عز قرب الدار إلا في الكرا

فاعذرني قلبيإذا ما انفطر

Nearness to the abode is elusive, save in sleep.

So forgive me when my heart breaks.

لا تلومنيإذا جرت لظى

حرقي في ماء عيني لنهرا

Do not blame me when there flows the flame

of my burning grief, a river in my eye's water.

فالذي قد راعني اليأس به

يقتضي أكثر مما قد جرى

For what despair has made me fear

calls for more than has already flowed.

فات في الأولى دنوي منهم

ودنا إلى الأخرى السرى

In this first life, my drawing near to them has slipped away,

and the journey to the next has drawn near.

مرض وافقه في طغى

كبر ضايق مني العمرا

An illness, matched in its ravages by

old age, has constricted my lifespan;

واشتياق واسي لم يبقيا

من بقايا الجسم إلا الأثرا

and longing and sorrow have left

of my body's remnants nothing but a trace.

فاذكرا لي خبر الحي عسى

يخلف السمع على النظرا

So you two, tell me news of the people; perhaps

hearing may take the place of sight.

ثم قصا لي أحاديث الحمى

وبرغمي أن أراها خبرا

Then tell me tales of the sanctuary,

though I am loath to know it only through reports.

ثم سلعا والمصلى سقيا

أدمع العشاق إن لم تمطرا

Then may Salʿ and the prayer ground be watered by

lovers' tears, if rain does not fall on them.

وقبا جاد قبا صوب حيا

يلبس الأرجاء منها حبرا

And Quba—may rain's downpour lavish bounty on Quba,

clothing its surroundings in embroidered robes.

وصفا لي طيب ليل مرلي

ثم لم أحسبه إلا سحرا

And describe for me the sweetness of a night I spent,

which afterward I reckoned no longer than the hour before dawn.

أفق لست أرة فيه السها

وهو أخفى الشهيب الأقمرا

A sky in which I cannot see al-Suha,

though it is the faintest of the moon-bright stars.

مع أناس كنت أهوى معهم

كلما لذا الكرى لي السهرا

With people in whose company I loved,

whenever sleep grew sweet to me, to stay awake.

ولسمعي من أحاديثهم

مثلما أضحى له الطرف يرى

And for my hearing, in their conversations,

was the like of what my eye came to see.

وأذكر الروضة يملا ذكرها

سائر الآفاق نشراً عطرا

And I recall the Rawda: its mention fills

all horizons with a fragrant scent.

روضة ضمت جناحاها سنا

قبر من أيدي الهدى والمنبرا

A garden whose two wings embraced the radiance

of the tomb of him who strengthened guidance, and the pulpit.

بقعة شرفها الله وقد

حل في ترتبها خير الورى

A place God has ennobled, where

the best of humankind has rested in its soil:

أحمد الهادي إلى الله وقد

جهل الخلق الهدى والنذرا

Ahmad, who led to God when

creation knew neither guidance nor warnings.

زان عبد الله لابل هاشما

بل قريشاً كلها بل مضرا

He adorned ʿAbd Allah—nay, Hashim,

nay, all Quraysh; nay, Mudar.

فلذا أن ذكروا الفخر به

لم يكق غير همو أن يفخرا

So when they speak of pride in him,

none but they may boast.

جاءه الوحي جبريل وقد

ألف الوحدة في غار حرا

Revelation came to him through Gabriel, when

he had grown accustomed to solitude in the cave of Hira.

فدعا فرداً إلى الله ولم

يخش في دعوته من كفرا

Alone he called people to God, and did not

fear those who disbelieved as he preached.

وأتاهم بكتاب محكم

أعجز الجن وأعيا البشرا

And he brought them a perfectly ordered Book,

which baffled the jinn and left humankind powerless.

وهموا عن معجزات بهرت

بعد ما قد حققوها تظرا

Yet they were blind to dazzling miracles,

even after verifying them by sight.

وحوي السبق رجال أصبحوا

للألى جاء واحجولا غررا

And men won precedence, becoming

for those who came later, white-limbed, white-blazed exemplars.

