الفرق بين الكفر والإيمان

جاءت به الآيات في القرآن

The difference between unbelief and faith

has been set forth by the verses in the Qur'an.

فاقرا إذا ما شئت قل يا ايها

تجد الذي يخزي ذوي الطغيان

So recite, if you wish: 'Say, O you...'

You will find what disgraces those given to tyranny.

وترى عبادة ربنا سبحانه

بالنص غير عبادة الآوثان

And you will see that worship of our Lord—glory be to Him—

is, by the explicit text, unlike the worship of idols.

ولقد سمعتك يا بان روبك حاكيا

عن هؤلاء بمجلس السلطان

And indeed I heard you, O Ibn Rubak, recounting

about these people in the sultan's council:

إن الذي جعل الحجارة ربه

والنار والأشجار والقمران

Indeed, he who made stones his lord,

and fire, trees, and the sun and moon,

مثل الذي جعل المهيمن ربه

في الحكم عندهم بلا فرقان

is like him who made the Guardian his Lord,

in their judgment, without distinction.

قالوا لن الكل يعبد من ربه

حق العبادة لا إلهاً ثاني

They said: 'For everyone worships his own lord

with true worship, not a second god.'

فخلا فهم في الاسم فيما قلته

لا في الإله الواحد المنان

So their disagreement, according to what you said, is in the name,

not in the one God, the Bountiful Bestower.

فجعلتهم قول الإله ورسله

عبثاً وما يتلى من القرآن

Thus you made God's word and His messengers' words

futile, along with what is recited from the Qur'an.

ولقد نهاكم عن عبادة غيرة

نهياً تكرر أيها الثقلان

He has indeed forbidden you to worship anyone besides Him,

with a repeated prohibition, O two weighty kinds—humans and jinn!

ما زال ينهاكم بأن لا تشركوا

بالله شيئاً يا أولي الطغيان

He has never ceased forbidding you to associate

anything with God, O people of tyranny.

فصددتم عنه وقلتم ما جرى

شرك ولا للشرك من وجدان

But you turned away from Him and said, 'There has been no

association of partners, nor does such association exist.'

فعليكم لعن الإله ورسله

والمسلمين معاً بكل لسان

So upon you is the curse of God and His messengers,

and of the Muslims together, in every tongue.

تركوا كلام الله ثم رسوله

لمقالة ابن العربي الفتان

They abandoned God's word, then His Messenger's,

for the doctrine of Ibn al-Arabi, the tempter.

ما كنت تروي يا ابن روبك قولهم

إلا رواية منكر غضبان

You never recounted their words, O Ibn Rubak,

except as one condemning them in anger.

فعلى ما قمت على الإله معصبا

متظاهراً بكرامة الكرمان

Then why have you risen against God, taking sides,

parading the saintly honor of al-Kirman?

والله ما استسهلت أمرا هينا

وقد انتهكت محارم الرحمن

By God, the matter you have treated lightly is no trivial one,

for you have violated the All-Merciful's sacred bounds.

ما كنت أحسب أن دينك دينهم

أبدا ولا صدقت غير الآن

I did not think your faith was their faith,

ever, nor did I believe it until now.

أسخطت ربك مرضيا أعداءه

يا بئس ما استبدلت بالإيمان

You angered your Lord while pleasing His enemies;

oh, how evil what you took in exchange for faith!

الله أولى من رعيت حقوقه

وشكرت منه مواقع الإِحسان

God is the worthiest of those whose rights you honor

and whose acts of kindness you acknowledge with thanks.

لا تدنه والله يبعده ولا

ترفعه وانزله بدار هوان

Do not bring him near while God casts him away, nor

raise him up; bring him down to an abode of disgrace.

ارجع هديت عن الضلال إلى الهدى

واستبق دينا ليس كالأديان

Turn back—may you be guided—from error to guidance,

and preserve a faith unlike other faiths.

وإذا أبيت سوى اقتفا آثاره

ورضيت صحبة أوليا الشيطان

But if you insist on following only his footsteps,

and accept the company of Satan's allies,

فارقت لنفسك ما يسوءك عاجلا

فلقد رأيت مصارع الفتيان

then [expect] for yourself what will soon distress you;

for you have seen the places where young men fell.

ما الله عنك إذا نصرت عدوه

ساه ولا بالنائم الوسنان

God is not—concerning you, if you champion His enemy—

heedless, nor a drowsy sleeper.

