جرد النفس وانهها عن هواها

لا تذرها في غيها تتلاهى

Strip the soul bare and forbid it its desires.

Do not let it amuse itself in its waywardness.

زكها بالتقوى فما تفلح النف

س بحالٍ إلا على تقواها

Purify it through piety, for the soul does not prosper

in any condition except through its piety.

واستملها عن المراعى الوبيا

تِ إذا استرسَلت إلى مرعاها

Turn it away from pernicious pastures

whenever it wanders freely toward its grazing-ground.

واتخذ في مراصد الكيد منها

حَرَساً يكسرون صَعبَ قواها

Set, at the ambush-points of its cunning,

guards who break the unruliness of its powers.

فلها للعصيان ميل عظيم

لو نفته عن طبعها ما عداها

For it has a mighty inclination toward disobedience;

if it banished that from its nature, it would not assail it.

ولها في المتاب شدة عجزٍ

بِعِدات التسويف نيطت عُراها

And in repentance it suffers grievous incapacity:

its bonds are fastened to promises of postponement.

ولها في المتاب مكر خفيُّ

جعلته تلبسا من حُلالها

And in repentance it has a hidden cunning,

which it has made a disguise among its garments.

إن كيدَ الشيطان كان ضعيفاً

ودواهي النفوس لا تتضاهى

Indeed, Satan's cunning was weak,

but the souls' wiles are beyond comparison.

فتيقض لها وقد أمكن الأم

ر فما الحزم تركها ومناها

So awaken to it while the matter remains manageable;

resolve does not mean leaving it to its wishes.

فاعتقلها في مبرك الزهد بالخو

ف إلى أن تبدو هزالاً كلاها

Confine it where renunciation kneels, through fear,

until its kidneys show their emaciation.

فإذا انحلت القُوى فأثرها

لمراعي اليقين تشفي طواها

Then, when its powers have slackened, rouse it

toward certainty's pastures, to cure its hunger.

وإذا أرزمت وحنت لألف الطب

ع فارفض حنينَها وبكاها

And if it groans and yearns for familiar habit,

reject its yearning and its weeping.

فمروج اليقين فيها زُهورٌ

معصرات التوفيق تسقي رباها

For certainty's meadows contain flowers;

the rain-clouds of divine enabling water their hills.

ما رعاها حيٌّ فعاشَ ولا مي

ت فلم يحيَ ريثما يرعاها

No living being grazed there and lived, nor any dead being

failed to revive the moment it grazed there.

ومتى هب للقبول قبول

بين روضاتها وفاحَ شذاها

And whenever an east wind blows toward acceptance

among their gardens, and their fragrance spreads,

فاسر بالدهس لا الحزون بليل

آمناً من كلالهاوَحَفاها

travel by night over soft ground, not rugged terrain,

secure against its weariness and sore feet.

ما سَرَت للأوطان نفسك إلا

حمدت غب صبحه مسراها

Your soul never journeyed toward its homelands without

praising its night-journey when morning followed.

أنت في هذه الرسوم العتيقا

ت غريب فخلها وَبَلاها

You are amid these ancient traces

a stranger: leave them and their decay.

والبدار البدار للموطن الدا

ئم حيث الحياة ألقَت عصاها

Hasten, hasten toward the enduring homeland,

where life has laid down its staff.

قد تراءت لك الخيام فما عج

زك عن أن تحلَّ وسطَ فناها

The tents have appeared before you; what incapacity

keeps you from settling within their courtyard?

شَمِرّ الذيل واركب الليل واصحب

ذات صبر فما السلوك سِواها

Gather up your hem, ride through the night, and accompany

a patient mount: there is no other way to journey.

وعلى الأين فاحتمل كل خَطبٍ

سوف تحلو الخطوب في عقباها

Despite fatigue, endure every adversity;

adversities will grow sweet in their aftermath.

وإذا شقت المسالك طالت

قصّر الشوق للحبيب مداها

And when the paths grow difficult and long,

longing for the beloved shortens their extent.

