Sol 6.1

  1. حمدتُ إلهي والمقامُ عظيم

    فأبدى سروراً والفؤادُ كليمُ

    I praised my God, and the station was sublime.

    He revealed joy, though the heart was wounded.

  2. ويا عجباً من فرحةٍ كيف قورنَتْ

    بترحةٍ قلبٍ حلَّ فيه عظيم

    And what a wonder: how was joy joined

    with the grief of a heart in which a mighty one dwelt?

  3. ولكنني من كشفِ بحر وجودِه

    عجبتُ لقلبي والحقائقُ هِيم

    Yet, at the unveiling of the ocean of His being,

    I marveled at my heart, while the realities thirsted with longing.

  4. كذاك الذي أبدى من النورِ ظاهراً

    على سَدَفِ الأجسام ليس يقيم

    Likewise, what He revealed as outward light

    upon the darkness of bodies does not abide.

  5. وما عجبي من نور جسمي وإنّما

    عجبتُ لنورِ القلبِ كيفَ يريم

    My wonder is not at my body's light; rather,

    I marveled at the heart's light—how does it depart?

  6. فإن كان عن كشفٍ ومشهدِ رؤيةٍ

    فنورٌ تجلِّيه عليه عميم

    For if it comes from unveiling and the witnessing of a vision,

    then it is light; His self-disclosure upon it is all-pervading.

  7. تفطّنت فاستر علة الأمر يا فتى

    فهل زيّ خلق بالعليم عليم

    You have discerned it; conceal the cause of the matter, young man.

    Can a guise of creation know the All-Knowing?

  8. تعالى وجودُ الذاتِ عن نيلِ علمه

    به عند فصلي والفصالُ قديم

    The being of the Essence transcends attaining knowledge of Him

    through Him, at my separation; and separation is ancient.

  9. فغرنيق ربي قد أتاني مخبراً

    بتعيين ختم الأوليلء كريم

    Then my Lord's crane came to me bearing news

    of the designation of the noble Seal of the saints.

  10. فقلت وسرّ البيتِ صف لي مقامه

    فقال حكيمٌ يصطفيه حكيم

    I said, 'By the secret of the House, describe his station to me.'

    He said, 'A sage whom a sage elects.'

  11. فقلت يراه الختم فاشتّد قائلاً

    إذا ما رآه الختم ليس يدوم

    I said, 'The Seal sees him.' He grew vehement, saying:

    'When the Seal sees him, he does not endure.'

  12. فقلت وهل يبقى له الوقت عندما

    يراه نعم والأمر فيه جسيم

    I said, 'And does time remain for him when

    he sees him?' 'Yes; and the matter here is momentous.'

  13. وللختم سرٌّ لم يزل كلُّ عارفٍ

    عليه إذا يسري إليه يحومُ

    And the Seal has a secret; every knower has always

    hovered about it whenever he journeys by night toward it.

  14. أشار إليه التَّرمذيّ بختمه

    ولم يُبدِه والقلبُ منه سليم

    Al-Tirmidhi alluded to it through his seal,

    and did not disclose it; the heart was unscathed by it.

  15. وما ناله الصدّيقُ في وقتِ كونِه

    وشمسُ سماءِ الغربِ منه عديم

    Nor did al-Siddiq attain it during his lifetime,

    and the sun of the western sky was bereft of it

  16. مذاقاً ولكنَّ الفؤادَ مشاهد

    إلى كلِّ ما يبديه وهو كتوم

    in taste; yet the heart bears witness

    to all that he reveals, while he remains reticent.

  17. يغار على الأسرار أن تلحق الثرى

    ولا تمتطيها الزهرُ وهي نجوم

    He jealously guards the secrets lest they reach the dust,

    nor do the radiant ones mount them while they are stars.

  18. فإن أبدروا أو أشمسوا فوقَ عرشه

    وكان لهم عندَ المقامِ لزوم

    For if they become full moons or suns above His Throne,

    and they abide at the station,

  19. فرّبما يبدو عليهم شهودُها

    فمنهم نجومٌ للهدى ورجومُ

    then perhaps the vision of those secrets appears upon them;

    among them are stars for guidance and missiles.

  20. ولكنه المرموزُ لا يدرك السنا

    وكيف يرى طيبَ الحياة سقيم

    But he, the one alluded to, does not perceive the radiance;

    and how can one who is sick see life's sweetness?

  21. فسبحان من أخفى عن العينِ ذاته

    وبحر تجلِّيها عليه عميمُ

    Glory, then, to Him who hid His Essence from the eye,

    while the ocean of its self-disclosure upon him is all-pervading.

  22. فأشخاصنا خمسٌ وخمسٌ وخمسةٌ

    عليهم نرى أمرّ الوجودِ يقوم

    Thus our persons are five, and five, and five;

    upon them we see the order of existence upheld.

  23. ومن قال إن الأربعين نهاية

    لهم فهو قولٌ يرتضيه كليم

    And whoever says that forty is the limit

    for them—this is a saying an interlocutor approves.

  24. وإن شئت أخبر عن ثمانٍ ولا تزد

    طريقهمُ فرد إليه قويم

    If you wish, speak of eight, and add no more;

    their path is single, straight toward Him.

  25. فسبعتهم في الأرضِ لا يجهونها

    وثامنهم عند النجوم لزوم

    So seven of them are on earth and do not [unclear verb] it,

    and their eighth abides among the stars.

  26. فعند فنا خاءِ الزمانِ ودالها

    على فاءِ مدلولِ الكوور يقوم

    Then, at the passing away of time's khāʾ and its dāl,

    upon the fāʾ of what al-kuwur [unclear term] signifies, he stands,

  27. مع السبعةِ الأعلام والناسُ غُفُلٌ

    عليم بتدبيرِ الأمور حليم

    with the seven eminent ones, while the people are heedless,

    knowledgeable in ordering affairs, forbearing.

  28. وفي الروضةِ الغرّاءِ سمُّ غذائهِ

    وصاحبها بالمؤمنين رحيمٌ

    And in the radiant garden is the poison of his nourishment;

    and its master is merciful toward the believers.

  29. ويختصُ بالتدبيرِ من دون غيره

    إذا فاح زهر أو يهبُّ نسيمُ

    He alone is charged with governance, to the exclusion of others,

    when a blossom gives off fragrance or a breeze blows.

  30. تراه إذا ناداه في الأمر جاهلٌ

    كثير الدعاوى أو يكيدُ زنيم

    You see him when an ignorant man calls to him about the matter—

    full of pretensions—or a baseborn man plots:

  31. فظاهرُه الإعراض عنه وقلبُه

    غيور على الأمرِ العزيزِ زعيم

    his outward stance is to turn away from him, while his heart

    is zealous for the exalted affair, a guarantor.

  32. إذا ما بقي من يومه نصفَ ساعةٍ

    إلى ساعة أخرى وحلَّ صَريمُ

    When there remains of his day half an hour,

    up to another hour, and night descends,

  33. فيهتز غص العدل بعد سكونه

    ويحيي بنات الأرض وهو هشيم

    then the branch of justice stirs after its stillness,

    and revives the daughters of the earth, though it is dry brushwood.

  34. ويظهر عدلُ الله شرقاً ومغرباً

    وشخصُ إمامِ المؤمنين رحيم

    God's justice appears in east and west,

    and the person of the believers' Imam is merciful.

  35. وثم صلاةُ الحق تترى على الذي

    به لم أزل في حالتيّ أهيم

    And then the Real's blessings come in succession upon the one

    by whom I have never ceased to be enraptured in my two states.