1. Contemplate Abu Abdillah, for he is
The son of Euphrates, a sun for whoever contemplates.

2. It rose and illuminated for the eyes, and perhaps
Tomorrow every glance will be lowered from it.

3. So do not be averted from it or go against it,
It illuminates for you while uprightness in man is more beautiful.

4. Abu Hassan, virtuous and benevolent in appearance
And innermost being, supreme, lofty, and most beautiful.

5. So what is his sin in that if his Lord
Ordained that he is higher while the resentful are lower?

6. And if none but his minister
And none but his son—the hoped for, the longed for—

7. And its view is matchless,
When the right judgment errs, judgment is erroneous.

8. Then you would lack all doubt and suspicion
For how when the lantern of the Euphrates is lit?

9. And in him there is for the eyes of an onlooker
Witnesses and signs of superiority exemplified.

10. And in that which clarified the blindness of his time
And dispelled it, though your night is darker.

11. And if it were one night, its darkness would have passed,
But it is a night followed by repeated nights.

12. The gloom of an inauspicious night in intrigues, and
Its misfortunes have overwhelmed him, so he is utterly blackened.

13. And you have not ceased to be from an ancient injustice and darkness
Of ignorance that hides from you that you are ignorant.

14. So do not find fault with the words regarding you, for
Even if not equitable to you, they are made equitable.

15. It suffices you in ignorance that you earnestly sought
To uproot a foundation under which you take shelter.

16. You have turned against the one who revived you after death
And fulfilled a loyalty that even constellations do not fulfill.

17. And in your manifest betrayal is a testament
That you are feeble-minded and crazed.

18. And I have not seen among his sins
Save that he refused to exchange what cannot be exchanged.

19. You burdened him with appropriating and destroying the land-tax
While you are its recipient through wrongdoing.

20. So when he refused, you spoke abhorrently and did not cease
To begrudge the just-minded, restricting and withholding.

21. And he spoke truth, rebutting the blame,
With clear proof, while you continue to equivocate.

22. How many needs coupled with betrayal
He shunned though a man be base and groveling.

23. And how many good needs whose burden
He bore beyond what can be borne.

24. And there is no charge on the Caliph's wealth
For the futile, as in it there are places for realities.

25. Trustworthy over the wealth of kings as if
In caution and advice he is a swaying serpent.

26. He attains through his essence blame from every complainer
On behalf of the people while the sultan is burdened with the truth.

27. He stays awake until he can gather all the land-tax
Like a thoughtful man careful of what disturbs him.

28. And is it not the right of a sultan to demand of his people
That the vigilant Abu al-Qasim collect it fully?

29. As for your coarse reproach that you have reproached
Ibn Furat with, it is not reasonable.

30. So what can a servant do in carrying out the judgment and decree of his king?
He is the debtor transferred.

31. It is inevitable that the minister gather his capacities
To him and abolish the improper and despicable which is made despicable.

32. He saw you and a people like you as rubbish
To be removed among the exemplars is most exemplary.

33. And has one reached by his reign whom fortune let down
And protected the sultan except a nullified one?

34. And is there an idol after the Prophet Muhammad
And after the Book of God except a futile one?

35. So do not patch your honor with poetry, for it
Is a burning satire whose fire consumes.

36. And do not turn your hearing to vulgarity, for it
In earnest, its shame on you cannot be erased.

37. And you have been stricken by one with fingers like my fingers
And if doubt crept in, the peg after it is pulled out.

38. And if the deterrence of prohibition does not restrain you
I have two sharpened swords at hand.

39. And I am one of poetry and prose as if I am
With the two of them a straightened, honed spear.

40. And if you shoot arrows at one the truth and passion call to
You are certain to sink down or crumble because of him.

41. So do not confront me if you confronted him
For I am entrusted with supporting the sincere brothers.

42. I became hostile to the enemies apart from my companion
And I protected a crown by which I am adorned.

43. I refused, so the protector is not respected in my presence
Nor is his flesh, as long as I live, to be eaten.

44. I willingly granted him my protections though he
Is more deserving than me of protections and is more generous.

45. My tongue protects him and he is
More saying than me in adversities and more doing.

46. And I would not be deterred from supporting him
If I saw him and I in heated battle persist and be defeated.

47. But it is an obligation fulfilled to the Most High
And a voluntary offering after it, excellently done.