اطلت بالوجنا السرى فمدارها

وانزل حمى مي وقف بدارها

You prolonged the night journey on the stout she-camel, and then her roaming.

And alight in Mai’s sanctuary, and stand at her abode.

واذكر رسوماً طالما تشقت

روحك نشر البشر من معطارها

And remember the traces where, so often,

your soul inhaled joy’s fragrance from their perfume.

كأنما الاقمار في رقاعها

منسوجة والمسك في غبارها

As though the moons within her tracts

were woven, and musk lay in her dust.

بلى واين المسك من ترابها

ولمعة الاقمار من اقمارها

Indeed—but what is musk beside her soil,

or the moons’ gleam beside her moons?

اشجارها العقول وهي لا خفا

دقائق العلوم من اثمارها

Her trees are minds; and, plainly,

the subtleties of the sciences are among her fruits.

تجلو قذى العيون بانبلاجها

وتشرح الصدور باخضرارها

She clears the eyes of motes with her dawning,

and expands the breasts with her greenness.

نبات روض الفهم في غياضها

فمعقد الطرز على ازهارها

Understanding’s garden grows within her thickets,

so embroidery’s knotwork rests upon her flowers.

وواردات الغيب لو فكرتها

جداول تسبح في انهارها

And the visitations of the unseen, if you ponder them,

are streams swimming in her rivers.

مفضض فضاؤها تخاله

متوج الهامات من نضارها

Her expanse is silvered; you would think it

crowned at its summits with her gold.

من كل واد اشرقت قيعانه

ورق صوت اللطف من اطيارها

From every valley whose lowlands shine,

comes the tender voice of grace from her birds.

تجسمت تلك الطيور عسجداً

ورصع الياقوت في منقارها

Those birds took bodily form as gold,

and ruby was set into their beaks.

كانما القلوب بعض صفها

طائرة تأوي الى اوكارها

As though hearts were part of their ranks,

flying, seeking shelter in their nests.

الله من قيعان مي انها

لجنة محرقة بنارها

God! The plains of Mai—they are

surely a paradise that scorches with its fire.

يا راكب الوجناء ان نزلتها

وفاجأتك الشمس من مدارها

O rider of the stout she-camel, if you alight there,

and the sun surprises you from its orbit,

فاعقل لها الفؤاد ان عندها

غزالة يخاف من نفارها

then tether your heart to her, for with her

is a gazelle whose fleeing one fears.

آلت على المحب ان لا يلتوي

ضميره يوما إلى اغيارها

She vowed that the lover should never turn

his inward thoughts, even for a day, toward anyone but her.

وعقدت حب قلوب كلها

معقودة العقول في ازرارها

And she bound in love hearts, all of them

with their minds tied to her buttons.

تسلطنت على رفيع عرشها

وصار جيش الحسن من امارها

She reigned upon her lofty throne,

and beauty’s army fell under her command.

وانفذت في الخافقين امرها

وهاب قلب الدهر من اخطارها

And she enforced her decree in the East and West,

and the heart of Time feared her perils.

كانما الغوث الرفاعي شيخها

وسره الفعال من انصارها

As though the Ghawth al-Rifa‘i were her shaykh,

and his potent secret were among her allies.

امام هدي اعجزت آياته

عصابة الضلال باستمرارها

An imam of guidance whose signs confounded

the band of error through their constancy.

تتلى على منابر العلا وقد

يلمع نور القرب من اخبارها

They are recited on the pulpits of exaltation, and indeed

the light of nearness gleams from their accounts.

تطوف منها تجب العرفان في

اصاغر القوم وفي كبارها

From them circulate [unclear word] of gnosis among

the lesser folk and their greater ones.

ويستفيض الصالحون فيضها

من غيب الرجال او حضارها

And the righteous receive their outpouring,

whether the men are absent or present.

لله منه سيد ذو همة

تجري بحور الفتح من زخارها

By God, what a master he is, possessed of resolve:

oceans of spiritual opening flow from its surge.

ملاحظ اتباعه بعزمه

وآخذ مدى المدى يثارها

Watching over his followers through his resolve,

and exacting vengeance for them for all time [uncertain reading].

