تأهّب يومَ فطرِكَ للمعاصي

تأهّب يومَ فطرِكَ للمعاصي

وخذ شوّالَ ويحكَ بالقصاصِ

وخذ شوّالَ ويحكَ بالقصاصِ

Prepare for sins on your day of fast-breaking;

Prepare on the day of your break from sin

Make ready on the Feast of Breaking Fast for sins anew,

and exact retribution from Shawwal—woe to you!

And take Shawwal and beware of punishments

And take the month of Shawwal—woe to you!—to exact your due,

وصل أيامَهُ بالليل حتى

وصل أيامَهُ بالليل حتى

ترى الستينَ ليس بذي انتفاص

ترى الستينَ ليس بذي انتفاص

Join its days to the nights until

Join its days with the night until

Connect its very days unto its nights, until you find

you see the sixty undiminished.

You see sixty with no decrease

The sixty measures full and whole, with nothing left behind,

ورأسُ الأمرِ في إحرازِ ظبي

ورأسُ الأمرِ في إحرازِ ظبي

تقلّبهُ وتدفعُ في المعاصي

تقلّبهُ وتدفعُ في المعاصي

And the crux of the matter is securing a gazelle:

The essence of the matter is preserving prey

The summit of the matter lies in winning a gazelle,

you turn him over and plunge into sins.

Juggling it and pushing into sin

To hold and tumble, plunging deep where sinful pleasures dwell,

فهذا اللهوُ لا لهوٌ بيومٍ

فهذا اللهوُ لا لهوٌ بيومٍ

عبوسٍ فيه يُؤخذُ بالنواصي

عبوسٍ فيه يُؤخذُ بالنواصي

For this is revelry; there is no revelry on a day

This playing is no playing on a

For this is distinct pleasure, not the portion of that Day,

of gloom, when people are seized by their forelocks.

Gloomy day when seizings happen by the forelocks

So stern, when by the forelock men are seized and dragged away.