And you were the very embodiment of god-fearing devotion to the faith, in both essence and outward form—ever eloquent, and in your view the finest speech is that which is spoken in earnest. (1)
You set off and left the hearts wounded, melting away, while the army of patience has seen its ranks dwindle.
Upon you be Allah’s peace in life and in death, for as long as any star rises and its auspicious light appears.
It is finished, and its total comes to fifty verses. (2)
He also—may Allah, by His grace, pardon them both—said: (3)
Stop at the lifeless dwellings and recount their memories; let the frozen tears flow and be scattered.
Hold your mount at the former camps for a moment; ask about them, but do not overstep in your questioning.
Sever the bonds that are but a temptation, and follow the path of the rightly guided so you may be guided.
Bid farewell to your youth, abandon the vain hopes, forsake lowly worldly concerns, and stay the straight course.
(1) The base text reads “wajiz” (concise).
(2) K and T: “It numbers fifty-two,” F: “It numbers fifty.” I note that the poem actually contains fifty-two lines; the lower count in the other copies is probably due to overlooking the fractional remainder.
(3) F, K, and T add: “I found, in the handwriting of Shaykh Saʿid al-Dahli, the statement: Our shaykh—the eminent, learned, virtuous, consummate scholar, unrivalled in his time, peerless in his age, imam of the critical investigators and exemplar of the hadith scholars—Taqi al-Din Abu al-Thanaʾ Mahmud b. ʿAli b. Mahmud b. Muqbil b. Sulayman b. Dawud al-Daqouqi, the muhaddith (may God pardon him)—recited to us an elegy for the shaykh, imam, erudite scholar, vast ocean of knowledge, hujjat al-islam (proof of Islam) and model for humanity, Taqi al-milla wa-l-haqq wa-l-din, Ahmad b. Shaykh Imam Shihab al-Din ʿAbd al-Halim b. Shaykh Imam, scholar Majd al-Din ʿAbd al-Salam b. Taymiyya al-Harrani (may God sanctify his soul and illumine his grave), composed in the year 728 AH—although the shaykh, may God have mercy on him, had never met him.”