ما الكل إلا رجل واحدٌ

ما الكل إلا رجل واحدٌ

ففز بهذا الرجل الواحدِ

ففز بهذا الرجل الواحدِ

The whole is but a single man.

All are but one man,

So triumph through this one man.

So win this one man,

وما عداه فهي أفكاره

وما عداه فهي أفكاره

ترددت في قلبه الواجد

ترددت في قلبه الواجد

And all besides him are his thoughts,

And all else are his thoughts

That moved to and fro in his ecstatic heart.

Echoing in his bountiful heart.

فتارة منها له مظهر

فتارة منها له مظهر

فيها من المولود والوالد

فيها من المولود والوالد

So at times he has a manifestation from them,

At times, of them he takes the guise

Within them, of the child and the father.

Of the newborn babe or the graybeard old,

وتارة يفقد منها له

وتارة يفقد منها له

مظهره المفقود بالفاقد

مظهره المفقود بالفاقد

And at times, from them, there is lost to him

At times, he sheds the guise

His manifestation, lost through the one who loses.

Of that which is lost by the loser.

وكل ذا دل على حيرة

وكل ذا دل على حيرة

من طارف الأمر ومن تالد

من طارف الأمر ومن تالد

And all this pointed to bewilderment,

All this tells of bewilderment

From what is new in the matter, and from what is old.

From the twists of fate and its flow.

والعجز عن خلاقه حطه

والعجز عن خلاقه حطه

فيما ترى من أمرك الشاهد

فيما ترى من أمرك الشاهد

And helplessness before his Creator brought him low,

And his incapacity to create

In what you see of your manifest state.

Has brought him down to all you witness.