قُلْ لِلَّذِي جَدَّ بِالأَظْعَانِ يَا حَادِي

قُلْ لِلَّذِي جَدَّ بِالأَظْعَانِ يَا حَادِيسُقْهَا رُوَيْداً لِيَلْقَى الحَاضِرُ البَادِي

Qul lilladhī jadda bi-al-ʾaẓʿāni yā ḥādī, Suqhā ruwaydan liyalqā al-ḥāḍiru al-bādī

Say to the one who hastens the howdahs on: O camel-driver, drive them gently, that the settled may meet the nomad,

وَتُنْعِشَ الهَائِمَ الوَلْهَانَ رُؤْيَةُ مَنْيَؤُمُّ قَوْماً أَقَامُوا جَانِبَ الوَادِي

Watunʿisha al-hāʾima al-walhāna ruʾyatu man, Yaʾummu qawman aqāmū jāniba al-wādī

And that the sight of one heading for a people who dwell beside the valley may revive the distraught, lovesick one.

إِنْ قَيَّدَ الحَظُّ أَقْدَامِي وَأَوْقَفَنِيفَكُنْ رَسُولِي إِلَيْهِمْ أَيُّهَا الغَادِي

In qayyada al-ḥaẓẓu aqdāmī waʾawqafanī, Fakun rasūlī ilayhim ayyuhā al-ghādī

If fortune has bound my feet and held me back, then be my messenger to them, O traveller of the morning.

سَلِّمْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَخَبِّرْهُمْ بِمَا لَقِيَتْرُوحِي وَجِسْمِي وَقَلْبِي الوَالِهُ الصَّادِي

Sallim ʿalayhim wakhabbirhum bimā laqiyat, Rūḥī wajismī waqalbī al-wālihu aṣ-ṣādī

Greet them and tell them what my spirit, my body and my distraught, thirsting heart have suffered.

وَقُلْ لَهُمْ مَا نَأَى عَنْكُمْ وَفِي يَدِهِمَا لَا غِنَى عَنْهُ مِنْ ظَهْرٍ وَمِنْ زَادِ

Waqul lahum mā naʾā ʿankum wafī yadihi, Mā lā ghinā ʿanhu min ẓahrin wamin zādi

And tell them he has not stayed away from you while having in hand what he cannot do without, a mount and provisions.

ظَنَّ الخَلِيُّ بِأَنَّ البُعْدَ يُؤْنِسُنِيفَكَيْفَ يُؤْنِسُنِي طَرْدِي وَإِبْعَادِي

Ẓanna al-khaliyyu biʾanna al-buʿda yuʾnisunī, Fakayfa yuʾnisunī ṭardī waʾibʿādī

The carefree one thought that distance would comfort me; how could my banishment and distance comfort me?

أَمْ كَيْفَ أَسْلُو عُرَيْباً صَارَ قُرْبُهُمُأَقْصَى مَرَامِي وَمَطْلُوبِي وَمُرْتَادِي

Am kayfa aslū ʿurayban ṣāra qurbuhumu, Aqṣā marāmī wamaṭlūbī wamurtādī

Or how could I forget a dear little band of Arabs whose nearness has become my highest aim, my quest and my pursuit?

أَمْ كَيْفَ أَنْسَى لَهُمْ عَهْداً وَقَدْ مَنَحُوامَحْضَ الوِدَادِ وَجَادُوا قَبْلَ إِيجَادِي

Am kayfa ansā lahum ʿahdan waqad manaḥū, Maḥḍa al-widādi wajādū qabla ījādī

Or how could I forget my pledge to them, when they granted pure love and were generous before I ever came to be?

وَأَتْحَفُونِي بِسِرٍّ لَوْ أَبُوحُ بِهِلَشَاعَ فِي النَّاسِ لُوَّامِي وَحُسَّادِي

Waʾatḥafūnī bisirrin law abūḥu bihi, Lashāʿa fī an-nāsi luwwāmī waḥussādī

They gifted me a secret which, were I to reveal it, my blamers and the envious would spread among people.

إِنِّي لَيُقْلِقُنِي هَذَا النَّسِيمُ مَتَىمَا هَبَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَغْوَارٍ وَأَنْجَادِ

Innī layuqliqunī hadhā an-nasīmu matā, Mā habba min ḥaythu aghwārin waʾanjādi

This breeze unsettles me whenever it blows from the direction of the lowlands and highlands.

وَمَا تَمَايَلَ غُصْنٌ فِي حَدِيقَتِهِإِلَّا تَذَكَّرْتُ أَوْقَاتِي وَأَعْيَادِي

Wamā tamāyala ghuṣnun fī ḥadīqatihi, Illā tadhakkartu awqātī waʾaʿyādī

And no branch sways in its garden but I remember my times and my festivals.

