سل الركب هل مروا بجرعاء مالك

وهل عاينوا قلباً تركت هنالك

Ask the caravan whether they passed through Jar‘a’ Malik,

and whether they saw a heart I left there.

فعهدي به يوم الرحيل عن الحمى

وقد ضاع مني بين تلك المسالك

For I last knew it on the day of departure from the sanctuary,

when it was lost to me among those pathways.

وأحسبه ما بين سلع إلى قبا

اقام وإلا فهو ما بين ذلك

I think that, somewhere between Sal‘ and Quba,

it has settled; otherwise, it is somewhere in between.

وطوبى له المثوي بتأويل ذوي التقي

ومغني الهدى الساري ومسرى الملائك

Blessed is its dwelling, in the understanding of the pious,

the abode of guidance journeying by night and the angels’ nightly passage.

مواطن من أسري به الله واهتدى

به كل سار في الوجود وسالك

The haunts of him whom God took by night; and guidance was found

through him by every night traveler and wayfarer in creation.

نبي الهدى هادي الورى معدن التقى

مجير البرايا من مهاوي المهالك

The prophet of guidance, guide of humankind, wellspring of piety,

protector of all creatures from the abysses of destruction,

وموصلهم جنات عدن غدوا لها

مع الحوار والولدان فوق الأرائك

who brings them to Gardens of Eden, where they come to dwell

with the houris and youths upon couches.

محمد المبعوث للخلق رحمة

وما للناس إلا هالك وابن هالك

Muhammad, sent as mercy to creation,

when mankind were but the doomed, sons of the doomed.

تداركهم منه الهدى فاهتدى الذي

أجاب ندا ذاك الهدى المتدارك

Guidance from him came to their rescue, and he found guidance who

answered the call of that rescuing guidance.

وصل الذي ألوي عن الرشد والنوى

بليل من الطغيان اسود حالك

He who swerved from right guidance and the intended destination arrived

in a night of transgression, black and pitch-dark.

بمولده ضاء الوجود واشرقت

ربا الأرض بالوجه الأغر المبارك

At his birth, existence shone, and brightened

the hills of the earth with his radiant, blessed face.

وصدت عن السمع الشياطين وانبرت

إليها رجوم من نجوم شوابك

The devils were barred from listening, and up sprang

against them missiles from interlaced stars.

وخصته دون الأنبياء جميعهم

خصائص ما فيها له من مشارك

He alone, among all the prophets, was singled out

by distinctions in which he had no partner.

به طهر البيت المحرم من أذى

طواف العرايا والنساء العوارك

Through him, the Sacred House was cleansed of the offense

of naked people and menstruating women circling it.

وحطت به الأوثان عنه ونزهت

نواحيه عن تلك الدماء الصوائك

Through him its idols were cast down, and purified were

its precincts of those clinging bloodstains.

وحجته أقوام أقاموا بشرعه

ونور هداه ماله من مناسك

Peoples made pilgrimage to it, observing, by his law

and the light of his guidance, the rites belonging to it.

يلبون شعثاً محرمين كأنما

أتوا من قبور باللوى فالدكادك

They chant the pilgrim response, disheveled and consecrated, as though

they had come from graves at al-Liwa and on the low, flat hills.

عليهم شعار من سكينة دينهم

تعمهم ما بين لاه وناسك

Upon them is a mantle of their religion’s serenity,

enfolding them all, the heedless and the devout alike.

كأنهم في البعث لا فرق فيهم

يرى بين مملوك هناك ومالك

As though at the Resurrection, no distinction among them

is seen there between a slave and a master,

ولا بين باد جاء يسعى وعاكف

ولا بين أرباب الغنى والصعالك

nor between a desert-dweller who comes striving and a resident devotee,

nor between possessors of wealth and paupers.

تساووا به في قصدهم وتفاضلوا

بإخلاصهم لا بالغنى والممالك

Through him they are equal in their purpose, yet differ in merit

by their sincerity, not by wealth or dominions.

