1. إليك أبا سُفيانَ لا الوعدُ صادقٌ

    ولا أنت ذو جِدٍّ ولا القومُ أبطالُ

    Away with you, Abu Sufyan: the promise is not true,

    Nor are you a man of resolve, nor are the men heroes.

  2. أتاك ابنُ مسعودٍ بأنباءِ يثربٍ

    فما تنقضي منكم همومٌ وأوجال

    Ibn Mas'ud came to you with news of Yathrib,

    So worries and fears never leave you.

  3. لكم عند بدرٍ في لواء محمدٍ

    خطوبٌ تَرامَى بالنّفوسِ وأهوال

    At Badr, beneath Muhammad's banner, you face

    Calamities that fling souls about, and terrors.

  4. هنالك قومٌ يا ابن حربٍ كأنّهم

    إذا عَصفتْ ريحُ الكريهةِ أغوال

    There are men, O Ibn Harb, who seem,

    When the wind of battle rages, like ghouls:

  5. جُنودٌ عليها من عليٍّ مُظَّفرٌ

    لدى الرَّوْعِ جيّاش على الهَوْلِ جَوّالُ

    Troops with victorious Ali at their head,

    Surging amid terror, ever-ranging through peril.

  6. دَع المرءَ يذهبْ بالأباطيلِ مُرجِفاً

    وَعِدْهُ جزاء الإفكِ لا حبّذا المال

    Let the man go sowing alarm with falsehoods,

    And promise him the wage of falsehood—what vile money!

  7. تَردّدَ يخشى منك شِيمَة مُخلِفٍ

    يقولُ فلا وَعدٌ وَفِيٌّ ولا قال

    He hesitated, fearing in you the nature of a promise-breaker

    Who speaks, yet neither promise nor word is faithful.

  8. تمسَّك من قولِ ابن عمروٍ بمَوْثِقٍ

    وطارت به في الجو هوجاء مجفال

    He clung to a pledge in Ibn Amr's words,

    And a headlong, skittish mount flew with him through the air.

  9. مضى يصف الكفار وصف مهول

    يقولُ جموعٌ ما تُعَدُّ وأرسال

    He went on describing the unbelievers in terrifying terms,

    Saying, “Uncountable hosts, and bands upon bands.”

  10. فما وجفت تلك القلوبُ ولم تكن

    كأخرى لها من هَدَّةِ الرُّعبِ زلزال

    Yet those hearts did not tremble, nor were they

    Like others, quaking beneath the crash of terror.

  11. رِجالٌ رسا الإيمانُ مِلءَ نُفوسهم

    فلا الجبنُ مَنجاةٌ ولا البأسُ قَتَّال

    Men whose souls were filled with firmly anchored faith;

    For cowardice does not save, nor does valor kill.

  12. ولا الموتُ مكروهٌ على العزِّ وِردُه

    ولا العيشُ مورودٌ إذا خِيفَ إذلال

    Nor is death's draught unwelcome when taken with honor,

    Nor is life's spring sought when humiliation is feared.

  13. تَداعَوْا فقالوا حسبُنا اللهُ إنّه

    لِما شاءَ من نصرِ الهُداةِ لَفعّال

    They called to one another and said, “God suffices us; He

    Surely brings about whatever victory He wills for the guides.”

  14. وأرسلها الصِّدِّيقُ دِيمةَ حِكمةٍ

    لها من فمِ الفاروقِ سَحٌّ وتَهطال

    And al-Siddiq sent it forth, a steady rain of wisdom,

    From al-Faruq's mouth it poured in torrents:

  15. محمدُ إنّ اللّهَ ناصرُ دينِهِ

    ومُظهِرهُ والحقُّ أقطعُ فَصّال

    “Muhammad, God will surely uphold His religion

    And make it prevail; truth is the sharpest, most decisive arbiter.

  16. لهم مَوعِدٌ لا بدّ منه ومَورِدٌ

    من الحتفِ تغشاهُ نفوسٌ وآجال

    They have an inescapable appointment, and a watering-place

    Of death, where souls and appointed ends converge.

  17. عَزيزٌ علينا أن تكونَ مَقالةً

    يُردّدُها قومٌ مَهاذيرُ جُهَّالُ

    It is galling to us that there should be a saying

    Repeated by ignorant, babbling men,

  18. يقولون لولا الخوفُ منّا لأقبلوا

    وإنَّا لإقدامٌ حثيثٌ وإقبال

    Who say, ‘Had they not feared us, they would have come,’

    Yet ours is indeed swift, bold advance and forward movement.”

  19. وخفَّ أبو سُفيانَ يكذبُ نفسَهُ

    ويُشهِدُها من خيفةٍ كيف يحتال

    And Abu Sufyan hastened, belying himself,

    And made his own soul witness how he schemed out of fear.

  20. يقول وقد وافى الرجالُ مَجنَّةً

    أيا قومنا مهلاً فإنّا لَضُلّال

    He said, when the men had reached Majannah,

    “O our people, hold back, for we are surely astray.

  21. أيا قومنا إنّا نرى العامَ مُجدِباً

    وشرُّ عَتادِ الحربِ حَدبُ وإمحال

    O our people, we see this year is barren,

    And the worst provision for war is drought and dearth.

  22. فعودوا إلى عامٍ من الخصبِ صالحٍ

    ولا تقربوا الهيجاءَ فالقومُ أصلال

    So return in a favorable year of plenty,

    And do not approach battle, for those men are vipers.”

  23. تَقّدمَ جيشُ اللّهِ وارتدَّ جيشُهم

    وما فيه أكفاءٌ تُهابُ وأمثال

    God's army advanced, and their army fell back,

    And in it were no fearsome equals or peers.

  24. وأين من الصّيدِ المصاليتِ معشرٌ

    لهم من مواليهم لدى البأسِ خُذّالُ

    And how can proud, intrepid warriors be matched by men

    Whose own allies desert them when battle comes?

  25. لبئس الموالي ما تَزالُ تغرّهم

    ظنونٌ كأحلامِ النّيامِ وآمال

    Wretched allies indeed! They are still deceived

    By fancies like sleepers' dreams, and hopes.

  26. ألا إنَّها الدنيا أُعِيدَ بناؤها

    وَصِيغَ لها رسمٌ جديدٌ وتمثال

    Behold the world: its edifice has been rebuilt,

    And a new design and image have been fashioned for it.

  27. فلا شأنُها الشأنُ الذي كان يرتضِي

    بَنُوها الأُلى بادوا ولا حالُها الحال

    So its ways are not the ways once approved

    By its sons who perished, nor is its condition as before.

  28. عفا السّالفُ المغبَرُّ من سيِّئاتها

    فتلك بقاياها قبورٌ وأطلال

    Its dust-covered past of misdeeds has faded away;

    So those are its remnants: graves and ruins.

  29. أتبقى قلوبُ النّاسِ في ظُلماتها

    تَظاهرُ أكنانٌ عليها وأقفال

    Shall people's hearts remain in its darkness,

    While coverings and locks reinforce one another over them?

  30. هو النّورُ نورُ اللّهِ يملأُ أرضَه

    فتلقَى الهُدى فيه عصورٌ وأجيال

    It is the light—God's light—that fills His earth,

    So ages and generations find guidance in it.

  31. أتى مطلقُ الأسرى يُحرِّرُ أنفساً

    لها من سجاياها قيودٌ وأغلال

    The liberator of captives has come, freeing souls

    Whose own dispositions are their fetters and shackles.