain the disobedient and wretched?

It makes peace with me if it fails to attain what it desires,

but if it reaches its hopes, it makes no peace.

I know I am safe if I disobey it,

but far from safe am I if I obey it.

No resolute man who has not first received

the subtle favors of God's regard is truly resolute.

Take heed: the sound traditions have stated it plainly,

and a versifier has made them easy to memorize in verse:

if a man does not acknowledge five things,

his knowledge is ignorance, and his builder a destroyer.

He says: “I do not know—my sins: shall I be punished

for them, or has the Lord pardoned them and shown mercy?

And my knowledge—is it accepted, or is its striving rejected?

And am I wretched, or blessed and safe?

I do not know: my deeds are inscribed on the Tablet—

do they lead to a garden, or is their ill-fated lot a blazing fire?

And fifth: I do not know whether toward unbelief or toward

God's pleasure through Islam those final endings lead.”

These are five things a person is called upon to study;

if he does not renew their study, he will regret it.

Only a man astray in disobedience neglects them.

How can they be neglected, when they are protective charms?

O Lord, grant me Your aid, pardon, and mercy!

My offenses against You have indeed multiplied.

I confronted Your face with disobedience, my Creator,

as though I were wronged, when I am surely the wrongdoer.

I have come to You bearing the sin I commit,

and my breast is filled with fear.

I hastened to the watering-place of Your bounty, with in my hand

a vessel, while my hopes are thirsty and circling.

I surely hope for pardon and mercy from You,

for You are All-Merciful, Merciful, and One who shows mercy.

If You are not my protector from turmoil,

who will protect me from the scorching blast of deadly pits?

If mercy from You has already reached me, my Master,

no wrongdoer can harm me while I live or when I die.

I am the lovesick wanderer, longing for Your pardon and favor,

and every lover is lost in longing for the beloved.

Though I am false in my claim of love,

the ardent lover bears telltale signs:

when night enfolds him, he withdraws with his beloved,

while I pass my night fast asleep.

I have no streaming tears when I feel longing,

yet the tears of one filled with longing pour down.

I am the producer of sins; I have gathered them in heaps,

and I am utterly devoid of righteous deeds.

If You pardon me, that is a gracious gift from You;

and however You punish me, the debtor must pay.

Through love of the chosen Prophet, I seek a way

to You, that You may erase the sins from my record.

May Your blessing be upon him, living and dead,

and Your purest peace, wafting with salvation.