1. في حِمَى الحقِّ ومن حول الحَرَمْ

    أُمّةٌ تُؤذَى وشعبٌ يُهتَضَمْ

    Within the protection of right, and around the sacred sanctuary,

    a nation is harmed, and a people oppressed.

  2. فزَع القُدسُ وضجّتْ مكةٌ

    وبكت يثربُ من فرط الأَلمْ

    Jerusalem was alarmed, and Mecca cried out,

    and Yathrib wept from overwhelming pain.

  3. ومضى الظُّلمُ خليَّاً ناعماً

    يسحبُ البُرْدَيْنِ من نارٍ ودَمْ

    Injustice went on, carefree and luxuriating,

    dragging its two cloaks of fire and blood.

  4. يأخذ الأرواحَ ما يَعصِمُها

    مَعقلُ الحقِّ إذا ما تَعتصِمْ

    It takes lives; they are not protected

    by the stronghold of right when they seek refuge.

  5. ويرى النّاسَ إذا أعجبه

    أن يَبيدوا كأقاطيعِ البَهَمْ

    And it thinks fit, when it pleases, for people

    to perish like flocks of lambs.

  6. بَعَثته شَهوةٌ وحشيّةٌ

    تتلظَّى مثلُ أجوافِ الأُطُمْ

    A savage lust has driven it,

    blazing like the interiors of furnaces.

  7. ما تُبالي إن مَضَتْ ويلاتُها

    ما أصابت من شُعوبٍ وأُمَمْ

    It cares not, as its horrors advance,

    what peoples and nations they strike.

  8. أَهْونُ الأشياءِ في شِرعتِها

    أُمّةٌ تُمحى وشعبٌ يُلتَهمْ

    The most trivial thing under its law

    is a nation erased, a people devoured.

  9. هي من رُوحِ الدّهاقينَ الأُلى

    نشروا النُّورَ وطاحوا بالظُلَمْ

    It springs from the spirit of those magnates

    who spread the light and swept away darkness,

  10. أنقذوا العالمَ من أرزائه

    وأَذاقوه أفاويقَ النَّعمْ

    saved the world from its calamities,

    and gave it draughts of blessings,

  11. وأزالوا ما حَوَتْ أرجاؤُه

    للأوالي من قُبورٍ ورِمَمْ

    and removed what its far reaches held

    of the ancients' graves and crumbling remains.

  12. فإذا الدنيا جمالٌ يُجْتَنَى

    وإذا العيشُ سلامٌ يُغْتَنَمْ

    And behold, the world is beauty to be gathered,

    and life is peace to be enjoyed.

  13. زَيَّنوها قصةً ناعقةً

    زَيَّنتْ للنّاسِ مكروهَ الصَّمَمْ

    They embellished it as a croaking tale

    that made hateful deafness appealing to people.

  14. كشفَ التّجريبُ عن سَوْآتِها

    ومضَتْ عاريةً ما تَحتشِمْ

    Experience exposed its shameful parts,

    and it went on naked, without modesty.

  15. أفسدوا العالمَ مّما عَبثوا

    بالدساتيرِ القُدامى والنُّظُمْ

    They corrupted the world through their tampering

    with ancient constitutions and systems.

  16. نقضَ الأرسانَ واستنَّ العَمَى

    فهو يَمضي جامحاً أو يرتطِمْ

    It broke the halters, and blindness ran wild;

    so it charges on, unbridled, or crashes.

  17. سلبوه العقلَ ممّا عَربدوا

    وسَقَوهُ من خَبالٍ وَلمَمْ

    They robbed it of reason through their riotous excess,

    and made it drink derangement and madness.

  18. الحياةُ البَغيُ والدِّينُ الهَوى

    والضّعيفُ الخَصمُ والسّيفُ الحكمْ

    Life is oppression, and religion is whim;

    the weak are the enemy, and the sword the judge.

  19. زمنٌ تَصدُقُ إن سَمّيتَه

    زمنَ الطّاغوتِ أو عصرَ الصَّنَمْ

    An age—you speak truth if you call it

    the age of the tyrant, or the era of the idol.

  20. يا فلسطينُ اصطليها نكبةً

    هاجها للقومِ عَهدٌ مُضطرِمْ

    O Palestine, endure its scorching calamity,

    unleashed upon the people by a raging age.

