رأت رفرف الأكوان هند فولت — Bahaa Al Sayadi

رأت رفرف الأكوان هندٌ فولت

إليه ومنها في طواه تدلت

Hind saw the fluttering canopy of the worlds and turned

toward it, and from them she descended into its folds.

وأوهمها من بارزات صنوفه

جلاجل آثارٍ فصاحت وغنت

And, among the outward displays of its kinds, she was deluded by

the jingling bells of traces, so she cried out and sang.

وظنت بما بقني البقاء تخبطاً

فكذبها الشيء الذي فيه ظنت

And, in confusion, she imagined permanence in what [word unclear],

but the thing she had believed in proved her wrong.

وضنت بتلك الفانيات تقاعداً

عن الدائم الباقي فبالوهم ضنت

And she clung jealously to those perishing things, holding back

from the Enduring, the Everlasting; so she clung to illusion.

ألا فاندبيها يا هذيم فإنها

تدلت إلىالفاني الحقير فذلت

Ah, lament her, Hudhaym, for she

stooped to the contemptible, perishing thing and was abased.

ولو أنها طوراً تخلت عن الذي

يبيد بدرع الباقيات تحلت

And had she, for a while, relinquished what

perishes, she would have adorned herself with the armor of enduring things.

تجلت لها الأنوار من كل جانبٍ

فلم ترها للطيش يوماً تجلت

The lights revealed themselves to her from every side,

yet, in her recklessness, she never saw them shine forth.

فيا بصراً قد زاغ بالميل للسوى

ويا هما هامت وبالغير همت

So, O sight that has strayed by inclining toward other-than-God!

And O sorrow! She wandered in love and yearned for the other.

خيالٌ لرائيك انجلى وهو كاذبٌ

شراب سرابٍ فانتبه وتثبت

A phantom appeared to your beholder, and it is false:

a draught of mirage—awaken and be sure.

تصدر شأن الغير في قلبك الذي

أنقلبت به يا هند بتيه وافلتي

Concern with the other has taken command in your heart, through which

you fell into bewilderment, Hind; break free!

وروحي بروح القدس واستبدلي التي

دنت وانطوت في مهمه العجز بالتي

And journey with the Holy Spirit, and exchange the one

that sank and folded into helplessness's wilderness for that other one.

خذي العيش ما بين المخصب والصفا

وأطرف هاتيك الشعاب ومروة

Take your sustenance between al-Mukhsib and al-Safa,

and go to the fringes of those ravines and Marwa.

وإن بت بين الذروتين بفرجتي

خرسان خل العين منك بمكة

And if you spend the night between the two summits, in the two clefts of

Khurasan, leave your gaze in Mecca.

فللَه في الأطلال سرٌّ مطلسمٌ

على كل قلبٍ يستدير ومقلة

For God has a talisman-veiled secret in the ruins,

circling over every heart and eye.

يفيض شؤن اللَه جل بخلقه

فتأخذ منها النفس ما قد أكنت

It pours forth God's workings—exalted is He—among His creatures,

and the soul takes from them what it has kept concealed.

ولا تلفتي عزم الفؤاد بكله

ولو رمش عينٍ عن رحاب المدينة

And do not turn your heart's entire resolve,

even for an eye's blink, away from Medina's precincts.

هنالك سر اللَه والحضرة التي

قد اختارها الباري على كل حضرة

There lies God's secret, and the Presence that

the Creator has chosen above every presence:

سرادق علم اللَه ينبوع فضله

ومهبط مجلى قدسه في البرية

the pavilion of God's knowledge, the fountain of His bounty,

and the descent-place of His holiness's manifestation among creation;

مطاف قلوب الوالهين بحبهم

وفيفاء تلك القبضة الأزلية

the circling-place of hearts distraught with their love,

and the wilderness of that pre-eternal handful;

ونكتة يس السرارة في العما

ومعنى نظام الدولة الأبدية

and the point of Ya-Sin, the hidden essence in the Cloud,

and the meaning of the order of everlasting sovereignty.

محمد علم اللَه ناسوت سره

وأحمد أهل الحضرة الصمدية

Muhammad, God's banner, the human embodiment of His secret,

and Ahmad, most praised among the people of the Self-Sufficient Presence.

أقام بحم الحقائق صولةً

لها اندهش الأملاك لما تبدت

He established, through the Ha-Mim of realities, a mighty sway,

at which the angels were astounded when it appeared.

نعم وله الأملاك عنه بربهم

ولكن به قاموا بكل حقيقة

Yes, the angels were enraptured in their Lord, apart from him,

but through him they stood established in every reality.

ولولاه ما كانوا وإن سجودهم

لآدم مغنٍ عن طوال الأدلة

And without him they would not have existed; indeed, their prostration

before Adam suffices in place of lengthy proofs.

على كل هامٍ من معاليه رفرفٌ

يشير له بالرفعة الأقدسية

Above every head is a fluttering canopy from his lofty stations,

signaling his most holy exaltation.

وفي كل لبٍ من معانيه واردٌ

يجلجل أحكام الغيوب الخفية

And in every understanding is an inspiration from his meanings,

resounding with the decrees of hidden mysteries.

فيأخذها الاني بمولاه عارفاً

ويأخذها المرد حسب الطوية

Then the one [designation unclear] receives them, knowing his Lord,

and the beardless youths receive them according to their inward disposition.

