يا بدر بادر إلى المنادي — Ibn Arabi

يا بدرُ بادر إلى المنادي

كَفيتَ فاشكر ضُرّ الأعادي

O full moon, hasten to the caller.

You have been spared your foes' harm, so give thanks.

قد جاءك النور فاقتبسه

ولا تُعرِّج على السوادِ

The light has come to you; draw light from it,

and do not turn aside toward darkness.

فمن أتاه النُّضارُ يوماً

يزهد في الخط بالمدادِ

For whoever receives pure gold one day

loses interest in writing with ink.

فقم بوصف الإله وانظر

إليه فرداً على انفرادِ

So stand in God's attributes, and look

upon Him alone, in solitude.

وحصن السَّمع إذ تنادي

وخلص القول إذ تنادى

And guard your hearing when you call,

and purify your speech when you are called.

والبس لمولاك ثوبَ فقرٍ

كي تحظى بالواهب الجوادِ

And don for your Master a robe of poverty,

so you may gain favor with the bountiful Giver.

وقل إذا جئته فقيراً

يا سّيداً ودّه اعتمادي

And say, when you come to Him in poverty:

O Master, whose love is my reliance,

اسق شرابَ الوصال صباً

ما زال يشكو صدى البعاد

give a lovesick lover the drink of union,

who still laments the thirst of separation.

تاه زماناً بغير قوتٍ

إذ لم يشاهد سوى العباد

He wandered lost for a time without sustenance,

since he beheld none but the servants.

فكن له القوتَ ما استمرت

أيّامه الغرُّ باقتصادِ

So be his sustenance as long as they endure—

his radiant days—in due measure,

حتى يموت العذول صبراً

وتنطفي جمرة البعادِ

until the reproacher dies a captive,

and separation's ember is extinguished,

ويعجب الناس من شخيصٍ

يكون بعد الضلال هادي

and people marvel at a little figure

who becomes a guide after going astray.

من كان ميتاً فصار حياً

فقد تعالى عن النفاد

Whoever was dead and then became alive

has risen beyond extinction.

ما خلع النعل غير موسى

بشرطها عند بطن وادِ

None but Moses took off his sandal,

under its condition, at the bottom of a valley.

من خلعتَ نعله تناهت

رتبة أقواله السَّداد

For him whose sandal you have removed, the utmost is reached

in the rank of his sound utterances.

فإن تكن هاشميّ ورثٍ

فاسلك بها منهج السَّداد

So if you are Hashemite by inheritance,

then follow with it the path of rightness.

والبس نعاليك إن من لم

يلبس نعاليه في وهادِ

And put on your sandals; indeed, whoever does not

wear his sandals is in the lowlands.

فهل يساوي المحيط حالاً

من لم ير العينَ في الرمادِ

Can the all-encompassing one be equal in state

to one who has not seen the essence in the ashes?

فميز الحال إذ تراه

في مركب القدس في الغوادي

So discern the state when you behold it

in the vessel of holiness, among those going forth at dawn.

ورتب العلم إذ يناجي

سرك بالسرِّ في الهوادي

And order knowledge when it communes

with your inmost self, through the secret, among the guides.

وارقبه في وهم كل سرٍّ

في ساتر إن أتى وبادي

And watch for Him in every inmost self's imagining,

in a veiling form, should He come, and a manifest one.

ولا تشتِّت ولا تفرِّق

عبديه من حاضر وبادي

And do not scatter or divide

His two servants, the townsman and the desert-dweller.

فإن وهبتَ الرجوع فرِّق

بين الحواضر والبوادي

But if you are granted return, distinguish

between the towns and the deserts.

واحذر بأنْ تركب المهارى

إذ تقرن العير بالجواد

And beware of mounting the Mahri camels

when you pair the ass with the noble steed.

لا يحجبنك الشخوصُ واصبر

على مَهماته الشدادِ

Let no outward figures veil you, and be patient

with His arduous tasks.