ما الكرى والبروق ساهرة إن

كان في الشوق صادقاً دعواها

What place has sleep while lightning keeps vigil, if

its claim to longing is sincere?

خلف العالم الطبيعيَّ وارحل

للتي لم تُخلق لدار سِواها

Leave the natural world behind and journey

to that abode, for you were created for no other.

هذه معبر وتلك مقامٌ

فاعبروها لا تعمروا مغناها

This is a crossing-place; that is a dwelling:

cross through this one; do not build up its habitation.

عجباً من محجوبةٍ في كثيف

عنصر العالم اللطيف رماها

How strange, a soul veiled within dense

matter, where the subtle world has cast it!

نسيَتْ أنسها بمقعد صدق

وتجافت لويلها وشقاها

It forgot its intimacy in a seat of truth

and turned aside toward its woe and misery.

حبست في ضنك ووحشة طبع

فتمنت أن لا يحول عناها

It was confined in constriction and the loneliness of nature,

then wished that its suffering would never change.

ليتها حلقت إلى الرفرف الأخ

ضر حيث الأنوار تغذو قُواها

Would that it soared to the green cushion,

where lights nourish its powers.

رجّعي يا ورقاءُ نوحَكِ للأل

ف فإن الولهى تبث جواها

Repeat, O grey dove, your lament for the familiar companion,

for the distraught one pours out her inward anguish.

واندبي المعهد القديم عسى الرج

عة قد آذنت إليه عَساها

Lament the ancient abode; perhaps the return

has announced its approach to it—perhaps!

وانقذي من اشراك سجنك شوقاً

لرياضٍ نشاتِ بينَ رُباها

Escape the snares of your prison, yearning

for gardens among whose hills you grew.

جاذبي كفة الحبالة فالحا

بل موف بمديةٍ قد نضاها

Tug at the edge of the snare, for the fowler

stands ready with a knife he has unsheathed.

واسرحي في الرياض من ملكوت الله

ترعينَ فيضه في فضاها

Roam the gardens of God's kingdom,

grazing on His bounty in their open spaces.

لو شجاك التذكار من لوعة البي

ن لمزقت القلب آهاً وواها

Had remembrance grieved you with separation's burning pain,

you would have torn your heart with cries of 'Ah!' and 'Alas!'

عالم الكون والفساد بليا

تِ لك الاختيار فيما عداها

The world of generation and decay is affliction;

you have the choice of what lies beyond it.

رشحتك الألطاف للحضرة العلي

ا أما ترغبين في لقياها

Gentle graces have chosen you for the exalted Presence;

do you not desire to meet it?

لهف نفسي على النفوس النفيسا

ت أضاعَت أقدارَها وعُلاَها

My soul grieves for the precious souls

that squandered their worth and their heights.

برزت من مضارب الحق في أفض

ية الأمر فاستباها هواها

They emerged from Truth's encampments into the open spaces

of the command, and their desires took them captive.

تانف الواديَ المقدس رَعياً

ورعت حيث الأسد تفري فراها

They disdain to graze in the sacred valley

and graze where lions rend their hides.

لو تمنت خلاصَها أدركته

وغدت لا تراع وسط حِماها

Had they desired their deliverance, they would have attained it

and lived unafraid within their sanctuary.

ما أرادت من جيفة الزخرف الحا

ئل لو أبصرت سبيلَ هُداها

What would they want with the carcass of fading ornament,

had they perceived the path of their guidance?

تتجلى لها الحقائق لا غي

ن ولا غيم ساترٌ ملاها

Truths reveal themselves to them, with no haze

or cloud concealing their expanse.

باهرات الجمال يدعين للوص

ل فتأبى النفوس أن تهواها

Dazzling in beauty, they invite to union,

yet souls refuse to love them.

غرها الجهل فاطمأنت إليه

أن جهل النفوس أصل شقاها

Ignorance deceived them, and they rested content with it;

indeed, souls' ignorance is the root of their misery.

أيها النفس علم معناكِ بَحرٌ

في عميقات غَمره العقلُ تاها

O soul, knowledge of your essence is a sea

in whose deep waters reason has wandered astray.