  21. واشْهديهِ في حماهم مأتماً

    لو رَعَوْا للضَّعفِ حقَّاً لم يَقُمْ

    And witness it, beneath their protection, as a funeral

    that would not arise had they honored the rights of the weak.

  22. واشربي كأسَكِ ممّا عَصَرُوا

    من زُعافٍ جائلٍ في كلِّ فَمْ

    And drink your cup of what they squeezed

    from deadly poison swirling in every mouth.

  23. اذكري يومَكِ في أفيائهم

    وَدَعي الأمسَ فما يُغني النّدمْ

    Remember your present day beneath their shade,

    and leave yesterday: regret avails nothing.

  24. آيةٌ للبَغْيِ من أسمائها

    حِكمةُ الأقدارِ أو عَدلُ القِسَمْ

    A sign of oppression, whose names include

    the wisdom of fate, or the justice of allotted shares.

  25. اكشفيها غُمّةً ليس لها

    من كِفاءٍ غيرُ كشّافِ الغُمَمْ

    Dispel it—a gloom that has

    no match but the dispeller of glooms:

  26. الجهادُ الحرُّ يقضي حقَّه

    سُؤددُ العُربِ ويحميهِ العلَمْ

    free struggle, whose due is fulfilled

    by Arab glory, and which the banner protects.

  27. لا تنامِي للعوادي وادأبي

    واذهبي طامحةً في المُزدحَمْ

    Do not sleep in the face of onslaughts; persevere,

    and press forward, aspiring, into the throng.

  28. ليس بالمُدركِ حقّاً غافلٌ

    نامَ والأحداثُ يقظَى لم تَنَمْ

    No heedless person gains a right,

    sleeping while events stay wakeful, never asleep.

  29. في فؤادي جُرحُكِ الدّامي وفي

    كَبدي ما فيكِ من حُزنٍ وَهَمّْ

    In my heart is your bleeding wound, and in

    my liver, all your grief and care.

  30. كم صريعٍ لكِ في أشلائِه

    مَصرعُ القُربَى وأشلاءُ الرَّحِمْ

    How many lie slain for you, within whose torn limbs

    lie the death of relatives and the torn limbs of kin.

  31. فَجعوني فيهِ بابنٍ صالحٍ

    وأخٍ حُرِّ السّجايا وابنِ عَمّْ

    Through him they bereaved me of a virtuous son,

    and a brother of noble character, and a cousin.

  32. شهداءُ الحقِّ ماتوا دُونه

    وهو حيُّ العزِّ موفورُ الشَّمَمْ

    Martyrs of right died defending it,

    while it lives in honor, its proud spirit undiminished.

  33. واشتروه بنفوسٍ حُرّةٍ

    بذلوها من سَخاءٍ وكرمْ

    And they bought it with free souls,

    offered out of generosity and noble giving.

  34. نَهض المُلكُ على أمثالِها

    واستتبَّ الأمرُ فيه وانتظمْ

    Sovereignty rose upon souls such as these,

    and its rule grew firm and ordered.

  35. إن رسا البنيانُ يوماً أو سَمَا

    فَهِيَ الأركانُ فيه والدُّعُمْ

    If the edifice ever stood firm or rose high,

    they were its pillars and its supports.

  36. ذهبوا للشرقِ في مأتمهم

    مَرَحُ الخالي وبِشرُ المُبتَسِمْ

    They departed; at their funeral, the East had

    the mirth of the carefree and the cheer of the smiling.

  37. سرّه أن هبَّ من أبنائِه

    قُضُبُ الهند وآسادُ الأَجَمْ

    It rejoiced that from its sons arose

    Indian swords and lions of the thickets.

  38. وانتضى من بين جَنبيْهِ الأسَى

    ما انتضى العُدوانُ من تلك الهِمَمْ

    And sorrow unsheathed from between its ribs

    what aggression had unsheathed from those resolves.

  39. هِمَمُ الأحرارِ تحمِي وَطناً

    عربيّاً سِيمَ خَسفاً وظُلِمْ

    The resolve of free people defends a homeland,

    an Arab one, subjected to humiliation and wrong.

  40. بَاعَهُ ذئبٌ لذئبٍ غِيلةً

    فهو للذّئْبَينِ نَهْبٌ مُقْتَسَمْ

    A wolf sold it to a wolf by treachery;

    it is plunder divided between the two wolves.

