1. كفى الإثم بعض الظّنّ كيف التّوهّمُ

    أيرضى لبيبٌ بالمظنّة يأثمُ

    Some suspicion is sin enough; what, then, of mere imagining?

    Would a discerning man consent to sin through suspicion?

  2. ومن يرم بالسّوء البرىء فلم يزل

    بمقت الورى يُرمى ولم يك يُكرم

    Whoever accuses the innocent of evil will always be

    assailed by people's loathing, never held in honor.

  3. إذا مس عرض الحرّ مُقالة

    فليس لحرّ بالمساس تألّمُ

    If an utterance touches a nobleman's honor,

    a nobleman feels no pain from that touch.

  4. فما شرُف الياقُوت بالنّار مُؤلمٌ

    ولا الذّهبُ الإبريزُ بالسّبك يهضمُ

    For fire does not injure the ruby's noble worth,

    nor is pure gold diminished by smelting.

  5. ولا لضياء النّيّرين إذا بدا

    خُسوفُهما عيبٌ به الضّوءُ يُوسمُ

    Nor, for the radiance of the two luminaries, when it appears,

    is their eclipse a blemish with which that light is branded.

  6. وما نقص حدّ السّيف بالسّنّ مُنقصٌ

    ولكن يُرى في فعله وهو أصرمُ

    The loss from sharpening does not diminish the sword's edge;

    rather, its action shows it sharper still.

  7. ومن شتم الدُّر النّفيس فلا يرى

    لهُ شاتما بل شاتمُ الدُّرّ يُشتمُ

    Whoever reviles a precious pearl is not held

    to have reviled it; the pearl's reviler is himself reviled.

  8. لئن يحلُ قدحي في لسان فرّبّما

    حلا وهو يحوي ناقع السّمّ مطعمُ

    Though reviling me may taste sweet upon a tongue, often

    a morsel tastes sweet while harboring deadly poison.

  9. وإن لسعت عرضي عقاربُ ألسن

    فإنّ لساني في اللّواسع أرقمُ

    If the scorpions of tongues sting my honor,

    then my tongue is a speckled viper among the stingers.

  10. وما ثوبُ عرض الحرّ لّطخ الخنا

    به غير مطليّ به يتحتّمُ

    Obscenity's smear upon a nobleman's robe of honor

    is nothing but a coating inevitably laid upon it.

  11. لئن قذفُوا رجما فشهبُ مقاولي

    بهنّ شياطينُ القواذف ترجُمُ

    Though they pelt me with slander, the meteors of my words—

    with these the devils among the slanderers are pelted.

  12. سيعلمُ من ألقى مواقد ريبة

    عليّ بمن تلك المواقدُ تُضرمُ

    He will learn—whoever cast the fires of suspicion

    upon me—against whom those fires are kindled,

  13. إلى أن يظنّ المحرُوقون بنارها

    عليهم كأنّ البرد منها جهنّمُ

    until those scorched by their fire imagine

    that even their coolness is Hell upon them.

  14. همُ قصدُوني بالإذاية واجتروا

    على حسد منهمُ وما كنتُ أجرُمُ

    They targeted me with injury and grew bold,

    out of their envy, though I had done no wrong.

  15. كفاني ضرّ الحاسدين عذابُهم

    بفضل ولم يُحظوا بما أنا مُنعمُ

    The envious men's own torment has spared me their harm:

    it is over my merit; they lack the blessings I enjoy.

  16. دعاهُم نسيبُ الشّعر منّي لريبة

    أكلُّ فصيح قال شعرا مُتيّمُ

    My love poetry has led them to suspicion;

    is every eloquent man who utters verse love-stricken?

  17. لئن كان لي في الشّعر فسقٌ وريبةٌ

    فإنّ ضميري بالعفاف مُسلّمُ

    Though my poetry may contain wantonness and grounds for suspicion,

    my inner self is kept safe by chastity.

  18. نعم أنا أهوى كلّ أحور أغيد

    به يُنقضُ الصّبرُ الجميلُ ويُبرمُ

    Yes, I love every dark-eyed, graceful one,

    who unravels noble patience and binds it anew.

  19. فما البدرُ إلا من سناهُ ولم تمل

    غُصونُ الرُّبى إلا عليه تُسلّمُ

    The full moon is but from his radiance; nor do they bend—

    the boughs upon the hills—except to greet him.

  20. يحلُّ عُرى صبري وحلمي بوجهه

    ربيعُ بها لكن عليّ مُحرّمُ

    His face loosens the bonds of my patience and forbearance:

    a spring of splendor, yet forbidden to me.

