1. هُنِّيتَ هُنِّيتَ بالإقدام والظَفَر

    فاسلم ودُم سالماً بالعزِّ وافتَخِر

    Congratulations, congratulations on your daring and victory!

    Remain safe, endure unharmed in honor, and take pride.

  2. زلزلتَ بالسيف أركاناً مشيدة

    تكاد تلحق بعد العين بالأثر

    With your sword you shook lofty, firmly built pillars,

    almost reducing them from visible substance to mere traces.

  3. أنت المنيب إلى الله العزيز به

    والمتّقي منه في أمنٍ وفي خطر

    You turn to God and gain your might through Him,

    and fear Him in safety and in danger.

  4. بطشتَ بطش شديد البأس منتقم

    من بعد ما كنت قد بالغت في النذر

    You struck with the onslaught of a fierce avenger,

    after you had gone to great lengths in giving warnings.

  5. إنَّ الخوارج عن أمر أمرت به

    جاءت إليك لعمري غير مفتقر

    Those who rebelled against a command you gave

    came to you, by my life, though you had no need of them.

  6. هم عاهدوك على أن لا تُمَدَّ لهم

    يدٌ إلى شجر عَدْواً ولا عشر

    They pledged to you that no hand of theirs

    would reach toward trees in aggression, nor toward ʿushar shrubs.

  7. ولا ينالون منها غير ما ملكت

    أيمانهم بعدما يودى من العُشُرِ

    Nor would they take from them anything except what

    their right hands owned, once the tithe was paid.

  8. لو أنهم صدقوك القول يومئذٍ

    قبلت بالعفو عنهم عذر معتذر

    Had they spoken truthfully to you that day,

    you would have accepted their excuses and pardoned them.

  9. كفى بما كانَ منك اليوم تبصره

    لو يعقلون لذي سمع وذي بصر

    What you have done today, as you see, is enough—

    if they understand—for anyone with hearing and sight.

  10. لبَّتك أبناء نجد إذ دعوتهم

    فأقبلت زمراً تأوي إلى زمر

    The sons of Najd answered you when you called them,

    and came in bands, each joining other bands.

  11. جاءت إليك كأسْدِ الغاب عادية

    على أعاديك تحمي البيض بالسمر

    They came to you like forest lions, charging

    against your foes, guarding fair women with dusky spears.

  12. تهون دونك منهم أنفسُ كَرُمَتْ

    في عزّةِ الموت أو في لُجَّة الخطر

    Their lives, noble though they are, count for little in your defense,

    in the glory of death or the deep surge of peril.

  13. كأنما تنتضيها من عزائمهم

    صوارماً طبعوها آفة العمر

    As though from their resolve you unsheathe them

    as keen swords they forged to be the bane of life.

  14. والحرب قائمة منهم على قدم

    والنقع يكحل عين الشمس بالحور

    And through them war is afoot,

    while dust kohls the sun's eye with stark black and white.

  15. وللمدافع إرعاد وزمجرة

    ترمي جهنَّمُها الطاغين بالشرر

    The cannons thunder and roar;

    their hell pelts the transgressors with sparks.

  16. إذا قضى الحتف من أبطالها وطراً

    ففي سليمان منها لذة الوطر

    When death has had its fill among the battle's champions,

    then in Sulayman lies the delight of desire fulfilled.

  17. بغلمة كسيوف الهند مصقلة

    ما شيب منها صفاء الود بالكدر

    With youths like polished swords of India,

    whose pure affection has never been mingled with murk.

  18. لا ينزلون على كرهٍ بمنزلة

    ولا يضامون في بدو وفي حضر

    They take no station against their will,

    nor are they oppressed in desert or town.

  19. وكم جمعت وشجّعت الرجال وكم

    علّمتها الحرب بعد الجبن والخور

    How often you have gathered and emboldened men, and how often

    you have taught them warfare after cowardice and weakness.

  20. نفخت فيهم فقاموا يهرعون إلى

    حرب تشبّ بنار من لظى سقر

    You breathed into them, and they rose, rushing toward

    a war ablaze with fire from Saqar's flames.

  21. علّمتهم كيف يمضي السيف شفرته

    وليس يغني حذار الموت عن قدر

    You taught them how the sword puts its edge to work,

    and fear of death avails nothing against fate.

  22. سرت بهم نفحات منك تبعثهم

    إلى الشجاعة بعث النادر الحذر

    Breaths from you coursed through them, rousing them

    to courage, rousing the exceptional, wary man.

  23. وأنت وحدك فيهم عسكر لجب

    سود الوقائع من راياتك الحمر

    You alone among them are a clamorous army;

    the battles are blackened by your red banners.

  24. وأنت بالله لا بالجيش منتصر

    فيا لمستنصر بالله منتصر

    Your victory is through God, not through the army;

    what a victor, seeking victory through God!

  25. قد أفلح الناس باديها وحاضرها

    من آمرٍ بالذي تهوى ومؤتمر

    The people have prospered, both desert dwellers and townsfolk,

    those commanding what you desire and those obeying.

  26. وأنت هادٍ لها في كل مشتَوَرٍ

    وأنتَ مقدامُها في كل مشتجر

    You guide them in every council,

    and lead their charge in every clash.

  27. ورُبَّ أمرٍ مهول من عظائمه

    أنْ ليس تفعله بالصارم الذكر

    And many a fearful task is so immense

    that you cannot accomplish it with the stout, keen sword.

  28. وإنّك العضب راع العين منتظراً

    من صنعة الله لا من صنعة البشر

    You are the keen blade, awaited and awe-inspiring to behold,

    fashioned by God, not fashioned by humankind.

