Love and Devotion to God

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الْمعرفَة بِسَاط لَا يطَأ عَلَيْهِ إِلَّا مقرب

Knowledge is a carpet stepped on only by those close to it.

وَالمَحَبَّةُ نَشِيدٌ لَا يُطْرِبُ عَلَيْهِ إِلَّا مُحِبٌّ مُغْرَمٌ

Love is a hymn enjoyed only by an infatuated lover.

الْحُبُّ غَدِيرٌ فِي صَحْرَاءَ لَيْسَتْ عَلَيْهِ جَادَّةٌ

Love is a spring in the desert without a path leading to it.

فَلِهَذَا قَلَّ وَارِدُهُ الْمُحِبُّ يَهْرُبُ إِلَى الْعُزْلَةِ وَالْخَلْوَةِ بِمَحْبُوبِهِ

For this reason, few come to it. The lover flees to solitude and seclusion with his beloved.

وَالْأُنْسُ بِذِكْرِهِ كَهَرَبِ الْحُوتِ إِلَى الْمَاءِ وَالطِّفْلِ إِلَى أُمِّهِ

And finding solace in His remembrance is like the fish's need for water and the child's need for its mother.

وَأخرج من بَين الْبيُوت لعلني أحدث عَنْك الْقلب بالسر خَالِيا

I leave the houses, hoping to speak of you with a heart empty of everything else.

لَيْسَ لِلْعَابِدِ مُسْتَرَاحٌ إِلَّا تَحْتَ شَجَرَةِ طُوبَى

For the worshipper, there is no resting place except under the Tree of Tuba.

وَلَا لِلْمُحِبِّ قَرَارٌ إِلَّا يَوْمُ الْمَزِيدِ

And for the lover, there is no settlement except on the Day of More.

اشْتَغِلْ بِهِ فِي الْحَيَاةِ يَكْفِكَ مَا بَعْدَ الْمَوْتِ

Engage with Him in life, and He will take care of what comes after death.

يَا مُنفِقًا بِضَاعَةَ الْعُمْرِ فِي مُخَالَفَةِ حَبِيبِهِ

O you who spend the capital of your life in disobeying your Beloved!

وَالْبُعْدُ مِنْهُ لَيْسَ فِي أَعْدَائِكَ أَضَرُّ عَلَيْكَ مِنْكَ

And being far from Him — among your enemies, none is more harmful to you than yourself.

مَا تبلغ الْأَعْدَاء من جَاهِل من يبلغ الْجَاهِل من نَفسه

What enemies achieve against an ignorant person is not as much as what the ignorant person achieves against himself.