1. عقول الورى تاهت بسلطانك الأعلى

    وحارت بمعنى شان عنواك الأجلي

    The minds of creation wander bewildered before Your supreme sovereignty.

    And are perplexed by the meaning of the majesty of Your most radiant emblem.

  2. وقد خضع الأكوان خوفاً لعزك ال

    عظيم وقادات الملا سجدت ذلا

    All worlds have bowed in fear before Your

    mighty glory, and the leaders of the assembly have prostrated themselves in abasement.

  3. وكل سرحا العجز عن درك سرك ال

    خفي وعن تعريف مضمونه ضلا

    And the two roaming flocks of helplessness wearied of grasping Your

    hidden secret, and both went astray in explaining its contents.

  4. طمست عيون العاقلين بغيهب ال

    عمى فغشاء الطمس بالدرك لن يجلى

    You effaced the eyes of the rational with the gloom of

    blindness; comprehension will never lift the veil of effacement.

  5. وبرقعت سر الذات في سرك الذي

    تطرز باللفط الخفي وما انحلا

    And You veiled the Essence's secret within Your secret, which

    was embroidered in hidden utterance and never unraveled.

  6. وقلت لمصنوعات أمرك أن خذي

    من الفهم عهداً عن كمين الخفا دلا

    And You told the creations of Your command: "Take

    from understanding a pledge pointing to what lies concealed in mystery."

  7. فطارت لك الأبصار لكن تقاصرت

    وملحظها بالعجز كلل مذ كلا

    So eyes flew toward You, yet fell short,

    their gaze crowned with helplessness once it wearied.

  8. وقد أدركت فهما معاني صفاتك ال

    عظيمة لكن فهم أسرارها جلا

    They grasped in understanding the meanings of Your

    mighty attributes, but understanding their secrets eluded them.

  9. فدارت على أعتاب دولتك التي

    لجملتها شأن على الجملة استولى

    So they circled the thresholds of Your dominion, whose

    entirety bears a majesty that holds sway over all.

  10. وقد عرفت عرفان خلق ونشأة

    بأنك أنت الخالق البارئ المولى

    They knew, through knowledge of creation and coming-to-be,

    that You are the Creator, the Maker, the Lord.

  11. وقد شهدت مجلى تجليك فانطوى

    لها عالم الأسرار في ذلك المجلى

    They witnessed the locus of Your self-disclosure, and there lay enfolded

    for them the world of mysteries within that locus.

  12. فغابت بمعنى سره عن ضميرها

    وما شهدت للغير قولاً ولا فعلا

    They vanished from their own awareness in the meaning of its secret,

    and witnessed neither word nor deed belonging to any other.

  13. تساقطت عزم الغير عن طي مظهر

    خفي علا فرعاً كما قد علا أصلا

    The resolves of all others fell away from the folds of a manifestation,

    hidden, exalted in branch as it had been exalted in root.

  14. هو الفرع فرع الخلق والأمر أصله

    فلا عزم للغير الضعيف ولا حولا

    It is the branch, the branch of creation; the Command is its root.

    So the feeble other has neither resolve nor power.

  15. تداعى بناء الكل في ذيل بحرا

    وكل كثير عند عزته قلا

    The edifice of all crumbled at the hem of a sea,

    and every multitude grew small before His might.

  16. له صام شخص الكائنات تذللا

    وناجاه تعظيما وفي بيته صلى

    Creation's embodied form fasted for Him in humility,

    communed with Him in reverence, and prayed in His house.

  17. حقائق آيات حروف سطورها

    على منطوي الباب أهل النهى تملى

    The truths of signs in the letters of their lines

    are dictated upon the inmost minds of people of understanding.

  18. وألواح أحكام إشارت حكمها

    بشان على أسماع حزب الرضى تتلى

    And tablets of decrees, intimations of their wisdom,

    are recited with majesty in the hearing of the company of contentment.

  19. ففي الحضرة العليا لها حبل حكمة

    ومن نورها نور إلى الحضرة السفلى

    For in the highest Presence they have a cord of wisdom,

    and from their light a light reaches the lower Presence.

  20. صفات لذات تلك جل جلالها

    لها المنع والأعطاء والوضع والأعلا

    Attributes of that Essence—exalted be its majesty!

    To it belong withholding and giving, lowering and raising.

