1. ربنا الله ذلك المتعالي

    عن جميع الأشباه والأمثالِ

    Our Lord is God, that Transcendent One,

    above all likenesses and equals.

  2. عزَّ في ملكه وجلَّ فصارت

    عنه معقولةً عقول الرجال

    He is mighty in His dominion and majestic, so

    men's minds have become fettered, held back from Him.

  3. لا بذكرٍ يدرونه أو بفكر

    أو بوهم ولا خطور ببال

    They grasp Him neither through remembrance nor thought,

    nor through imagination, nor a thought crossing the mind.

  4. فهو غيب كل الورى سبَّحتْه

    بتصاويرها وبالأشكال

    For He is unseen; all creation has glorified Him

    through its images and forms.

  5. وهو مع ذاك التنزه بادٍ

    يتجلى بسافل وبعالي

    Yet despite that transcendence He is manifest,

    revealing Himself in the low and the high.

  6. وقريبٌ للشيء من كل شيء

    وبعيدٌ بعزة وجلال

    And nearer to each thing than anything else,

    yet distant in might and majesty.

  7. حركات الجميع مع سكنات

    كلها منه عنه في كل حال

    The movements of all, together with their stillness,

    are all from Him, arising from Him in every state.

  8. ما لشيء سواه تأثير فعل

    أبداً غير نسبة الأفعال

    Nothing besides Him has power to effect an act,

    ever—only the attribution of actions.

  9. عرفته به أولوا العلم منا

    بعد محو النفوس باضمحلال

    Those among us endowed with knowledge knew Him through Him,

    after the effacement of selves through dissolution,

  10. حيث لم يتركوا لهم فيه دعوى

    أثر من تحرك أو مقال

    where they left themselves no claim therein

    to any effect from movement or speech.

  11. وله أسلموا به فرأوه

    فاعلاً عين فعلهم بالتوالي

    And to Him they surrendered, through Him, so they saw Him

    as the doer of their very acts, one after another.

  12. ولهم محض نسبة الفعل أبقى

    للعبودية التي للكمال

    And He left them only the attribution of action,

    for the servanthood that, for perfection,

  13. كلَّفتهم أحكامه أن يروها

    فهي منهم له على الإجمال

    His ordinances required them to recognize;

    thus it is from them, for Him, in sum.

  14. ظاهر عندهم بهم وهو عنهم

    باطن غائب بغير زوال

    He is manifest to them through them, yet from them

    hidden and unseen, without passing away.

  15. فهو من حيث ذاته في خفاء

    وهو من حيث وصفه في تلالي

    Thus in respect of His essence He is concealed,

    and in respect of His attributes He is radiant.

  16. واتصال لهم به حيث عنه

    وجدوا ثم هم به في انفصال

    And they are joined to Him, since from Him

    they came into being; then through Him they stand apart.