O lord of the East, O shining Sun!

thou illuminest the heart¹ of every mote of dust.

It is through thee that Being has ardour and exhilaration;

it is through thee that every hidden thing desires to manifest itself.

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Thy golden canoe in the silvery waters

moves brighter than the hand of Moses.²

It is thy rays which give light to the Moon,

and provide sustenance to the ruby within the heart of the stone.

The inner burning of the tulip

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and the coursing of blood in its veins are the result of thy bounty.

The narcissus tears away hundreds of veils to catch a glimpse of thy ray.

Welcome, with thee comes the morning of our heart’s desire,

thou hast transformed every tree into the

Burning Bush of Mount Sina’i.³

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Thou art the beginning of the morning while I am

at the end of my days; light a lamp in my heart;

illumine my dark earth from head to foot;

cover me up in thy illuminations

that I may bring the light of the day to the night of the Orient’s thought,

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brighten up the heart of the free men of the Orient,

give maturity to the inexperienced through my songs,

and give a new turn to the events of the world.

Thus may the thought of the Orient free itself from the Franks

And gain lustre through my songs.

100

Life comes not but through dhikr (meditation);

(true) independence comes not but through purity of thought.

When the thought of a people becomes corrupt,

then in their hands pure silver turns into base metal.

The pure heart dies in their breast,

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and to their eyes the crooked appears straight.

From the battlefield of life they keep themselves safely away;

for them life resides only in the stationary.

Seldom do waves arise from their ocean;

their pearls are as worthless as pieces of clay.

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It is therefore necessary that their thought should

first be purified (of all dross);

Reconstruction of thought would then be easy for them,