He stood alone in his learning, a peerless wonder;
Others could not reach— even in their dreams—what he attained.
A scholar in his age who, by the breadth of his knowledge,
Outshone all the illustrious Imams renowned for their learning.
Everyone in Damascus mourned him, weeping bitterly,
So intense was the pain that wrung their hearts.
People in West and East were bereaved of him,
And, through grief, they became like orphans (1).
Had any ransom availed, they would have offered their own souls
To spare him the stroke of death and destruction (2).
Unique was he; by his loss all creation was stricken,
So all mankind exchanged condolences over him (3).
How hard it was for them to see him—despite themselves—
Disappear into the dust and earth.
No day like the one when his bier was borne
Toward the Abode of Peace has ever been witnessed (4).
They carried him upon their necks to the grave,
Nearly perishing themselves in the press of the throng.
He has become the neighbor of God, the Lord of the heavens—
The Most Merciful, the Protector, the All-Knowing (5).
(1) F, K, and T read: “fi l-huzn” (in sorrow).
(2) In the margin of the base manuscript there is a variant reading:
law yufidu al-fidaʾ bi-l-ruh kunna / qad fadaynāhu min hujūm al-ḥimām
“If ransom by one’s very soul could avail, we would indeed have ransomed him from the onslaught of death.”
This couplet appears at the end of the poem in F and K.
(3) In F and K the first hemistich reads: “kullu man fi l-wujūd fīhi muṣābun” (everyone in existence is afflicted by him). K also adds: “fa-yughrā bihī” (so people are provoked against him).
(4) The base manuscript has “mithlahu” (its like), whereas F and K read: “mā yurā ʿinda” (what is found with). The reading adopted here is probably the correct one.
(5) After this line, F and K insert the following additional verses:
kāna waqt al-ḥurūbi bi-l-ṭaʿni wa-l-ḍarbi / sarīʿa l-qudūmi wa-l-iqdām
He was, in time of war—thrusting and striking—swift to advance and charge.
lā yahābu l-h awla l-ʿaẓīma yaqūlu / l-ḥaqqa fī naqḍihi wa-l-ibrām
He dreaded no mighty terror; he spoke the truth both when undoing and when confirming affairs.
tābiʿun sunnata r-rasūli ʿalayhi / min ilāhi s-samāʾi azkā salām
He followed the sunnah of the Messenger—upon him the purest greeting from the Lord of heaven.
qāʾimun fī naṣri sh-sharīʿati bi-l-ʿilmi / wa-bi-l-faḍli minhu kulla qiyām
He stood in support of the sharia through knowledge, and by his merit rose to every stance.
kam bi-nūri l-ʿilmi akhraja qawman / min ḍalālin wa-min ʿaẓīmi ẓalām
How many a people he led, by the light of knowledge, out of error and deep darkness!
nāla mā nāla min sharīfi maqāl / bi-ʿulūmin shattā wa-ʿuẓmi maqām
He attained what he attained of noble discourse by diverse sciences and an exalted station.
aṭbaqa l-arḍa bi-l-fatāwā l-lawātī / hiya munqidhātu l-warā mina l-āthām
He permeated the earth with fatwas that rescue humankind from sins.
ḥasadūhu idh mā lahu min naẓīrin / min banī dahrihi l-kibāri l-kirām
They envied him, for among the great and noble of his age he had no peer.
khaṣṣahu bi-l-kamāli min kulli ʿilmin / rabbunā dhū l-jalāli wa-l-ikrām
Our Lord, Possessor of majesty and generosity, endowed him with perfection in every branch of knowledge.
law yufaddā bi-l-rūḥi kunnā jamīʿan / qad fadaynāhu min hujūmi l-ḥimām
If one could be ransomed with the soul, we all would have ransomed him from the assault of death.
wa-raḍiya ʿanhu rabbunā wa-tarraḍḍā / hu, wa-mallāhu bi-l-naʿīmi n-nāmī
May our Lord be pleased with him and grant him His pleasure, and fill him with ever-growing bliss.