وانظر إلى واهبِ المعاني

وقارنِ العينَ بالفؤاد

And look toward the giver of meanings,

and join the eye to the heart.

وأسند الأمر في التلقي

له تكن صاحبَ استناد

And in receiving, entrust the matter

to Him, and you will have support.

و لايغرّنك قولُ عبدي

فالحقُّ في الجمعِ لا ينادي

And do not let the saying 'My servant' deceive you,

for in union the Real does not call.

وإنّ هذا المقام أخفى

من عدم المثلِ للجوادِ

And indeed, this station is more hidden

than the Bountiful One's having no equal.

فكنه علماً وكنه حالاً

مع رائح إن أتى و غادي

So be Him in knowledge, and be Him in state,

with an evening traveler, if he comes, and a morning traveler.

وكنه نعتاً و لا تكنه

ذاتاً فعين المحال بادي

And be Him in attribute, but do not be Him

in essence, for impossibility itself is manifest.

ولا تكن ذا هوى وحب

فيه فقلب المحب صادي

And do not be possessed of passion and love

for Him, for the lover's heart is thirsty.

من بات ذا لوعةٍ محباً

شكا له حرقةَ الجواد

Whoever spends the night a lover burning with anguish

complains to Him of the Bountiful One's burning pain.

وانظر بعينِ الفراق أيضاً

فيه ترى حكمةَ العِناد

And look also with the eye of separation:

in Him you will see the wisdom of defiance,

وحكمةُ الحزمِ والتواني

وحكمة السِّلم والجِلاد

and the wisdom of resolve and slackness,

and the wisdom of peace and combat.

فحكمةُ الصدِّ لا يراها

سوى حكيم لها وسادي

For the wisdom of rejection is seen

only by a sage; my pillow belongs to it.

وانظر إلى ضاربٍ بعود

صفاة يبس فانساب وادي

And look at one striking with a stick

a smooth, dry rock—then a valley flowed.

واعجبْ له واتخذه حالاً

تجده كالنارِ في الزناد

And marvel at him, and take him as a state;

you will find him like fire in flint.

فالماءُ للروحِ قوتُ علم

والجسم للنار كالمزاد

For water is knowledge's nourishment for the spirit,

and for fire the body is like waterskins.

فإن مضى الماء لم تجده

بدارِ دنياك في المعاد

So if the water passes away, you will not find it

in your worldly abode at the return.

وإن خَبت ناره عشاءً

فسوّ من مات في المهاد

And if its fire dies down at nightfall,

then set on equal footing one who died in the cradle.

أوضحتُ سرّاً إن كنتُ حرّاً

كنتُ به واري الزناد

I have made a secret plain; if I were free,

through it I would strike sparks from the flint.

من علم الحقَّ علمَ ذَوقٍ

لم يُقرن الغيّ بالرشاد

Whoever knows the Real with knowledge born of tasting

does not couple error with right guidance.

فمن أتاه الحبيبُ كشفاً

لم يدر ما لذة الرقاد

So whoever is visited by the Beloved in unveiling

does not know what delight sleep holds,

مثل رسول الإله إذ لم

يسكن له النومُ في فؤاد

like God's Messenger, since never

did sleep settle in his heart.

لو بلغَ الزرعُ منتهاه

اشتغل القومُ بالحصاد

Had the crop reached its full growth,

the people would have busied themselves with the harvest.

أو نازلَ الحصنَ قومُ حربٍ

لبادر الناسُ للجِهادِ

Or had warriors laid siege to the fortress,

the people would have hastened to battle.

ناشدتك الله يا خليلي

هل فُرش الخزِّ كالقتاد

I adjure you by God, my dear friend:

is silken bedding like thornbushes?

لا والذي أمرنا إليه

ما عنده الخير كالفساد

No, by Him to whom our affair belongs:

in His sight, goodness is not like corruption.