1. My self-control suffices, so why should I restrain my steed!
The clashing of swords into the kidneys of knights is easier for me.

2. Hoarding shining pearls or preventing desires is not my way,
Nor is it the quality of my status to forbid pleasures.

3. Does a young man in life have any refuge,
Except to choose the affection of brothers?

4. And when a steed races according to its habits,
Then leave the steed and the farthest point of the racetrack.

5. I am not frightened of death after becoming certain
That wealth is profound sorrow.

6. I filled my bucket up to the brim
And bared to good health my bodily powers.

7. And I have heard Allah openly urge people
To charitable deeds and benevolence.

8. And if a man survives the ordeals of this world,
It is as if he survives a deluge.

9. Loyalty refuses betrayal on my behalf
And betrayal is repugnant to me as it repels me.

10. I disdain that passion should turn me aside
Or that Allah sees me where He has forbidden me.

11. The party of the Imam to me is my party when
They count as enemies, and the sincere of guidance are my sincere friends.

12. May a loyal Shiite band
Attain their want from the Merciful.

13. A people, when the desert roared and two disputants
In the Object-of-Worship came together disputing,

14. They left the Indian swords in their sheaths,
And bore a sword from the Qur'ān.

15. They tied the bonds of affection round their breasts, like those
Who knew the Friend in the reality of gnosis.

16. Allah has ennobled the times through his days
Until the stars and the times are equal.

17. Sufficient it is to one whose inheritance is the world, and for whom
It was created, and its beings are his slaves.

18. And sufficient are his pure Shiites as a sect,
And sufficient are they in righteousness and good deeds.

19. Their limbs were protected from contagion
As their spirits were guarded from hatred.

20. They were supported with sanctity, although they
Were made intimate with the Spirit and sweet herbs.

21. Refuge of the supporters of the Refuge of mankind,
And sender down of victory's mansion into abasement!

22. Through you the sovereignty of East and West submitted
And turned to you after breach of faith and deposition.

23. We found the conquest of Egypt to belong to you lastly
Although the mention of it is in ancient times.

24. So by your resolve its pillars shook
And by your approach it extended to submission.

25. You stamped with raids the ship of its glory
And the army until it crouched to the riders.

26. So to you belongs the credit wherever you were, and only
The pride of the kindler of fires is for the brandisher of flames.

27. Commotions poured upon the Bedouins from you
Which shed the blood of peers by means of peers.

28. The family of Qurra have had no rest for their eyes since
They were made to drink by you that hot draught.

29. And a tribe you killed, and a tribe
You widowed by the blessing bestowed on you.

30. You emptied Buḥayra and al-Bīd of them, what
A cleaving of the plain was there by the intensity of earthquake!

31. So you preoccupied the people of tents from adorning them
And you rendered them wandering confusedly in the darkness.

32. Your cavalry raided the oases headlong
Until their hooves trampled Aswān.

33. They broke out against him with polished coats of mail,
And they frowned frowns because of the leather tunics.

34. And they rode around him very well clad but not
Withdrawn from human or from Jinn.

35. So it was as if your religion, when he renounced unbelief most flagrantly,
Was a brief span you seized for a transient existence.

