1. Is your door still open to the stranger full of hope?
Or has your generosity towards desires changed?

2. It is an ambition that I have sent to you with determination,
As sharp as the polished sword.

3. You occupy the world and the places of wishes,
And the rain where the clouds accumulate.

4. Where the blossoming palaces are comfortable,
Adorned with the flowers of the stars and frequented.

5. Where the white tents are raised to the heights,
And their edges are supple and swaying.

6. Where zeal for glory lies in its plains,
Shaded by the withering oleander.

7. Where valor takes the place of the fires of the land,
The customs of their districts and their assemblies.

8. Where the spears nearly sprout leaves from
All the blood they bear and draw.

9. Where the steeds inspire their enthusiastic riders
From their distant raids and deep incursions.

10. Where the strange faces are masked by shyness,
And the creation upon them is glittering and smiling.

11. Where the kings and the intimate company,
The honor of their neighborhood and abode.

12. Of the followers of the Mahdi, rather of the followers,
Of monotheism, about whom the Scripture is clear.

13. Rather, the followers of the Compassionate, who cast
His love upon creation, so they were named and preferred.

14. They built the edifices of their glory upon piety,
Not for God what they built and did excel.

15. The people whose father was Abu Hafs
And their first grandfather was Al-Farooq.

16. A lineage as consistent as the courses of the stars,
And upon their perfection one who amends comes.

17. Elevated over the eras of time, as if
He is a crown adorned with moons for glory.

18. The excellence of people, their ancient and recent,
And you, if they excel, are mightier and superior.

19. You built above the summits of the stars and fortified,
And your lofty construction is firmer and taller.

20. I say to one crossing the sea of elevation,
While the night foams at its edges, intensely dark.

21. Passing the darkness of night fearlessly,
Lost, his guide but an igniting cresset.

22. Tossed about atop his she-camel, as if
He is a phantom assigned to the edges of the pillows.

23. Seeking to attain success through the ways of plenty,
And attaining its fertility that does not fade.

24. Comfort your riding-beasts, for you have attained
One who grants gifts of benefaction abundantly.

25. By God, what a generous being He created amidst bounty,
Like a meadow whose life is fresh dew.

26. This is the Commander of the Faithful, our Imam
In religion and life, to him is the destination.

27. This is Abu Al-'Abbas, the best Caliph
The noble traits have testified for him that do not err.

28. Al-Mu'tasim billah to conquer the enemies,
And reliant upon his Lord’s support.

29. He preceded the kings to supremacy, at ease,
By God, you the foremost, at ease.

30. For you are highest of rulers, even if
They race to highness and perfection.

31. Judge the old from you with their old,
For in it the matter is clear, not hidden.

32. They submitted to your people in the firmest obedience,
Which is the handhold of faith that does not detach.

33. Ask Tangiers, which it seized, and Zanatah before it,
As conveyed in reports.

34. And ask the cities of Al-Andalus and its domains,
When they despaired and became confused.

35. And ask Marrakesh and its palaces about it,
And its ruins will answer one who asks.

36. O king, whom praise fills hearts and more
Than what can be imagined!

37. By God, from you an aider of His will,
That proceeds as the conclusive decree proceeds.

38. You came upon the times when its discourse was insolent,
So unbridle it, while it is most insolent and stubborn.

39. The unity of its children cracked,
And the zeal of its caliphate neglected and abandoned.

40. People have turned their hearts to you,
And hoped for reform from you and aspired.

41. So you hastened when you were called to its affair,
With might and resolve that does not delay.

42. You subjugated from it the resistant that does not bend,
Made easy the rugged that nearly does not soften.

43. And you softened the hardened of the fierce rebels,
And repelled them from that defiance they had assumed.

44. The audacity of the audacious was an audacity,
And for his people, he summoned it, tyrannizing the forts.

45. And Muhallab wreaking havoc and adhering
To that which they perfected, yet in havoc.

46. The people are amazed by their condition—had
Their quarter been cast the thrown dirt.

47. They raised the structures upon the columns, and by them
The bare pillars and the spreading spears.

48. In every dark earth the pebbles are aflame,
Pouring to the wastelands their gathered water.

49. Their drink was a mirage and their sustenance
A spear that spirits away the unhealthy and rancid.

50. They lived freely in the open plains, and for them
The thrown stones, whether they raided or stayed still.

51. They used to terrify kings with their rebellion,
