رثاء الفقيه محمد حفيد يحيى Elegy for the Faqih Muhammad, Grandson of Yahya

20 verses · ṭawīl metre

Poet: Ahmadou Mohamadalher Ishaki

Introduction

Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad ibn Muhammad Yahya, “grandson of Yahya” (verse 15), was a faqih and a teacher whose students became, the poem says, the lamps of their families. He is very likely the same sheikh whom Abd al-Baqi al-Mahmoud Muhammad mourns in his elegy of 16 May 2024, the day of his death.

The poem opens on a stormy night in the desert: the poet lies awake watching the lightning over the dunes, then falls asleep among his companions, and it is his heart that reproaches him for not yet having written the elegy. Then come the praise of the departed — patient, pious, a constant reader of the Qur’an — and the fear that ignorance will spread after him.

The poem

Show the translation

هذا ما رثى به أحمدو بن محمدالخير الشيخ محمد احمد بن محمد يحي رحمه الله رحمة واسعة.

أرقت وقد مال السُّهى متلاشيا أعُدٌّ حِقافَ الخَبْتِ للرعد تاليا

I lay sleepless; Suha, the faint star, was sinking and fading, and I counted the dunes of the plain, following the thunder.
أراقب ومض البرق في جَنَباتنا يُضيء شماريخ الجبال الخوافيا

I watched the lightning flicker around us, lighting up the hidden peaks of the mountains.
قعدنا له جنب الكثيب هنيهة ينوء ويخفى مستكينا ثوانيا

We sat watching it a while beside the dune; it rose and vanished, subdued, for a few seconds.
ولم ندر إلا والعواصفُ هالةٌ كثيفُ قَتامٍ يَستديم لياليا

Before we knew it, the storms had ringed us: a thick dark dust that lasts for nights on end.
غفوت به من بين صحبِيَ ساعة وقد نبضت دقات قلبِي مُعانيا

I dozed there awhile among my companions, while my heart beat on, in pain.
يعاتبني لمْ لا تُصيغ قصيدة عزاءً فكم أسلى العزاء النواعيا

It reproached me: “Why do you not compose a poem of condolence? How many mourners condolence has consoled!”
فقلت وقد صَادَ الغطيطُ جُموعنا ولست أرى بين الصِّحاب مناجيا

So I said — snoring had overtaken our whole company, and among my companions I saw no one to confide in — :
أراك غزير الدمع لا زلت باكيا وأنت الذي ذقتَ الخطوب الدواهيا

“I see your tears abundant, still weeping, you who have tasted the direst calamities,
وعانيتَ قبلا من مصائبَ جمةٍ وأصعبها موتُ الشيوخ تواليا

who have suffered many misfortunes before, the hardest of them the death of the sheikhs, one after another.
فصبرا فما دمع العيون بنافعِ ولكنها تدمي القلوب البواكيا

Patience, then: the tears of the eyes are of no use; they only wound the weeping hearts.
ودع عنك ذا واندُب وفاةَ معلم تقي نقي ليس بالجهل راضيا

Leave this aside and lament the death of a teacher, pious and pure, who never accepted ignorance,
صبورٍ حليمٍ ناسكٍ متعبدٍ وفاعلِ خير لا ينام لياليا

patient, forbearing, ascetic, devout, a doer of good who kept vigil at night,
ومستغفرٍ لله طول حياته يطالعُ قرآنا وليس مرائيا

who sought God’s forgiveness all his life, reading the Qur’an without showing off.”
وطلابه أضحوا مصابيح أهلهم وصاروا جبالا شامخات رواسيا

His students have become the lamps of their families, high and steadfast mountains.
فآهٍ على موت الفقيه محمد حفيدٍ ليحي ليس لله ناسيا

Alas for the death of the faqih Muhammad, grandson of Yahya, who never forgot God!
لقد أقفرت سِفرُ العلوم بفقده وأصبح داءُ الجهل في الناس فاشيا

His loss has left the book of the sciences deserted, and the disease of ignorance has spread among people.
وذاع انحلالٌ في الشباب ولم يكن هناك نصوحٌ لا يملٌّ نهائيا

Laxity has spread among the young, and there is no longer a sincere adviser who never tires.
تغمده ربي بواسع رحمة يُروّى بألبانٍ ويُكسى لئاليا

May my Lord enfold him in His vast mercy; may he be given milk to drink and clothed in pearls.
صلاة إله الناس ثم سلامُه على المصطفى من جاء بالدين داعيا

May the blessing of the God of mankind, then His peace, be upon the Chosen One, who came calling to the faith,
وآل وزوج ثم صحب وكل من بآثاره أضحى مجدا وساعيا

upon his family, his wives, his Companions, and all who, following in his footsteps, strove with zeal.

أحمدو محمد الخير بجي الإسحاقي

The Arabic text is reproduced as the poet wrote it, vowel marks included. The translation, offered verse by verse by the site’s team, follows the meaning rather than the rhyme: only the Arabic text is authoritative.