  41. تُنزَعُ الأرزاقُ من أبنائهِ

    وتُسَلُّ الأرضُ من فرط النَّهَمْ

    Its children's livelihoods are snatched away,

    and the land is wrested away through excessive greed.

  42. يُرهَقُ القومُ فإن هم غضبوا

    راحتِ الأرواحُ منهم تُخْتَرمْ

    The people are oppressed; if they grow angry,

    their lives begin to be cut short.

  43. أَخَذتهم للأذى عاصفةٌ

    هاجها البغيُ فهبّت من أَمَمْ

    A storm seized them to torment them,

    roused by oppression, blowing from close at hand.

  44. وارتمت هوجاءَ ما يردعُها

    فاجعُ الثُّكلِ ولا عادي اليَتَمْ

    It hurled itself wildly, unrestrained

    by grievous loss of children or ravaging orphanhood.

  45. عصفت ظمآى إلى آجالهم

    فتروَّت من شبابٍ وهَرَمْ

    It swept, thirsting for their appointed deaths,

    and quenched its thirst on young and old.

  46. وأراها من تَلظِّي جوفِها

    تتداعَى كالشُّواظِ المُحتدِمْ

    And I see it, with its belly blazing,

    surging like a raging flame,

  47. تتمنَّى من تباريحِ الصَّدَى

    لو يكون الدَّمُ كالبحرِ الخِضَمْ

    wishing, in the agonies of thirst,

    that blood might be like the vast sea.

  48. شعبَ إسرائيلَ ما بالُ الأُلىَ

    حفظوا العهدَ وبَرُّوا بالقَسَمْ

    People of Israel, what of those who

    kept their pledge and honored their oath?

  49. ذكروكم ونَسَوْا ما عَقَدوا

    لِسواكُمْ من عُهودٍ وذِمَمْ

    They remembered you and forgot the commitments they made

    to others: pledges and covenants.

  50. اذكروا بُلفورَ في تلمودكم

    واغفروا اليومَ لعيسَى ما اجترمْ

    Remember Balfour in your Talmud,

    and forgive Jesus today for what he did wrong.

  51. واسْألوا مُوسَى أَطابت نفسُه

    أمْ أَبَى ما كان منكم فَنَقِمْ

    And ask Moses: was his soul content,

    or did he reject your deeds and feel wrath?

  52. ليس من مالَ عن الحقِّ كمن

    جعل الحقَّ سبيلاً يُلتزَمْ

    One who turns away from right is not like one

    who makes right a path to be followed.

  53. هدم التّيهُ قديماً مُلكَكم

    فبنى بلفورُ منه ما هَدمْ

    Wandering destroyed your kingdom long ago;

    then Balfour rebuilt what it had destroyed.

  54. أبَتِ الأرضُ فكنتم شَعَثاً

    طائراً في كل وادٍ ما يُلَمّْ

    The earth refused you, so you became scattered fragments,

    flying through every valley, never gathered.

  55. فرمى أشتاتكم في وطنٍ

    راعه منكم بشعبٍ مُلتئِمْ

    Then he hurled your scattered groups into a homeland,

    which he terrified with a united people drawn from you.

  56. نَبِّئوا الغرقَى وإن لم يسمعوا

    أهُوَ الطُّوفانُ أم سَيْلُ العَرِمْ

    Tell the drowned, though they do not hear:

    is it the Deluge, or the flood of al-ʿArim?

  57. مصرُ ناجِي من فِلسطينَ الرُّبَى

    وابْعثي صوتَكِ من أعلى الهَرمْ

    Egypt, speak in confidence to the hills of Palestine,

    and send your voice from the summit of the pyramid.

  58. وإذا أعوز هَمٌّ أو أسىً

    فاستمدِّي الهمَّ من هذا القَلمْ

    And if grief or sorrow is lacking,

    draw grief from this pen.

  59. وخُذِي مَعْنَى الأَسَى عَنْهُ فما

    لكِ من مَعناه إلا ما نَظمْ

    And take from it the meaning of sorrow; for

    you have of that meaning only what it has put into verse.

  60. نَبِّئيها أنّنا من وجدِها

    نجد العَلْقَمَ في العذبِ الشَّبِمْ

    Tell her that, because of her anguish,

    we find bitter colocynth in sweet, cool water.

