1. The army surged forth and the troops advanced,
Say to the tribe of Quraytha, what is the way out?

2. Ask Ka'b and his companion Huyayy,
The harbinger of misfortunes, did the harbinger speak the truth?

3. You obeyed his command so it befell you,
Terrible calamities, voracious and fatal.

4. He was your guide but he wronged you,
A guide can indeed wrong his people.

5. An evil guide has no wise counsel,
To guide him, no sound view to rely on.

6. The groups dispersed and God's soldiers reached you,
Led by the Prophet, steadily advancing.

7. You were ignorant of what betrayal entails,
Until you saw how the ignorant learn.

8. Did you not see the banner approaching you,
Borne by the unknown, awesome hero with his sword?

9. Beware O Banu Quraytha of Ali,
Do not be fooled by hazy illusions.

10. Your raving will not help you in the least,
Can the confused benefit from what he utters?

11. The ape-men have only the meadows,
Where they belong, to murmur in their lands.

12. They cowered like veiled women,
Sheltered by their husbands in the dwellings.

13. The battlefield was empty, no hero to call
To arms, no steed wandering about.

14. They hunkered behind fortresses in disgrace,
Built and neither collapsing nor turning.

15. Their life embittered by hunger and fear,
Both calamities, but the former is easier to resolve.

16. Anxiety spreads over them at night
When the curtains of darkness fall.

17. Slumber eludes them, there is no restful sleep,
No patience or solace for them.

18. Most fear sleep more than wakefulness,
As if sleep to them is a lurking monster.

19. If old-age frailty befalls him,
He thinks the sides of the earth are tilting.

20. Their deaths, in their suspicions, hover around them,
Baring its claws, in which blades are sheathed.

21. What has befallen them and their fortress,
Is madness and confusion.

22. Their leader says: O people what is this?
Do minds go blind like this?

23. Is not Muhammad known to you,
So what is this foolery and ignorance?

24. God's Messenger is upright,
There is no deviating for one who seeks salvation.

25. After knowing, is there still doubt?
But you have strayed, and that is capricious injustice.

26. Come, let us follow him, and if you refuse,
We have no alternative but the other.

27. We will sacrifice the women and children,
And march out while blood still flows.

28. In our hands are swords, unsheathed,
With which we defend our honor if called upon.

29. And if you do not, then we are to you,
As meat to be consumed rapaciously.

30. Tomorrow they have safety from us,
But if there is betrayal, let the anguish be relieved.

31. Come with the deed if you want,
Hesitation and refusal will not avail.

32. They disobeyed and counseled him, Amr ibn Suda.
Thus, neither avoidance of folly nor fleeing from it.

33. They refused the heavy tribute,
And said: Evil is that which the disgraced accept.

34. So he left them angrily and resentfully,
Saying: They are not good people.

35. He had prohibited them before from betrayal,
But betrayal came, and what a perilous affliction.

36. Blow after blow befell them,
Until the heavy burden subdued their strength.

37. They cried for help - is there no remedy?
But death has healed the terminally ill.

38. If only we can get Abu Lubabah, if we prevail over him,
He may tilt the scales for us in our stumble.

39. But the Prophet sent him and they disobeyed him,
Saying: None of us will be killed.

40. You can have our weapons if you want,
And the riding beasts will be let loose.

41. They went back pleading with him out of desperation,
And wealth seemed trivial to them.

42. Abu Lubabah, nothing prevented us,
And the worst wealth is that which bars the stingy.

43. Take it and the weapons and release us,
It is enough that Muhammad departs from us.

44. He said: Your blood is unavoidable,
That is his judgment, so when is compliance?

45. Answer, O Ka'b, the matter is fate,
What then, other than the impossible?

46. No people, O Ka'b, but are destined
To obey the Prophet's judgment upon them.

47. I counseled you, and the people have no excuse
When an ally or dear friend counsels.

48. They recoiled from their fortress, and so it goes,
Strongholds collapse from their heights.

49. They came miserable, weeping or wailing,
Grief flows copiously from the anguished.

50. God's ordained judgment of killing and capture,
It passed, and tyranny's time goes around.

51. The AWS say: Those people are our allies,
By a pact, even if the torrents rage.

52. They are our friends, we defend them,
And stoop over them if the hump straightens.

53. Should we kill them with our own hands? Sorry!
O Messenger of God, that would be clear misguidance.

54. He said: I have left the matter of the people vague,
To Sa'd, an excellent trustee.

55. He was brought, and their chiefs said to him:
Be gentle, you are a noble master.

56. He said: Leave this dispute, for indeed Sa'd
Is guaranteed victory by his Exalted Lord.

57. He cried: And some men's resolve is feeble!
The matter concluded in the best possible way.

58. Ali and Zubayr, for every bare sword,
From them came a sharpened, polished blade.

59. They competed for the souls of the people as spoils,
While God's spirit flowed between them as inspiration.

60. Go ahead O Huyayy, there is no escape,
And return, O Ka'b, to what the companion returned.

61. For everyone tasting the bitterness of fate a draught,
And a register of their death recorded.

62. What the divine decrees brought you of fate -
Yours is an insignificant affair.

63. Evil masters of an evil people,
The affliction and penetrating disease.

64. The roots of sedition went bad and putrid,
So neither branches nor foundations turned out good.

65. Hearts blind in the people's darkness,
And minds foolish among the leaders.

66. Ignorance led them astray, and they are many,
While the affliction overwhelmed them, and they are few.

67. Snatched by the mouth of a harmful snake,
With proof from the decisive revelation.

68. So neither women nor children were spared,
Neither youth nor elders survived.

69. The dwellings and pleasures were ravaged,
And the farms and fields illuminated.

70. And the fortress spent the night joyous over it,
A blessed shade for Muhammad's family.

71. By the life of the slain, the dust in their graves
Was surely pained, O healer of the sick.

72. It covered over filth, the earth nearly
Swaying with who is over it or tilting.

73. Some captives were led to Najd,
While others to Syria, for them are tents.

74. Women with no father in the market to protect,
No son to defend or shelter.

75. Dragged in disgrace, with no defender,
In a land where even beasts are pulled along.

76. The Muslims gained weapons and horses from it,
With neck armor on their steeds.

77. Honored, counted every day,
Of noble mention, matchless.

78. When his sublime virtues are mentioned,
A community rises and an era shows strength.

79. Enduring virtues, whose rising is never ending,
Even when the celestial bodies reach their setting.

80. From his essence of courtesy there is renewal,
Seclusion cannot hide its brilliance.

81. I guaranteed it eternity though troubles and preoccupations
Of fate tried me and busyness distracted me.

82. Necklaces are useless when twist
If stallions are unleashed for their needs.

83. Refined free women preserve it protected,
Noble, never marked by disgrace.

84. The elite of poetry, no feeble nature,
Mixes with them, nor base manners.

85. Perhaps God will make it a spring
For minds the seasons ruined.

86. Alas, does the rhyme make me hope
Only for hopes to be unmet and wishes unfulfilled?

87. And alas – is there no expected redemption
For captives, never separated from worries?