تَوالى إليَّ السّائلونَ وإنَّني

تَوالى إليَّ السّائلونَ وإنَّني

لآنفُ ألا يُدرِكَ السُّؤْلَ سائِلي

لآنفُ ألا يُدرِكَ السُّؤْلَ سائِلي

Petitioners have come to me one after another, and I

The askers come to me continuously, and I

Am indeed loath to let my petitioner fail to obtain his wish.

Do not like that asking reaches the asker.

ولكنَّ مَستوري كظاهِرِ حالِهِم

ولكنَّ مَستوري كظاهِرِ حالِهِم

فما حيلتي والحظُّ حربُ الفضائلِ

فما حيلتي والحظُّ حربُ الفضائلِ

But my hidden condition is like their outward state;

But my poverty is like their obvious state,

So what recourse have I, when fortune is the enemy of virtue?

So what can I do, when fortune is the war of virtues?

ولو بَسطَتْ أيدي الحوادِثِ مِن يدي

ولو بَسطَتْ أيدي الحوادِثِ مِن يدي

تلقتْهُمُ قبلَ السُّؤال بِنائِلي

تلقتْهُمُ قبلَ السُّؤال بِنائِلي

And had the hands of adversity freed my hand,

If the hands of events were to extend from my hands,

It would have met them with my bounty before they asked.

They would meet them before asking with my palms.

علَامَ أخضعُ في الدُّنيا لِمَن رَفَعَتْ

علَامَ أخضعُ في الدُّنيا لِمَن رَفَعَتْ

وما بأيديهِمُ رِزْقي ولا أجَلي

وما بأيديهِمُ رِزْقي ولا أجَلي

Why should I bow in this world to those it has exalted,

Why should I submit in the world to those whom

When neither my livelihood nor my appointed end is in their hands?

What is in their hands is not my sustenance or my term?

ما قَدَّر اللهُ لا أسطيعُ أدفَعهُ

ما قَدَّر اللهُ لا أسطيعُ أدفَعهُ

وما لَهم في سوى المَقدورِ من عَمَلِ

وما لَهم في سوى المَقدورِ من عَمَلِ

What God has decreed, I cannot avert;

What Allah has ordained, I cannot avert it,

And they can do nothing beyond what is decreed.

And they have no work in addition to what is ordained.