1. استنبط العلم وزك العملا

    ولا تعش بغرة سبهللا

    Draw out knowledge and purify your deeds.

    And do not live heedlessly, idle and aimless.

  2. لا تترك الأنفاس في الهزْل سدى

    أدركَ من جد وفي الجد العُلى

    Do not let your breaths go to waste in frivolity.

    Whoever strives attains; in earnest striving lie the heights.

  3. جوهرة النفس إذا ضيعتها

    في لعب لم تلق منها بدلا

    If you squander the jewel of the soul

    in play, you will find no replacement for it.

  4. رشحك الحق لأمر جلل

    تدركه إذا ركبت الجللا

    The True One has chosen you for a momentous task,

    which you attain when you brave great ordeals.

  5. لو لم يرد قربك من جنابه

    لم يهب العقل ويهد السبلا

    Had He not desired your nearness to His presence,

    He would not have bestowed reason or shown the paths.

  6. فإن توجهت إلى حضرته

    فرافق العلم يقود الجملا

    So if you turn toward His presence,

    take knowledge as your companion: it leads the camel.

  7. فخير ما رافقت علماً نافعاً

    وشافعاً مشفعاً في يوم لا

    For your best companion is beneficial knowledge,

    and an intercessor whose plea is granted on the day of 'No...'.

  8. إن العلوم كالنجوم كثرة

    فاعتنق الشمس وغادر زحلا

    The sciences are as numerous as the stars;

    so embrace the sun and leave Saturn behind.

  9. عليك بالشرع فلست عائذاً

    بموئل أكنف منه موئلا

    Hold fast to sacred law: you cannot take refuge

    in a haven more protective than it.

  10. نور من الله إذا كساكه

    أصبحت سلطاناً على من جهلا

    It is a light from God; when He clothes you in it,

    you become a sovereign over those who are ignorant.

  11. أنت من الله على شأن إذا

    خلفت بالعلم نبياً مرسلا

    You have high standing with God when

    through knowledge you succeed a prophet sent forth.

  12. سدد وقارب واحتجز جوامعاً

    منه فلن تحصره مفصلا

    Aim true, come near the mark, and secure the essentials

    of it, for you will never encompass it in detail.

  13. ودونك السفر الذي ترقى به

    مدارج الكمال مرقى موصلا

    Here is the volume by which you ascend

    the Steps of Perfection, an ascent that leads to the goal.

  14. سحابة وطفاء إلا أنه

    يمطر نوراً ويمج عسلا

    A heavy-laden cloud, except that it

    rains light and gushes honey.

  15. نقطة نور صبها الوهب على

    امداده قلب من الله انجلا

    A drop of light, poured by divine bounty upon

    a heart sustained by Him and illumined by God.

  16. تجسم النور على طباقه

    فلاح فيها جوهراً مفصلا

    Light took bodily form upon its sheets,

    and shone there as a jewel finely set.

  17. ينفث روح العلم من ثغوره

    كنفث روح القدس للوحي علا

    It breathes the spirit of knowledge from its mouths,

    as the Holy Spirit breathes revelation from on high.

  18. كان نثاراً كالنجوم فانبرى

    لصوغه عقداً جمال النبلا

    It lay scattered like the stars; then stepped forth

    the ornament of the noble, to fashion it into a necklace:

  19. موفق النزعة كشاف العمى

    مستوعب عشر العقول ابن جلا

    rightly guided in purpose, a dispeller of blindness,

    encompassing the ten intellects, a man of manifest renown,

  20. قدوتنا الممدود من مصادر

    رقى إليها فتلقى واجتلى

    our exemplar, sustained from wellsprings

    to which he ascended, receiving and beholding clearly,

  21. خبيئة الله لنصر دينه

    وحجة الله على من أبطلا

    God's hidden treasure for the defense of His faith,

    and God's proof against whoever promotes falsehood:

  22. السالمي ابن حميد الذي

    قام لقيوم السماء فيصلا

    al-Salimi, son of Humayd, who

    stood for heaven's Sustainer as a decisive arbiter.

  23. صار على البطل شهاباً قبساً

    فأي شيطان به ما انجدلا

    Against falsehood he became a meteor, a firebrand;

    so what devil was not felled by him?

  24. أيده الله وأبقاه لنا

    موفقاً مسدداً مجللا

    May God strengthen him and preserve him for us,

    granted success, guided aright, and robed in honor.

  25. وحيث من الله بالطبع لما

    أبرزه بنوره مكللا

    And since God graciously granted its printing, when

    He brought it forth, crowned with His light,

  26. بهمة السلطان ذي الهم الذي

    تصاعقت له الملوك ذللا

    through the resolve of the Sultan, a man of high ambition,

    before whom kings fell thunderstruck and humbled,

  27. مؤيد الدين الذي صفاته

    وذكره المحمود سارت مثلا

    the champion of the faith, whose virtues

    and praiseworthy renown have become proverbial:

  28. أبى على مصدر الفضل فتى

    محمد حمود قمقام العلا

    Abu Ali, source of bounty, the son of

    Muhammad—Hamud, the lord of lofty eminence,

  29. ذي العزة القعساء في شئونه

    لا ترتضي إلا النجوم خولا

    whose unassailable might, in his affairs,

    accepts none but the stars as servants,

  30. أكرم من سارية غادية

    صبت عزاليها فطمت الملا

    more generous than a raincloud passing by night and morning,

    that poured from its spouts and flooded the plain.

  31. تهلل الكون بما أسعده

    من يمنه كما به تهللا

    The universe beamed at the joy it received

    from his blessing, just as it rejoiced in him.

  32. فقمت أشدو ثملاً بحمده

    ولست وحدي بالحميا ثملا

    So I rose to sing, intoxicated with praise of him,

    and I am not alone in being drunk on this heady wine.

  33. أبشر الناس بسفر زاهر

    كأنه بنوره تجللا

    I bring the people glad tidings of a radiant volume,

    as though it had robed itself in his light.

  34. أرخته صدقاً هيا بشراكم

    مدارج الكمال طبعاً كملا

    I dated it truthfully: come, glad tidings to you—

    'The Steps of Perfection' has been printed in full.