وَلَا تَغَنَّى بِذِكْرِ الغَانِيَاتِ شَجٍإِلَّا جَرَى الدَّمْعُ مِنْ عَيْنِي عَلَى النَّادِي

Walā taghannā bidhikri al-ghāniyāti shajin, Illā jarā ad-damʿu min ʿaynī ʿalā an-nādī

No grieving one sings of beauties but tears flow from my eye upon the gathering.

قَدْ طَالَ مُكْثِي بِدَارِ البُعْدِ مُنْتَظِراًإِذْنَ المَصِيرِ إِلَيْهِمْ طُولَ آمَادِي

Qad ṭāla mukthī bidāri al-buʿdi muntaẓiran, Idhna al-maṣīri ilayhim ṭūla ʾāmādī

My stay in the abode of distance has grown long, waiting for leave to go to them, through all my long years.

أُقَبِّلُ التُّرْبَ مِنْ أَرْضٍ بِهَا نَزَلُوايَوْمَ اجْتِمَاعِي بِهِمْ فِي حِينِ إِشْهَادِي

Uqabbilu at-turba min arḍin bihā nazalū, Yawma jtimāʿī bihim fī ḥīni ishhādī

I will kiss the soil of the land where they dwell on the day I meet them, at the time of my witnessing.

يَا هَلْ تَرَى تَجْمَعُ الأَيَّامُ فِي دَعَةٍبَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ أُحَيْبَابِي وَأَسْيَادِي

Yā hal tarā tajmaʿu al-ʾayyāmu fī daʿatin, Baynī wabayna uḥaybābī waʾasyādī

Oh, do you think the days will bring together, in peace, me and my dear beloveds and my masters,

وَأَرْتَوِي مِنْ شَرَابِ القَوْمِ فِي زُمَرٍمِنْ عَارِفِينَ وَأَقْطَابٍ وَأَوْتَادِ

Waʾartawī min sharābi al-qawmi fī zumarin, Min ʿārifīna waʾaqṭābin waʾawtādi

And that I will drink my fill of the folk's wine among the companies of gnostics, poles and pegs,

وَأُوقِدُ النُّورَ فِي مِصْبَاحِ وَاضِحَةٍنُورٌ عَلَى نُورٍ مِنْ فَتْحٍ وَأَوْرَادِ

Waʾūqidu an-nūra fī miṣbāḥi wāḍiḥatin, Nūrun ʿalā nūrin min fatḥin waʾawrādi

And kindle the light in the lamp of a clear path, light upon light, of opening and of litanies,

نُورُ السُّلُوكِ وَنُورُ الجَذْبِ قَدْ جُمِعَافَأَشْرَقَا بَيْنَ زُهَّادٍ وَعُبَّادِ

Nūru as-sulūki wanūru al-jadhbi qad jumiʿā, Faʾashraqā bayna zuhhādin waʿubbādi

The light of wayfaring and the light of divine attraction joined, shining among ascetics and worshippers?

هَا قَدْ عَلِمْتُ وَلَا شَكٌّ يُخَالِطُنِيأَنَّ الطَّرِيقَةَ فِي خَرْقِي لِمُعْتَادِ

Hā qad ʿalimtu walā shakkun yukhāliṭunī, Anna aṭ-ṭarīqata fī kharqī limuʿtādi

Now I know, with no doubt mixed in, that the Path lies in my breaking with habit,

وَتَرْكِ مَأْلُوفِ نَفْسٍ زَانَهُ خُلُقٌأَنْجُو بِهِ بَيْنَ أَشْكَالِي وَأَضْدَادِي

Watarki maʾlūfi nafsin zānahu khuluqun, Anjū bihi bayna ashkālī waʾaḍdādī

And in leaving the familiar ways of the self, adorned with a character through which I am saved among my likes and my opposites.

وَقَدْ تَحَقَّقْتُ أَنَّ الخَيْرَ أَجْمَعَهُضِمْنَ اتِّبَاعِي لِجَدِّي المُصْطَفَى الهَادِي

Waqad taḥaqqaqtu anna al-khayra ajmaʿahu, Ḍimna ttibāʿī lijaddī al-muṣṭafā al-hādī

I have realised that all good lies in following my grandfather, the Chosen One, the guide.

عَلَيْهِ أَزْكَى صَلَاةِ اللهِ يَتْبَعُهَامِنْهُ السَّلَامُ بِآزَالٍ وَآبَادِ

ʿalayhi azkā ṣalāti Allāhi yatbaʿuhā, Minhu as-salāmu biʾāzālin waʾābādi

Upon him be the purest blessings of Allah, followed by His peace, from pre-eternity to eternity.