36. And as if the horse herds in the early dawn, and indeed
The swooping eagles had swooped down on him.

37. They turned their breasts toward him as if they
Turned toward Kisrā Anūshirwān.

38. And as if al-Barād were playing with his household
And as though they were the singing girls of Nu'mān.

39. Your swords remained striking his soul while they
Took it like fire vehemently burning him without smoke.

40. Ill-luck was decreed for Sa'd al-Ashira by you suddenly
In the manner that ill fate was decreed for Kiyānūsh.

41. So your armies came to him when they came, as if he
Galloped to meet them seeking a wager.

42. I wondered how the two fates could disagree about
Their two consequences, and the two hopes agree.

43. You terrified the abandoned ruins in al-Fadfad suddenly
With destructive calamity and painful exemplary punishment.

44. And Satan took refuge from you and his plotting
When you put Jazirat Shaithān to flight.

45. Your steeds fared in the desolate country like ostriches
Bearing darkness upon darkness.

46. The neigh of every side resembled it,
And it carried whinny upon whinny.

47. In a confusion the riders have not met since
The Banū Marwān were expelled from the world.

48. If al-Shanfarā had travelled in it a while, it would not
Have carried him in its paths on its two feet.

49. They picked every polished hero of the Folk—there is not
For Jinn in wedding-feasts therein two hands—

50. They penetrated the darkness toward him, then they picked him out,
And they slipped from its sides like martens.

51. So they came to him from whence a censured one would feel secure
From one who in his time has no safety.

52. How many a swaggerer among his folk was carried off,
Haughtily confident in might and power;

53. Or in the coats of mail of valor one made bold,
Or in silk garments one of pleasure!

54. Cupbearers of wine used to hail him at night,
And cupbearers of spears used to hail him in the morning.

55. The spear-head rushes upon him while he fancies it
A beaker of drink in the hand of a toper.

56. And how often have you despoiled the mighty of their crown,
And left therein one heavily laden or broken to pieces

57. Thrown upon the dust, and his soul
And body intermingled in his bowels!

58. And how many a sanctuary you have violated, and how often
Have you been granted free disposal by Umm Hāni of confederate tribes

59. And slave-girls accompanied by bands
Crowned with pearl and coral!

60. And musk exhales fragrance in the face-veils as if they
Were the spring flowers variegated in hues.

61. There remains only the Dike whose structure
You pierce, for the times in the world have obeyed you,

62. And you attained by resolve that which
The celestial spheres have not been granted in circling.

63. And you brought together the unity of the God-fearing openly
And the selves of beasts of prey were harmonized through you.

64. So through you works became purified, truly pure,
And through you spirits were saved in bodies.

65. If Allah should stabilize the countries with its like,
Its resolve and yours that judges justly would suffice.

66. It calls out with thousands and thousands of troops to the point
They respond about accounts and reckoning.

67. O sword of Hāshim's family, and its fangs
And its flame in your binding situations!

68. The swords themselves were ennobled by Dhū ’l-Faqār
And after al-Aflaḥ no sword is cast.

69. I used to think I had comprehended all the followers,
And experienced the followers of the Folk of every age.

70. But then I found the followers of all the desert
Were combined in secret and openly for him.

71. And that those I counted as followers—when
Compared with him—were like the idols.

72. The heat of his heart was kindled with such affection
As spread upon it the tent of faith.

73. And the wings of his breast collected knowledge
Of what will come of contingencies.

74. The Holy Spirit gains blessing through his proximity
As a ritual and gives drink to the soul of desire.

75. Refuge of the supporters of the Refuge of mankind from His creatures,
And sender down of the mansion of abasement into ruin!

76. Through you the East and West submitted,
And turned back after breach of faith and deposition.

77. We found the conquest of Egypt lastly to belong to you—
Although the mention of it is in ancient lore—

78. For by your purpose its powers were shaken
And by your approach it reached out to submission;

79. You stamped its ship of glory with raids
And the army, until it crouched to the riders,

80. So that the pride of the kindler of fires belongs to you
Wherever you were, and not to the brandisher of flames.

81. Deliver to the Commander of the Faithful in my stead
A message to let him see my loyalty and my place.

82. The swords themselves were ennobled by Dhū ’l-Fiqār
And no sword casts after well-forged Indian blade.

83. I used to think I had explored the followers,
And experienced the adherents of the Folk of every time.

84. But then I found the followers of all the desert to him
United in secret and openly.

85. And that those I counted followers—if
Compared with him—were like worn-out idols.

86. The heat of his heart was kindled with such affection
As spread over it the canopy of faith.

87. And the wings of his breast gathered knowledge
Of what will come of events.

88. The pure Spirit gains sanctity through his proximity
Intending it and giving drink to the soul of yearning.

89. My Lord! Convey to the Commander of the Faithful my views and position.
The swords adorned themselves with Dhū l-Faqār; no other sword can rival the exalted one.

90. I thought I comprehended all followers and tested the adherents of the people of every era.
But their allegiance in secret and openly was to him throughout the desert lands.

91. Those I presumed to be my partisans - when measured against him they are like exhausted idols.
The fervor of his heart was kindled with such affection that it spread the canopy of faith over him.