1. لا يأمنن صروف الدهر إنسان

    ولا نوائبه فالدهر خوان

    Let no one ever feel safe from time's vicissitudes,

    nor from its calamities, for time is treacherous.

  2. فكم أباد من الماضين من ملك

    له بسطوته عز وسلطان

    How many a king of bygone times has it annihilated,

    whose might brought him glory and dominion!

  3. اين الملوك التي ذلت لعزتهم

    كل الرقاب ومن خوف لهم دانوا

    Where are the kings before whose majesty

    all necks bowed, and to whom men submitted in fear?

  4. أين الجبابرة العادون أين أولو

    الأخدود أم اين كسرى أين ساسان

    Where are the transgressing tyrants? Where are the people

    of the Trench? Or where is Khosrow? Where is Sasan?

  5. دعوا أجابوا فصاروا عبرة وخلت

    منهم ديار وأحياء وأوطان

    They were summoned and answered, becoming a lesson; empty stood

    their homes, settlements, and homelands.

  6. فأصبحوا لا ترى لا مساكنهم

    فليعتبر من له للحق إذعان

    Now you see neither them nor their dwellings.

    Let whoever submits to the truth take heed.

  7. وهكذا الدهر لم تؤمن عواقبه

    له إلينا إساءات وإحسان

    Such is time: its outcomes have never been trustworthy;

    it brings us harm and kindness.

  8. تبارك اللّه ما الأسواء دائمة

    وكلما قد مضى آن أتى آن

    Blessed is God: misfortunes are not everlasting,

    and whenever one moment passes, another comes.

  9. كل المصائب قد تسلى نوائبها

    إلا التي ليس عنها الدهر سلوان

    Every calamity's sorrows may be forgotten,

    except the one for which time brings no solace.

  10. هي المصيبة في آل الرسول فقد

    سارت بأخبارها في الناس ركبان

    It is the calamity that befell the Messenger's family; for

    riders traveled among the people bearing news of it.

  11. من آل بيت رسول الله شر ذمة

    من النوابغ أحداث وشبان

    A small band from the household of God's Messenger—

    gifted youths and young men—

  12. آووا لبعض بيوت الله من فرق

    من العدو وللأعداء عدوان

    sought refuge in some of God's houses, out of fear

    of the enemy, for enemies are given to aggression.

  13. فجاء قوم من الفجار تقصدهم

    بكل سوء لهم بغي وطغيان

    Then came a group of wicked men, targeting them

    with every evil, possessed of oppression and tyranny.

  14. لما أحاطوا بهم إليهمو التجؤوا

    فأمنوهم ولكن عهدهم خانوا

    When those men surrounded them, the besieged sought their protection;

    they promised them safety, but betrayed their pledge.

  15. وحالفوهم على فوز بأنفسهم

    لكنهم ما لهم عهد وأيمان

    They covenanted with them that their lives would be spared,

    but they honor neither pledge nor oath.

  16. سلوا عليهم سيوف البغي واقتحموا

    كما تهجم جبار وشيطان

    They drew the swords of oppression against them and stormed in,

    as a tyrant and a devil would attack.

  17. وباشروا قتلهم بما بدا لهم

    فبعضهم ذابح والبعض طعان

    They set about killing them however they saw fit:

    some were slaughterers, and others relentless stabbers;

  18. أو باقر لبطون أو ممثل أو

    ضراب سيف وفتاك وفتان

    or belly-rippers, or mutilators, or

    sword-strikers, ruthless killers, and sowers of strife;

  19. أو مقتف إثر مهزوم ليقتله

    وقلبه لدم الأشراف ظمآن

    or one pursuing a routed man to kill him,

    his heart thirsting for the blood of the noble-born;

  20. أو كاسر عظم مقتول وقاذفه

    كما تكسر أصنام وأوثان

    or one breaking a slain man's bone and flinging it away,

    as idols and graven images are shattered;

  21. أو خائض بدماء القوم مفتخر

    بالسفك مستولع بالهتك ولهان

    or one wading in the people's blood, boasting

    of bloodshed, obsessed with violation, madly enthralled.

