حامي الشريعة قد ضاقت بنا السبل

فلا رجاء ولا قصد ولا أمل

Guardian of the sacred law, our paths have narrowed.

So there is no hope, no goal, no expectation.

قد كنت ظلا على الإسلام منسدلا

واليوم أنت برغم منه منتقل

You were a shade spread over Islam,

and today you have departed, against its will.

ومرهفاً من سيوف الله جرّده

لمقتل الشرك ما في متنه خلل

And you were a keen blade among God's swords, which He unsheathed

to slay polytheism, its blade without a flaw.

تقطع الليل والأجفان هاجعة

ذكراً وطرفك من فيض البكا خضل

You would spend the night while eyelids slept,

in remembrance, your eye drenched by the flood of tears,

حتى رمتك صروف الدهر صائبة

باسهم راشها المقدور لا ثعل

until the turns of time struck you unerringly

with arrows fletched by fate, not Thuʿal.

ما كنت احسب والأقدار جارية

بأن مثلك يخطو نحو الأجل

I did not think, while fate's decrees unfolded,

that one like you would step toward death.

فقوض الصبر لا يلوي على احد

ومثل رزئك عنه الصبر يرتحل

So patience struck camp, looking back at no one;

and at a loss like losing you, patience departs.

وقطعت بك اسباب الرجا فبمن

من بعد ما غبت عنا اليوم تتصل

And with you the ties of hope were severed; through whom,

now that you have left us, can they be joined?

لم ينقطع منك حبل العمر منبتلا

لكن حبل وريد الدين منبتل

It was not your cord of life that was cut clean through;

but the jugular vein of faith is severed.

فاي واقعة للدين فاجعة

تزول منها الجبال الشم والقلل

What a grievous calamity for the faith,

before which the lofty mountains and summits give way!

اقوت بها عرصات العلم واندرست

منها المدارس إلا الرسم والطلل

It left the courts of learning desolate, and effaced

the schools, save for traces and ruins.

قد قلت إذ حملوا أعواده ومشوا

بنعشه والحيامن فوقه هطل

I said, as they lifted his bier's poles and walked

with his bier, rain pouring upon him from above:

الله اكبر ليس الغيث منسكباً

لكنها ادمع الأملاك تنهمل

God is greatest! This is no rain pouring down;

rather, these are the angels' tears streaming forth.

لو شيعوه بمقدار الذي حملوا

من المكارم ضاق السهل والجبل

Had they escorted him in proportion to what they bore

of noble qualities, the plain and mountain would have been too narrow.

عزم وحزم وفكر ثاقب وحجى

حكم وحلم وعلم زانه عمل

Resolve, prudence, penetrating thought, and reason;

wisdom, forbearance, and knowledge adorned by action.

بفضله ومساعيه ونائله

زهده وتقاه يضرب المثل

For his excellence, his endeavors, his bounty,

his asceticism and piety, he is held up as an example.

نور النبوة لمّاع بغرته

كانه قبس أو بارق عجل

The light of prophethood shines brightly upon his brow,

as though it were a flame or a fleeting flash of lightning.

يا ابن النبي غضضت الطرف منصرفاً

عنا فلا طرف بالتهويم يكتحل

O son of the Prophet, you lowered your gaze, departing

from us; no eye is lined with the kohl of slumber.

من للأرامل والأيتام يكفلها

إذا اطل عليها الحادث الجلل

Who will care for the widows and orphans,

when a great calamity looms over them?

من للخطوب وللدهياء يكشفها

إذا نبت في لقاها البيض والاسل

Who will dispel afflictions and dire calamity,

when bright swords and spears fail against it?

من للوفود إذا ما قطعت بهم

وعر الفلاة إليك الأنيق البزل

Who will receive the delegations, when they are carried across

the rugged wilderness to you by full-grown she-camels?

يا طالب العرف قد غاضت زواخره

وليس تعطى وان الحفت ما تسل

O seeker of beneficence, its swelling seas have ebbed,

and you will not receive what you ask, even if you plead insistently.

كانت بطلعته الأيام آنسة

فأصبحت ولها عن أنسها شغل

The days were cheerful at the sight of him,

but now a preoccupation keeps them from their cheer.

كانت به روضة التوحيد مونقة

فصوحت مذ جفاها العارض الهطل

Through him, the garden of divine oneness was delightful,

then withered when the rain-pouring cloud forsook it.

يا حلية زان جيد العلم جوهرها

اما ترى كيف قد ازرى به العطل

O ornament whose jewel adorned the neck of learning,

do you not see how the loss of adornment has diminished it?

وراحلا بالعلوم الغر يحملها

ضاقت بطلابها من بعدك السبل

And O departing one, bearing the radiant branches of learning,

the paths have narrowed for their seekers since you left.

فاذهب عليك سلام الله ما سجعت

ورق الغصون وطابت بالصبا الأصل

Go, then; God's peace be upon you as long as they coo—

the boughs' gray doves—and evenings grow sweet with the east wind.