للهِ أن يختارَ من أَحبابِهِ

عبداً له التَّصريفُ كيفَ يَشاءُ

It is for God to choose from among His loved ones

A servant over whom He has control, as He wills

هذي يمينُ اللهِ في الحَرَمِ انْجَلَتْ

ولدى البَعيدُ حِجارَةٌ صَمَّاءُ

This is God's authority in the Sacred Territory made clear

While the distant one has deaf stones

أَسرارُ أَحكامٍ طَواها رَبُّها

في طيِّ أَشياءٍ وما الأَشياءُ

Secrets of rulings He has veiled

In the folds of things - and what things they are!

حكمُ التَّجلِّي قد أعزَّ مَقامَها

ولرَبِّكَ الإِطْماسُ والإِبْداءُ

The rule of manifestation has been made inviolable in its station

While to your Lord belong concealment and disclosure

دعْ عنكَ من نَزَغَتْ بغيٍّ نفسُهُ

وعليه من شُقَقِ البِعادِ غِطاءُ

Leave off from you the one whose soul inclines to wrong

And over him is the covering of distant discord

واصْحَبْ أُناساً همُّهُمْ خَلاَّقُهُمْ

ولهم إليه بروحِهِمْ إِسْراءُ

And keep company with people whose main concern is their character

And for them to Him in their spirits is the night journey

واحْذَرْ مُفاتَلَةَ الشُؤُنِ فلم يَفُزْ

من أسكَرَتْهُ بخمرِها الآلاءُ

And beware engaging with difficult affairs, for none has succeeded

Who has been intoxicated by their glories

لا تنسَ طرفاً حالَ موتِكَ إنَّه

حالٌ تُسْتَصْغَرُ العُظَماءُ

Do not neglect at the moment of your death, surely it

Is a state belittled by the mighty

مزِّقْ جميعَ الكائِناتِ بسيفِهِ

واحْضَرْ فكُلُّ العارِضاتِ فَناءُ

Tear apart all creatures with His sword

And attend, for all contingent matters are vanishing

مُتْ قبلَ موتِكَ بالتَّفكُّرِ ذاكِراً

مولاكَ هذا الموتُ فيه بَقاءُ

Die before your death through contemplation, remembering

Your Master - in this death is subsistence

واجعلْ بطَوْرِ سماءِ رُوحِكَ أرضَها

فالأرضُ في ذوْقِ اللَّبيبِ سَماءُ

And make Heaven the earth of your spirit's Sinai

For to the discernment of the sensible, earth is Heaven

واعلمْ بأنَّ الأمرَ يتبعُهُ على

شطِّ المَزارِ بقيَّةٌ عَصْماءُ

And know that the command is followed, on

The shore of death, by an inviolable remainder

هي غيبَةٌ ضمنَ الحِجابِ لغافِلٍ

ووراءها بعدَ المَماتِ لِقاءُ

It is an absence, veiled by the veil, from the heedless

And beyond it after death is the meeting

والمُؤْمِنونَ العارِفونَ بربِّهمْ

ماتوا ولكنْ عندَهُ أحْياءُ

And the believers who know their Lord

Died, but with Him they are alive

طابوا به عن غيرِهِ فتحَقَّقوا

بشُهودِهِ وهُمُ الأُولى العُقَلاءُ

They have done well by Him, beyond others, so they are realized

Through witnessing Him - and they are the foremost in intellect

تَبِعوا من الآثارِ مُبْرِزَها على

أَحْكامِهِ وإليهِ ذُلاًّ باءوا

They followed the most prominent of the traces

According to His ordinances, humbly to Him going

قد أعظَموا من أعظَمَتْهُ بغيبِها

أَسرارُهُ فهمُ بها عُلَماءُ

They have magnified what His unseen has magnified

Of His secrets - so they are the learned

خضَعوا لمن أعلاهُ في مَلَكوتِهِ

ولأَمرِهِ الإِسْفالُ والإِعْلاءُ

They have submitted to the One most lofty in His dominion

And to His command belong abasement and exaltation

هي تلك نُكتَةُ حِكمةٍ رَجعتْ إِلى

ما قرَّرَتْهُ مَقولَتي البَيْضاءُ

This is the crux of a wisdom that refers back

To what my two white sayings have stated

السِّرُّ يُخشى والعِنايَةُ تُرْتَجى

وله تقدَّسَ شأْنُهُ الإِنْطاءُ

The secret is to be feared, and providence hoped for

And to Him, glorified be His affair, belongs supplication