Let not your tongue mention the shame of another
For you yourself are covered in shame and all men have tongues.
If your eye falls upon the sins of your brother
Shield them and say: "O my eye! All men have eyes!"
من ذا الذي قد نال راحة سره * في عسره إن كان أو في يسره
فأخو التجارة خـائف مترقب * مما يلاقي من خسارة أمره
وأخو الوزارة حـائر متفـكر * مما يقاسي من نوائب دهره
وكذلك السلطـان في أحكامه * رهن الهموم على جلالة قدره
ولقد حسدت الطير في أوكاره * فوجدت أكثر ما يصاد بوكره
تالله لو عـاش الفتى من دهره * ألفا من الأعوام مالك أمره
متلـذذا فيهـا بكل مليـحة * متنعما فيها بنعمى عصره
لا يعتريـه السقـم فيها مرة * أبدا ولا تطرا الهموم بفكره
وصفت له الأيـام حتى إنـه * لا تنطق الأصوات عند مقره
ما كان ذلك كلـه ممـا يفي * بمبيت أول ليلة في قبره
Who has found true peace of mind
In better, or perhaps in worse?
The businessman is worn with fear
Of loss in his commerce
The statesman lives in fretful dread
Of times and tides adverse
The potentate, for all his power
In thrall to angst and fears
For after every glad report
Comes news that rocks his piers
I’d envy the birds, but the nest, I found
Is oft where the kill occurs
By Allah, if a man had to live, in control
Of his life, for a thousand years
Indulging in every beauty’s delight
In a bliss that for life endures
With never an illness obstructing his way
And he never a worry incurs
And tranquility reigns, and his days are serene
And no noise ever reaches his ears—
None of that would avail him the first night spent
In the grave, when he ends his years.
Imam Ash-Shafiee
- (trans.) Abu Muhammad
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