فخار الملوك بأعوانها

وخير البلاد بعمرانها

The glory of kings lies in their helpers,

And the welfare of lands in their flourishing.

وما ثبّت الله من دولة

بغير عدالة سلطانها

God has never made a state secure

Without the justice of its ruler.

ألست ترى دولة المسلمين

وما كانَ من آل عثمانها

Do you not see the state of the Muslims,

And what has come from its House of Osman,

وما رفع الله من قدرها

وما عظّم الله من شأنها

And how God has raised its rank,

And how God has magnified its importance?

وما بلغت فيه من قوة

تضاف لقوة إيمانها

And whatever strength it has attained therein

Is added to the strength of its faith.

فدان الأنامُ إلى حكمها

ولا حكم إلاَّ بقرآنها

Thus humankind submitted to its rule,

And no judgment except by its Qur'an.

فكان الفتوح على عهدها

وسعد البلاد بأزمانها

So conquests came during its reign,

And the lands' happiness came in its times.

فيا لك من دولة أسِّسَتْ

قواعد أركان بنيانها

Oh, what a state! Firmly laid were

The foundations of the pillars of its edifice,

بما شرع الله بين العباد

وأبطل سائر أديانها

By what God ordained among His servants,

And thereby annulled all their other faiths,

وما جاءنا سيّد المرسلين

وقام الدليل ببرهانها

And what the master of messengers brought us,

And the evidence was established through its proof.

إلى عهد أيام عبد العزيز

مجدّد أحكام إتقانها

Down to the days of Abd al-Aziz's reign,

Renewer of the laws that perfect it.

فولّى الأمور لأربابها

وأهدى السيوف لأجفانها

So he entrusted affairs to their masters,

And gave the swords to their scabbards.

فنعم الرجال ونعم الكمال

بأفكارها وبأذهانها

How excellent the men, and how excellent their perfection,

In their thoughts and in their minds!

فلم تر يوماً كآرائها

ولا للحروب كشجعانها

So you have never seen counsels like theirs,

Nor, for war, any like their brave men.

صناديد أبطالها في الوغى

وأبطال أقيال فرسانها

Its heroes are stalwarts in battle,

And the princes of its horsemen are heroes.

وقد صدقته بما عاهدت

عليه العلى جهد إيمانها

And it has been true to him in what it pledged—

Lofty glory, pledged thereto with all its faith.

ومن نعمة شكرت للمليك

وقد أوجبت حق شكرانها

And one blessing for which the monarch was thanked—

And which made gratitude for it a rightful duty—

أحال العراق إلى نامقٍ

ليصلح ما شان من شانها

Was his entrusting Iraq to Namiq,

To remedy what had marred its condition.

فذلّل منها صعاب الأمور

وقاد المعالي بأرسانها

So he tamed its difficult affairs,

And led lofty honors by their halters.

إذا افتخرت دولة بالرجال

وباهت محاسن أقرانها

When a state takes pride in men,

And vies with the glories of its peers,

فمن فخر دولتنا نامق

بحسن المزايا وإحسانها

Then Namiq is among our state's glories,

For his fine qualities and their beneficence.

وما زال نائله مَنْهلاً

لصادي الحشاشة ظمآنها

His bounty has never ceased to be a watering place

For those parched and thirsty in their souls.

أباد الطغاة وأفنى العصاة

ودمّرها بعد عصيانها

He annihilated tyrants and wiped out rebels,

And destroyed them after their rebellion.

وألبَس بغداد تاج الفخار

وقرّب أشراف قطانها

And clothed Baghdad in the crown of glory,

And drew the nobles among its inhabitants close.

فكانت إليه أحبَّ الديار

وحبّ الديار لسكانها

Thus it became the dearest of lands to him,

And lands are loved for their inhabitants.

ومكّنه الله من عِزَّةٍ

من الأمن غاية إمكانها

And God granted him might,

Through security, to the fullest extent possible.

