1. He who made the West the dawn of day
And rallied the Berbers as troops for guidance

2. And orchestrated time until it actualized
What were in dreams, dreams of destiny

3. And the patient were granted success, so hail
The defeat of despair, and the triumph of hope

4. And he moved the dynasty to the House of Guidance
Thus it did not swerve from the niche of Ali

5. Glory be to Him, the King, to Whom belongs
And unto Whom He grants or deprives sovereignty over whom He wills

6. An Imam from Fatima's line rose up
The caliph then succeeded by the next in line

7. I marvel not at their reign, how it was built
Nay, I marvel how the building was so delayed

8. Their grandfather is the religion without which no faith
And their mother is the mothers ransomed

9. And since their father passed, persecuted
The rulers began to care for the persecuted

10. He made them the essence of every epoch
And the blacks were partial to them in passion

11. The Persians and the Turks are altogether partisans
For them, their love being the essence of piety

12. So God bore witness they did not fall short
Sacrificing their lives in patience and in battle

13. How many a rebel from them rose against
The Umayyads and the Rida's household

14. This Husayn, his blood in Karbala
Watered the soil when it flowed to excess

15. And the bright stars of his household were martyred
Perishing in the earth solitary and in pairs

16. Ibn Ziyad and Yazid did tyranny
While God and time are at war with the tyrant

17. Had it not been for Yazid in the first place
Marwan would not have drank from the cup he drank

18. And Zayd ibn 'Ali revolted to avenge
The avenging of Ibn Al-Husayn, Al-Murtaza's heir

19. Seeking with argument his household's right
While right is not sought but with the sword's edge

20. A lad without wisdom or experience
Fell victim under Hisham to what befell him

21. He made Kufa his shield and spear
While the defenseless and exposed sought refuge in it

22. Whom Kufa suffices, he knows it has
No aid from its people nor treasure

23. Ask Ali about it, for he is knowledgeable of it
And ask Al-Husayn, learn from him the news

24. So he died, slain, and his corpse remained
Crucified, and his body burned after putrefaction

25. For Abu Ja'far, young men sought vengeance
They did not do justice, by God, in that regard

26. They are the household of the Pure Al-Hasan or
Of those who reached maturity from Al-Husayn's line

27. Do they seek authority while it belongs to them?
It settled in the house of the Prophet, at rest

28. Their uncle's sons relieve them of their burden and gloom
Noble chiefs, foremost in wisdom

29. So I wonder, was this out of envy
Or their meagerness that brought them to paucity

30. Muhammad being their chief, in Basra he
Increased, and like a foaming sea, Kufa

31. Were it not for the determination that met it
The dynasty would have cracked in the arduous pass

32. A valiant king rose up to it
Unflinching in adversity, in vigor unfailing

33. He led the Abbasid to the palace in a strike
And killed Al-Mahdi at the fated convergence

34. And between his army and Ibrahim was
A day of intense heat and distress

35. Victory did not prove true for Ibn Al-Hasan
He laughed in the morn and wept at dusk

36. He died by an arrow on the tenth that did not aim for him
But providence is what aimed and shot

37. So ask not after his army, where it went
Nor ask after his home, what farewell it bid

38. Their fugitives see not the earth
And their captives see none but gloom

39. No successor of Ali's sought authority
Except either killed, imprisoned, hiding or ruined

40. They hoped piety would restore their reign
But piety faded after their forebear

41. Had the world remained based on prophethood
Mankind would have been self-sufficient of the next

42. They took on asceticism, shunning counsel
So that none dismounted from their viewpoint

43. He who sees not by other than himself, though he saw
Through the eyes of the brilliant ones, would be blind

44. And rarely did they choose their men
For men are like gems, they must be picked

45. Al-Ma'mun differed with his household
Out of love for the legatee's sons and amity

46. For their sake, he brandished the blacks for an instant
So folk said the ruler doffed his turban

47. Had his commanders and family consented
He would have pledged succession to Ali ibn Al-Rida

48. His reign was not devoid of a rebel
Who cut off roads and ravaged the sanctuaries

49. An Alawite ascetic sheikh was brought
Who accepted the pledge after initial refusal

50. Young men commanded in his name and prohibited
His beard distinguished for them its owner

51. He was from his household but the sanctum
Feared their tyranny and debauchery

52. Many performing the Hajj were barred by him
And pilgrims intimidated, I did not feel safe

53. And in their days Zayd was an inferno
And another, the butcher, ravaged and transgressed

54. So the army prevailed over them and subsided
Their penitent partisans, he pardoned

55. Why did these alone not disgrace