سقى اللَه من أرجاء طيبة طيباً

من القاع فيه نقطة الأولوية

May God water a fragrant place in the reaches of Tayba,

a stretch of ground in which lies the point of primacy:

مقام إمام المرسلين عظيمهم

وسيدهم في كل علمٍ وحكمة

the station of the leader of the messengers, their great one,

and their master in every knowledge and wisdom.

ألا وهو الماء الذي في عيونهم

تدلى بنورٍ عم كل سريرة

Indeed, he is the water that, within their eyes,

descended with a light that encompassed every inward heart;

ورقرقة الفهم الذي في عقولهم

تحلى على تلك القلوب بنفحة

and the ripple of understanding that, within their minds,

arrayed itself upon those hearts with a breath.

هزبر الوحا كشاف كل عجاجةٍ

تنمق فيها نسج كل مهمة

The lion of swiftness, dispeller of every dust-cloud,

wherein the weave of every task is embellished;

وسلطان ملك اللَه بادٍ وطامسٍ

ومنشور حكمٍ أو مصانٍ بطية

and the sovereign of God's dominion, manifest and veiled,

and an unfolded decree, or one safeguarded within a fold.

تبدى به الألوان بعد انطماسها

ولولاه لم ترمق بعينٍ بصير

Through him colors appeared after their effacement;

and without him they would not be glimpsed by a seeing eye.

فكان هو النور المجلى لعينها

بمبطن معنى نسجة المظهرية

Thus he was the light revealed to its eye,

through the inner meaning of manifestation's weave.

له العلم الخفاق والكون ساكنٌ

وآدم في سرداب ماءٍ وطينة

His was the fluttering banner while the universe lay still,

and Adam was in the subterranean chamber of water and clay.

له العيلم المواج والأرض والسما

هباءٌ وهذا الكل في جزء نقطة

His was the surging ocean, while earth and heaven

were dust—and this entirety is in a fraction of a point.

له المعجزات الساريات ومن سنا

مطالعها آيات أهل الحقيقة

His are the miracles that spread, and from the radiance of

their risings come the signs of the people of Reality.

له الدولة الكبرى بكل دقيقة

له الجولة العظمى بكل طريقة

His is the greatest sovereignty in every subtle detail;

his is the mightiest sweep along every path.

له صين علم الغيب فاللوح عنه قد

تلقى كنوز العلم من كل شكلة

For him the knowledge of the unseen was safeguarded; from him the Tablet has

received the treasures of knowledge from every form.

فما القلم الخطاط إلا لأجله

بدا من طوى طمس انشقاق الأكنة

For the inscribing Pen, solely for his sake,

emerged from the folds of effacement, as the coverings split.

فلولاه لم يكتب ولولاه لم يكن

على اللوح مكتوبٌ يجر بجملة

So without him it would not have written; without him there would not have been

any inscription on the Tablet, drawn out as a whole.

أجل هو نور اللَه يجلى لخلقه

وما ضره جحد العيون العمية

Indeed, he is God's light, revealed to His creation;

and the denial of blind eyes has not harmed him.

بفرقانه قد فرق اللَه بين من

هداه وبين الجاحد المتعنت

Through his Criterion, God has distinguished between those

He guided and the obstinate denier.

بدت منه للحظ القديم محجةٌ

تدل على أهليه أي محجة

From him a clear path appeared to the primordial gaze,

pointing to his people—what a clear path!

فشرعته نافت على كل شرعةٍ

وحجته قامت على كل حجة

So his sacred law rose above every sacred law,

and his proof prevailed over every proof.

جلى اللَه للأكوان من أهل بيته

مصابيح سرٍّ حققوا بالوصية

God revealed to the worlds, from the people of his house,

lamps of a secret, who attained realization through the bequest.

فقاموا عن الزهراء أسباط مرسلٍ

سما المرسلين الزهر في كل خلة

So from al-Zahra arose the grandsons of a messenger

who surpassed the radiant messengers in every quality.

رووا من طريق اللضه للقوم ما خفا

عن العارفين الشعث غبر السرية

They transmitted to the people, by the path of [unclear word], what was hidden

from the disheveled knowers, the dust-covered company.

وجاء لنا أصحابه الغر بالذي

به قد قضى عدلاً بأقوام سنة

And his radiant companions brought us that

by which he decreed, in justice, an established way for peoples.

وكلٌّ له فيما انتحاه مزيةً

شريفة عنونٍ وأي مزية

And each has, in what he pursued, a distinction,

noble in designation [reading uncertain]—what a distinction!

ولم نر يوماً في جميع دروبهم

وأنحائها غير الهدى للشريعة

And we never saw, in all their paths

and their directions, anything but guidance to the sacred law.

على إثر روح العالمين تزاحمت

جنائبهم في السير من كل وجهة

Following the Spirit of the worlds, there thronged

their led mounts, on the journey, from every direction.

وجاء رجال اللَه في اللَه بعدهم

على إثرهم يا خير إثرٍ وعصبة

And after them came God's men, for God's sake,

in their footsteps—what excellent footsteps and company!

يرومون وجه اللَه جل جلاله

قل اللَه أو خل الحوادث واصمت

seeking God's Face—exalted be His majesty.

Say 'God,' or leave created things and be silent.