لو شهدت المسطور في نسخة الغي

ب ومعناك ما حوت دفتاها

Had you witnessed what is inscribed in the book of the unseen,

your essence being what its two covers contain,

وكشفتِ المستور فيك لأيقن

تِ بأن الوجود فيك تناهى

and unveiled what is hidden within you, you would be certain

that existence reaches its culmination within you.

أنتِ في هيكل خبيئة أمرٍ

من حكيم لحكمةٍ أمضاها

Within a bodily temple, you are a hidden command

from One wise, for a wisdom He has carried through.

فأميطي قذاة عينك من بين

زواياه تدركي إياها

Remove the mote from your eye, from among

its corners, and you will perceive that wisdom.

فالخفايا عَلَيكِ في لوحك المحف

وظ لو ما كشفت عنها غطاها

The things hidden from you are upon your preserved

tablet, if only you uncovered their veil.

آهِ يا نفس والبقية من عمر

ك قد أشرفت على منتهاها

Ah, O soul, the remainder of your life

has drawn close to its end.

أهِ يا نفس أدركيها فلا مط

مع بعد الفراق في لقياها

Ah, O soul, seize it: there is no hope

after separation of meeting it again.

ودعيها بالصالحات عسى نف

حةُ توب وَرَحْمةٍ تغشاها

Bid it farewell with righteous deeds; perhaps a breath

of repentance and mercy will enfold it.

لستِ في هذه الحياة على ش

يء سوى ما تلفين في عقباها

In this life you possess nothing

except what you find in its aftermath.

فاصدري عن غمار باطلها عط

شى فأصدى عطاشها أرواها

Leave the depths of its falsehood thirsty;

the thirstiest among its thirsty ones are those most sated by it.

ومسير العطاش أقطع للبِ

يدِ وخير الأظماء ما أحفاها

The thirsty travel farther across the deserts,

and the best bouts of thirst are those that most exhaust the soul.

فاطمئني وأوّبي وأنيبي

وأخلصي من أفاتها وبلاها

Be at peace, return, and turn repentantly;

free yourself from its afflictions and its trials.

أهِ يا نفس والعلائق أعدا

ء شداد وأنت من أسراها

Ah, O soul, attachments are enemies,

fierce ones, and you are among their captives.

يندبون اللوى وأندب نجداً

كل عين تبكي على ما شجاها

They lament al-Liwā, while I lament Najd;

every eye weeps over what has grieved it.

ليت إني بيسجن أجتلي النو

ر من العالم الذي لا يباهى

Would that I were in Bīsjan, contemplating the light

from that incomparable knower.

استمد الفيوض في فيضه الوه

بيّ أو تملأ السيول زباها

Drawing spiritual effusions from his freely bestowed outpouring,

until torrents filled its heights.

قطعت بي قواطع الدهر عنهُ

حاجة في نفس الزمان قضاها

Time's severing blows cut me off from him:

a need within Time's own soul, which it fulfilled.

كشفت لي عنه الحقائق والحق

شهيدي بأنه منتماها

Truths disclosed him to me, and Truth

is my witness that he is their ultimate destination.

وارث الأنبياء علماً وحُكماً

وسفير عنها إلى من عداها

An heir of the prophets in knowledge and judgment,

and an envoy from those truths to everyone beyond them.

أدرك الملة الحنيفية البي

ضاء إذ فوضت له شكواها

He came to the aid of the radiant, upright faith

when it entrusted its complaint to him.

تتضنى مروعةً تندب الأبرا

ر حزناً همالةٌ مقلتاها

It wasted away in terror, lamenting the righteous

in grief, its two eyes streaming.

فأثارته شربة النهر والغي

رة لله في رضا مصطفاها

A draught from the river stirred him, and zeal

for God, seeking the pleasure of its chosen one.

فحماها وسامها وكذاك ال

أسدُ تحمى عرينَها وحِماها

He protected and exalted it, just as

lions protect their lairs and their domains.

