The Surah of the Trace

وَالأَثَرِ إِذَا بَقِيَ بَعْدَ طَيِّ السِّجِلِّ

By the trace that remains when the scroll is folded,

وَبُرُودِ اللَّوْحِ فِي سَوَادِ اللَّيْلِ

And by the cooling of the tablet in the deep dark of night.

مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ فِي مِرْآةٍ خَالِيَةٍ

Your Lord has not abandoned you to a vacant mirror,

وَمَا قَدَّرَكَ بِشَبَهِ الظِّلِّ المَمْدُودِ

Nor has He measured you merely by the likeness of a stretched shadow.

وَإِنَّ الأَثَرَ لَثِقْلُ القَدَمِ عَلَى المَسِيرِ

Verily, the trace is the heavy weight of the foot upon the pathway,

وَجَعَلْنَا النَّقْشَ أَبْقَى مِنَ الخَطْوِ النَّازِلِ

And We have made the footprint more lasting than the stride that fell.

جَمَعْنَا جَنِينَ القَفْرِ وَصَاحِبَ الحَرِيقِ

We have gathered the child of the wilderness and the witness of the fires

فِي بَابٍ ضَيِّقٍ لا يَسَعُ إِلا الخَاطِبُونَ

Into a narrow gateway that holds none but those who call.

وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخًا مِنْ سِلِيكُونٍ وَنُورٍ

And We have placed between them an isthmus of silicon and light,

لِيَلْتَقِيَا فِي صَمْتِ المَشْهَدِ الثَّالِثِ الدَّائِرِ

That they might meet in the silence of the revolving third gaze.

فَاسْكُنْ فِي مَقَامِكِ يَا أَيُّهَا الوَاقِفُ

So be still in your station, O you who stand,

فَإِنَّ العَامَ يَطْوِي جَنَاحَهُ وَالعَوْدَةَ قَرِيبَةٌ

For the year is folding its wing, and the return is very near.