ضج الحجاز وضج البيت والحرم — Ahmed Shawqi

ضَجَّ الحِجازُ وَضَجَّ البَيتُ وَالحَرَمُ

وَاِستَصرَخَت رَبَّها في مَكَّةَ الأُمَمُ

The Hijaz cried out, and the House and the Sanctuary cried out.

In Mecca, the nations cried to their Lord for help.

قَد مَسَّها في حِماكَ الضُرُّ فَاِقضِ لَها

خَليفَةَ اللَهِ أَنتَ السَيِّدُ الحَكَمُ

Harm has afflicted them under your protection; judge their cause.

O Caliph of God, you are the master and arbiter.

لَكَ الرُبوعُ الَّتي ريعَ الحَجيجُ بِها

أَلِلشَريفِ عَلَيها أَم لَكَ العَلَمُ

Yours are the lands where the pilgrims were terrorized;

is the banner over them the Sharif's, or yours?

أُهينَ فيها ضُيوفُ اللَهِ وَاِضطُهِدوا

إِن أَنتَ لَم تَنتَقِم فَاللَهُ مُنتَقِمُ

God's guests were humiliated there and persecuted.

If you do not take vengeance, God will.

أَفي الضُحى وَعُيونُ الجُندِ ناظِرَةٌ

تُسبى النِساءُ وَيُؤذى الأَهلُ وَالحَشَمُ

In broad daylight, with the soldiers' eyes looking on,

are women taken captive, and families and retainers harmed?

وَيُسفِكُ الدَمُ في أَرضٍ مُقَدَّسَةٍ

وَتُستَباحُ بِها الأَعراضُ وَالحُرَمُ

And is blood shed on sacred ground,

and are honor and womenfolk violated there?

يَدُ الشَريفِ عَلى أَيدي الوُلاةِ عَلَت

وَنَعلُهُ دونَ رُكنِ البَيتِ تُستَلَمُ

The Sharif's hand has risen above the governors' hands,

and his sandal is touched in reverence instead of the House's Corner.

نَيرونُ إِن قيسَ في بابِ الطُغاةِ بِهِ

مُبالَغٌ فيهِ وَالحَجّاجُ مُتَّهَمُ

Nero, if compared with him among tyrants,

is overrated, and al-Hajjaj wrongly accused.

أَدِّبهُ أَدِّب أَميرَ المُؤمِنينَ فَما

في العَفوِ عَن فاسِقٍ فَضلٌ وَلا كَرَمُ

Chastise him, chastise him, Commander of the Faithful, for

there is neither virtue nor generosity in pardoning a sinner.

لا تَرجُ فيهِ وَقاراً لِلرَسولِ فَما

بَينَ البُغاةِ وَبَينَ المُصطَفى رَحِمُ

Do not expect him to revere the Messenger, for

there is no kinship between rebels and the Chosen One.

اِبنُ الرَسولِ فَتىً فيهِ شَمائِلُهُ

وَفيهِ نَخوَتُهُ وَالعَهدُ وَالشَمَمُ

The Messenger's son is a youth who bears his traits,

and in him are his chivalry, fidelity, and proud dignity.

ما كانَ طَهَ لِرَهطِ الفاسِقينَ أَباً

آلَ النَبِيِّ بِأَعلامِ الهُدى خُتِموا

Taha was no father to a band of sinners;

the Prophet's kin are stamped with the signs of guidance.

خَليفَةَ اللَهِ شَكوى المُسلِمينَ رَقَت

لِسُدَّةِ اللَهِ هَل تَرقى لَكَ الكَلِمُ

O Caliph of God, the Muslims' complaint has risen

to God's threshold; will these words reach you?

الحَجُّ رُكنٌ مِنَ الإِسلامِ نُكبِرُهُ

وَاليَومَ يوشِكُ هَذا الرُكنُ يَنهَدِمُ

The pilgrimage is a pillar of Islam that we revere,

and today this pillar is close to collapse

مِنَ الشَريفِ وَمِن أَعوانِهِ فَعَلَت

نُعمى الزِيادَةِ ما لا تَفعَلُ النِقَمُ

at the hands of the Sharif and his helpers; there has been wrought

by the blessing of increase what calamities cannot wreak.

عَزَّ السَبيلُ إِلى طَهَ وَتُربَتِهِ

فَمَن أَرادَ سَبيلاً فَالطَريقُ دَمُ

The way to Taha and his tomb has grown difficult;

whoever seeks a way—the road is blood.

مُحَمَّدٌ رُوِّعتَ في القَبرِ أَعظَمُهُ

وَباتَ مُستَأمَناً في قَومِهِ الصَنَمُّ

Muhammad—his bones were terrified in the grave,

while the idol passed the night secure among his people.

وَخانَ عَونُ الرَفيقِ العَهدَ في بَلَدٍ

مِنهُ العُهودُ أَتَت لِلناسِ وَالذِمَمُ

Awn al-Rafiq betrayed the covenant in a land

from which covenants and pledges of protection came to humankind.

قَد سالَ بِالدَمِ مِن ذَبحٍ وَمِن بَشَرٍ

وَاِحمَرَّ فيهِ الحِمى وَالأَشهُرُ الحُرُمُ

It has run with the blood of slaughtered beasts and men,

and within it the sanctuary and the sacred months have turned red.