ردها مثل رد يوشع للشم

س وقد غاب نورها وضياها

He restored it as Joshua restored the sun,

when its light and radiance had disappeared.

عجباً أشرقت من الغرب شمسٌ

فاتَتنا للشرق يسعى سناها

How wondrous: a sun rose from the west!

It escaped us, its brilliance hastening eastward.

إنها آية وإن كان لابد

عَ من العارفين من شرواها

It is a sign, though it is no marvel

that among the knowers there are others like it.

درجات الكمال والفضل لا تح

صى وقد حاز شأنه أعلاها

The degrees of perfection and excellence cannot

be counted; his stature has attained the highest.

تلك آثاره له شاهدات

إنه للعلوم قطبُ رحاها

Those are his works, bearing witness for him

that he is the axle of knowledge's mill.

طلعت من جبال مصعب والزا

ب جبال من علمه أرساها

From the mountains of Muṣʿab and al-Zāb arose

mountains of his knowledge, which he firmly established.

ثم دارت بالأرض كالفَلَك الدَوّ

ارِ لا تحصر النُهى أقصاها

Then they circulated over the earth like the revolving sphere;

intellects cannot encompass their farthest bounds.

جاء تفسيره بمعجزة قد

بهرت أهل الابتداع سطاها

His commentary came with a miracle whose

might astounded the people of innovation.

يبرق الحق من مصادره العل

يا وينهل العلم من مجلاها

Truth flashes from its lofty sources,

and knowledge pours from their place of manifestation.

وحدته العقول في الفن حكماً

فنفينا الأنداد والأشباها

Intellects judged him unrivaled in the discipline,

so we denied him peers and counterparts.

فانهضي نهضة الغضنفر لا تؤ

لين جهداً في قتلها وَجَلاها

Rise with the rising of a lion; spare

no effort in slaying and burnishing the soul.

واستعدي الأجناد من طاعَة

الله فقد عَزّكِ النصير سواها

Prepare armies from obedience

to God, for any other helper eludes you.

واعلمي إن طاعة الله لا ينه

ض إلا بالعلم قطعاً بِناها

Know that obedience to God has no structure that rises

except through knowledge, assuredly.

دونك الجد أفرغي فيه أنفا

سك فالهزل ضاق عنه مداها

Take up earnestness; pour into it your breaths,

for their span has no room for frivolity.

واستمدي الأنوار من كلمات

الله إن الهدى بحقٍّ هداها

Draw lights from the words

of God: true guidance is their guidance.

هي مرج البحرين فالتقطي الجو

هَرَ من ذا وذاك من فحواها

They are the meeting-place of the two seas; gather the jewels

from this sea and that, from their meaning.

شرب العارفون منها فهاموا

بمذاقين من رحيق طلاها

The knowers drank from them and became enraptured

by two flavors of their wine's nectar.

راع خلف الستور ما أظهرَتهُ

من جَمال فكيف ما في خفاها

What they displayed behind the veils awed them

with beauty; what, then, of what lies concealed?

إن لله في الخفاء نفوساً

في ميادين قدسه أخفاها

God has souls hidden away,

which He concealed in the fields of His holiness.

حجبَتها ستائر اللطف عنها

وجلاها من أمره ما جَلاها

Veils of gentleness screened them from themselves,

and His command disclosed of them what it disclosed.

أخذتها عنايَة الله عن أطو

ارها فانتهت بها في حماها

God's care took them beyond their states

and brought them into its sanctuary.

هذه الأخذة التي أحرقت قل

بي وطاشت قُوايَ تحت قواها

This is the taking that burned my heart,

and beneath its powers my own powers reeled.

ليت إني أذهبت ألفَ حياةٍ

وتراءت لي لمحة من خباها

Would that I had spent a thousand lives

and a glimpse of its concealment appeared to me.

أنا من تيمته غزلان نجدٍ

وخميلات الرند بين رباها

I am one whom the gazelles of Najd enslaved with love,

and the laurel groves among its hills.

