لي رتبة العلامة الشهم الأَسد — Abd Al Ghani Al Nabulsi

لي رتبة العلامة الشهم الأَسَدّْ

قد أنشبت بين العدا ناب الأسدْ

Mine is the rank of the great scholar, noble and most judicious.

I have sunk the lion’s fang among the enemies.

والحب رغما عن أنوف أولى الحسدْ

سكن الفؤاد فعش هنيئاً يا جسدْ

And love, humbling the noses of the envious,

has dwelt within the heart—so live blissfully, O body!

هذا النعيم هو المقيم إلى الأبدْ

يا نسوة الحظ الخسيس رويدكن

This bliss is what abides forever.

O women of paltry fortune, gently now!

يا ليتكن عرفتني يا ليتكن

فأنا الذي نلت العلا من يوم كن

Would that you had known me—would that you had!

For I attained the heights from the day of “Be!”

أصبحت في كنف الحبيب ومن يكن

جار الحبيب فعيشه العيش الرغد

I have come under the Beloved’s protection; and whoever is

the Beloved’s neighbor lives a life of ease.

عرش الوجود أظلني بضيائه

وحبا التجلي لي ثياب ولائه

The throne of existence shaded me with its radiance.

And self-disclosure bestowed on me the robes of his friendship.

وأتى من الرحمن طيب ندائه

عش في أمان الله تحت لوائه

And from the All-Merciful came the sweetness of his call:

Live in God’s safety beneath his banner.

لا خوف في هذا الجناب ولا نكد

يا هيكل الأنوار سرك ما اكتمن

There is no fear in this precinct, nor distress.

O temple of lights, your secret has not stayed hidden.

إن بعت ما تلقاه أنت هو الثمن

أنت الحفيظ على الجميع المؤتمن

If you sell what you find, you yourself are the price.

You are the trusted guardian over all.

لا تختشي فقداً فعندك بيت من

كل المنى لكَ من أياديه مدد

Fear no loss: with you is the house of one

from whose generous hands all wishes come to you as succor.

هي حضرة في الشام طاب بها اليمن

وبعلمها والفضل أشرقت الدمن

It is a presence in al-Sham, where good fortune has grown sweet.

Through its learning and virtue, the ruined dwellings shone.

ذات بها قد جاد مولانا ومن

رب الجمال ومرسل الجدوى ومن

A being our Master has bestowed in generosity and grace,

the Lord of beauty, the sender of bounty, and he

هو في المحاسن كلها فرد أحد

أنا من أعز أولى النهى وأجلها

who is unique and one in every excellence.

I am among the mightiest and noblest of those endowed with understanding.

وربيت في نهل العلوم وعلها

ووقفت في الشجرات لا في ظلها

I was nurtured on knowledge’s first and second draughts.

And I stood among the trees, not in their shade:

قطب النهى غوث العوالم كلها

أعلى عليٍّ سار أحمد من حمد

the pole of understanding, the succor of all worlds,

the loftiest of the lofty who have journeyed, most praiseworthy of all praised.

يا من تثنى وهو عندي واحد

حق له منه عليه شواهد

O you who became two, yet to me are one,

a reality with witnesses for him, from him, and concerning him.

إني الذي أبداً لوجهك ساجد

روح الوجود حياة من هو واجد

I am the one forever prostrate before your face.

The spirit of existence, the life of whoever knows ecstasy.

لولاه ما تمّ الوجود لمن وجد

أنا من كبار لا يطاق رضيعهم

Without him, existence would not be complete for any who exist.

I belong to great ones whose very suckling none can withstand.

وبصيرهم عين العلا وسميعهم

هم نابتون عليه وهو ربيعهم

Their seer—and their hearer—is the very eye of exaltation.

They grow upon him, and he is their springtime.

عيسى وآدم والصدور جميعهم

هم أعين هو نورها لما ورد

Jesus and Adam, and all the foremost ones:

they are eyes; at his coming, he is their light.

عجزت عقول ذوي النهى عن كنهه

وتولهت عين السوى في شبهه

The minds of the discerning could not grasp his essence.

And the eye of all besides him was bewildered by his likeness.

والكل عن كل لنا لم يلهه

لو أبصر الشيطان طلعة وجهه

The whole did not distract him from anything of ours.

Had Satan beheld the radiance of his face

في وجه آدم كان أول من سجد

قمر تبدى في سماء كماله

in Adam’s face, he would have been the first to prostrate.

A moon appeared in the heaven of his perfection.

لو تبصر الأقمار نور هلاله

غابت وذابت تحت ذيل ظلاله

Had the moons beheld the light of his crescent,

they would have vanished and melted beneath the hem of his shadows.

أو لو رأى النمرد نور جماله

عبد الجليل مع الخليل ولا عند

Or had Nimrod seen the light of his beauty,

he would have worshiped the Majestic with the Friend, and not rebelled.

هو باطن حجب الجهول المنكرا

بل ظاهر من نوره بهر الورى

He is hidden, veiling the ignorant denier.

Nay, manifest—he whose light dazzled creation.

طمعت نفوسٌ فيه ملقاةٌ ورا

لكن جمال الحق جل فلا يُرى

Souls yearned for him, but lay cast behind.

But the beauty of the Real is exalted, and cannot be seen

إلا بتخصيص من الله الصمد

في ظلمة الأكوان لاح لك الضيا

except by special favor from God, the Eternal Refuge.

In the darkness of created worlds, the radiance shone for you.

فاسرع إلى لألائه متملِّيا

وإذا رميت عليه جهدك والعيا

So hasten toward his brilliance, gazing your fill.

And when you cast your toil and weariness upon him,

فابشر بمن سكن الجوانح منك يا

أنا قد ملأت من المنى عيناً ويد

then rejoice in him who dwells within your ribs, O

I! You have indeed filled eye and hand with wishes.

يا مؤمناً دع عنك طاغية الجفا

متحيرين وكن بنا متعففا

O believer, leave estrangement’s tyrannous host

bewildered, and through us be self-restrained.

نحن الذين نرى جمال المصطفى

عين الوفا معنى الصفا سر الوفا

We are those who behold the beauty of the Chosen One:

the essence of fidelity, the meaning of purity, the secret of fidelity,

نور الهدى بحر الندى جسد الرشد

حتى تجلى من سموات الرضى

the light of guidance, the sea of generosity, the body of right guidance.

Until he manifested himself from the heavens of good pleasure,

وبه على الأكوان قد سمح القضا

لا شيء إلا بعد ظلمته أضا

and the decree generously bestowed him upon the worlds.

There is nothing that did not shine after its darkness.

هو للصلاة مع السلام المرتضى

الجامع المخصوص ما دام الأبد

He is the chosen recipient of blessings and peace,

the all-embracing, specially favored one, as long as eternity endures.