دار الخلافة حاطك البسفور — أحمد الكاشف

دار الخلافة حاطك البسفورُ

وأجل قدرك في الورى الدستورُ

Abode of the Caliphate, the Bosphorus guards you,

and the constitution has exalted your standing among mankind.

هذي مواكب عيده اللاتي بها

ماجت ميادين الحمى والدور

These are the processions of its festival, through which

the precinct's squares and houses have surged.

ذكرى أغر محجل ضمن المنى

تبديله الحدثان والتغيير

A remembrance of a white-blazed, white-footed day: hopes were assured

by its reshaping of time's vicissitudes and by change.

الحكم عدل والرعية حرة

والملك بينهما أعز فخور

Rule is just, and the subjects are free,

and the sovereign, between the two, is most exalted and proud.

وخليفة الرحمن مطرد الندى

والبر موفور الجلال وقور

The caliph of the Merciful is constant in generosity

and beneficence, abundant in majesty, dignified.

مصدوقةٌ شوراهُ عالٍ رأيُهُ

والأمن تحت لوائه والنور

His counsel is trustworthy, his judgment lofty,

and beneath his banner are security and light.

يدري بأن التاج ليس بمخلص

للفرد حتى يخلص الجمهور

He knows that the crown cannot deliver

an individual until the people are delivered.

يرعى ويسترعي الشعوب أمورها

ملك له التدبير والتخيير

He oversees the peoples' affairs and entrusts them with their care—

a king with the power to govern and to offer choice.

حسب العباد من النظام وأهله

أن لا يدل على الوضيع وزير

It is enough for the people, from the system and those who uphold it,

that no minister should lord it over the lowly.

جمع الشوارد حول حوض واستوى

في ظله مستأجر وأجير

He gathered the wanderers around one pool, and equal stood

under his shade the employer and the hired worker.

ما اختص أحمد بالخلافة أمة

علماً بأن الدائرات تدور

Ahmad did not reserve the caliphate for one people,

knowing that the turns of fortune come around.

أولى بها من صانها من بعد ما

عبثت مقاديرٌ بها وعصور

Most worthy of it is whoever preserved it after

destinies and ages had toyed with it.

وجلا السماء السيف وهي دجىً كما

ملأ السرير الأرض وهي تمور

And the sword brightened the sky when it was dark, just as

the throne filled the earth while it heaved.

شقيت بما تتوهم الأعداء من

هذا التراث وإنه لعسير

You have suffered from what enemies imagine concerning

this inheritance—and burdensome indeed it is.

لك كل يوم يا رشادُ شفاعةٌ

في القوم عند اللّه وهو غفور

Every day, Rashad, you have an intercession

for the people with God, and He is forgiving.

يممتَ حصنَ الخارجين فأذعنوا

وأسا الجراحَ الدامياتِ خبير

You made for the rebels' stronghold, and they submitted;

and a skilled healer tended the bleeding wounds.

وعلا مكان السيف بعد صليله

في الهدنة التسبيح والتكبير

And in place of the sword, after its clanging, rose

during the truce, praise of God and cries of His greatness.

وأقمت بنيهم الصلاة فسلموا

إلا فريقاً ما يزال يثور

You set their sons to prayer, and they submitted,

except for a group that still rebels.

عافوا شهيَّ العدل والإحسان أم

غصوا بهذا الماء وهو نمير

Did they spurn delicious justice and kindness, or

choke on this water, though it is pure?

أولى بمن زاد النهار ضلاله

أن لا يفارق عينَه الديجور

For one whose straying grows in daylight, it is fitter

that deep darkness never leave his eyes.

وليبق أعزلَ كلُّ من يبغي على

حراسِّه والراصدون كثير

Let everyone remain unarmed who transgresses against

his guards; the watchers are many.

إن أكبر الغيران بأسك حولهم

ففسادهم لو يمهلون كبير

If the jealous one holds your might in awe around them,

their corruption, if they are given respite, is great.

ما كان قتلهمُ انتقاماً منهمُ

لكنه لذنوبهم تكفير

Their killing was no act of vengeance against them,

but an atonement for their sins.

