ترنمت المثاني والمثالث

فجاء بوصفه ثان وثالث

The second and third strings rang in song.

So came a second and a third, bearing His description.

وحيد الذات والأسماء شتى

وهن إلى تحققه بواعث

He is one in essence, and His names are manifold.

And they impel one toward realizing Him.

تجلى بالحجاب على أناس

طبائعهم برؤيته دمائث

He revealed Himself through a veil to people

whose natures are gentle through beholding Him.

فقرَّت فيه أعينهم وقوم

تحجب عندهم فيمن يحادث

So their eyes found solace in Him; while others—

He veiled Himself from them in those with whom He converses.

وأحفته مظاهره لديهم

فكل سائل عنه وباحث

His manifestations encompassed Him before them,

so everyone asks after Him and searches.

فيدني من يشاء إليه فصلاً

ويبعد من يشاء ولا مناكث

So He draws whomever He wills near to Himself, setting them apart,

and distances whomever He wills, with none to oppose Him.

هو انفراد الكثير بما تجلى

وما قد غاب منه عن الحوادث

He is the oneness of the many, in what is revealed

and what of Him has remained hidden from created things.

دنا قلبي إليه وقد تدلى

بقلبي فالتقى فان وماكث

My heart drew near to Him, while He had descended

into my heart; one perishing met One abiding.

فلم يك هاهنا أحد سواه

وقد عبثت من الكون العوابث

So there was no one here but Him,

and the world's triflers had made mischief.

ترى كل العقول به حيارى

ولا يدري الشجاع به الدلاهث

You see all minds bewildered by Him,

nor does the brave, fiercely daring man comprehend Him.

ولكن من هداه هداه كشفاً

إليه فلا علوم ولا مباحث

But for those whom His guidance leads through unveiling

to Him, there is no science and no inquiry.

وجل عن العلوم ومقتضاها

وما هي غير آداب الموارث

And He is exalted beyond the sciences and what they entail,

and they are merely inherited disciplines.

ورثناها عن السلف اقتفاء

لشأن العارفين به الملاوث

We inherited them from our predecessors, following

the intermingled state of those who know Him.

ألا يا من تجلّى في فؤادي

فذبت به وطهرت الخبائث

Behold, O You who revealed Yourself within my heart:

I melted through Him, and impurities became pure.

وكان ولم أكن وحلفت إني

كغيري لا أكون ولست حانث

He existed when I did not; and I swore that I,

like others, shall not exist—and I am no oath-breaker.

وجودك منشأي وبه فنائي

كحال الأخفياء بك الأشاعث

Your existence is my origin, and through it is my annihilation,

like the state of the disheveled ones hidden through You.

مجرد نسبة بالوهم قامت

ومحض إضافة بالجهل كارث

A mere relation established through imagination,

and sheer attribution, calamitous through ignorance.

شهدنا وجهك المميمون فينا

شهود فتى لعلم الغيب وارث

We witnessed Your blessed face within us,

with the witnessing of a youth, heir to knowledge of the unseen.

ونحن السابقون إليك طلقاً

وإن نبحت أكاليب لواهث

And we race ahead to You at full gallop,

even if panting dogs bark.

وفينا الهاشمية من قريش

مناسبة نفت سحر النوافث

And within us is the Hashimite lineage of Quraysh—

a kinship that banished the magic of the spell-blowers.

تطير بنا إلى أوج المعالي

وتسري بالنجيبات الحثائث

It flies with us to the pinnacle of noble heights,

and journeys by night with swift, noble she-camels.