من على هذه الديار أقاما — Sharif Al Murtaza

مَنْ على هذه الدّيار أقاما

أو ضفا ملبسٌ عليه وداما

Who has remained in these abodes,

Or had a garment drape amply over him and endure?

عُجْ بنا نندبُ الّذين تولَّوْا

باِقتِيادِ المنونِ عاماً فعاما

Turn aside with us; let us lament those who departed,

Led by Death, year after year.

فارَقونا كَهلاً وشيخاً وهِمّاً

ووليداً ويافعاً وغلاما

They left us—mature men, old men, the decrepit,

Newborns, adolescents, and boys;

وشحيحاً جَعْدَ اليدين بخيلاً

وجواداً مخوِّلاً مِطعاما

Misers, tight-fisted and stingy,

And generous men, lavish givers who fed others.

سكنوا كلَّ ذُرْوَةٍ من أَشَمٍّ

يَحسرُ الطَّرْفَ ثمّ حلّوا الرَّغاما

They dwelt on every summit of a lofty mountain

That wearies the gaze; then they settled in dust.

يا لَحا اللَّهُ مُهْمِلاً حسبَ الدّه

رَ نَؤُومَ الجفونِ عنه فناما

Ah, may God rebuke the heedless man who deemed Time

Asleep, heavy-lidded, heedless of him—and so fell asleep himself.

وكأنّي لمّا رأيتُ بنى الدّه

ر غُفولاً رأيتُ منهمْ نياما

And when I saw the children of Time,

Heedless, it was as though I saw sleepers among them.

أيّها الموتُ كم حَطَطْتَ عَليّاً

ساميَ الطَّرْفِ أوْ جَبَبْتَ سَناما

O Death, how many a lofty man you have brought low,

With lofty gaze—or how many a hump you have cut away!

وإذا ما حدرتَ خلفاً وظنّوا

نَجْوةً من يديك كنت أَماما

And whenever you descended from behind, and they fancied

Escape from your hands, you were ahead of them.

أَنتَ أَلحقتَ بالذكيِّ غبيّاً

في اِصطِلامٍ وبالدّنيِّ هُماما

You joined the dull-witted to the clever

In destruction, and the noble-hearted to the lowly.

ولقد زارني فأَرَّق عيني

حادثٌ أقعد الحِجى وأقاما

And indeed, there visited me, keeping my eyes awake,

A calamity that made reason sit and rise in agitation.

حِدتُ عنه فزادني حَيَدي عن

ه لصوقاً بدائه واِلتِزاما

I turned aside from it, but my turning aside

Only bound me closer to its malady and made me hold it fast.

وكأنّي لما حملتُ به الثِّقْ

لَ تحمّلتُ يَذْبُلاً وشَماما

And it was as though, when I bore its burden,

I had shouldered Yadhbul and Shamam.

فخذِ اليومَ من دموعي وقد كن

نَ جموداً على المصابِ سجاما

So take today from my tears, though once they were

Unflowing, a torrent over this calamity.

إنّ شيخَ الإسلامِ والدّين والعلْ

م تولّى فأزعج الإسلاما

Indeed, the elder of Islam, religion, and learning

Has departed, shaking Islam.

والّذي كان غُرّةً في دُجى الأي

يام أودى فأوحش الأيّاما

And he who was a white blaze amid the darkness of days

Has died, leaving the days desolate.

كم جَلَوْتَ الشّكوكَ تعرض في نصِّ

وصىٍّ وكم نصرتَ إماما

How often you dispelled doubts arising over the explicit designation

Of a legatee, and how often you championed an imam!

وخصومٍ لُدٍّ ملأتَهمُ بال

حقّ في حومَةِ الخصامِ خصاما

And obstinate adversaries you overwhelmed with

Truth—with argument in the thick of dispute.

عاينوا منك مُصْمِياً ثُغرةَ النّح

ر وما أرسلتْ يداك سهاما

They beheld in you one striking fatally at the throat's hollow,

Though your hands had loosed no arrows;

وَشجاعاً يَفرِي المرائر ما كل

لَ شُجاعٍ يفري الطُّلى والهَاما

And a brave man who rends the vitals—not every

Brave man hews through necks and heads.

من إذا مال جانبٌ من بناءِ الد

دين كانتْ له يداه دِعاما

One who, whenever a side of religion's edifice leaned,

Had his two hands stand as its pillars.

وإذا اِزوَرَّ جائرٌ عن هداه

قاده نحوه فكان زماما

And when a wrongdoer swerved from his guidance,

He led him toward it and served as a rein.

من لفضلٍ أخرجتَ منه خبيئاً

ومعانٍ فضضتَ عنها ختاما

Who is there for the excellence whose hidden treasure you revealed,

And meanings whose seal you broke open?

من لسوءٍ ميّزتَ عنه جميلاً

وحلالٍ خلّصتَ منه حراما

Who is there for the evil from which you distinguished the good,

And the lawful from which you separated the forbidden?

من يُنيرُ العقولَ من بعدما كن

نَ هُموداً ويُنتجُ الأفهاما

Who will illumine minds after they have been

Extinguished, and bring understanding to birth?

مَن يُعير الصّديقَ رأياً إذا ما

سلّه في الخطوب كان حساما

Who will lend a friend counsel that, whenever

He draws it amid calamities, becomes a keen sword?

فاِمضِ صِفْراً من العيوبِ فكم با

ن رجالٌ أثْرَوْا عيوباً وذاما

Go, then, free of faults; how many

Men have departed rich in faults and blame!

إِنَّ جِلداً أوضحتَ عاد بهيماً

وصباحاً أطلعتَ صار ظلاما

Indeed, firm ground you illumined has grown dark again,

And a morning you brought forth has become darkness;

وزُلالاً أوْرَدتَ حال أُجاجاً

وشفاءً أورثتَ آل سَقاما

And pure water you led us to has turned brackish,

And healing you bequeathed has become sickness.

لن تراني وأنت من عدد الأمْ

واتِ إلّا تَجمُّلاً بسّاما

You will not see me, while you are numbered among the dead,

Smile except to maintain my composure.

وإذا ما اِختُرِمتَ منّي فما أرْ

هب من سائر الأنامِ اِختِراما

And since you have been snatched from me, I no longer fear

Any death among the rest of humankind.

إنْ تكن مجرماً ولستَ فقد وا

ليتَ قوماً تحمّلوا الأجراما

If you should be guilty—and you are not—you have pledged loyalty

To a people who took sins upon themselves.

لَهُمُ في المَعادِ جاهٌ إذا ما

بسطوه كفّى وأَغنى الأناما

They have standing in the Hereafter; whenever

They extend it, it suffices and frees humankind from need.

لا تَخَفْ ساعةَ الجزاء وإنْ خا

ف أُناسٌ فقد أخذتَ ذِماما

Do not fear the hour of judgment, even if

Others fear, for you have secured a pledge of protection.

أَودع اللَّه ما حَللتَ من البَيْ

داءِ فيه الإنعامَ والإكراما

May God place, in the desert where you have settled,

His bounty and honor;

ولوى عنه كلّما عاقه التّرْ

بُ ولا ذاق في الزّمانِ أُواما

And turn the dust away from him whenever it impedes him,

Nor may he ever taste thirst as time passes.

وقضى أن يكون قبرك للرّح

مَةِ والأمن منزلاً ومقاما

And decree that your grave should be for mercy

And safety a dwelling and an abode.

وإذا ما سقى القبورَ فروّا

ها رِهاماً سقاك منه سَلاما

And whenever He waters the graves, drenching

Them with gentle rain, may He water you with peace from Himself.