1. إني أنا فرضه وتقديرُهُ

    إني أنا خلقه وتصويرُهُ

    Indeed, I am His positing and His determination.

    Indeed, I am His creation and His fashioning.

  2. وجود حق أزيل باطلنا

    به ولو ألقيت معاذيره

    A true existence—our falsehood has been dispelled

    by it, even if its excuses were put forth.

  3. غيب من الغيب يستبين بنا

    ونحن في روضه شحاريره

    A mystery from the Unseen becomes clear through us,

    and we are His blackbirds in His garden.

  4. نفصح عنه به فنعجمه

    تعريفه يستوي وتنكيره

    We speak clearly of Him through Him, then obscure Him;

    defining Him and leaving Him undefined are alike.

  5. نئنُّ حتى تسيل أدمعنا

    كأننا في الهوى نواعيره

    We moan until our tears flow,

    as though we were His waterwheels in love.

  6. ونحن قوم لنا به لغةٌ

    تفهم أسرارنا نحاريره

    And we are a people with a language through Him;

    His adepts understand our secrets.

  7. وكل من حاد عن طريقتنا

    فحسبه عجزه وتقصيره

    And whoever strays from our path,

    his incapacity and shortcomings suffice him.

  8. ولا تلوموه إنه رجل

    عن الصفا قد ثناه تكديره

    And do not blame him: he is a man

    whose clouded state has turned him from purity.

  9. تبارك الله علمنا سجعت

    بروض أزهارها عصافيره

    Blessed is God! Our knowledge—there warbled

    its sparrows in the garden of its blossoms.

  10. وانتشرت في الورى روائحه

    واشتهرت في الملا تباشيره

    And its fragrances have spread among humankind,

    and its glad tidings have become renowned among the throng.

  11. وكل هذا بما تضمنه

    من كل ما لا يطاق تعبيره

    And all this is through what it contains

    of all that lies beyond the power of expression.

  12. حقيقة يظهر المجاز بها

    ويختفي لا يدوم تقريره

    A reality through which metaphor appears

    and vanishes; its affirmation does not endure.

  13. نعرفه عند ما نراه ولا

    نراه لكن يعم تزويره

    We know Him when we see Him, yet we do not

    see Him; but misrepresentation of Him is widespread.

  14. وقد تجلى بنا فندرك ما

    به تجلى وذاك تأثيره

    And He has manifested Himself through us, so we perceive what

    He manifested Himself through—and that is His influence.

  15. وحدتنا نحن وهي ظاهرة

    في الثنويات وهي تقديره

    We are our oneness, and it is manifest

    in dualities, and it is His determination.

  16. فواحد نحن وهو متحد

    تدبيرنا في الأمور تدبيره

    Thus we are one, and He is united;

    our ordering of affairs is His ordering.

  17. واثنان في الغيب نحن وهو ولا

    يمكن تغييرنا وتغييره

    And in the Unseen we and He are two, and it is not

    possible to change us and change Him.

  18. هذا هو الحق عند عارفه

    وعند من عنده مقاديره

    This is the Truth to one who knows Him,

    and to one who holds His measures.

  19. وليس يدريه غير من سكنت

    شئونه وانمحت تصاويره

    And none knows Him except one whose

    affairs have grown still and whose images have been effaced,

  20. وكان روحاً مجرداً وهدى

    إشراقه زائد وتنويره

    and who was an immaterial spirit and guidance,

    his radiance and illumination increasing.