يا جامعا بين شمل العلم والعمل — Ibrahim Kaftan

يا جامعاً بين شمل العلم والعمل

عادت عليه بنا الأيام في جذل

O you who unite knowledge and practice,

The days have brought us back to him in joy.

واستعذب الدهر ورداً من علاك به

فصار عيداً عليه نشوة الثمل

And time found sweet, through him, a draught of your eminence;

It became a festival for him, with a drunkard's rapture.

وماس عصرك تيهاً أن زينته

مناقب لك في جيد الزمان حلي

And your age swayed proudly, for it was adorned

By your virtues, jewels about the neck of time.

بك الزمان ربيع في شقائقه

حسناً فما أنت إلا الشمس في الحمل

Through you, time is spring amid its anemones,

In beauty; you are none other than the sun in Aries.

أحلك المجد دون الناس مقلته

وأنت في عينه الإنسان في المقل

Glory lodged you, apart from all others, in its eye;

And to its eye you are what the pupil is to the eyes.

تؤمك الناس في قصدي هدى وندى

ولا ترى منك كلا وحشة الملل

People seek you for two aims: guidance and bounty;

And meet no refusal from you, no weary estrangement.

فتنثني عن حياض منك مترعةً

بالقصد ما بين ورد العل والنهل

So they return from your brimming pools,

Their purpose fulfilled between a second draught and a first.

لبست من كل علم ثوب بهجته

غضاً وغيرك منه مصة الوشل

You donned from every science the robe of its splendor,

Fresh and lush; others have but a sip of its trickle.

ما نهنهتك بحار عن لئالئها

غوصاً تصرف منه حامل الرمل

No seas held you back from their pearls,

In a dive from which you drive away the bearer of sand.

ولا تجردن للتجريد في نظر

إلا أصبت برأي منك معتدل

Nor do you ever devote your thought to abstraction

Without attaining a balanced judgment of your own.

ولا شرحت من التشريح أشكله

إلا وأوضحت منه غامض الجمل

Nor have you explained anatomy's hardest point

Without also clarifying its obscure statements.

ولا أمد لك الرحمن نعمته

إلا مددت إليك كف مبتهل

Nor has the Merciful extended His blessing to you

Without my stretching a supplicant's hand toward you.

وخاطبتك العقول العشر مصدرها

وسالمتك بجاش منك منذهل

And the ten intellects addressed you as their source,

And made peace with you, their spirit bewildered by you.

وزادك اللَه من ألطافه نعماً

في دولة غيرت في أوجه الدول

And God increased your blessings from His kindness

In a reign that changed the faces of dynasties.

في دولة حكم داود لها رصد

يصونها عن هوى الأوغاد والسفل

In a realm watched over by Dawud's rule,

Protecting it from the whims of rogues and the base.

حتى أفاض عليها من غلائله

عزاً وزر عليها حلية الحلل

Until he poured upon it, from his own robes,

Glory, and buttoned upon it the finery of garments.

إن الخلافة فيه افتر مبسمها

عن بهجة بسرور فيه متصل

Indeed, in him the caliphate's mouth parted in a smile

Revealing splendor, with joy unbroken in him.

هوته بكر العلى حتى تبعلها

والناس عن طلب العلياء في شغل

The virgin of eminence loved him until he took her to wife,

While others were too occupied to seek lofty glory.

إذا استغاث به العافي يروضه

بواكف من كلا كفيه منهمل

When a seeker of bounty calls for his help, he wins him over

With a pouring rain from both his palms.

فأصبح الدهر يسعى طوع راحته

كالنصر مسعى غلام مشفق عجل

So time came to run obedient to his palm,

Like victory, as a solicitous, hurrying servant runs.

ورب منتحل أمراً يعاكسه

واللَه مبطل دعوى كل منتحل

And many a pretender to authority opposed him,

While God nullifies the claim of every pretender.

نهاه بالصفح فامتد الغرور به

إلا ببيض صفاح أو قنا ذبل

He admonished him with pardon, but his conceit grew,

Checked only by bright, broad blades or slender spears.

فصال والنصر حاديه وقائده

على جنود تمد الحرب بالحيل

So he charged, with victory as his driver and commander,

Against troops that sustained the war with stratagems.

في فيلق أسفرت عنه بوارقه

بعثير كظلام الليل منسدل

In a legion whose lightning flashes shone forth,

Amid dust hanging like the darkness of night.

أطل فارتعدت منه فرائصها

رعباً أعارته قلب الخائف الوجل

He loomed, and their flanks quivered before him,

In terror, lending him the heart of one fearful and trembling.

