شمل بفضل رسول الله ينتظم

فوراً وصدع بجاه منه يلتئم

What was scattered, by the grace of God’s Messenger, is gathered;

our wound—and every fracture—through his high station is mended.

وحسن ظن وآمال تبشرني

عنه بما يدفع الأمر الذي يضم

Good expectations and hopes bring me glad tidings

of him—of what will drive away the distress that hems me in.

فيا صروف زماني قد شددت يدي

بعروة منه وثقى ليس تنفصم

O reversals of my age, I have fastened my hand

to his firmest handhold, which shall never break.

ويا حوادث دهري فاتكن فتى

أمسى بحبل رسول الله يعتصم

And you, calamities of my time—come assail a man

who has come to cling to the cord of God’s Messenger.

أيقنت أن دوائي قد ظفرت به

وأن دائي بحمد الله منحسم

I know with certainty that through him I have found my cure,

and that my illness—praise be to God—is ended.

وأنني آمن مما أحاذره

بسيد منه لي ركن وملتزم

I am secure from everything I fear

through a master in whom I have a pillar and a refuge:

محمد سيد الكونين أفضل من

مشت به فوق هامات العلى قدم

Muhammad, lord of both worlds, the best of all

whose foot has ever trodden the summits of glory;

من لا تعد ولا تحصى فضائله

فكيف يحصى الحصى أو تحصر الديم

he whose virtues cannot be numbered or reckoned—

how can pebbles be counted, or rain clouds encompassed?

وكل معجزة للرسل فهي له

إذ كان من نوره اشراق نورهم

Every miracle granted to the messengers is also his,

for the radiance of their light arose from his light.

كالشمس ما كوكب يبدو ولا قمر

إلا ومن نورها النور الذي يهم

As with the sun: neither star nor moon appears

but its radiance is borrowed from hers.

فكم به بشرت من قبلنا رسل

وكم به آمنت من قبلنا أمم

How many messengers before our time foretold his coming;

how many nations before our time believed in him.

غاضت بحيرة غيظا يوم مولده

وبات إيوان كسرى وهو منهدم

A lake sank away in rage on the day of his birth,

and Khosrow’s palace lay that night in ruins.

وأخمد الله نار بعد ما لبثت

في فارس ألف عام وهي تضطرم

God extinguished a fire after it had remained

in Persia for a thousand years, fiercely blazing.

هم أوقدوها وقاموا يعبدون لها

الرب يُحيي وهم يحيون ربهم

They had kindled it and stood worshiping it:

the Lord gives life, while they kept their lord alive.

جاءت به ساجداً لله آمنة

والعرب في شركهم معبودهم صنم

Āmina bore him prostrate before God,

while the Arabs, in their polytheism, worshiped an idol.

والجن تغشى السما للسمع تسرقه

منها وتلقى إلى الكهان علمهم

The jinn would overrun heaven, stealing what they heard,

then cast their knowledge down to the soothsayers.

فأرصد الله هذي الشهب تحفظها

فها هي اليوم في أدبارهم رجم

So God posted these shooting stars to guard it,

and now they are missiles hurled against their backs.

وأرضعته بنو سعد فأسعدهم

حتى غدا الجدب مثل الخصب عندهم

The Banū Saʿd nursed him, and through him they prospered,

until drought among them became as rich as abundance.

وكان طفلاً متى ما يلق مئزره

يزجره ملك فيستحيي ويحتشم

Whenever, as a child, he let his waistcloth fall,

an angel rebuked him; abashed, he covered himself.

وسار في ملأ والحر متقد

فظللته الغمام الجون دونهم

He traveled amid a company while the heat blazed,

and dark clouds shaded him, but not the rest.

أسرى به ليلة الإسراء وصاحبه

جبريل فيها وأملاك السما خدم

He was borne by night upon the Night Journey; his companion

was Gabriel, while heaven’s angels served him there.

رقى سماء سماء وهو يصحبه

حتى انتهى حيث لا يخطو به قدم

He climbed through heaven after heaven, Gabriel beside him,

until he reached a realm where no foot could advance.

وقال لو جزت هذا قدر أنملة

هلكت فاذهب فأنت المفرد العلم

Gabriel said, “If I passed beyond this by a fingertip,

I would perish. Go—you are the peerless paragon.”

دنا وزج به في النور حيث دنا

كقاب قوسين واستقبلته النعم

He drew near and was plunged into the light as he approached,

to within two bow-lengths, while blessings came to meet him.

وأقبل الوحى بالترحيب واتصلت

به الرسالة والآيات والحكم

Revelation came forward to welcome him, and joined

to him were the Message, the signs, and wisdom.

وقام في قومه يدعو وينذرهم

فكذبوه وقالوا مسه لمم

Among his people he arose, calling and warning them,

but they called him a liar and said, “Madness has touched him.”

وآمنت فتية مهم فجاهد هم

بهم جهادا وهم قل عديدهم

A band among them believed; then with that band he fought them,

waging the struggle though his followers were few in number.

فكان يقتلهم في كل معترك

ليؤمنوا ولتهواه قلوبهم

In every battle he would kill them

so that they might believe and their hearts come to love him.

وان من أعجب الأشياء لو فهموا

محبة نالها منهم بقتلهم

Among the strangest things—if only they understood—

is a love he gained from them by killing them.

فهل علمتم بحرب كان موقعها

في معشر سبب التأليف بينهم

Have you ever known a war whose effect

among a people was what bound them together,

حتى يود الفتى يفدى بمهجته

من ظل يقتل آباه ويغتنم

until a young man would wish to ransom with his own life

the man who had kept killing his forefathers and taking spoils?

هذي هي الآية الكبرى فلو فهموا

هذي الدقيقة ردتهم عقولهم

This is the greatest sign, if only they understood;

their own minds would have led them back to this subtle truth.

يا خاتم الرسل يا نعم الشفيع إذا

ضاق الخناق وزلت بالفتى القدم

O Seal of the Messengers, what an excellent intercessor you are when

the noose draws tight and a young man’s footing slips.

كلي ذنوب وأنواع الخطا صفتي

ومن صفات إلهي العفو والكرم

My whole being is sin, and every kind of error is my trait;

while pardon and generosity are among my God’s attributes.

وقد تعلقت من أذيال عزكم

بفضل جاهٍ به ما خاب ملتزم

I have caught hold of the hems of your might,

through the grace of a rank by which no clinger is disappointed.

فغارة يا رسول الله مدركة

تجلى الهموم وتحيا عندها الهمم

Charge swiftly to my rescue, O Messenger of God—

a charge that dispels cares and revives resolve;

ترد عني وجوه الحادثات قفاً

وينجلي بك عن وجهي بها الظلم

that turns the faces of calamities back from me,

and through you clears the darkness they cast upon my face.

يا خير من دفنت في الترب أعظمه

فطاب من طيبهن القاع والأكم

O best of all whose bones were buried in the earth,

whose sweet fragrance made the plain and hills grow fragrant;

ويا ملاذي في دنيا وآخرة

من ذا سواك به الملهوف يعتصم

O my refuge in this world and the next,

who besides you is there for the anguished to cling to?

سل لي الاقالة والغفران من ملك

كبائرَ الذنب في غفرانه لمم

Ask a King to grant me release and forgiveness—

in whose forgiveness even the gravest sins are trifles.