دَارٌ بِالْبَلاَءِ مَحْفُوفَةٌ،
This is a house surrounded by calamities
وَبِالْغَدْرِ مَعْرُوفَةٌ،
and well-known for deceitfulness.
لاَ تَدُومُ أَحْوَالُهَا،
Its conditions do not last
وَلاَ يَسْلَمُ نُزَّالُهَا.
and those who inhabit it do not remain safe.
أَحْوَالٌ مُخْتَلِفَةٌ،
Its conditions are variable
وَتَارَاتٌ مُتَصَرِّفَةٌ،
and its ways changing.
الْعَيْشُ فِيهَا مَذْمُومٌ،
Life in it is blameworthy
وَالاْمَانُ مِنْهَا مَعْدُومٌ،
and safety in it is non-existent.
وَإِنَّمَا أَهْلُهَا فِيهَا أَغْرَاضٌ مُسْتهْدَفَةٌ،
Yet its people are targets;
تَرْمِيهِمْ بِسِهَامِهَا،
it strikes them with its arrows
وَتُفْنِيهِمْ بِحِمَامِهَا.
and destroys them through death.
وَاعْلَمُوا عِبَادَ اللهِ
Know, O creatures of Allah,
أَنَّكُم وَمَا أَنْتُمْ فِيهِ مِنْ هذِهِ الدُّنْيَا عَلَى سَبِيلِ مَنْ قَدْ مَضَى قَبْلَكُمْ،
that, certainly, you and all the things of this world that you have are (treading) on the lines of those (who were) before you.
مِمَّنْ كَانَ أَطْوَلَ مِنْكُمْ أَعْمَاراً،
They were of longer ages,
وَأَعْمَرَ دِيَاراً،
had more populated houses
وَأَبْعَدَ آثَاراً،
and were of more lasting traces.
أَصْبَحَتْ أَصْوَاتُهُمْ هَامِدَةً،
Their voices have become silent,
وَرِيَاحُهُمْ رَاكِدَةً،
their movements have become stationary,
وَأَجْسَادُهُمْ بِالِيَةً،
their bodies have become rotten,
وَدِيَارُهُمْ خَالِيَةً،
their houses have become empty
وَآثَارُهُمْ عَافِيَةً،
and their traces have been obliterated.
فَاسْتَبْدَلُوا بِالْقُصُورِ الْمُشَيَّدَةِ،
Their magnificent places
وَالـنَّمارِقِ الْمُمَهَّدَةِ،
and spread-out carpets
الصُّخُورَ وَالاْحْجَارَ الْمُسَنَّدَةَ،
were changed to stones, laid-in-blocks
وَالْقُبُورَ اللاَّطِئَةَ الْمُلْحَدَةَ،
and cave-like dug out graves
الَّتي قَدْ بُنِيَ عَلَى الْخَرَابِ فِنَاؤُهَا،
whose very foundation is based on ruins
وَشُيِّدَ بِالتُّرَابِ بِنَاؤُهَا،
and whose construction has been made with soil.
فَمَحَلُّهَا مُقْتَرِبٌ،
Their positions are contiguous,
وَسَاكِنُهَا مُغْتَرِبٌ،
but those settled in them are like far flung strangers.
بَيْنَ أَهْلِ مَحَلَّة مُوحِشِينَ،
They are among the people of their area but feel lonely,
وَأهْلِ فَرَاغ مُتَشَاغِلِينَ،
and they are free from work but still engaged (in activity).
لاَيَسْتَأْنِسُونَ بِالاْوْطَانِ،
They feel no attachment with homelands
وَلاَ يَتَوَاصَلُونَ تَوَاصُلَ الْجِيْرَانِ،
nor do they keep contact among themselves like neighbours
عَلَى مَا بَيْنَهُمْ مِنْ قُرْبِ الْجِوَارِ، وَدُنُوِّ الدَّارِ،
despite nearness of neighbourhood and priority of abodes.
وَكَيْفَ يَكُونُ بَيْنَهُمْ تَزَاوُرٌ،
And how can they meet each other
وَقَدْ طَحَنَهُمْ بِكَلْكَلِهِ الْبِلَى،
when decay has ground them with its chest,
وَأَكَلَتْهُمُ الْجَنَادِلُ وَالثَّرَى ؟
and stones and earth have eaten them.
وَكَأَنْ قَدْ صِرْتُمْ إِلَى مَا صَاروا إِلَيْهِ،
It is as though you too have gone where they have gone,
وَارْتَهَنَكُمْ ذلِكَ الْمَضْجَعُ،
the same sleeping place has caught you
وَضَمَّكُمْ ذلِكَ الْمُسْتَوْدَعُ،
and the same place has detained you.
فَكَيْفَ بِكُمْ لَوْ تَنَاهَتْ بِكُمُ الاْمُورُ،
What will then be your position when your affairs reach their end
وبُعْثِرَتِ الْقُبُورُ؟
and graves are turned upside down (to throw out the dead)?
(هُنَالِكَ تَبْلُو كُلُّ نَفْس مَا أَسْلَفَتْ وَرُدُّوا إِلَى اللهِ مَوْلاَهُمُ الْحَقِّ وَضَلَّ عَنْهُمْ ما كَانُوا يفْتَرُون)
There shall every soul realise what it hath sent before, and they shall be brought back to Allah, their true Lord, and what they did fabricate (the false deities) will vanish (away) from them. (Qur'an, 10:30)
Alternative Sources for Sermon 225: Sibt, Tadhkirah, 122; al-Khwarazmi, al-Manaqib, 267; al-Muttaqi, Kanz al-’ummal, III, 511.