ليَ نفس لولا التشفي بأروا

ح صباها ذابَت بحَرّ جواها

I have a soul that, were it not soothed by the breezes

of its east wind, would melt in the heat of its anguish.

أن يك الغور تيَّم الغير فالأه

واء تحدو ظعونها جربياها

If al-Ghawr has enthralled others, then desires

are the north wind driving its caravans.

لا يواريك ما غزلتِ ولا يُد

فيءُ في سبرة الشتاء كساها

What you have spun will neither cover you

nor will its clothing warm you in winter's bitter cold.

هذه الحلة التي نسج الح

ق رصيناً الحامَها وسَداها

This is the robe that Truth wove,

making its weft and warp firm.

لم تحك فطرة العقول على من

والها ليسَ صنعها من قواها

The innate powers of intellects did not weave upon its

loom: its making lies beyond their powers.

إنها فيضة لدنية سي

قت لربانيّ وهذا سَناها

It is an effusion bestowed directly by God, conveyed

to a godly knower; this is its radiance.

وبحور الفيوض من عالمَ الوه

ب لأهل العرفان لا تتناهى

The seas of spiritual effusions from the world of giving

have no end for the people of gnosis.

ما تلقيتَ يا محمد ذي الفي

ضة إلا وأنت من خلصاها

You received this effusion, O Muhammad,

only as one of its chosen ones.

شمل الكونَ منك مقباس نور

فأنارت عشيّة كَضُحاها

A flame of light from you encompassed the cosmos,

so its evening shone like its forenoon.

أرضعتك الآيات ألبان ضرع

يها فبرهنت هادياً مقتضاها

The verses nursed you with milk from their two udders,

and as a guide you demonstrated what they entail.

وأقامتك في مقامات ذي التح

قيق حتى نزلتَ وادي طُواها

They established you in the stations of realization,

until you descended into their valley of Ṭuwā.

هكذا يا ابن يوسف الحق لا يتر

ك نفساً أحبها وارتضاها

Thus, O son of Yusuf, Truth does not abandon

a soul that He has loved and approved

أو تُجلى لها الحقائق كشفاً

فتُرى عنه عامضات عَماها

until truths are unveiled to it,

and through Him the obscurities of its blindness become visible.

قصرت عنك بالثناء وبالحم

د لساني وعزني أملاها

My tongue falls short of you in eulogy

and praise; fulfilling them defeats me.

نسبتي للمديح فيك كما بني

وبين النجوم وسط سماها

My fitness to praise you is like the distance between me

and the stars in the midst of their sky.

قد تبركتُ بالثناء على وجه

ك أبغي بهِ مع الله جاها

I have sought blessing by praising your countenance,

seeking through it standing with God.

فأجزني بدعوة تجمع الخي

رات لي في الدنيا وفي عقباها

Reward me, then, with a prayer that gathers good things

for me in this world and its hereafter.

ظهرت منك في الوجود كراما

ت رجوتُ الأمداد من جدواها

Wonders have appeared from you in existence;

I have hoped for spiritual aid from their bounty.

هل أتى النحلة الأباضية الغراء

إن أفلحت بدرك مناها

Has news come to the radiant Ibadi creed

that it has prospered in attaining its desire,

إذ أتاح التوفيق والقدر السا

بق إرغام كل من ناواها

when divine enabling and the preceding decree permitted

the humbling of everyone who opposed it,

بتمام التفسير طبعاً على هم

ة أملاكها وأسد شراها

through the completed printing of the commentary, by the resolve

of its kings and the lions of its Sharā?

فدعتني هواتف الحق للتا

ريخ والبشر شامل إياها

The voices of Truth called me to record the date,

with gladness encompassing it.

قلتُ أرخ دوام جَدّ وبشر

إن هميان الزاد طبعاً تناهى

I said: 'Date it: enduring fortune and gladness;

indeed, Himyān al-Zād is completely printed.'

قيل فامدح زاباً وزد قلت زابٌ

علم الجهلَ ظلمةً فجلاها

I was told: 'Praise Zāb, and add more.' I said: 'Zāb

knew ignorance to be darkness, and dispelled it.'