نظام من الدر الثمين فرائده — Muhammad Alshawkani

A strand whose choice gems are precious pearls;

its necklaces thereby adorn the neck of Time.

For one whose mind is a sword when a hard problem arises,

and a blazing fire when his assemblies shine;

and one whose share in every branch of learning is abundant,

and whose teachers are his proof and his witnesses.

Exalt noble virtues; you are an adornment to Time,

and, despite the envious, you are its noble one.

And if you are envied for what you have attained,

then one like you is enviable, and his enviers are many.

Have you not been foremost in reaching every goal,

while your envier's mustered forces have grown weary before it?

So gird yourself, in God's name, to spread the Sunnah

of the best of humankind; be patient with what you endure.

For you live in an age in which they have grown unrecognizable—

the familiar haunts of religion; know this, O son of my affection.

When you say, 'God said; His Messenger said,'

they say, 'This is a watering place whose visitor has gone astray.'

But if you say, 'This was laid down by sheikhs,'

they say, 'This is the scholar of the age, its peerless one.'

So may the All-Merciful not bless an age in which you see

an ignoramus who opposes the truth, then stubbornly resists it.

Is there no champion for the faith, the faith of Muhammad?

Is there no supporter—O men, to the rescue!—to lend it support?

Is there none ever angered in defense of Ahmad's Sunnah?

So whoever that sought-for man may be, I am seeking him.

O company of luminaries, is there any zeal?

Are the benefits of the Messenger's words abandoned?

Is what is right rejected, and what is wrong acknowledged,

and is its denier accepted into the purified faith?

Let the eyes of learning weep, for they are deserving

of a flood of tears whose springs are brimming.

Let the eyes of mothers weep, for they

have come to endure disobedience from their sons.

Behold, O Messenger of God, a people have trifled

with your guidance, while its springs among us are sweet.

And your support is present in every circumstance;

truly honored is he whose supporter is the best of creation.