فهم وقود ضرامهم حيناً ومن

دمهم لإطفاء الضرام بحور

They are fuel for their own blaze for a time, and from

their blood come seas to extinguish the blaze.

لو طهر الدم آثماً من رجسه

لم يبق مأثوم ولا مأزور

If blood cleansed a sinner of his filth,

no sinner or bearer of guilt would remain.

حورانُ مزدجرٌ ومقدونية

ثكلى وقد راع العراقَ نذير

Hauran is chastened, and Macedonia

is bereaved; a warning has alarmed Iraq.

وتنصلت صنعاءُ من فجارها

وأبى على المتطاولين عسير

Sanaa has disowned its evildoers,

and Asir has resisted those who overreached.

لن يخلوَ البلقان من شر وإن

ملأت ثراه جماجمٌ ونحور

The Balkans will never be free of evil, even if

skulls and throats fill their soil.

من لم يطعك موفقاً مستغفراً

فليبق وهو المرغم المقهور

Whoever will not obey you, rightly guided and seeking forgiveness,

let him remain humbled and subdued.

في القلزم المجتاز مأذون فإن

غوضبت فهو محرم محظور

In the Red Sea, the voyager is permitted passage; but if

you are provoked to anger, he is forbidden and barred.

قد قام يجمع شاطئيه أبر في

مصرٍ وآخرُ في الحجاز قدير

To unite its two shores has risen a most righteous man in

Egypt, and another, mighty, in the Hijaz.

مد الشريف إلى العزيز يمينه

وسعى نصير يصطفيه نصير

The Sharif stretched his right hand to the mighty one,

and a champion strove, whom another champion favors.

هو حجة النسب الزكي على الأولى

أشقاهمُ التحريضُ والتنفير

He is the proof of pure lineage against those

whom incitement and estrangement have made wretched.

لولا وسيلته إليهم لم يطع

عاص ولم يحقن دم مهدور

Without his mediation with them, no

rebel would obey, nor would doomed blood be spared.

يا زائراً في كل يوم أمةً

يا ليت مصر تعودها وتزور

O you who visit a people each day,

would that you called upon Egypt and visited her!

جاء الحجاز بشيرها بمحمد

بعد الشآم فهل لمصرَ بشير

Her herald came to the Hijaz with Muhammad,

after Syria; does Egypt, then, have a herald?

إن صفق النيل السعيد فإنما

تصفيقه عن حبها تعبير

If the happy Nile applauds, then

its applause is only an expression of her love.

وإذا علت أهرامها وتطلعت

فسلام مسترعٍ إليك يشير

And if her pyramids rise and look toward you,

a greeting seeking your notice points toward you.

المسلمون على اختلاف بقاعهم

في الأرض ما لهم سواك مصير

The Muslims, however different their lands

across the earth, have none but you to turn to.

بيني وبينك زاخران وإنما

سببي إليك إذا أردت قصير

Between me and you lie two surging seas, yet

my path to you, if I wish, is short.

لولا مضاعفةُ القيود لكان لي

في كل أرض موطن وعشير

Were it not for the multiplying of fetters, I would have

in every land a home and a companion.

من لي بأجنحة الحمام فأغتدي

بين المعاقل حولهن السور

Who will give me doves' wings, so I may set out at dawn

among the fortresses, with walls around them,

وأرى السواحل دونهن سلاسلٌ

وأرى السفائن فوقهن نسور

and see the coasts, with chains before them,

and see the ships, with eagles above them?

وكأنها شم الجبال مواخراً

يدوي حديدٌ تحتها مصهور

They are like towering mountains, cleaving the waters,

with molten iron roaring beneath them.

لو كان لي أجر الوفاء لكان لي

فوق الخليج خورنق وسدير

If I had the reward of loyalty, I would have

a Khawarnaq and a Sadir above the gulf.

حسبي مطاف بالرياض وزهرة

ولكل طير روضة وغدير

Enough for me are a circuit among gardens and a blossom,

for every bird has a garden and a pool,

وتحية من سانحات مثلما

مرت بأبرار الملائك حور

and a greeting from birds passing auspiciously, as

houris passed among the righteous angels.

