1. Al-Mutanabbi prophesied an era about you all
Had he seen your opinion of his poetry, he would have blasphemed

2. Hold on! Al-Mutanabbi is no prophet and
I do not consider his poems to be scripture

3. You criticize him for his mirror, as if
You did not understand from it neither form nor trace

4. That is, even though you did not do him justice or
Make his mention honorable if mentioned

5. Woe to him as a poet whom you made imperfect and
We do not know for him any worth or significance with us

6. For you critiqued in his poems
What makes both mankind and jinn laugh

7. You distorted the words and their meanings together
And claimed he had made a mistake

8. As you swear by the head of a camel that
You met him in person, did you meet a rock?

9. So what does the paper tell us, woe to you
We see a lesson and example in you

10. A poetry you encompassed with knowledge as if
You negotiated with the camel about its contents and donkeys

11. If only the hearing of its sayer would cry out to you
He would not spend the night pondering it

12. You showed me an example from your narration
Like a non-Arabic speaker who cannot articulate the news

13. Deaf, blind, but I stayed up for him
Until I returned his hearing and vision

14. His meanings were dark nights so I was disgusted by him
Until the sun and the moon shone

15. You were annoyed and your blame of us came
And your disapproval that resembles annoyance

16. Your letters about him come in groups
When they come in bands, more bands follow

17. If only he could see what your writing did to me
And what your mouths did to his poetry, he would not sense

18. Had you tried to revive his genius
As you tried to publish his diwan, it would have spread

19. Send the book, we will return it completely
But who will return his minds to you afterwards?

20. If I compile against you from it what is apparent
I have not compiled against you from it what is hidden

21. You stripped me of the finest parts of it into leather
So who has permitted you to forbid searching and thinking?