لا يبالون وقد حازوا الهدى

قل جمع للعدا أو كثرا

Having attained guidance, they did not care

whether the enemy host was small or great.

ثم لما آذن الله لهم

فيهم ساروا كآساد الشرا

Then, when God gave them permission

against them, they advanced like the lions of al-Shara.

بايعوا الله على أنفسهم

في جهاد الكفر واللهاشترى

They pledged their very lives to God

in fighting unbelief, and God bought them.

وكساهم حلل النصر التي

نبذت تلك الأعادي بالعرى

And He clothed them in robes of victory that

cast those enemies out into the open.

وحباهم أرضهم من بعدما

اسكنوا أعداءهم بطن الثرى

And He bestowed their land on them, after

they had lodged their foes in the belly of the earth.

كم رأوا بالنصر يوماً أبيضاً

ذاق فيه الكفر موتاً أحمرا

How many a white day of victory they beheld,

when unbelief tasted a red death.

ورسول الله فيهم كلما

أحمر باس كان منه الوزرا

And God's Messenger was among them: whenever

battle reddened, he was their refuge.

قد عودا يوم بدر لأمرئ

فغدا في الحال غضباً أبترا

He cut a stick for a man on the day of Badr,

and straightaway it became a keen, severing sword.

وكذا في غير بدر قعدت

قضب تفري الطلي والقعرا

Likewise, outside Badr, there came to be

blades that cleft necks and inward depths,

من جريد لا حديد طبعت

منه أيدي القوم يوماً زمرا

made from palm stalks, not iron that

men's hands had forged in bands one day.

بل يراها الله أعجازاً فلم

يرم شئيئاً حدها الأبرا

Rather, God fashioned them as a miracle: never did

their edge strike anything without cutting it.

صاحب الإسراء في ليلته

يقظة كان السرى لافي الكرى

He of the Night Journey: on that night

the journey was in wakefulness, not in sleep.

ودعا الأشجار فانقادت له

تخرق الأرض وتجتاب الثرى

He called the trees, and they obeyed him,

rending the ground and crossing the earth.

ثم لما قال عودي رجعت

سرعة طائعة ما أمرا

Then when he said, 'Return,' they went back

swiftly, obedient to what he commanded.

ورأى ذلك من عاينه

فنفى الخبر وأبقى الخبرا

One who witnessed him saw this,

yet denied firsthand knowledge, leaving only the report.

ودعاه ساحراً يا ويحه

من شقي أفسحر ما يرى

And he called him a sorcerer—woe to him,

wretched man! Is what he sees sorcery?

يا لها من شقوة تقضي بأن

يجحد المبصر ما قد أبصرا

What misery it is that compels

the seeing man to deny what he has seen!

وكذا قد أنطق الله له

بسلام في الطريق الحجرا

Likewise, God made

stones along the road speak greetings to him.

فصل الصخر قلوباً منهم

أبت الرشد عناداً أو مرا

The rock surpassed their hearts,

which refused right guidance out of obstinacy or dispute.

ولقد شاهد كلا منهم

حين شق الله ثم القمرا

And every one of them indeed witnessed

when God split the moon there.

وحنين إذ أتى الكفر بها

زمراً تتبع منهم زمرا

And Hunayn, when unbelief came there

in bands, one band following another.

كل ليث أنشب البأس له

ناب فتك في الورى أو ظفرا

Each a lion for whom battle had planted

a fang or claw for slaughtering men.

فتولى الناس عنهم ما عدا

نفراً قاموا لديه حذرا

The people retreated before them, except

a few who stood beside him, watchful.

ورمى الكل بجمع من حصي

وتراب فتولى مدبرا

He hurled at them all a handful of pebbles

and dust, and they turned in flight.

ملأ الأعين منهم فاشتهى

كلهم خوف عماه العورا

It filled their eyes, until

each wished for one-eyedness, fearing total blindness.

