تغامر في الأمور تظن قصدا

وأنت مع الأمور على اضطرار

You venture into affairs, believing you act by choice,

yet in those affairs you are under compulsion.

إذا فاتتك قلت اختار دهري

وإن هي لم تفت قلت اختياري

When they elude you, you say, 'My fate made the choice';

and if they do not elude you, you say, 'It was my choice.'

وقد تجرى سعود او نحوس

وليس سوى قضاء الله جاري

And good fortune or ill may come to pass,

yet nothing comes to pass but God's decree.

ارى طوفان هذا الغرب يطغى

واهل الشرق سادتهم نيام

I see the flood of this West overflowing its bounds,

and the people of the East—their rulers are asleep.

فإن لم يأتنا نوح بفلك

على الإسلام والشرق السلام

So if Noah does not come to us with an ark,

then farewell to Islam and the East.