لقد فاز قومٌ باللباب من العلم
وبالمنهل الصافي المريء من الحلم
A people have won fine garments of knowledge,
And a clear, bright watering place of dreams.
وبالقشر قد فزنا ونحن جماعةٌ
كما فاز مقروم ببال من العظم
Yet we have won only the outer husk,
Like one who gains only the marrow from a bone.
إذا فرشت بسط الفتاوى لغيرنا
لنا بسطت فرش الموازين والحزم
When they spread out the carpets of religious decisions for others,
For us they spread out the furnishings of scales and firmness.
وما العلم إلا ما هدى واهتدي به
إلى منهل بيدي الوجود من العدم
Knowledge is only what guides and by which one is guided
To the watering place of existence out of nonexistence.
وما الفخر إلا العلم من ذي وتلكم
وتيجان أهل الفضل والحرب والسلم
Glory is nothing but the knowledge belonging to its owner;
It is the crown of the people of virtue, war, and peace.
وهل شاعر في الناس أصبح قدوةٌ
وإن كان ذا نثر أنيق وذا نظم
Has any poet become an example among people
Even if he has elegant prose and well-crafted verse?
وهل إرثة من شاعر قد تسلست
لابن وزانت في أب كان أو أم
Has any elegy by a poet continued
For a son, weighing as much as a father or mother?
دع الشعر يا برد الفؤاد وأهله
وكن طالباً للعلم واصحب أخا العلم
Leave poetry, O coolness of my heart and its people,
And be a seeker of knowledge and befriend the brother of knowledge.
وهمك فاشغله بكل غريبةٍ
من العلم لا ترغب فديتك في هم
Preoccupy your concerns with everything strange
Of knowledge—I ransom you—do not be concerned with worries.
وفهمك فاحضره لما أنت طالب
فلا خير في تطلاب علم بلا فهم
Prepare your understanding for what you seek,
For there is no good in seeking knowledge without understanding.
هو العلم لا شيء سواه وإنما
وعا العلم فالإيمان وشح بالحلم
It is knowledge—nothing else. And through it
Faith and self-restraint through wisdom have become general.
هم العلما للأنبياء خلائف
بنص صحيح في الكتاب عن الأمي
The prophets were successors in seeking knowledge,
As stated clearly in the Book from the Unlettered One.
وهو فنجوم أشرقت يهتدي بها
وما ضل من قد بات يسري على نجم
It is the stars that shine, by which one is guided,
No one who has traveled by their light has gone astray.
