في رحمة الله من توفاه — Abou Al Hassan Al Housri

في رَحمَةِ اللَهِ مَن تَوَفّاهُ

فَقامَت المكرُماتُ تَنعاهُ

In God's mercy is the one He took in death,

and noble virtues rose to mourn him.

قَد ماتَ عَبدُ الغَنِيِّ وا أَسَفاً

من هَنَّأ المَجدَ فيهِ عَزّاهُ

Abd al-Ghani has died—alas!

Whoever congratulated Glory on him now consoles it.

رَوضٌ شَفى ناظِري بِناضِره

عَطَّلَهُ الدَهرُ حينَ حَلّاهُ

A garden whose freshness healed my gaze—

Time stripped it bare just when it had adorned it.

فَلا سَقى رَبعِيَ الرَبيعُ وَلا

أَمرَعَ إِلّا بِالدَمعِ مَرعاهُ

So may spring never water my dwelling, nor

may its pasture grow lush except with tears.

مِن أَجلِ حُزني عَلَيهِ يُعجِبُني

عَيشٌ أَمَرَّ الحِمامُ أَحلاهُ

Because of my grief for him, I cherish

a life whose sweetest part death has made bitter.

وَددتُ لَولا ثَوابُ رَبّي لَو

أَماتَني قَبلَهُ وَأَحياهُ

Were it not for my Lord's reward, I would have wished

that He had taken me before him and kept him alive,

لِيَجعَلَ الصالِحاتِ في عَقبي

باقِيَةً بِالحَميدِ عُقباهُ

to make good deeds among my descendants

endure through him whose end is praiseworthy.

من شَفني عاشَ فَاِمتحنتُ بِهِ

وَمَن شَفاني وَلّى فَوَيلاهُ

He who wore me thin lives, and I am tried through him;

he who healed me has departed—alas for him!

في عِدتي لَم تَفِ المُنى عِدتي

وَلَيسَ لِلمَرءِ ما تَمَنّاهُ

In my reckoning, hopes did not keep their promise to me,

nor does a person have whatever he desires.

أَما تَرى المَجدَ كَيفَ أَطرَقَ مِن

طارِقَةٍ بَرقَعَت مُحَيّاهُ

Do you not see how Glory bowed its head beneath

a calamity that veiled its face?

فَلَّ شباهُ أفول نَجم عُلاً

لَهُ بدورُ التَمامِ أَشباهُ

The setting of a star of eminence blunted its edge,

a star whose likenesses are full moons.

كانَ صَبوحي فَكَيفَ أَصبَحَ جَذ

لانَ وَأَنسى فَكَيفَ أَنساهُ

He was my morning draught—how can I wake

joyful? He was my solace—how can I forget him?

يا قُرَّةَ العَينِ ما وَفَتكَ بَكاً

إِذا بَكَت وَالدُموعُ أَمواهُ

O delight of the eye, its weeping has not done you justice,

when it weeps and its tears are merely water.

قَد كُنتَ مَعنى زَمانِنا مَعَنا

حَتّى إِذا زُلتَ زالَ مَعناهُ

You were the meaning of our age while with us,

until you departed, and its meaning departed too.

فَمَن لِدامي الجُفونِ دامِعها

مُذ صَدّهُ الدَهر عَنكَ أَصداهُ

Who, then, will help one whose eyelids bleed and weep,

since Time barred him from you and left him thirsty?

لا يَستَطيعُ الأَسى فَيَأسُوَهُ

وَلا يُطيعُ النُهى فَيَنهاهُ

He cannot master grief so as to heal it,

nor does he heed reason that might restrain him.

يا ربّ نيقٍ آواهُ بَعدَكَ مِن

خَوف أَعاديهِ وَهوَ أَوّاهُ

Ah, how many a mountain peak sheltered him after you

from fear of his enemies, while he groaned!

بَكى فَأَرواهُ مِن مَدامِعهِ

كَأَنَّما اِستَمطَرَتهُ أَرواهُ

He wept and drenched it with his tears,

as though its mountain goats had asked him for rain.

الجاهُ مُذ زلتَ عَنهُ زايَلَهُ

فَضَمّهُ الضّيمُ حَيثُ أَلجاهُ

Since you left him, his standing left him too,

and oppression embraced him where it drove him for refuge.

حَيّاهُ مِن مالِكٍ وَمِن مُضرٍ

وَالقَمَرُ السَعدُ مِنكَ حَيّاهُ

His two clans are of Malik and Mudar,

and the auspicious moon embodied in you greeted him.

وُفّقَ عَبدُ الغنيّ حينَ مَضى

وَلَم يَبِع دينَهُ بِدُنياهُ

Abd al-Ghani was granted success when he departed,

and had not sold his faith for his worldly life,

مُكَبِّراً سِنّهُ بِسُنَّتِهِ

مُطَرّزاً حُسنَهُ بِحُسناهُ

dignifying his years through his conduct,

embroidering his beauty with his goodness,

مُذَكِّراً عَهدَهُ بِمَعهَدِهِ

مُنَسِّياً عَتبَهُ بِعُتباهُ

bringing his days to mind through his familiar dwelling,

making reproach of him forgotten through his amends,

مُواصِلاً رَحمهُ بِرَحمَتِهِ

لقاطِع قَربهُ بِقُرباهُ

sustaining his kinship ties through his mercy,

offering kinship to one who severed closeness to him.