يا آل عثمان السلام عليكم

ما هز أعطاف الوفيِّ شعور

O House of Osman, peace be upon you,

so long as feeling stirs the loyal one's limbs.

أهواكمُ وأود لو سَلِمَتْ لكم

في العالمين مدائن وثغور

I love you, and wish that there remained safe for you

cities and frontier strongholds throughout the world.

وأود لو عاشوا وليس عليهم

إلا أمير المؤمنين أمير

And I wish they might live with none over them

as ruler but the Commander of the Faithful.

إن الذي فتح الممالك محسناً

بخلود هذا الملك لهو جدير

Indeed, he who conquered kingdoms while doing good

is surely worthy of this kingdom's perpetuity.

لولاكم في الشرق غال حصينه

في الغرب ممدود الشباك مغير

But for you in the East, its stronghold would have fallen prey

to a raider in the West, his nets outspread.

هل بعد ما شهدت لكم آثاركم

بالعدل يعبث بالعيان نكير

After your works have borne witness for you

to justice, can denial trifle with what the eyes see?

يا لابسين من الحديد سوابغاً

وكأنما هو سندس وحرير

O you who wear ample coats of iron mail

as though it were fine brocade and silk,

ومظلَّلين من اللوافح بالقنا

في البيد إذ أذكى الرمالَ هجير

and are shaded from scorching blasts by spears

in the deserts, when midday heat set the sands ablaze,

ومغربين عن الديارِ وذكرُها

لكم أنيسٌ في النوى وسمير

and are far from home, whose remembrance

is your companion in exile and your nighttime confidant:

لا فارقت سيما النعيم وجوهَكم

يوماً ولا غابت هناك بدور

may the signs of bliss never leave your faces

for a day, nor may the full moons there ever disappear.

قسماً بمكة لن يراع مسالم

أمَّنتموه وسيفكم مشهور

By Mecca, no peaceful man shall be frightened

whom you have granted safety, while your sword is drawn.

لا خافكم إلا عدوكم ولا

عَدَتِ الأحبةَ غبطةٌ وسرور

May none fear you but your enemy, and may

gladness and joy never pass your loved ones by.

لكم العزائم والثبات وللعدى

حض الخوارج والخنا والزور

Yours are resolve and steadfastness; your enemies have

the rebels' incitement, obscenity, and falsehood.

إن أيقظوا في كل واد فتنة

فبكل واد جحفل منصور

If they awaken rebellion in every valley,

in every valley stands a victorious army.

خشعت جبالهم لكم رهباً كما

لانت جنادلُ قبلها وصخور

Their mountains bowed to you in fear, as

boulders and rocks before them had yielded.

وقلوب أهل البغي باقية كما

خلقت تفيض ضغائناً وتفور

And the hearts of the rebellious remain as

they were created, overflowing with rancor and seething.

هل تلتقي حول العرين صغارهم

من بعد ما هال الكبار زئير

Will their little ones gather around the lion's den

after a roar has terrified the grown ones?

سارت جنودكمُ لكل عظيمة

يا ليتني بين الجنود أسير

Your troops marched toward every mighty undertaking;

would that I marched among the troops!

أهدي إليهم خير ما صنعت يد

وحكى فمٌ عذبٌ وصان ضمير

I would offer them the best that a hand has fashioned,

a sweet mouth has recounted, and a conscience has guarded.

إني لأدلي بالمواثيق التي

أسوان ترعاها لكم والطور

I surely invoke the covenants which

Aswan and al-Tur safeguard for you,

وأمانةٌ مرعيَّةٌ ووديعةٌ

محميِّةٌ بهما ينوء ثبير

and a trust faithfully tended, and a deposit

securely guarded—beneath both, Thabir staggers.

إن كنت شاعرَكم بمصرَ فإنني

لكمُ غداً في الخافقين سفير

If I am your poet in Egypt, then

tomorrow I shall be your envoy in East and West.

إني صبرت على الجهاد وطالما

بلغ المدى بعد الجهاد صبور

I have persevered in struggle; how often

has a patient man reached his goal after struggle!