1. May God forgive her, the lady of the eyeliner,
How many a heart she lit, how many a mind she busied,

2. The fortunate Nabiyya, who agreed with passion’s fortune,
Never transgressing God’s word or deed,

3. She took pride in the tender gazelles when they cried,
And excelled them in beauty and narration,

4. She traps the wanderer with the eye of a doe,
Whose passion grayed the youth and the old swallowed,

5. When she traveled, her bashful cheeks said,
Come look at the fire she carries, the rising sun,

6. Don’t bother with the one God revealed her apparition,
Who cheers when meeting, and weeps when turning away,

7. And settled the moons of beauty on her cheeks,
And cast on her from her tresses a shadow,

8. And deposited the scent of musk in her slap,
And sent it from the saliva of her kiss saturated,

9. She kills with her coldness the lions of lovers,
And after death spreads her seductive self to the dead,

10. She has an eyeliner that delights relaxed glances,
Dark-lashed, unknowing kohl,

11. And a blade that cleaved the witness of dawn’s light,
Splitting the night’s darkness, so it chose it as a sword,

12. The elderly die longing for her charm,
And live should she pass by their tombs as a child,

13. I knitted my eyelashes to my eyebrows for her sake,
And said, perhaps union will grant it resolution,

14. I spent my life loving her, and yet,
Due to my misfortune, I never attained union,

15. Blessed is He who created her, decreed for me to love her,
And deemed humiliation good for me through her,

16. And left me desiring none but her saliva,
And left her desiring no generosity or giving,

17. I claimed to have diverted her, and that she
Was truthful that through her I diverted the family,

18. And I fancied one whose palm her waist doesn't fill,
And the scent of her breath fills grief and the plain,

19. She has a pride that corresponds with none but her,
Seductive, refusing messages and messengers,

20. I am the most perceptive of God’s servants her slave,
And she is my patroness, though she denies union,

21. How much darkness of her beauty’s alchemy,
Transformed into dawn that I’ve never seen the like!

22. I charged with it the army of rejection, as if
I had slipped through her glances a sword,

23. And I last saw between the two encampments
One who surrounded her to the belts and anklets,

24. So I said to her, “Had he smelled your face he wouldn’t have transgressed,
But when he smelled her, she turned him away vanquished,”

25. And I remained obeying youth and passion for her sake,
Yearning for her water, then drinking it to satiation,

26. When she glanced with her eyelid’s inclination,
I refused that she be pleased with its kohl stain,

27. And if she offered honey from the saliva of her kiss,
I say to her I incline to the sweeter,

28. She never stopped revealing to me beauties,
More tender than flowers sprinkled with dew,

29. Until the night nicknamed the morning appeared,
Repelling a day from our pleasant visit,

30. And the light of her cheek approached my tears,
Bringing roses to her, thinking her a thicket,

31. And the shining sun hurried in the enclosure,
To set from my eyes so I said to it, “Wait,”

32. Surely the separation between us burdened me,
So how painful is your parting, O gazelle!

33. Stand still, I will choose parting over meeting,
If Abd al-Qadir the generous parts with generosity,

34. The prince of Muslim armies, when he sought
To aid God’s religion with great resolve,

35. The noblest of the eloquent and infatuating,
When riding horses or mounting camels,

36. The bravest with sword and most generous with hand,
The best neighbor and noblest lineage,

37. The most honorable, purest in principle,
The most knowledgeable and highest in merit,

38. The most eloquent speaker and fluent narrator,
The truest companion and most generous host,

39. A father whose shade the lions venerate,
So no brave dares tread his ground,

40. With fiery resolves when in the heat of fray,
And plentiful gifts when allotting supererogation,

41. When enemies approach he frightens them,
Leading them to humiliation and satiating them with death,

42. And if the virtuous descend in his abode,
He brings them nearer with bonds of intimacy,

43. Is he not the sword with which the Exalted King avenged
The wronging multitudes, by the hand of the Supreme Ruler?

44. He trampled in Algeria a people,
Who count men equal to what their sands amount,

45. Who were strengthened by Arab brigands with spoils
That erased the glories’ ink and donned disgrace,

46. He destroyed the savage Bedouins who
When spared by the sword, were consumed by famine,

47. Saving the ladies of the homes from shame,
None buried by her husband or bereft of spouse,

48. He closed his eyes to their noblewomen’s honor,
None beating her breast or rending her necklace,

49. It is an equitable, pious act, spurning baseness, however glittering,
Shunning vileness, safeguarding honor,

50. When hiding his beasts from mankind,
His glorious exploits almost declare them to the dead,

51. The wisdom of Mufaddal guaranteed the Supreme,
So piety adorned it and justice crowned it,

52. You returned good when I knew you,
And removed grief and sorrow from my people,

53. For your deed, O son of the two virtuous ones, is a treasure
Before God granting you merit,

54. Since you never faltered seeking excellence,
Or preserving God’s rights, despite any hardship,

55. My care! The feast has come asking
Your contentment for this new crescent that crescented,

56. So generously look upon its light,
That it may become a full moon, peerless,

57. Increase, O noblest of people, my honor with loyalty,
And be kind to celebrants one and all, my Master!