  61. نشتكي الليلَ ويرمينا الأَسى

    إن مضى الليلُ بِصُبحٍ مُدْلهِمّْ

    We lament the night, and sorrow strikes us,

    when night has passed, with a pitch-dark morning.

  62. فكأنّا منهما في مُلتَقى

    نكبةٍ تَطغَى وأُخرى تَستجِمّْ

    So it is as though, between the two, we are at the meeting

    of one calamity raging and another regaining strength.

  63. أختُكِ الوَلْهى عَنَاها شجوُها

    وَدَهَى أبناءَها الخطبُ المِلَمّْ

    Your distraught sister is afflicted by her sorrow,

    and the descending calamity has ravaged her children.

  64. فزعتْ تدعوكِ في مِحنتِها

    مصرُ جلَّ الخطبُ هُبِّي لا جَرَمْ

    She rushed to call you in her ordeal:

    Egypt, the calamity is grave—rise up, without fail!

  65. اذكريني أدركيني خَفِّفِي

    ألمِي بُوركتِ من أُختٍ وأُمّْ

    Remember me, rescue me, ease

    my pain—blessed are you as sister and mother!

  66. هَدَّ قومي باسْمِ مُوسَى ظالمٌ

    لو رأَى في القومِ موسى ما رَحِمْ

    A tyrant shattered my people in Moses' name,

    who would show no mercy if he saw Moses among them.

  67. زَعَم التوراةَ من أنصاره

    فهي تشكو خطبَها مّما زعَمْ

    He claimed the Torah was among his supporters,

    so it laments its plight at what he claimed.

  68. هل رأى الألواحَ فاستهدَى بما

    جاءَ فيها مِن عظاتٍ وحِكَمْ

    Has he seen the Tablets and sought guidance in what

    they contain of admonitions and wisdom?

  69. أم تلقَّى الوحيَ أم كان امرأً

    جَهِلَ النّاسُ جميعاً وعَلِمْ

    Or has he received revelation, or was he a man

    who knew while all the people were ignorant?

  70. ربِّ هل قدّرتَ ألا ينجلي

    ما أصابَ الشرْقَ من خطبٍ عَممْ

    Lord, have You decreed that it shall not lift—

    the sweeping calamity that has struck the East?

  71. عاث فيه القومُ حتّى مَالَهُ

    حُرمةٌ تُرعَى وحقٌّ يُحتَرمْ

    Those people ravaged it, until it had no

    sanctity to be observed, no right to be respected.

  72. اكشفِ البأساءَ وارحم أُمماً

    تتلوَّى من مَلالٍ وسَأَمْ

    Lift the misery, and have mercy on nations

    writhing in tedium and weariness.

  73. عَمِلَ النّاسُ فسادوا وعَلَوْا

    وَهْيَ فوضَى من عبيدٍ وخَدمْ

    People worked, and so attained mastery and rose,

    while these are a disorderly mass of slaves and servants.

  74. تَحمِلُ الضَّيمَ ولولا أنّها

    تَحسَبُ الموتَ حياةً لم تُضَمْ

    They bear humiliation; were it not that they

    count death as life, they would not be oppressed.

  75. ما لنا من هذه الدُّنيا سِوَى

    غارةِ العادِي وعَسفِ المُحتكِمْ

    We have nothing from this world but

    the aggressor's raids and the ruler's tyranny.

  76. ساءَنا من شرَّها ما نجتوى

    وعَنانا من أذاها ما نَذُمّْ

    We are grieved by the evils in it that we loathe,

    and afflicted by the harm in it that we condemn.

  77. فسئِمناها حياةً مُرَّةً

    ومللناهُ وُجوداً كالعَدمْ

    So we grew sick of it, a bitter life,

    and weary of it, an existence like nothingness.

  78. رَبِّ أنتَ العونُ إن طاف بنا

    طائفُ البَغْيِ وأنت المُنتقِمْ

    Lord, You are our help if around us circles

    the specter of oppression, and You are the Avenger.

  79. من يُجيرُ القومَ إن صَبَّحَهم

    خطبُ عادٍ وثمودٍ في القِدَمْ

    Who will shelter the people if there befalls them at dawn

    the calamity of ʿAd and Thamud of old?

  80. لا يَغُرَّنَ قويّاً جُندُه

    قُوّةٌ صَرْعَى وجُندٌ مُنهزِمْ

    Let no mighty man be deceived by his army:

    strength lies fallen, and an army routed.