أخنى عليها فلم تألف مساكنها

إلا ندى الطل أو إلا صدى الطلل

He laid them waste; their dwellings knew no company

But dew's moisture or the echo of ruins.

وفل منها جموعاً وهي شامخةً

بلهذم ألحق الأشلاء بالشلل

And he routed hosts of them, though they stood proud,

With a keen blade that consigned their limbs to paralysis.

تهافتت في شعاع السيف فاحترقت

مثل الفراش مناياها على الشعل

They rushed into the sword's radiance and burned,

Like moths whose deaths lie upon the flames.

وكلما شب نار الحرب موقدها

سعى لها غير رعديد ولا فشل

And whenever its kindler set the fire of war ablaze,

He hastened to it, neither trembling nor fainthearted.

لو مواضٍ وزرق قط ما وجدت

إلا دم القلب يرويها عن الغلل

Were there keen blades and blue spearheads, they would never find

Anything but heart's blood to slake their thirst.

فعش بظل نعيم من صداقته

فيض يدوم وظل غير منتقل

So live beneath the shade of bliss his friendship brings:

Enduring bounty and a shade that never shifts.

بم اعتذار أناسٍ عن غوايتها

ومنهج الحق للمسترشدين جلي

How can a people excuse their waywardness,

When truth's path is clear to those seeking guidance?

ظلت أدلتها من ذا تقدمه

والحق ما دار إلا حيث دار علي

Their proofs remain—who is it they put before him?

For truth has turned only where Ali has turned.

ومن يضاهي علياً حيث ما التبست

بهماء حكم ولج الخصم في الجدل

And who can rival Ali when there grows tangled

A dark question of judgment, and the opponent persists in debate,

وثورت فتن الأيام عثيره

وزلزل الأرض وقع الحادث الجلل

And the tribulations of the days stir up his dust,

And the blow of a momentous event shakes the earth?

خطيب قومٍ إذا أصغى الندي غدت

له شقاشق فيها رعدة الزجل

The people's orator: when the assembly listens, there rise

His impassioned outbursts, trembling with resounding clamor.

تفجرت فيه عين الصمت عن حكمٍ

وفي الأنام أفيضت وصمة الخطل

In him, the spring of silence burst forth with wisdom,

While among mankind the stain of foolish speech was poured abroad.

وموهم أنه مستودع حكماً

وأنه لا مور المسلمين ولي

And one who pretends that judgment has been entrusted to him,

And that he is guardian of the Muslims' affairs,

وباذل لفضاء الحكم خاتمه

جهلاً وفي نشر سر الكائنات ملي

And offers his signet to the realm of judgment,

In ignorance, while claiming skill in unveiling creation's secrets—

رام التحلي بها جهلاً بفطرته

وهل تسوغ لانثنى حلية الرجل

He sought to adorn himself with it, ignorant of his nature;

But does a man's adornment befit a woman?

واستطعم النحل مما تجتني فجنى

لسعاً وغدذتك منها شهدة العسل

He sought from the bees a taste of what you gather, but harvested

Stings, while they nourished you with a comb of honey.

ليت الأكف التي أومت أناملها

إلى سواك رماها اللَه بالشلل

Would that the hands whose fingers pointed

Toward someone other than you were struck by God with paralysis.

بلغتهم أملاً في كل ما اقترحوا

وإن غيرك مما يأملون خلي

You brought them to their hope in all they requested,

While anyone else is devoid of what they hope for.

واستعطفوك لصفح عن جنايتهم

حتى صفحت وهذا غاية الأمل

And they begged your kindness for pardon of their offense,

Until you pardoned them—and this was the utmost hope.

وما كفى الصفح حتى زدتهم كرماً

من فيض كفك فيض العارض الهطل

Pardon was not enough; you added generosity,

From your palm's bounty, the downpour of a pouring raincloud.

لا تحسبن خضاباً في عوارضها

لكنه أثر من حمرة الخجل

Do not take what is on their cheeks for dye;

It is only a trace of the redness of shame.

وقد يكون دوام الصفح مفسدةً

فامزج فديتك صفو الجد بالهزل

Yet unceasing pardon may cause corruption;

So mix the purity of earnestness with jest—may I be your ransom.

وعالجن نفاقاً في ضمائرها

بلفتة منك تبري كامن العلل

And treat the hypocrisy within their hearts

With a glance from you that cures their hidden ailments.

واجدع بعضبك آنافاً شمخن على

عداك من جهل مفتون بها خطل

And with your keen sword lop off those proudly lifted noses—

Your enemies', through the ignorance of a fool infatuated with them.