هو القضا فخذ المبسوط مختصرا

وما جرا لا تسائل عنه كيف جرا

It is fate—so take the full account in brief.

And as for what happened, do not ask how it happened.

إذا قضى الله أمرا فهو ينفذه

كما يشاء ويغضي السمع والبصرا

When God decrees a matter, He carries it out

as He wills, and veils hearing and sight.

ما كان ملك الورى والله يكلؤه

ممكنا بشرا يوم الهوى بشرا

The king of humankind, with God guarding him, would not have

given one mortal power over another on the day of downfall.

لكن جرى قدر ماض ليشكره

من بعد تجريبه للغير من شكرا

But an inexorable decree took its course, so that he might be thanked

by those who had given thanks, after their experience of others.

للدين عشرون عاما في خلافته

ينمو نمو زروع تغتذى المطرا

For twenty years during his caliphate, the faith

grew like crops nourished by rain;

وهو المعاني لأهليه يجمعهم

باللطف حتى استفاض العلم وانتشرا

and he cared for its people, gathering them

with kindness, until learning abounded and spread.

وشب للعلم فتيان بدولته

صالوا بجدة فهم يقطع الحجرا

And under his rule young men grew up devoted to learning,

charging forth with a keen understanding that could cleave stone.

فشتتهم يد ظنت وقد قدرت

بأنه من شفا غيظا فقد ظفرا

Then a hand scattered them, thinking, once it had gained power,

that whoever assuaged his rage had triumphed.

هيهات ما ظفرت الا يدا رجل

مقدم لرضى الباري إذا قدرا

Far from it! No hands triumph but those of a man

who puts the Creator's pleasure first when he has power.

يسلم الأمر في أيام محنته

وإن تمكن من أعدائه نظرا

He surrenders the matter in the days of his ordeal,

and if he gains power over his enemies, he considers:

فإن رأى أنهم أخطوا أقالهم

وإن رأى أنه دانا الخطا أعتذرا

if he sees that they erred, he pardons them;

and if he sees that he came close to error, he apologizes.

يا عصبة في سمآء العلم قد طلعوا

والجهل داج فكانوا الأنجم الزهرا

O company who rose in the sky of learning,

while ignorance lay dark, and became the radiant stars!

أحييتم العلم بحثا والقلوب تقى

واليوم صوما وظلماء الدجا سهرا

You revived learning through inquiry, and hearts through piety,

and the day through fasting, and night's darkness through vigil.

إذا تكلف أن يخفى محاسنكم

لسان ذى حسد في مجلس عثرا

If it strains to conceal your virtues,

an envious man's tongue stumbles in the gathering.

كنتم إذا عرضت في الدرس مشكلة

تطايرت نحوها أفهامكم شررا

You were such that, when a difficulty arose in a lesson,

your minds flew toward it like sparks.

كنتم لجيد الهدى عقدا يزينه

عدت على سلكه الأيام فانتثرا

You were a necklace adorning the neck of guidance;

the days assailed its thread, and it scattered.

مجالس العلم تشكو الوحش مذ فقدت

من غوص أفهامكم ما يخرج الدررا

The gatherings of learning lament their desolation since they lost

your minds' deep dives that brought forth pearls.

فأي عين رمتها فيكم عميت

لقد تفرق عنها جمعكم شذرا

So may any eye that struck them through you go blind!

Indeed, your company has scattered away from them in fragments.

ما كان تدريسكم إلا مناظرة

مثيرة من كنوز العلم ما استترا

Your teaching was nothing but debate,

bringing to light what lay hidden in the treasures of learning.

تسابقون إلى المعنى مشائخكم

فيحتوى قصبات السبق من بدرا

You raced your teachers to the meaning,

and whoever arrived first claimed the reeds of victory.

يخفي الصواب فيستدعي بكم فإذا

تعاودته يدا أفكاركم ظهرا

The right answer lies hidden and is sought through you; then,

when the two hands of your thoughts return to it, it appears.

ما كان أحسن ذاك الاجتماع على

تلك النصوص ببحث يشحذ الفكرا

How beautiful that gathering was around

those texts, with inquiry that sharpened thought!

مجالس للمعاني الشاردات بها

من فهمكم قانص يصطاد ما خطرا

Gatherings where, for wandering meanings,

a hunter from your understanding caught whatever came to mind.

تقسمتهم بقاع الأرض فانقذفوا

وخلفوا في القلوب الحزن مستعرا

The earth's regions divided them up, and they were flung away,

and they left grief blazing in hearts.

ما هان هذا البلا عنهم ولا حبست

غمائم الغم عن أهل الهدى مطرا

This affliction has not eased for them, nor have

the clouds of grief withheld rain from the people of guidance.

في كل يوم فتى إما يحاط به

منهم فيسحب سحب الجازر الجزرا

Each day a young man is either hemmed in,

one of them—then dragged as a butcher drags camels to slaughter;

أو هارب منه قد قامت قيامته

فطار في الأفق لا يلقى له أثرا

or a fugitive from him, his doomsday already upon him,

so he flies into the horizon, with no trace of him to be found.

لعل اسرافه في الجور ينفعهم

فربما حر نفعا جالب ضررا

Perhaps his excess in oppression will benefit them,

for a bringer of harm may sometimes bring benefit.

فأحمد لم يزل والعدل شيمته

لمن تعدا عليه الخصم منتصرا

For Ahmad has always, with justice as his nature,

championed anyone wronged by an adversary.