أعرض عن الخير ما استطعتا

فالخير يأتيك إن أطعتا

Turn away from good as much as you can.

For good comes to you if you obey.

لبَّاكَ ربُّ العبادِ لما

دعوتَ بالصدقِ لو سمعتا

The Lord of the servants answered your call when

you called sincerely, had you but heard.

وقال يا عبدُ كُن حفيظاً

لكلِّ ما أنت قد جمعتا

And He said, “O servant, be a guardian

of all that you have gathered.”

واصدع بأمر الإله تبصر

نتيجة الصدقِ إن صدعتا

And proclaim God's command openly; you will see

the result of sincerity if you proclaim it.

وانزع له رتبةَ المعالي

يحمد مسعاكَ إن نزعتا

And renounce for Him the rank of lofty heights;

He will praise your striving if you renounce it.

واكرع إذا ما وردتَ حوضا

فالريُّ مضمونٌ إن كرعتا

And drink directly whenever you reach a pool;

for your thirst is sure to be quenched if you drink.

لا تطمعن إن رأيتَ ربحاً

فالخسرُ يأتيك إن طمعتا

Do not covet if you see a profit;

for loss comes to you if you covet.

إن قلت في حكمة بأمر

مستحسنٍ أنت قد شرعتا

If, in wisdom, you speak of a matter

deemed good, which you yourself have instituted,

فلا تكن ذا هوى ورأي

ولا تقس جهد ما استطعتا

then do not be possessed of caprice and opinion,

and avoid reasoning by analogy as much as you can.

ولا تقلِّد ولا تعلل

إنْ أنت من أرسل ابتعتا

And do not imitate or rationalize,

if you have bought the one who was sent.

إن كنتَ عيسى وكنت تشفى

إليه من فوركم رفعتا

If you are Jesus and are healed,

you are raised to Him at once.

أو كنتَ عيسى وكنتَ تحيي

ميتَ أجداثِه وضعتا

Or if you are Jesus and bring to life

the dead of his graves, you are brought low.

أو كنتَ عيناً لكلِّ كونٍ

وفته رحمته برعتا

Or if you are the essence of every being,

His mercy has fulfilled it; you have excelled.

قد كنتَ للطبعِ في سفال

تحصد فيه الذي زرعتا

You had been, by nature, in lowliness,

reaping there what you had sown,

حتى إذا ما انتهيتَ فيه

رفعك الله فارتفعتا

until, when you reached your end there,

God raised you, and so you rose.

تحشر في عينِ كلِّ كونٍ

تنظر فيه الذي صنعتا

You are gathered in the essence of every being;

you see therein what you have done,

من كلِّ خيرٍ وكلِّ شرٍّ

علمت فيه لما جمعتا

of every good and every evil;

you learned there because of what you had gathered.

لله حبلٌ فِصله تصعد

فإنْ تكن حبلَه قطعتا

God has a rope; join yourself to it and you will ascend.

But if you have cut His rope,

شقيت فانظر بأي أرضٍ

يكون مثواكَ إن وقعتا

you become wretched; so look in what land

your abode will be if you fall.

إنَّ لك الخيرَ منه حتماً

إنْ أنتَ في حقه انتجعتا

Surely good from Him is yours without fail,

if you seek pasture in His truth.

أو كنت ذا فتنةٍ بولدٍ

أصبحت فيه وقد فجعتا

Or if you undergo a trial through a child,

you find yourself therein, bereaved.

أو ظمئت نفسكم نهاراً

بالصوم أو كنت فيه جعتا

Or if your soul grows thirsty by day,

through fasting, or you grow hungry during it,

أصبحتَ خيراً بكلِّ وجهٍ

وتُهتَ تيهاً به وضعتا

you become better in every respect,

and wander in bewilderment through it, and are lost.

ما كلُّ وقتٍ يكون فرداً

يخلع عنك الذي خلعتا

Not every moment is unique,

stripping from you what you have cast off;

أو يمنعُ الله عنكَ أمرا

قد كنتَ من قبله منعتا

or God withholds from you something

you had previously withheld.

