1. O son born of adultery and nurtured with vice,
And raised on malice, accustomed to wine,

2. Tell me, O most ignorant one, when, pray,
Did you stand behind the imam in prayer?

3. What day did you pay the purifying alms
On wealth amassed through constant wrong?

4. What month did you fast out of devotion
To the Exalted Lord as duty demands?

5. What year did you make the pilgrimage,
Seeking the Hajj, O vilest of men?

6. What night did you wash a wicked body
Of sins or ritual impurity?

7. What dawn did you recognize a prophet
Whose light scorns the full moon in its glory?

8. No pride in amassing wealth through harm
For a woman or child, not lawful gain.

9. True pride is in faith, kindness and resolve,
Prayer for kin, knowledge not blame.

10. You have lived as long as Noah in this world
Or outlasted him in wellness and peace.

11. Of what use is wealth when death draws near
Save for one who came to his Lord in love?

12. With joy or sorrow does man meet his Maker?
In waking or in sleep showing himself?

13. With arrogance, cruelty and stubbornness?
Or unbelief, distortion and heedlessness?

14. Announcing good, or sharing in evil?
Or wronging the lowly, O exalted one?

15. Falsehood has perished, truth prevails,
So be silent and die, pierced by my arrows.

16. How can an ignoble man aspire so,
Like his foolish wretched father before?

17. How can one walk who knows not a letter
Of language's alphabet, in speech or form?

18. How can we accept the evil flooding forth
From an infant just weaned from his mother?

19. How can a soul that revels in shame hope
To live when noble deeds are its plumage?

20. How can an ignoramus expect to lead
One who gained his goal through knowledge?

21. I know of no virtue he possesses
Save that he is mute, unable to speak.

22. A donkey or goat will outdo him
When doom descends on a night of ill fate.

23. He is fit only to plow the land,
Or dig wells while hot sun beats above.

24. To steal crops by night as rain pours down
From neighbors' fields, like a raiding wolf.

25. To ambush travelers on land or sea,
Or betray a friend while breaking bread.

26. To gather wealth through lies and deceit,
Ensnared by it like a prisoner of love.

27. To gossip and spread tale carrying between,
That which the honorable avoid in shame.

28. Leave your sinful ways now and shun
An evildoer hoping sickness will pass.

29. He is a hypocrite today and tomorrow,
Put him to death lawfully with the sword!