ولولاه ما طاب السرى نحو طيبة

ولذا الكرى فوق الذرى والحوارك

But for him, night travel toward Tayba would not have been pleasant,

nor would slumber atop humps and withers have been sweet.

ولا نازعت أيدي الرقاد جفونهم

فمن آخذ منه وآخر تارك

Nor would the hands of sleep have tugged at their eyelids,

some taking a share of it, and others leaving it.

ولا أدرعوا ثوب الدجى وتوسدوا

وسائد أيدي عيسهم في المبارك

Nor would they have donned the robe of darkness and laid their heads

on pillows of their pale camels’ forelegs where they knelt.

ولا قلدت أجياد كل تنوقة

فرائد سلك الأدمع المتهالك

Nor would the necks of every fine she-camel have been adorned

with pearls from the unraveling strand of tears.

ولا هجروا برد الظلال وطيبها

وأنباءها هجر الغواني الفواتك

Nor would they have forsaken the coolness and sweetness of shade,

and its tidings, as one forsakes deadly beauties.

ولا قابلوا حر الهواجر واتقوا

بأوجههم من وجهها كل سالك

Nor would they have faced the noonday heat and shielded themselves

with their faces against its face—every wayfarer.

ولا حمد الساوي صباح مسيره

وذم سنا يوم الفراق المواشك

Nor would the night traveler have praised the morning of his journey,

and decried the radiance of the swiftly approaching day of parting.

وما ذاك إلا أنهم طلبوا العلى

فلذ لهم ورد الردى دون ذلك

All this was only because they sought the heights,

so death’s draught was sweet to them on the way to those heights.

ووفوا بلقياه النذور وقبلوا

برؤياه إخفاف المعلي الرواتك

They fulfilled their vows by meeting him, and kissed,

on seeing him, the footpads of the swiftly trotting mounts.

ولولاه ما بيعت وخالقها اشترى

نفوس حماة الدين بين المعارك

But for him, there would have been no sale—their Creator the buyer—

of the souls of faith’s defenders amid the battles.

ولا غفرت في طاعة الله في الوغى

وجوه كرام تحت وقع السنابك

Nor would dust have covered, in obedience to God in battle,

noble men’s faces beneath the pounding of hooves.

ولا اشرفت والنصر تجلى نصاله

حوالي العوالي في الخطواب الحوالك

Nor would they have risen aloft as victory’s blades shone forth,

around the tall lances amid pitch-dark calamities.

وقالوا لبيض الهند تدمي ثغورها

هلمي فأنا لم نهب وقع نابك

And they said to the gleaming swords of India, their mouths bleeding:

‘Come forth! For we have not feared the strike of your fang.’

إلى أن أقاموا الدين وابتسمت بهم

نواجذ أفواه المنايا الضواحك

Until they established the faith, and through them smiled

the molars of death’s laughing mouths.

والووا وقد أجنهم ثمر المنى

من النصر قضبان السيوف البواتك

And they bent—now sheltered by the fruits of their hopes,

born of victory—the branches of their cleaving swords.

ولولاه لم ندر الضلان من الهدي

وكان لدينا ناسك مثل فاتك

But for him, we would not have known error from guidance,

and a worshipper would have been like a killer to us.

عليه سلام الله ما وفدت إلى

زيارته أيدي الهجان الأوارك

Upon him be God’s peace, as long as there come to

visit him the forelegs of pale, arak-grazing camels,

وما رنحت ريح الصبا في ذرى الربا

ملابس من نسج الحيا المتلاحك

and as long as the east wind sways on the hilltops

garments densely woven by the rain,

وما افتر ثغر النور في نضر الثرى

بمهل أجفان الغوادي السوافك

and as long as blossom’s mouth smiles in the fresh earth,

with the flow from the eyelids of the streaming morning clouds.