ما الشان أن تشتري نفوسَ

بيعِ فضولٍ فما انتزعتا

The point is not to buy souls

in a sale of surplus; for you have not wrested

من ملكه ما شريت منه

حتى اشتراه وما ارتجعتا

from His possession what you bought from Him

until He bought it, and you did not reclaim it.

ضاقت سماءُ الإله عنه

وأنت ربُّ العلى وسعتا

God's heaven was too narrow to contain Him,

and you have encompassed the Lord of the heights,

من غير كيفٍ ولا احتيالٍ

لو لم ير ذاك ما اتسعتا

without any “how” or contrivance;

had He not seen that, you would not have expanded.

وسعتنا رحمةً وعلماً

إذ لك يا ربنا اصطنعتا

You have encompassed us in mercy and knowledge,

since You fashioned us for Yourself, O our Lord.

يستفهمُ اللهُ كلَّ عبدٍ

في علمه منه هل شبعتا

God questions every servant

about his knowledge from Him: “Have you had your fill?”

فقل له ربِّ إنَّ جوعي

ما ينقضي للذي شرعتا

Then say to Him, “My Lord, my hunger

does not end for what You have prescribed.”

من كنت فيه أة كنت منه

أو كنته عنك ما رجعتا

Whoever you were within—[unclear word]—you were from him,

or you were him; you have not turned away from yourself.

فلا تقل للذي أتاني

من عندكم رحمة قنعتا

So do not say of what came to me

from you as mercy that you are content.

إن غبت في الغرب عنه شمسا

عليه من شرقه طلعتا

If you vanish from him in the west as a sun,

you rise upon him from his east.

إن أنتَ جاهدت لا تبالي

بأيّ جنبٍ فيه صرعتا

If you strive, do not care

on which side you are felled therein.

قد كنتَ عبداً فصرتَ ملكا

لذاك والله ما انتفعتا

You were a servant, then became a king;

from that, by God, you gained no benefit.

إن كان هو أنت لا تكنه

واحذر من القرع إنْ قرعتا

If He is you, do not be Him,

and beware the knocking if you knock.

فإن دعاك الرسولُ يوماً

فافزع إليه إذا فزعتا

If the Messenger calls you one day,

then seek refuge with him when you are afraid.

وحاذر الأمر من قريبٍ

تسعد فيه إذا جزعتا

And beware the matter close at hand;

you will be blessed in it when you are distressed.

يعلونك النهر في الخدار

لو جزعة منه قد جرعتا

The river will surely rise over you in the darkness,

if you have swallowed a draught of it.

وإن دعا للوصَال يوماً

فأنتَ والله ما انقطتا

And if He calls one day to union,

then, by God, you have not been cut off [reading uncertain].

المكر من شيمةِ الموالي

لا تنخدع فيه إن خدعتا

Guile is a trait of masters;

do not be taken in by it if you are deceived.

تقبض عند الرحيل حتما

على الذي فيه قد طبعتا

You are taken at departure, inevitably,

in the state in which you have been stamped.

من أعجبِ الأمرِ أنَّ قولا

تجابُ فيه وما سمعتا

Among the strangest things is a saying

in which you are answered, though you have not heard it.

لأنه لم يكن كلامٌ

عنك ولا عنهم انقطعتا

For it was not speech

from you; nor were you cut off from them.

انظر إلى قوله تعالى

في أهل كهفِ لو اطلعتا

Look at His saying—exalted is He—

concerning the people of the cave: if you had looked,

ملئت رعباً فازددت بُعداً

ومع هذا فما اندفعتا

you would have been filled with terror and grown more distant.

Yet despite this, you did not rush away.

يا أشجعَ الناسِ في نزالٍ

أنتَ بتثبيته شجعتا

O bravest of people in combat,

you became brave through His strengthening.

قد جعلَ الله يا حبيبي

بيدكَ الخير إنْ قنعتا

God has indeed placed, O my beloved,

good in your hand, if you are content.