هل ذا اغتياب عن هوى

هل ذا اغتياب عن هوى

حرمه من قد روى

حرمه من قد روى

Is this backbiting prompted by desire,

Is this distancing from desire

which the narrator has forbidden,

Forbidden to one who has quenched his thirst

أم جائز لمن نوى

أم جائز لمن نوى

اظهار حال الآدمي

اظهار حال الآدمي

or permissible for one who intends

Or permissible for one intending

to reveal a person's condition,

To show the state of mankind

أخذا بقول المصطفى

أخذا بقول المصطفى

وفاسقا قد اخلفا

وفاسقا قد اخلفا

following the words of al-Mustafa?

Adhering to the word of the Chosen One

And a sinner who has broken his word—

While the corrupt went against it

اذكر ودع أخا الوفا

اذكر ودع أخا الوفا

زنا وشرك العالم

زنا وشرك العالم

mention him, and leave the faithful brother alone.

Remember and bid farewell, O brother of loyalty

Fornication and the scholar's polytheism.

The idolatry and polytheism of the world