وعموا عن موقف الحرب فلا

أحد يبصر إلا ما ورا

They were blinded to the battlefield, and no

one could see anything but what lay behind.

وتخلوا عن ذراريهم ولم

ينج إلا من أتى معتذرا

They abandoned their children, and none

escaped except those who came apologizing,

مؤمناً فارق طوعاً كفره

إذ رأى معجزة قد بهرا

believing, having willingly forsaken unbelief,

on seeing a miracle that dazzled them.

كل هذا شهد النقل به

فأقرؤا أخباره والسورا

All this is attested by transmitted accounts;

so read the reports of him and the suras.

غرس النخل لسمان فما

مر ذاك العام حتى أثمرا

He planted palms for Salman [name uncertain], and that

year had not passed before they bore fruit.

ففداه الله في الحال وقد

كان في رق العدا مستأثرا

Thus God ransomed him at once, though

he had been held captive in his enemies' bondage.

وكذا قد رد عيناً سقطت

فزكت عيناً وطابت أثرا

Likewise, he restored an eye that had fallen out,

and it flourished as an eye, with a blessed result.

وغدت أحسن عينيهإذا

نظرت منه وزادت نظرا

It became the better of his two eyes whenever

it looked, and gained in power of sight.

والحصى سبح في راحته

وجرى الماء بها منهمرا

And the pebbles praised God in his palm,

and water poured forth from it.

وحنين الجذع فيه عظة

لامرئ أزمع عنه سفرا

In the tree trunk's yearning is an admonition

for anyone resolved to journey away from him.

أين لفي الصبر من فارقه

وجماد لم يجد مصطبرا

Where can one who leaves him find patience,

when even an inanimate thing could not endure?

ما حنين المرء لو أحرقه

بعد جزع جن أمراً منكرا

A person's yearning, even if it burns him,

is no reprehensible thing, after a trunk has yearned. [Reading uncertain.]

لهف نفسي هل لليل البعد من

منتهى أبلغ فيه السحرا

Alas for my soul! Has the night of separation

an end at which I may reach the hour before dawn?

فلقد طال مطال الهجر بي

وافتضى ورد حياتي الصدرا

For separation has long put me off,

and my life's arrival at water has called for departure.

ولئن مت ولم أبلغ مني

كنت من قبل لها منتظرا

And if I die without attaining hopes

whose fulfillment I had long awaited,

فلقد قدرت أن أحظى به

وأبى الله سوى ما قدرا

I had indeed expected to win nearness to him,

but God willed nothing save what He decreed.

وعسى في الحشر أن يوردني

ظمأ الشوق إليه الكوثرا

Perhaps, at the Gathering, I shall be brought

by thirsting longing for him to al-Kawthar.

قد تمسكت بحبي أحمدا

وهو للممسك من أقوى العرا

I have held fast to my love for Ahmad,

one of the strongest bonds for whoever grasps it.

فلعل الله أن يعفو عن

مذنب قد جاءه مستغفرا

Perhaps God will pardon

a sinner who has come to Him seeking forgiveness.

أن يكن ذنبي كثيراً فلقد

رمت عفواً عن ذنوبي أكبرا

If my sin is great, I have indeed

sought forgiveness greater than my sins.

متجري توحيد ربي والذي

ماله توحيده لن يخسرا

My trade is affirming my Lord's oneness; whoever

has that affirmation as his capital will never lose.

واعتقادي في نبي أنه

في غد شافع ما قد قصرا

And my belief concerning the Prophet is that

tomorrow he will intercede, never falling short.

فصلاة الله ما هبت صبا

تنحني ذاك الجناب الأطهرا

May God's blessings, whenever the east wind blows,

bow toward that purest precinct.

وسلام الله يسري نحوه

فيحيل الترب مسكاً إذ فرا

And may God's peace journey by night toward him,

turning the dust to musk when it is crumbled.

وتحيات توالي كلما

هزت الريح قضيباً نضرا

And may salutations follow one another whenever

the wind shakes a fresh green bough.