فلاحت عليه سطور الهنا

قرأنا السرور بعنوانها

So lines of happiness shone upon him,

We read delight in their heading.

وكم فتنة أوقدت قبله

فكان الخمود لنيرانها

And how many a sedition had been kindled before him,

Then came the quenching of its fires.

أحلّ رعيته في أمان

أقرّ الجميع بأوطانها

He settled his subjects in safety,

He made everyone secure in their homelands.

وكلٌّ له منه ما يستحق

بوزن الرجال ورجحانها

And each receives from him what he deserves,

By men's weight and their worth in the balance.

لدولته صارم باتر

يبت الخطوب بإيمانها

His state has a keen, cleaving sword,

That cuts through calamities by its faith,

وحزب من الله في عونها

وذلك أكبر أعوانها

And a host from God to aid it,

And that is the greatest of its helpers.

ومنذ تولى أمور العراق

وكفَّ يَدَيْ ظلم عدوانها

And since he took charge of Iraq's affairs,

And restrained both hands of its unjust aggression,

أراح البلاد وسرّ العباد

وكان جلاءً لأحزانها

He relieved the lands and gladdened the people,

And was a dispeller of their sorrows.

وفي البصرة الآن سعد السعود

يلوح لها من سليمانها

And in Basra now, Sa'd al-Su'ud, the star of fortune,

Shines for it from its Sulayman:

أميرٌ عليها رؤوف بها

حريص على جلب أعيانها

A governor over it, compassionate toward it,

Intent on bringing its notables close.

محبَّته مُزِجَت بالقلوب

مزاج النفوس بجثمانها

Love for him has mingled with hearts,

As souls mingle with their bodies.

تريك فصاحة ألفاظه

مجاني فصاحة سحبانها

The eloquence of his words shows you

The fruits of the eloquence of its Sahban.

وإنَّ البلاغة حيث انتمت

إليه قلائد عقيانها

And eloquence, wherever it is traced

To him, is necklaces of its pure gold.

وتعرف من لفظه حكمةً

تُفَسِّرُ حكمة لقمانها

And you discern in his speech a wisdom

That explains the wisdom of its Luqman.

عقول الرجال بأقلامها

وفضل العقول بعرفانها

Men's minds are known by their pens,

And minds' excellence by their understanding.

كأنَّ ترسله خمرةٌ

تطوف النوادر في حانها

As though his prose were wine,

Rare witticisms pass round in its tavern.

ويبعث إملاؤه نشوةً

فيهدي السرور لنشوانها

And his dictation stirs intoxication,

Thus granting joy to one intoxicated by it.

وإنَّ القوافي لدى فضله

تباع بأنفس أثمانها

And rhymes, in the presence of his excellence,

Are sold at their highest prices.

فمن ثمَّ يقطف نوارها

ويجني أزاهير بستانها

So from there he plucks their blossoms,

And gathers the flowers of their garden.

وفي البصرة الفصل في حكمه

لعهد المسرة إبانها

And in Basra, the season under his rule

Is the due season for an age of joy.

ولما أراد بها أنْ تكون

كروح الجنان وريحانها

And when he wished it to become

Like the solace of gardens and their sweet basil,

تسبّب في حفر أنهارها

ومنع خبائث جيرانها

He arranged for its rivers to be dug,

And warded off its neighbors' evils.

وعادت هنالك ماءً طهوراً

وعذباً فراتاً لعطشانها

And there its water became pure again,

And sweet and fresh for its thirsty people.

وكانت لعمرك فيما مضى

تشاب بأقذار أدرانها

And, by your life, it had once been

Mingled with the filth of its impurities.

عسى أنْ تكون لسلطانها

مليك الملوك وخاقانها

May there be, on the part of its sultan—

King of kings and their khagan—

إليها برأفته لفته

بسد المياه وطغيانها

A compassionate turn of his attention toward it,

By checking the waters and their overflow;

فحينئذ لم نجد آفةً

بدفع مضرة طوفانها

Then we would find no calamity,

By averting the harm of its flooding.