  29. ترقّ للناس ما تصفو ضمائرها

    برقّةٍ كنسيم الروض في السحر

    You are tender toward people so long as their hearts are pure,

    with tenderness like the garden breeze before dawn.

  30. والغلّ يكمن من تلك الخوارج في

    قلوبها ككمون النار في الحجر

    But rancor lurks within those rebels,

    in their hearts, as fire lies hidden in stone.

  31. عادوا فَعُدت إلى ما كنت تفعله

    في حالك من ظلام النقع معتكر

    They returned, so you returned to what you used to do,

    in a swirling blackness of battle-dust.

  32. والخيل تفعل بالقتلى سنابكها

    لعب الصوالج يوم الروع بالأكر

    The horses' hooves dealt with the slain

    as polo mallets play with balls on the day of terror.

  33. وقمت تخطب في حد الحسام على

    منابر الهام بالآيات والسور

    You stood preaching with the sword's edge upon

    pulpits of skulls, with verses and chapters.

  34. والسيف أصدق ما تنبيك لهجته

    بموجز من لسان الحال مختصر

    The sword is most truthful in what its voice tells you,

    in a brief, concise utterance from the tongue of circumstance.

  35. دانوا لأمرك بعد الذل وامتثلوا

    وكان عفوك عنهم عفو مقتدر

    They submitted to your command after humiliation and obeyed;

    your pardon of them was the pardon of one with power.

  36. كم من يدٍ لهم طولى تطول على

    سمر العوالي رماها الله بالقصر

    How many a long hand of theirs, stretching above

    the dusky, lofty spears, has God cut short!

  37. ومنذ عادوا فقد عادوا لمهلكة

    لِما نُهوا عنه من بغيٍ ومن وطر

    Since they returned, they returned to destruction,

    because of the aggression and desire they had been forbidden.

  38. في كل عام لهم حرب ومعترك

    وموعد للمنايا غير منتظر

    Each year they have a war and a battlefield,

    and an unawaited appointment with death.

  39. وهم متى شئت كانوا منك يومئذ

    لدى المنيّة بين الناب والظفر

    Whenever you wish, they lie in your grasp that day,

    beside death, between fang and claw.

  40. لا يبلغ الشر منهم مثل مبلغه

    في عامهم ذلك الماضي ولم يثر

    Their evil cannot attain the height it reached

    in that past year of theirs; nor has it risen again.

  41. قابلتهم بجنود أمطَرَتْ بدمٍ

    كما يصوب مصاب المزن بالمطر

    You met them with troops that rained blood,

    as the outpouring of rainclouds streams with rain.

  42. وربَّ أحمقَ معروفٍ لشهرته

    وافاك من قومه الأعجام في نفر

    And many a fool, well known for his fame,

    came to you with a band of his non-Arab people.

  43. لا يعرفون وجوه الموت ترهقهم

    ذلاً وتوسعهم طرداً إلى الغرر

    They do not recognize the faces of death that overwhelm them

    with humiliation, driving them relentlessly toward peril.

  44. أخزاهم الله في الأدبار إذ ذبحوا

    قبل الخلائف ذبح الشاة والبقر

    God disgraced them in retreat, when they were slaughtered

    before the caliphs, as sheep and cattle are slaughtered.

  45. وفرّ قائدهم من خوفه هرباً

    حتَّى تحجَّب بالحيطان والجدر

    Their commander fled in fear, escaping,

    until he took cover behind walls and ramparts.

  46. ليت المنيّة غالته بمهلكة

    وقد أصيبَ لحاهُ الله من دير

    Would that death had seized him in a place of doom!

    And he was taken from a monastery—God curse him!

  47. إن الأباعد لم يوثَقْ بخدمتهم

    هم العدوُّ فكن منهم على حذر

    Indeed, outsiders cannot be trusted in their service;

    they are the enemy, so be on your guard against them.

  48. أبْعِدْ عن العسكر المنصور منزلهم

    فشرّهم غير مأمون من الضرر

    Set their quarters far from the victorious army,

    for their evil cannot be trusted to do no harm.

  49. لا يصلح الجاهل المغرور في نظر

    إلاَّ إذا كانَ مصروفاً عن النظر

    The conceited ignoramus is, in my view, of no use

    unless he is removed from oversight.

  50. المفسدون بأرض ينزلون بها

    والبارزون بقبح الفعل والصور

    They corrupt whatever land they settle in,

    and stand out for the ugliness of deed and appearance.

  51. لله درك لم تسبق بما فعلت

    منك العزائم في ماض من العصر

    God bless your excellence! You have no precedent in what

    your resolve has done, in any bygone age.

  52. بعثت للبصرة الفيحاء تحفظها

    بصارم البأس من أحداثها الغير

    You sent to spacious Basra, to safeguard her,

    one of keen valor against her upheavals and reversals.

  53. طهّرتها من فساد كانَ يكنفها

    ولم تدع باغياً فيها ولم تذر

    You cleansed her of the corruption that surrounded her,

    and left no oppressor within her, spared none.

  54. وصنتها عن شرار الناس قاطبة

    صون الجنين لدى الإنفاق بالبدر

    You shielded her from every wicked person,

    as an unborn child is guarded when purses of money are spent.

  55. فعَلْتَ فَعْلاتك اللاّتي فَعَلْتَ بها

    تبقى مع الدهر في الأخبار والسير

    You have done those deeds of yours through which

    you endure through time in chronicles and biographies.