فَكّاهُ طَرف لِمَن يُشافِهُهُ

كَأَنَّما الجَنَّتانِ فَكّاهُ

Jovial and witty to anyone who spoke with him,

as though his two jaws were the two gardens.

نَجّاهُ فَضلٌ أَصابَهُ حَسَداً

وَاللَهُ مِمّا يَخافُ نَجّاهُ

The excellence that exposed him to envy saved him,

and God saved him from what he feared.

تَقواهُ كانَت عَلَيهِ سابِغَةً

فَما حَسِبتُ الخطوبَ تَقواهُ

His piety lay upon him like an ample covering,

so I never thought calamities could overpower him.

عِشتُ بِرغمي وَكُنتُ أَحسَبُني

يَغشاني المَوتُ يَومَ يَغشاهُ

I lived against my will, though I had thought

death would overtake me the day it overtook him.

جارَ عَلَيهِ الرعافُ حينَ جَرى

فَطَلَّ منهُ أَعزّ قَتلاهُ

The nosebleed wronged him when it flowed,

and at its hands its dearest victim fell unavenged.

وَزادَهُ عِلَّةً دَواء دَوى

عاناهُ فيما نَرى فَعَنّاهُ

An ailing man's treatment increased his illness;

he treated him, as we see, only to torment him.

يا عَجَباً كَيفَ يَبتَغي نَفَرٌ

مَرضاتَهُ وَهوَ حَتفُ مَرضاهُ

How strange! How can people seek

his favor, when he is the doom of his patients?

لا كانَتِ العَينُ ساءَ ما صَنَعَت

في مُقلَتَيهِ وَفي ثَناياهُ

May the evil eye be no more! Evil was what it wrought

upon his two eyes and his front teeth.

ماتَ فَما اِسطَعتُ مِن تَشَنُّجِهِ

أطبقُ أَجفانَهُ وَلا فاهُ

He died, and because of his convulsions I could not

close his eyelids or his mouth.

وَقيلَ زولا كَريمَتَيهِ يَرى ال

لَه وَزُلفاهُ يُعطَ زُلفاهُ

And it was said, 'Depart, his two precious eyes; he may see

God and His nearness, and be granted closeness to Him.'

أَعجَبَني في النِزاع مَنزَعهُ

إِلى حَديثٍ نَسيتُ ذِكراهُ

In his death struggle I admired his inclination

toward a saying I had forgotten.

صَبّرني وَالدُموعُ تَغلِبُني

وَقالَ لي لا تُرع لَكَ اللَهُ

He urged me to patience while tears overwhelmed me,

and told me, 'Do not be afraid; God is there for you.'

وَهوَ عَلى كُربَةِ السِياقِ مَعي

يَشهَدُ أَن لا إِلهَ إِلّا هُو

And amid the anguish of dying, he was beside me,

testifying that there is no god but He.

فَلَو أرى حاسِدي خالِقهُ

يَومَ تَوَفّاهُ حَيثُ وَفّاهُ

If only his Creator had shown my enviers

where He rewarded him in full on the day He took him!

صَلّوا عَلَيهِ وَقالَ قائِلُهُم

أَسخَطَنا رَبُّنا وَأَرضاهُ

They prayed over him, and one of them said,

'Our Lord has displeased us and pleased him.'

وَهَبتُ لِلقَبر ريّهُ بِدَمي

لَمّا شَفاني بِطيبِ رَيّاهُ

I gave the grave its fill of my blood,

when it healed me with its sweet fragrance.

وَقُلتُ وُفِّقتُ إِن قُبِرتُ هُنا

يَشمَلُ مَثوايَ طيب مَثواهُ

And I said, 'I shall be blessed if I am buried here;

the fragrance of his resting place would enfold mine.

حَتّى إِذا قامَ قُمتُ أَتبعُهُ

وَكَيفَ لي فَوزُهُ وَبُشراهُ

Then, when he rises, I will rise and follow him—

but how could his triumph and glad tidings be mine?'

لَعَلَّ ثكلي بِمَوتِهِ سَبَبٌ

إِلى رِضا اللَهِ يَومَ أَلقاهُ

Perhaps my bereavement at his death is a means

to God's favor on the day I meet Him.

يا اِبني أَخَذت الأَمانَ مِن مَلكِ ال

مَوت وَهذا أَبوكَ يَخشاهُ

My son, you have won safety from the angel of

death, while this father of yours still fears him.

فَبَعضهُ في الضَلالِ حَيثُ دَنَت

وَبَعضهُ في الحرورِ يَصلاهُ

So part of him is lost in error as death draws near,

and part of him burns in scorching heat.

الناسُ بُؤساهُ كُلَّما عَرَضوا

أَعرَضَ عَنهُم وَأَنتَ نُعماهُ

People are his misery: whenever they appear,

he turns from them, while you are his bliss.

وَما تَوَقّيهِ ذا الزَمان وَقَد

حَلَّ بِهِ مِنكَ ما تَوَقّاهُ

And what use is his guarding against this age, when

through you, what he guarded against has already befallen him?

تَرَكتَني يا سدى الرَبيع سُدىً

تَأكُلُني مِن عِدايَ أَفواهُ

You left me, O dew of spring, forsaken,

with the mouths of my enemies devouring me.