Sol 6.1

  1. أَيا طالِباً أَن يَنالَ الأَرَب

    قَريباً عَلَيكَ لِسانُ العَرَب

    O you who seek to attain your desire

    soon, turn to Lisān al-ʿArab.

  2. تُشاهِدُ مَجموعَ ذي خِبرَةٍ

    بصيرٍ بِما قَد نَأَى وَاقتَرَب

    You will see the compilation of an expert,

    well versed in what is distant and near.

  3. وَإِنَّ الجمالَ إمامُ العُلومِ

    فَفي كُلِّ سَهمٍ لَها قَد ضَرَب

    And al-Jamāl is the master of the sciences,

    for he has taken a share in every one of them.

  4. لأُطلِعَهُ وَهوَ شَمسُ الضُحى

    فَنجمُ العُلومِ لَهُ قَد غَرَب

    That I may bring him forth—he is the midmorning sun—

    so the star of the sciences has set before him.

  5. وَهَذَّبَ أَلفاظَ تَهذيبِهِم

    فَقَد صارَ نَبعاً وَكانَ العَذَب

    And he refined the wording of their Tahdhīb;

    thus it became stout bow-wood, though once it was tender twigs.

  6. وَكانَ الصِّحاحُ بِها جَرَبٌ

    فَداوى الصّحاح وَزالَ الجَرَب

    And al-Ṣiḥāḥ was afflicted with scabies;

    so he healed al-Ṣiḥāḥ, and the scabies vanished.

  7. وَأَحكمَ تَرتيبَ مُحكمِهِم

    فَسَرَّ العِناج وَسر الكَرَب

    And he perfected the arrangement of their Muḥkam,

    twisting tight the bucket’s bottom-rope and its upper binding-rope.

  8. صَحائِفُ كانَ بِها مَيَلٌ

    فَثقَّفَ مِن مَيلها ما اضطَرب

    Pages in which there had been crookedness:

    he straightened what had gone awry in their slant.

  9. وَقَد كانَ نَدَّت شَوارِدُها

    فردَّ الَّذي كانَ مِنها هَرَب

    And their strays had indeed escaped;

    so he brought back whatever had fled from them.

  10. دَعاها بِلَفظٍ رَقيقٍ رَفيقٍ

    فَهزَّ المَعاطفَ مِنها الطَرَب

    He called them with tender, gentle wording,

    so rapture set their flanks swaying.

  11. جَزى اللَهُ جامِعَها جَنَّةً

    لِيُسقى بِها لبناً مَع ضَرَب

    May God reward their compiler with a garden,

    so that he may be given milk to drink there, with white honey.