The Qasida in Praise of the Prophet

The Qasida in Praise of the Prophet

When unbelief is firmly proven, it is the badge of being a Muslim:
the Shaikh could not break the sacred thread of his onyx rosary. [TN: the Sulaimani rosary, of onyx; the rosary itself is his zunnar.]

First acquire skill, and only then give up your clothes;
otherwise, like a sword without temper, nakedness is a disgrace.

Gathering gold becomes a cause of the heart's grief:
the bud gains nothing from hoarding but being scattered. [TN: the source reads hiz, evidently a slip for juz, "but".]

How should noble natures flatter the rich?
The sleeve of the Milky Way does not dust the brows of kings.

To the high hand of generosity, more and less have no value:
the sun's scattering of gold upon the world is always even.

The hardship of the times wastes the worth of men:
when a sword is rusted, it is less easily known.

Live alone in the world if you wish to live long:
it is by the grace of solitude that Khizr's life grew long.

Pain in union is double that of separation for the lover:
the garden bird laments most in the season of roses.

Count men of skill honoured in their nakedness,
for to a sword with temper, nakedness is honour.

Like a mountain, stay silent on hearing an unworthy word,
so that the slanderer draws remorse from the voice of the unseen. [TN: the mountain's echo throws the insult back.]

Nothing but the wind gives fire its increase;
as long as there is breath, how can the heart's scar have respite from water? [TN: obscure; translated literally.]

This is as clear as a candle from the bond of wind and fire:
if a friend does not agree with you, he is a mortal enemy.

The age adorns tyrants with dark days:
the ornament of the beloved's Turkish eye is collyrium of Isfahan. [TN: the source reads safa-ha'i, evidently a slip for Safahani, "of Isfahan".]

May the rising sun be trampled by wonder in the sky
if I write in this ground a second opening for a ghazal. [TN: "ground" (zamin) is the metre and rhyme of a poem.]

Second Opening

Strange fools are they who are proud of a king's crown:
in a moment the sky gives the Huma's wing the task of whisking flies.

Who knows what all it has seen mingled in the dust,
that wonder never left the footprint's eye until it passed into non-being?

If our sigh does not soften your heart, then this is fate;
otherwise, look at the mirror: stones have turned to water.

I cannot speak of the disgrace your locks have brought me,
for their disorder is my peace of mind.

In this age a knotted affair does not come undone; I wonder
how the breeze unties the knots of buds with such ease.

At the hands of madness I am so wasted from head to foot
that my limbs serve as eyelashes for the eyes of the chain.

The grief of earning bread left no custom of friendship in the world;
only the bond of forehead and knee now remains.

In black fortune, Sauda, long speech is not needed:
such mastery of tongue will have your head cut off, like a pen's.

Understand, you who are slow to see the harm: how long will this be your theme,
the grace of the frowning brow and the charm of long locks?

There is no gain at all from them but remorse. [TN: this line stands alone in the source; its partner seems lost.]

What is gained by fixing your eye on his eyes and locks,
except that you fall sick with weakness or suffer distraction?

Drive this unbelief from your heart, for the time has come
when the idol urges the Brahmin to become a Muslim.

Hail the faith of Muhammad! Those who follow it,
by the dust of their feet the eye of the Throne stays bright. [TN: the source reads Muhaddam, evidently a slip for Muhammad.]

The angels would not have bowed to Adam made of dust
had his forehead not held in trust the light of Ahmad.

It was for him that God created Adam and Eve,
as meaning is the purpose of words, even in the verses of the Quran.

If the thought of his kindness became intercessor for unbelievers,
Jews and Christians would owe their forgiveness to it.

Wherever the word of intercession passes over his tongue,
there every sinner and adulterer takes pride in pardon.

Since he came and set foot upon the seat of the Law,
the wave of the sea of justice has been rising in flood.

If a spark ever meant the least harm to a straw,
water would come at once and drown the sphere of fire. [TN: the line is garbled in the source; this is the likely sense.]

Had his justice not reconciled water and fire,
how would the pomegranate-coloured ruby ever take shape in stone?

What justice is this, O Lord, that even the birds and beasts of the world
pass their days in such peace and pleasure!

The pigeon's chick is reared in the hawk's nest;
the shepherd has given the wolf the guarding of the flock.

The locust flies like the Huma to the height of good fortune;
the ant climbs on the wild beast's breast and plays Solomon.

Buds open in the garden to please the nightingale,
so that now the leaves of composure are scattered.

Since the world is now so filled with justice,
what more abundance of justice can there be beyond it?

A thousand regrets, O heart, that we were not in the world at that time;
else these eyes would have been made bright by his beauty.

That his shadow did not part from his stature makes it plain
that this Beloved of the Glorious will be enchanting at the Resurrection. [TN: by tradition the Prophet cast no shadow; qamat, "stature", echoes qiyamat, "Resurrection".]

One to whom God has granted such form and character,
it would be right now to call a second Joseph.

God forbid! What untimely word escaped me!
If I say it of him again, may I be cast out of Islam.

Where did my poor understanding lead me? I did not see
that he is the sun of divinity, and this the moon of Canaan.

His form, without doubt, is the form of God;
the meanings in him are without doubt divine meanings.

The hadith "man ra'ani" bears on this speech:
whoever saw him saw the form of God. [TN: Arabic man ra'ani fa-qad ra'a al-haqq, "whoever has seen me has seen the Truth".]

In short, it would have been hard for us, since He created such a one,
had God not declared, "There is no second to Me."

Go no further, Sauda; I have seen your understanding:
ask forgiveness now: with this mouth, to sing the praise of such a one!