And tomorrow you make their living easy and luxurious.

52. Sometimes the destitute greet you, at others
The swaying of standards shades you.

53. And if he addresses you secretively on the day of battle,
The drinking cups, so with the neighing youaky.

54. We were properly equipped, eager for it,
For the likes of this, the competent is best.

55. You make the desolate wilderness tremble, no army
Marching through it, nor a crowd descending upon it.

56. And you drag the trains of battalions over it,
Swaying through the flat land, tall, rippling.

57. You make them rain upon it from every armed
Horseman, unsheathing his sword if the unarmed weakens.

58. And with every brown spear, its branch supple,
And with every white, its fibers swaying.

59.
Until you scatter that exalted group,

60. The wind of death blew upon them, so they stumbled.
Then you appeased them with your comforts

61. By which they submitted to your glory after.
And you rid the people of discord the delusion

62. That had always germinated and toyed with them.
You destroyed what they erected of buildings

63. And cut off what they established of causes.
And you organized its cities and frontiers

64. For the kingdom a necklace of openings distinguishing.
Thus you closed the emergence of hypocrisy while you

65. Do not fear its forelocks, nor does determination weaken for you.
With formidable shrewdness and policy

66. That flows like the Euphrates, chained.
It made the times gentle, and its taste is sweet

67. After what bitterness passed from it.
So the people clamored for the glory of the most wondrous king,

68. Easy, glorious, bestowing.
And the hearts concord upon satisfaction with you

69. Equally, the child and the grown man.
O king who sufficed the time and its people

70. With tranquility and safety beyond what they hoped for.
So the land, no ogres are feared in it,

71. Nor does the roaring tyrant roam its plains.
And travel, they cross every rugged terrain,

72. Like the flock of wild cows, not startled by anything.
Glory to Him who by your ascendance revived wishes,

73. And restored the beauty of necks that had languished.
Glory to Him who by guiding you elucidated

74. For the creation the aim of the path, so the one who contemplates sees.
It is as if the world is a bride disclosing,

75. So she walks in robes of beauty, rippling.
And as if the countries' being just, by its justice,

76. Returned spacious, no ignorance within it.
And as if the stars' lights were multiplied

77. By its illumination more beautiful than theirs.
And as if the veil were lifted from the onlooker's sight,

78. So he saw reality in that which he imagines.
My lord, my thoughts have erred and my mind is numb,

79. And all is problematic for my natural dispositions.
My ambitions rise to the realm of realities,

80. Yet I fall short of attaining them and withdraw.
And I find my night interminably testing my talent,

81. Then it becomes immersed while it flows.
So words churn in my mind, while

82. Poetry wanders and rhymes are jumbled.
After some time I select, and my poetry

83. Has not been disparaged or neglected.
I protect it from its folk, hiding

84. That they be joined with my poetry at a gathering.
It is merchandise whose insincere promotion is equal;

85. In it the adept and the pretentious are alike.
And the children of my thoughts, if they come to you inspid,

86. Graceful, wandering the palaces and strutting about,
Then they deserve favor when you grant acceptance,

87. While I remain upon that eloquent truthful saying.
And to you are lessons from the time and its people,

88. By whose merit one who judges fairly indebted.
Pages that translate from the discourse of the eminent,

89. Beautifying for them and clarifying.
They reveal the succession of giants and their secret,

90. And Thamud before them, and `Aad the first.
And those who stand by the religion of Islam

91. From Mudar and the Berbers when they gathered.
I compiled the books of the predecessors to collect them,

92. And began with what they neglected.
And I made the columns of speech supple, as if

93. The languages were humbled by them to my diction.
I gifted jewels from it to your supremacy

94. Hidden away, and planets that do not set.
And I beautified it for the vessels of your kingdom, proudly,

95. Whereby the unmatched thrives and the assembly exults.
By God, I have not exaggerated in what I have said,

96. Anything, for exaggeration does not beautify.
And you are firmer in knowledge than

97. That an pretentious one can delude you.
For the virtues and truths are in your hands,

98. You know their proper places if they change.
And truth with you is prioritized in matters,

99. Forever, so what can the vain purport?
And God granted you that which there is nothing beyond,

100. So judge however you wish, for you are the most just.
May your Lord sustain you for the servants, nurturing them,

101. For God creates them, while your care takes responsibility.