  21. تعالت عن التمثيل والكيف فهي لا

    كأوهام أفكار لها المثل الأعلى

    It transcends likeness and all questions of how; it is not

    like the phantasms of thought; to it belongs the highest similitude.

  22. تجلت معانيها لموسى فدك من

    جلالتها الطور العظيم وقد ولى

    Its meanings were disclosed to Moses; then, through

    its majesty, the mighty Mount was shattered, and he turned away.

  23. وفي كل آن من خوافي شؤونها

    معان على كرسي دولتها تجلى

    At every moment, from the hidden aspects of its affairs,

    meanings are disclosed upon the throne of its dominion.

  24. ترى في خباها كالعروس بخدرها

    فلا قطع في ذاك المقام ولا وصلا

    It is seen in its concealment like a bride in her chamber;

    in that station there is neither severance nor union.

  25. أساليب أسرار أعاجيب طورها

    دليل على تعظيم هيكلها الأولى

    The ways of the secrets of its wondrous state

    are a guide to the reverence most fitting for its temple.

  26. إذا بعدت فالكل بعد وان بدت

    فكل بدا والعز إن قربت فضلا

    If it grows distant, all grows distant; and if it appears,

    all appears; and glory comes if it draws near in grace.

  27. ولا خير في الدنيا ولا في نعيمها

    إذا قطعت معنى العاشق الحبلا

    There is no good in this world, nor in its bliss,

    if it severs the cord of the lover's inward being.

  28. ظهور تجليها صباح الرضى وفي

    تدلى معاني سرها الليلة الحبلى

    The appearance of its self-disclosure is the morning of contentment, and in

    the descent of its secret meanings lies the pregnant night.

  29. فكم ذوبت قلباً وكم أحرقت حشا

    وكم غيبت لبا وكم أذهلت عقلا

    How many a heart it has melted, how many a breast it has burned!

    And how many an intellect it has eclipsed, how many a mind it has stunned!

  30. وكم طهرت سراً وكم طيبت جوى

    وكم عطرت نفساً وكم أصلحت فعلا

    And how many an inward secret it has purified, how much heartache it has sweetened!

    And how many a soul it has perfumed, how many a deed it has set right!

  31. مليكةً برهان لها فيض منة

    يخص بمن أضحى لخدمتها أهلا

    A queen, a proof—hers is an outpouring of grace,

    reserved for one who has become worthy of her service,

  32. ومال عن الأغيار قلباً وقالبا

    وخلى الورى والدار والحزب والأهلا

    and turned away from all others, heart and body,

    forsaking creation, home, fellowship, and family.

  33. أمولاي بالشان الخفي عن السوى

    وبالمدد القدسي والمدة الأولى

    O my Lord, by the majesty hidden from all besides You,

    and by the holy aid and the first span of time,

  34. بآثار تصريف كسفت بها العمى

    وأسرار تعريف دفعت بها الجهلا

    by the traces of governance through which You eclipsed blindness,

    and the secrets of making known through which You banished ignorance,

  35. بكاس وصال بالتجلي سقيته

    عباداً فغابوا من شذى شربه الأحلى

    by a cup of union that You gave to drink through self-disclosure

    to servants, who lost themselves in the fragrance of its sweetest draught,

  36. بعبدك طه المصطفى سيد الورى

    ومن هو للأملاك والأنبيا مولى

    by Your servant Ta-Ha, the Chosen One, master of creation,

    and he who is master to the angels and the prophets,

  37. ختام كرام المرسلين وصدرهم

    ومن فيهم في جامع الاصطفا صلى

    the seal of the noble messengers and their foremost,

    and who prayed among them in the mosque of election,

  38. تكرم على قطعي بوصل وداوني

    بعفو وصيرلي عسير السرى سهلا

    graciously grant union in my estrangement, and heal me

    with pardon, and make the hardship of night-travel easy for me.

  39. فأنت إلهي بارئي ناصري وهل

    سواك لآمالي وإن عظمت كلا

    For You are my God, my Maker, my Helper; and is there

    anyone but You for my hopes, however great they grow? Certainly not!

  40. بلطفك أرشدني إليك فإنها

    عقول الورى تاهت بسلطانك الأعلى

    In Your kindness, guide me to You, for indeed

    The minds of creation wander bewildered before Your supreme sovereignty.