استنبط العلم وزك العملا

ولا تعش بغرة سبهللا

Draw out knowledge and purify your deeds.

Do not live heedlessly and aimlessly.

لا تترك الأنفاس في الهزْل سدى

أدركَ من جد وفي الجد العُلى

Do not waste your breaths in frivolity.

Whoever strives attains; in striving lie the heights.

جوهرة النفس إذا ضيعتها

في لعب لم تلق منها بدلا

If you squander the jewel of the soul

in play, you will find no substitute for it.

رشحك الحق لأمر جلل

تدركه إذا ركبت الجللا

The Truth has chosen you for a momentous task,

which you attain if you brave great challenges.

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 and shown the paths.

فإن توجهت إلى حضرته

فرافق العلم يقود الجملا

So if you turn toward His presence,

take knowledge as your companion: it leads the camel.

فخير ما رافقت علماً نافعاً

وشافعاً مشفعاً في يوم لا

For your best companion is beneficial knowledge,

and an intercessor whose plea is accepted on the Day of “No.”

إن العلوم كالنجوم كثرة

فاعتنق الشمس وغادر زحلا

The sciences are as numerous as the stars;

so embrace the sun and leave Saturn behind.

عليك بالشرع فلست عائذاً

بموئل أكنف منه موئلا

Hold fast to sacred law; you cannot take refuge

in any haven more sheltering than it.

نور من الله إذا كساكه

أصبحت سلطاناً على من جهلا

A light from God: when He clothes you in it,

you become a sovereign over those who are ignorant.

أنت من الله على شأن إذا

خلفت بالعلم نبياً مرسلا

You hold high standing with God when

through knowledge you succeed a prophet sent forth.

سدد وقارب واحتجز جوامعاً

منه فلن تحصره مفصلا

Aim aright, come close, and secure the essentials

of it, for you will not encompass it in detail.

ودونك السفر الذي ترقى به

مدارج الكمال مرقى موصلا

And here is the volume by which you ascend

the Steps of Perfection, an ascent that brings you there.

سحابة وطفاء إلا أنه

يمطر نوراً ويمج عسلا

A rain-laden cloud, except that it

rains light and pours forth honey.

نقطة نور صبها الوهب على

امداده قلب من الله انجلا

A drop of light, poured by divine bounty to

sustain a heart illumined by God.

تجسم النور على طباقه

فلاح فيها جوهراً مفصلا

Light took bodily form upon its layers,

and shone within them as a jewel, fully set forth.

ينفث روح العلم من ثغوره

كنفث روح القدس للوحي علا

It breathes the spirit of knowledge from its mouths,

like the Holy Spirit breathing revelation on high.

كان نثاراً كالنجوم فانبرى

لصوغه عقداً جمال النبلا

It was scattered like the stars; then stepped forward

the adornment of the noble, to fashion it into a necklace.

موفق النزعة كشاف العمى

مستوعب عشر العقول ابن جلا

Blessed in his aspiration, a dispeller of blindness,

encompassing the ten intellects, a man of manifest renown.

قدوتنا الممدود من مصادر

رقى إليها فتلقى واجتلى

Our exemplar, sustained from sources

to which he ascended, receiving and beholding clearly.

خبيئة الله لنصر دينه

وحجة الله على من أبطلا

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

and God's proof against those who deal in falsehood:

السالمي ابن حميد الذي

قام لقيوم السماء فيصلا

al-Salimi, son of Humayd, who

stood as an arbiter for the Sustainer of heaven.

صار على البطل شهاباً قبساً

فأي شيطان به ما انجدلا

He became a meteor, a firebrand, against falsehood;

so what devil was not felled by him?

أيده الله وأبقاه لنا

موفقاً مسدداً مجللا

May God strengthen him and preserve him for us,

blessed with success, guided aright, and clothed in honor.

وحيث من الله بالطبع لما

أبرزه بنوره مكللا

And since God graciously granted its printing, when

He brought it forth, crowned with its light,

بهمة السلطان ذي الهم الذي

تصاعقت له الملوك ذللا

through the zeal of the resolute sultan, before whom

kings fell thunderstruck, humbled—

مؤيد الدين الذي صفاته

وذكره المحمود سارت مثلا

the upholder of the faith, whose qualities

and praiseworthy renown have become proverbial;

أبى على مصدر الفضل فتى

محمد حمود قمقام العلا

Abu Ali, the source of bounty, a noble youth,

Muhammad Hamud, lord of the heights,

ذي العزة القعساء في شئونه

لا ترتضي إلا النجوم خولا

possessed of unyielding might in his affairs,

which accepts none but the stars as servants;

أكرم من سارية غادية

صبت عزاليها فطمت الملا

more generous than a cloud traveling by night and arriving at dawn,

pouring its rain-spouts and flooding the open land—

تهلل الكون بما أسعده

من يمنه كما به تهللا

the universe beamed at what brought it joy

from his blessing, just as it beamed at him.

فقمت أشدو ثملاً بحمده

ولست وحدي بالحميا ثملا

So I rose singing, intoxicated with praise of him,

and I am not alone in being drunk with that strong wine.

أبشر الناس بسفر زاهر

كأنه بنوره تجللا

I bring people glad tidings of a radiant volume,

as though it had clothed itself in its light.

أرخته صدقاً هيا بشراكم

مدارج الكمال طبعاً كملا

I dated it truthfully: come, here are your glad tidings:

The Steps of Perfection—its printing is complete.