فغداً ترى آثار شوم جواره

تخلو الديار بها من السكان

Then tomorrow you will see the effects of his ill-omened company;

through them, dwellings will be emptied of inhabitants.

وزعمت أني كنت أرضى قتله

وسعيت لا وان ولا متواني

You claimed that I approved of killing him,

and strove, neither slack nor dilatory.

أظننتني في بغضه متسترا

فأردت تظهر ما يسر جناني

Did you think I concealed my hatred of him,

so you sought to reveal what my heart keeps secret?

الله يعلم لو قدرت ولم يتب

لذبحته بيدي إلى الآذان

God knows: were I able, and he did not repent,

I would slaughter him with my own hand, up to the ears;

ولكنت ألقى الله منه بقربة

معدودة من أعظم القربان

and would meet God with it as an act of devotion,

counted among the greatest offerings.

في قتله كفارة لذنوبكم

يا راكبين بوائق العصيان

In killing him lies atonement for your sins,

O you who ride the perils of disobedience!

يا معشر العلماء هل من ناصر

لله في حين من الأحيان

O company of scholars, is there a champion

for God, at any time at all?

هذا عدو الله بين ظهوركم

يقرا الفصوص قراءة القرآن

Here is God's enemy in your midst,

reciting the Fusus as the Qur'an is recited.

ثم ابن روبك قائم من دونه

ومخادع بالشعر للسلطان

Then Ibn Rubak stands in his defense,

and deceives the sultan with poetry.

ادعوا له أعنى ابن روبك بالهدى

واستنقذوه به من الكفران

Pray for him—I mean Ibn Rubak—for guidance,

and through it rescue him from unbelief.

قد قال يوهم أنكم أعداؤه

حتى يظن بأنكم خصمان

He has spoken, making it seem that you are his enemies,

so that you are thought to be two opponents,

متنازعان فلا يصدق واحد

منكم على ما قاله في الثاني

in dispute, so that no one is believed

among you regarding what he says about the other.

الله يعلم أنكم أعداؤه

والحق هل في الحق من عدوان

God knows that you are his enemies,

and that is the truth—is there any transgression in truth?

ما أنكر الفقهاء إلا منكرا

علموه بالقرآن والبرهان

The jurists condemned only wrongdoing

that they recognized through the Qur'an and proof.

زعم ابن روبك أن كرمانيه

متصوف أنتم وهو ضدان

Ibn Rubak claimed that his Kirmani

is a Sufi: you and he are two opposites.

أهل التصوف أهل دين محمد

هم في الحقيقة أوليا الرحمن

The people of Sufism are the people of Muhammad's religion;

they are truly the friends of the All-Merciful:

الصائمون القائمون لربهم

ليلا إلى الأسحار بالفرقان

those who fast and stand in prayer for their Lord,

by night until predawn, with the Criterion.

صاموا الهواجر للإِله وهاجروا

فيه لذاذة كل عيش فاني

They fasted in the midday heat for God, and forsook

for His sake the sweetness of every passing life.

يقفون آثار النبي وصحبه

والتابعين لهم على الإحسان

They follow the footsteps of the Prophet and his companions,

and of those who followed them in goodness.

أهل التصوف غير من عينهم

من كل زنديق بغيض الشان

The people of Sufism are not those he designated,

each a heretic of hateful character.

عاداهم الفقهاء حين تلاعبوا

بالدين مثل تلاعب الصبيان

The jurists opposed them when they trifled

with religion as children play.

من حارب الفقهاء حارب ربهم

ونبيهم وطوائف الإيمان

Whoever wages war on the jurists wages war on their Lord,

and their Prophet, and the communities of faith.

غضبوا لدين محمد وغضبتم

لابن العربي العنه من إنسان

They grew angry for Muhammad's religion, while you grew angry

for Ibn al-Arabi—how accursed a man he is!

حفاظ دين الله لم يخترهم

للدين عن جهل ولا نسيان

The guardians of God's religion: He did not choose them

for the religion out of ignorance or forgetfulness.

يا رب لا تجعل لدينك ناصراً

ملكاً سوى يحيى على الأديان

O Lord, give Your religion no champion

among kings but Yahya, over other faiths.

واشدد بأيدك أزره واعصمه من

شر العدى ومكائد الخوان

And strengthen his back with Your might, and protect him from

the evil of the foes and the plots of traitors.

واجعله سيفا دون دينك قاطعا

لرقاب أهل البغي والعدوان

And make him a sword defending Your religion, severing

the necks of the people of rebellion and aggression.