القى الهوى في القلب ما ألقى

فلا تسل عن كنُه ما ألقى

Passion cast into the heart what it cast;

so do not ask about the essence of what it cast.

لقيتُ منه الجهد في لذة

لأنني عبدٌ له حقا

I encountered hardship from it amid delight,

for I am truly its slave.

أضلنا الله على علمنا

به فما أعذبَ ما نلقى

God led us astray despite our knowledge

of Him—how sweet is what we encounter!

تعبَّدَ القلبُ هواه فما

ينفكُّ قلبي للهوى رقا

The heart worshipped its passion, so never

does my heart cease to be passion's slave.

رقيتُ للحبِّ إلى راحة

ملذوذة غيري بها يشقى

Through love I ascended to repose,

delightful, though others suffer through it.

لما درى بأنني عبدُه

قضى بضربي الغرب والشرقا

When it knew that I was its slave,

it decreed that I should traverse the west and east.

قد دبَّت فيما حاز من رِقّة

ومن جمالٍ والهوى عِشقا

It has crept through what it possessed of tenderness,

and of beauty and passion, in ardent love.

والله لو أنَّ الذي عندنا

منه بأقوى جبلٍ شقا

By God, if what we have

of it were in the mightiest mountain, it would split it.

قد رقَّ لي الشامت مما يرى

وحسبكم من شامِتٍ رقا

The gloater has pitied me at what he sees,

and a gloater's pity should suffice you.

ما إن رأينا في الهوى عاذلا

إلا ولا بُدَّ له يلقى

We have never seen a reproacher in passion

who does not inevitably encounter

مثلَ الذي يلقاه ذو لوعةٍ

وهو الذي سُمِّي بالأشقى

the like of what one in burning anguish encounters,

and he is the one called 'the most wretched.'

كما الذي قد اتقى نفسه

وربُّه سماه بالأتقى

Like the one who guarded against his own self,

whom his Lord named 'the most God-fearing.'

فاشربه مرَّا ولذيذاً فما

بكاسٍ غير الحبِّ ما تسقى

So drink it bitter and delightful, for

what you are given to drink comes in no cup but love.

ألا ترى موسى وما موله

أعطاه ما أمل والصّعقا

Do you not see Moses, and what his Master

gave him: what he hoped for, and swooning?

فكان موسى صادقاً في الذي

قد جاء يبغيه به صِدقا

Thus Moses was sincere in what

he had come to seek, truly sincere in it.

فعندما رُدَّ إلى حسه

تابَ ووفى العهدَ واستبقى

Then, when he was restored to his senses,

he repented, fulfilled the covenant, and preserved it.

وكلما كانَ له بعد ذا

مما رأى من ربه وفقا

And all that was his after that,

in accord with what he saw from his Lord,

أثمر فيه ذاك من ربه

في ليلة الإسرا بنا رفقا

that from his Lord bore fruit within him

as kindness toward us on the Night Journey.

وعاين الروحَ وقد جاءه

إذ سدَّ بالأجنحة الأفقا

And he beheld the Spirit, who had come to him,

as he covered the horizon with wings,

يخبره أن السماءَ التي

ترى وأرضا كانتا رتقا

telling him that the sky which

you see, and earth, were joined together.

فحكمُ الفصلِ بها والقضا

فصيراها حكمة فتقا

So the ruling of separation concerning it, and the decree,

made it, in wisdom, cleft apart.

لا يشربُ الخالص عبد هنا

من كلِّ ما يشرب إذ يُسقى

No servant here drinks an unmixed draught

among all that he drinks when given drink.

من كان أمشاجاً من أخلاطه

فكيف لا يشربه ريقا

One who is a mixture of his humors—

so how could he not drink it as saliva?

مَن يبتغي العصمةَ في حالة

دائمة يستلزم الصدقا

Whoever seeks protection from error in a state

that endures must be truthful.

والصدقُ لا شكَّ على ما ترى

أنزله الله لنا رِزقا

And truthfulness—without doubt, as you see—

God sent it down to us as sustenance.

فيأخذ العبد على قدره

منه كمثل الرزق لا فرقا

So the servant takes, according to his measure,

from it, as with sustenance, with no difference.

ما أن رأينا في الهوى حاكما

أبقى ولا أتقى ولا أنقى

We have never seen a judge in passion

more enduring, more God-fearing, or purer

مثل الذي يعرف مقداره

فإنه قد حازه سَبْقا

than one who knows his own measure,

for he has already won it by being first.

العلمُ يستعمل أصحابه

لا بد منه فالزمِ الحقا

Knowledge employs its possessors;

there is no escaping it, so hold fast to the truth.

فإنّ قوماً لم يقولوا بذا

لجهلهم بالعلمِ أو فسقا

For some people have not professed this,

because of their ignorance of knowledge, or out of impiety.