The hearing of the Haydara's sons nor reject

56. Of their fortune was a caliph fond of them
And of pardon, that was his inclination

57. The centuries passed with what
The Ordainer of centuries passed and decreed

58. Until God granted Fatima's household
What did not expire, sublime fatherhood

59. Time tested them, with their right, until
It was said, "He will not fulfill," and fulfilled

60. An occasion does not fail he who brings it
Nor is occasion deferred if it comes

61. A youth of their adherents set out to the Maghreb
Of abundant merits, and merits increased

62. His forefathers attracted adherence there
Nursing the intention, it grew up strong

63. From the people of Sanaa, without his determination
It would not have achieved what was achieved

64. Where is the summoner with his people's swords?
Another more helpless, his resolve dissolved

65. He wakes sought and sleeps seeking
His seekers did not sit still or rest

66. Informing the people of a guide that came to them
And that the Mahdi of the age had come

67. Until the charm of his speech possessed the minds
Eloquence being but insinuations and amulets

68. He continued to be followed wherever he called
To the Fatimid, victorious wherever he conquered

69. Wherever his cavalry and infantry aimed
In a land, it obeyed, or a fortress sought refuge

70. He left no Arab nor Berber
Nor deserts nor plains except subdued

71. He rid North Africa of the Aghlabids
From its gardens and palaces and abodes

72. Donning a folk adorned with piety
Distinguished among them, with virtue he adorned himself

73. An exemplar for the faithful except
In worldly morals, an example for the licentious

74. Then he set his sight on the Maghreb, so it trembled for him
And he drove on toward Sijilmasa on high

75. Fought it by day until relief appeared
To its people, so they sought refuge in flight

76. Then entered and extracted from its prisons
Dust of eras interred in the earth in tatters

77. Brought him to the encampment walking humbly
Holding back from joy at what transpired

78. And said, O people, follow your guardian
This caliph, the daughter of the Chosen One's son

79. And the king left it to him outright
And marched in his troop amidst the throng

80. Look to the intention, what it brings
And the religion, what loyalty is behind it

81. Do not say there is no good left in mankind
For much good is in mankind over long periods

82. Al-Mahdi undertook the matter, so he did not
Fall short of people's affairs from the right way

83. And carried the people upon the religion, and he did not
Command any guidance or prohibit any blindness

84. His rule incorporated North Africa
With abundant shade, fertile plains

85. And Egypt's conquest became the most arduous
And refractory of that which he desired and craved

86. How many armies he drove toward it, but dearth returned them
The plague and predators rebuffed his troops

87. And sedition flashed from the hidden
Which stirred the Maghreb into embers of anguish

88. Its leader Abu Yazid, a debaucher
Wanting people's rule, loosened from restraints

89. For every sum of money, blood, or honor
To the plunderer, slaughterer, and enslaver

90. O excellent is the doctrine none refuse
Who earn by it or go astray with it

91. Ubaydallah died in its inferno
And the perseverant leader wearied

92. Borders cracked and cities emptied
And the tyrant's command circulated and enforced

93. With money, crops, and souls unchecked
I forget not the plague, beasts, and vermin

94. Then Muhammad passed with his anguish
But evil lingered and tribulation ceased not

95. His cavalry then did not avail Abu Yazid
Nor did his bows attain the bow's range

96. His armies retreated vanquished from Egypt
Complaining about the ruler, bitter complaints

97. And Al-Mansur took on a muddled matter
A weakened dynasty and faint sultanate

98. The Zanati's fire ravaged the towns
And the sword altered the lands and erased

99. So he was in the torrents of events like a boulder
And in the course of floods, unshakably firm

100. Battling and fighting himself
If defeated, not retreating, if victorious, proceeding

101. He did not cease pursuing the donkey men
In plains and rough terrain, travelling and trekking

102. Until he saved the cities and rescued the towns
And cleansed the land of the transgressor

103. And left the kingdom secure to his son
With order pure and provinces content

104. A prince as his house's magnates desired
In knowledge, manners, valor and aid

105. Inheriting the burdens of forefathers
And the grace of ancestors increased to fortune

106. Al-Muizz improved the kingdom, and his days became
Sweet for religion and life's pleasures

107. He encompassed the Maghreb on all its sides
What was near submitted, and afar conceded

108. His cavalry came from the high seas
Bearing live game of diverse forms

109. Until his armies grew large and abundant
Wealth flowed to him and prospered

110. So Egypt overtook his mind
And however he yearned for it, beloved to him

111. He chose for its conquest a seasoned warrior