وقاطع حبل العدى بصدمة

يبدو عجيب الفتك من بتارها

And severing the enemy’s cord with a blow

whose keen sword reveals astonishing slaughter.

سيرته لوح الغيوب امتلأت

صحائف الكون من اختصارها

His life is the tablet of unseen mysteries; filled are

the pages of the universe with its abridgment.

لاذت به سادات حزب الاوليا

فافرغ القلوب في اطوارها

The masters of the company of saints sought refuge in him,

so he poured the hearts into their successive forms.

تشبثت اقطابها بذيله

وسره سرى الى كبارها

Their spiritual poles clung to his hem,

and his secret spread to their elders.

ولازمت اعيانها رحابه

فصانها بالفضل من عثارها

And their leading figures stayed within his courts,

so by grace he guarded them from stumbling.

وكم ليال قطعت بسوحه

طواله ضن على قصارها

And how many nights were passed in his precincts,

his long ones begrudging their short ones.

تربض اسد الغاب في اعتابه

وتطرح الحمل على جدارها

The lions of the forest crouch at his thresholds,

and cast the burden upon its wall.

ناب برشد عن ابيه المصطفى

بحكمة يعجز عن اصدارها

He deputized with right guidance for his father, al-Mustafa,

with a wisdom others cannot bring forth.

فسار منه وارد الارشاد في

انجاد ارضنا وف ياغوارها

From him, the influx of guidance then spread through

the uplands of our land and its lowlands.

له اصح الارض عن آبائه

سادات قادات الورى خيارها

His is the soundest [claim to] the earth, from his forefathers—

masters, leaders of humankind, its elect.

له اليد البيضا التي مدت لها

يد رسول الله من مزارها

His is the white hand toward which was extended

the hand of God’s Messenger from its shrine.

وانشقت الحجرة اعزازاً له

وانكشف المسدول من ستارها

And the chamber split open to honor him,

and the hanging part of its curtain was unveiled.

وعمه فيض الرضا من فضلها

واغرقته من ندا بحارها

And a flood of divine approval enfolded him through its grace,

and drowned him in the bounty of its seas.

فحوزه الاقبال من قبولها

وطوله الاثير من آثارها

Thus the good fortune he gained came from its acceptance,

and his cherished bounty was among its effects.

انعم به من هاشميّ اعظم

حضرته الفلاح درع جارها

How excellent he is, a mighty Hashimite!

His presence is salvation, a shield for whoever seeks its protection.

اظهره بارؤها بدولة

كل قوى الزمان عن اضمارها

Its Creator made him manifest with a sovereignty

that the powers of Time were too weak to conceal.

بالله جد يا سيدي بنظرة

اقتبس الفتوح من انظارها

By God, my master, grant a generous glance,

that I may draw spiritual openings from its looks.

وصل حنانا قطع نفسي انها

قد كلفت يا جد من لوزارها

And tenderly mend the fragments of my soul; it

has grown enamored, grandfather—grant favor for its burdens.

فانت في ذا البيت شيخ عصبة

كبارها تحنو الى صغارها

For in this house you are the shaykh of a band

whose elders show tenderness toward its juniors.

عليك ما زالت ميازيب الرضا

ثجود بالهتان من مدرارها

Upon you, the spouts of divine approval never cease

pouring abundant rain from their copious flow.

وعبد القادر الجيلي شيخ ال

شيوخ العارف الاسد الشهير

And ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jili, shaykh of the

shaykhs, the gnostic, the renowned lion;

وسامي الهمة البدوي ذخري

ابو الفتيان ضيغمها الغيور

and al-Badawi, lofty in resolve, my treasure,

Abu al-Fityan, their fiercely protective lion;

وجحجاح الحمى القطب الدسوقي

بعيد الغاية القرم الخطير

and the sanctuary’s mighty champion, the Pole al-Disuqi,

far-reaching in aim, the mighty, eminent chief.

هم في القوم اربعة بدور

بهم بدجا الملمة نستنير

Among the folk, they are four full moons;

through them we find light in calamity’s darkness.

صدور الاولياء بلا نزاع

واهل الله كلهم صدور

The foremost of the saints, beyond dispute,

and all the people of God are foremost.