  22. وكل هذا وآل البيت ما رفعت

    لهم عليهم يد والرب ديان

    All this, while the Prophet's household had raised

    no hand against them; and the Lord is the Judge.

  23. إن يستجيروا بجاه المصطفى شتموا

    أو بالصحابة سبوا ليت لا كانوا

    If they sought refuge by the Chosen One's honor, the attackers reviled him;

    or by the Companions, they cursed them—would that those men had never existed!

  24. أو يستغيثوا يغاثوا من دمائهم

    أو يستقيلوا الردى فالقلب صوان

    Or if they cried for help, they were 'aided' with their own blood;

    or if they begged reprieve from death, the heart was flint.

  25. فلو سمعت عويل القوم من بعد

    إذ يستغيثوا لهدت منك أركان

    Had you heard the people's wailing from afar,

    as they cried for help, your very foundations would have been shattered.

  26. يا رب مستنصر من ليس ينصره

    تحت السيوف طريح النفس غلبان

    Ah, many a man sought aid from one who would not aid him,

    beneath the swords, his life laid low, overpowered.

  27. يا رب أرملة ريعت بصاحبها

    وحولها منه أيتام وصبيان

    Ah, many a widow was horrified by her husband's fate,

    and around her were his orphans and children.

  28. ألا ذوو نجدة ألا ذوو همم

    ألا ذوو غيرة للحق أعوان

    Are there none with courage, none with high resolve?

    Are there none with zeal to champion the truth?

  29. ألا عصابة حق للتقى انتسبوا

    لنصرة الدين أكفاء وأقران

    Is there no band of truth, devoted to piety,

    equals and peers in championing the faith?

  30. ألا أماجد ذبوا عن نبيهم

    ألا حماة لعرض المصطفى صانوا

    Are there no noble men to defend their Prophet?

    No protectors to safeguard the Chosen One's honor?

  31. هذا جزاء رسول الله من فئة

    قلوبهم ملؤها إثم ونيران

    This is God's Messenger's recompense from a band

    whose hearts are filled with sin and flames.

  32. آذوه في آله وأحرقوا دمهم

    وما عدا كل هذا شأنه شانوا

    They harmed him through his family and burned their blood;

    and beyond all this, they sullied his standing.

  33. وهل يطاق سباب المصطفى علنا

    وهل تطيق سماع الشتم آذان

    Can open abuse of the Chosen One be endured?

    Can ears bear hearing such insults?

  34. لا خير في عيشة والمصطفى هدف

    لأسهم الطغي ذا والله خسران

    There is no good in a life where the Chosen One is a target

    for tyranny's arrows; this, by God, is ruin.

  35. إن لم تقوموا بكف الشتم عنه فمن

    يقم به ولكم بعزه شان

    If you do not rise to stop the insults against him, who

    will do so, when his honor gives you standing?

  36. وأنتم يا رعاة الناس بينكم

    كتب الحديث وآيات وقرآن

    And you, shepherds of the people, have among you

    books of hadith, verses, and the Qur'an.

  37. قوموا لنصرة دين الله واعتصموا

    على أناس لهم للحق خذلان

    Rise to champion God's faith, and hold firmly together

    against people who abandon the truth.

  38. إن تنصروا اللّه ينصركم ويهدكم

    ويستبين لكم في الدين برهان

    If you champion God, He will champion you and guide you,

    and proof in the faith will become clear to you.

  39. لا زلت أنشد بيتا صيغ من درر

    منظم فيه ياقوت ومرجان

    I keep reciting a verse fashioned from pearls,

    strung with rubies and coral:

  40. ماذا التقاطع في الإسلام بينكم

    وأنتم يا عباد الله إخوان

    Why this estrangement among you in Islam,

    when you, servants of God, are brothers?