  21. يظنُّ وفي بعض المظنّة ماثمٌ

    تسلّيتُ أو بُحتُ الّذي كنتُ أكتمُ

    He supposes—and some suspicion bears sin—

    that I have ceased to pine, or revealed what I used to conceal.

  22. فدع ظنّ سلواني وأيقن بضدّه

    بلى أنا صبٌّ في الصّبابة مُغرمُ

    So abandon the thought that I have forgotten, and be sure of its opposite:

    indeed, I am lovesick, enthralled by longing.

  23. إذا صدّ عنّي صُمتُ عن مطعم الكرى

    وإن يرضى فهو العيدُ عندي وأعظمُ

    When he turns from me, I fast from the food of sleep;

    and if he is pleased, it is Eid to me, and greater still.

  24. فيا عجبا منّي أرى الصّوم هجرهُ

    وعيدي منهُ الوصلُ والعيدُ بيرمُ

    How strange of me, to see fasting in his estrangement,

    and my Eid in union with him—and Eid is Bayram.

  25. عنيتُ أبا عبد الإلاه مُحمّدا

    به مذهبُ النّعمان يُبدا ويُختمُ

    I mean Abu ʿAbd al-Ilah, Muhammad,

    through whom al-Nuʿman's school begins and ends.

  26. به رمز عين الكنز في الفقه قد غدا

    يُصرّحُ بالمعنى الخفيّ ويعلمُ

    Through him, the cryptic heart of the Kanz in jurisprudence now

    speaks plainly of hidden meaning and is understood.

  27. تحلّى به صدر الشّريعة إذ بدا

    به مُنتقى الدُرّ اليتيم يبسّم

    He adorned the breast of the Sacred Law, as there appeared

    through him the choicest peerless pearl, smiling.

  28. تجمّع فيه العلم والفضلُ فاغتدى

    به مجمعُ البحرين في النّاس يُعلمُ

    Learning and excellence gathered in him, and thus

    through him the confluence of the two seas became known among people.

  29. إذا أظلم المعنى فمصباح ذهنه

    لمنهاجه يهدي به وهو مُظلمُ

    When meaning grows dark, the lamp of his mind

    guides by its light to its path, though the meaning is dark.

  30. سراجٌ بأفق الفهم نهرُ فوائد

    وبحرٌ بأمواج المعارف خضرمُ

    A lamp on understanding's horizon, a river of benefits,

    and a vast sea with waves of knowledge.

  31. لهُ فضّ أبكرالفتاوي لأنّه

    أبُو عُذرها ما دام فيها تختّمُ

    His is the deflowering of virgin fatwas, for he

    is their first possessor, so long as their seals remain.

  32. تراهُ بتحقيق العلوم كأنّما

    أدلّتهُ شمسٌ وبدرٌ مُتمّمُ

    You see him verifying the sciences, as though

    his proofs were a sun and a full-orbed moon.

  33. فأمّا أصولُ الدّين تُدرى فُرُوعُها

    به وأصول الفقه من فيه تُرسمُ

    As for the principles of religion, their branches are known

    through him; jurisprudence's principles are set down from his mouth.

  34. وللنّحو أضحى والبيان تفاخُرٌ

    به إن بدوا والخصم فيهنّ يختصمُ

    Grammar and rhetoric have come to take pride

    in him, when both appear and an opponent disputes them.

  35. أمولاى هذا الختمُ ختمٌ مُباركٌ

    عليك به نشر الثّنا ليس يكتمُ

    O my master, this completion is a blessed completion;

    through it, praise of you is spread abroad, not concealed.

  36. ختمت به العيني على الكنز فاغتدى

    عينا عن العلم الّذي فيه معدمُ

    With it you completed al-ʿAyni on the Kanz, and thus

    one once devoid of its learning became an authority.

  37. فلا زلت إكليلا على هامة العلى

    يعزّ بكم عصر الزّمان ويفخمُ

    May you remain a crown upon the head of eminence;

    through you the age gains honor and grandeur.

  38. ولا زالت العليا ملاك يمينكم

    تُصرّفها فيما تشاءُ فتخدمُ

    May high eminence remain the possession of your right hand;

    you direct it as you wish, and it serves you.

  39. وصلّ على خير الأنام مُحمّد

    شفيع الورى في الحشر والخطبُ مظلمُ

    And bless Muhammad, the best of all creation,

    intercessor for mankind at the Gathering, when the ordeal is dark.