وَفُزِّعَت في الخُدورِ الساعِياتُ لَهُ

الداعِياتُ وَقُربُ اللَهِ مُغتَنَمُ

Women striving toward Him were terrified in their curtained chambers,

women at prayer, when nearness to God is a prize.

آبَت ثَكالى أَيامى بَعدَ ما أَخَذَت

مِن حَولِهِنَّ النَوى وَالأَينُقُ الرَسُمُ

They returned bereaved and widowed, after

distance and swift-striding she-camels had sapped their strength.

حُرِمنَ أَنوارَ خَيرِ الخَلقِ مِن كَثَبٍ

فَدَمعُهُنَّ مِنَ الحِرمانِ مُنسَجِمُ

They were denied the radiance of the best of creation at close hand,

and their tears stream down from that deprivation.

أَيُّ الصَغائِرِ في الإِسلامِ فاشِيَةً

تودى بِأَيسَرِها الدَولاتُ وَالأُمَمُ

What petty sins are these, rampant in Islam,

when the slightest of them brings down states and nations?

يَجيشُ صَدري وَلا يَجري بِها قَلَمي

وَلَو جَرى لَبَكى وَاِستَضحَكَ القَلَمُ

My breast seethes, yet my pen will not write of them;

were it to write, the pen would weep and burst into laughter.

أَغضَيتُ ضَنّاً بِعِرضي أَن أَلَمَّ بِهِ

وَقَد يَروقُ العَمى لِلحُرِّ وَالصَمَمِ

I looked away, guarding my honor from broaching it;

for blindness and deafness may appeal to the freeborn.

مَوِّه عَلى الناسِ أَو غالِطهُمُ عَبَثاً

فَلَيسَ تَكتُمُهُم ما لَيسَ يَنكَتِمُ

Cloak it from the people, or vainly mislead them—

for you cannot hide from them what cannot be concealed.

مِنَ الزِيادَةِ في البَلوى وَإِن عَظُمَت

أَن يَعلَمَ الشامِتونَ اليَومَ ما عَلِموا

What adds to the calamity, however great,

is that the gloaters know today what they have learned.

كُلُّ الجِراحِ بِآلامٍ فَما لَمَسَت

يَدُ العَدُوِّ فَثَمَّ الجُرحُ وَالأَلَمُ

All wounds have their pains; but whatever is touched

by the enemy's hand—there lie the wound and the pain.

وَالمَوتُ أَهوَنُ مِنها وَهيَ دامِيَةٌ

إِذا أَساها لِسانٌ لِلعِدى وَفَمُ

Death is easier than those wounds while they bleed,

when an enemy's tongue and mouth tend them.

رَبَّ الجَزيرَةِ أَدرِكها فَقَد عَبَثَت

بِها الذِئابُ وَضَلَّ الراعِيَ الغَنَمُ

Lord of the Peninsula, rescue it, for it has been ravaged

by wolves, and the flock has lost its shepherd.

إِنَّ الَّذينَ تَوَلَّوا أَمرَها ظَلَموا

وَالظُلمُ تَصحَبُهُ الأَهوالُ وَالظُلَمُ

Those who have taken charge of its affairs have acted unjustly,

and injustice is attended by terrors and darkness.

في كُلِّ يَومٍ قِتالٌ تَقشَعِرُّ لَهُ

وَفِتنَةٌ في رُبوعِ اللَهِ تَضطَرِمُ

Every day brings fighting that makes one shudder,

and strife blazing in the domains of God.

أَزرى الشَريفُ وَأَحزابُ الشَريفِ بِها

وَقَسَّموها كَإِرثِ المَيتِ وَاِنقَسَموا

The Sharif and his factions have brought it low,

dividing it like a dead man's inheritance, and splitting apart themselves.

لا تُجزِهِم عَنكَ حُلماً وَاِجزِهِم عَنَتاً

في الحِلمِ ما يَسَمُ الأَفعالَ أَو يَصِمِ

Do not requite them with your forbearance; requite them with hardship.

Forbearance may distinguish deeds—or disgrace them.

كَفى الجَزيرَةَ ما جَرّوا لَها سَفَهاً

وَما يُحاوِلُ مِن أَطرافِها العَجَمُ

The Peninsula has had enough of what they have brought upon it in folly,

and what foreigners attempt along its borders.

تِلكَ الثُغورُ عَلَيها وَهيَ زينَتُها

مَناهِلٌ عَذُبَت لِلقَومِ فَاِزدَحَموا

Those ports upon its coast, its very adornment,

are watering places sweet to those people, who have crowded in.

في كُلِّ لُجٍّ حَوالَيها لَهُم سُفُنٌ

وَفَوقَ كُلِّ مَكانٍ يابِسٍ قَدَمُ

In every deep sea around it they have ships,

and on every patch of dry land, a foot.

والاهُمُ أُمَراءُ السوءِ وَاِتَّفَقوا

مَعَ العُداةِ عَلَيها فَالعُداةُ هُمُ

Wicked princes have allied with them and conspired

with the enemies against it; they themselves are the enemies.

فَجَرِّدِ السَيفَ في وَقتٍ يُفيدُ بِهِ

فَإِنَّ لِلسَيفِ يَوماً ثُمَّ يَنصَرِمُ

So draw the sword at a time when it can avail,

for the sword has its day, and then it passes.