His origin was the essence of gallantry

112. Dispatched him in a perfect, completed troop
For provisions, equipment and ample finance

113. He found the abode empty, exposed
By the death of Kafur who had protected it

114. Neither the Ikhshidids owned it, preventing it
Nor did the Abbasids guard the sanctuary

115. It was vulnerable to him, unfortified
By the blood of youths or tears of sorrow

116. So if the essence misses one day of fighting
How many days in Egypt can compensate?

117. Order was set right with his arrival
And the pillar of rule inclined and straightened

118. Laws flowed their due course
People knew security and prosperity

119. How many traces remain of that precious being
Attributed to the honored Al-Muizz

120. The Azhar mosque still stands, inhabited
As does Cairo that he built

121. When you mention his two palaces therein
On the Hill and Khaurnaq the sublime

122. The Upper Nile and Nubia submitted to him
To the Fatimids, and paid the reward

123. Sham surrendered, and before it
The Hamdanid knights of the battlefield

124. Save Damascus which was seized
Damascus remains at heart Shiite

125. The House came to Fatima's dynasty
And the Reign transferred over to them, at peace

126. So in them the sermon and the mention
In the land's minarets, and the prayer took place

127. Until when royal authority manifested its accord
And destiny threaded pearls for Jawhar

128. Al-Muizz came to Egypt in processions
Dazzling in their glory, abundant feast

129. The two palaces received a day the like of which
The Nile Valley never heard of or saw

130. The treasuries of the Maghreb in his train
As if the treasuries of God competed

131. The Nile united with its likeness
And flooded the people with munificence and grace

132. The Son of the Messenger of God being more plentiful in bounty
And if his stream exceeded, the Nile envied his hand

133. When this earth was barren in the arms of another
He came and lifted drought from it and sufficed

134. Al-Aziz constantly craved
Baghdad though Fate was beneath his craving

135. Until his hopes' extent expired with him
If hopes knew the self's extent, their end

136. The kingdom moved from the zenith of glory
To the summit of sublimity's towering height

137. Anzar ran its ruinous course
As the staff runs its course on the disobedient

138. In Egypt Al-Aziz, if aroused, his rule
Reached from Ocean to Desert's breadth

139. Saddling steeds purely of choice stock
And bridling steeds, pearls of ferocity

140. It was devoid of seriousness or playfulness
From battlegrounds to sword's intense heat

141. A rule which fate made swagger, but which
No brief era rivaled when it swaggered

142. Its days passed like youth
Its nights of union expired and ended

143. Al-Aziz was a dam of excellence from which
The hopeful returned laden with love

144. Isa's house from his favor's dew
And Musa's house, an ignited wick

145. Al-Mamun he endured from Fatima's house
With how much bile swallowed, pardoned, forgave

146. To the demise of amity and absence of cordiality
Wisdom veiled and intelligence hidden

147. Al-Hakim ruled Egypt and its affliction
Which suffered the utmost tribulation from his rule

148. It wearied from the disorder of a disordered one
Who, aroused, demolished, appeased, rebuilt

149. Enduring continuous upheaval
To enfeebled resolve and resolve brought low

150. Until the brilliance of that drafted document faded
And the two palaces ceased from that activity

151. The Ayyubids abandoned the template of their rule
And the echoing authority, muted

152. They united the people under a caliph
From Abbas' sons, no discretion or rule

153. Glory to Him in Whose hand is sovereignty, for He
Alone disposes therein but what He decrees

154. So may God reward Fatima's household
The best rewards for Egypt and requite

155. And God avenged them against every envier
In pure lineage, He said and sufficed

156. The Nile's caliphs to them are attributed
When the Euphrates' to Banu Saki is attributed

157. Such are their hands upon its banks
Articulated in praise, made clear

158. How many cities they built and abodes erected
For good deeds here and there

159. They raised the torch of reform, so none
Of reformers walked but by their light

160. Egyptian generosity is of what they instituted
Of righteousness and villages they founded in Egypt

161. Every Nayrouz therein or famed festival
Is theirs, and to them is attributed

162. They tore their own robes for others' comfort
Broke thereby spears and forelocks

163. Not outstripping the Arabs, their own people
Nor protecting the North Africans, their partisans

164. They empowered the remotest of their house
And appointed him among the lesser clans

165. Bringing down the Sunna from its rank
And raising their Shiites and whoever rose high

166. Turning the kingdom over to their sons
So who found the opportunity took his youth

167. Greed of the ministers between them intensified
And they became the true kings in practice

168. The Caliph of the Merciful in a corner
Of resignation, the minister Ibn Jala