1. أَلَستُم بِتَدليس الفِراء عُرفتمُ

    وَذَلك ظلم لَيسَ يَعدله ظُلم

    Are you not known for disguising the defects of furs?

    That is an injustice no other injustice can equal.

  2. تَبيعونَها مِن جاهلين بِأَمرِها

    مَزوقة مَحسومة مالَها رَسم

    You sell them to people ignorant of their true condition,

    ornamented and shorn, with no shape to them.

  3. تَقعقع مثل الشَق فَوقَ جُسومهم

    فَلَيسَ بِها في البَرد يَنتَفع الجسم

    They clatter like ornaments over their bodies,

    yet in the cold the body gains no benefit from them.

  4. وَتَمتد إِمّا مَسها بَعض نَدوة

    وَإِن مَسَها شَيءٌ مِن الحر تَنضم

    They stretch whenever a little dampness touches them,

    and if any heat touches them, they contract.

  5. فَإِن قَعَدوا تَنفخ لَهُم في وجوههم

    كَأَكيار حداد إِذا اِشتَعل الفَحم

    When their wearers sit, they billow into their faces,

    like a blacksmith’s bellows when the charcoal catches fire.

  6. فَهُن إِذا ما البردُ صالَت جُيوشَه

    سِواءٌ عَلى مَن يَستتر بِهِ وَالعَدم

    When the armies of cold come charging, these furs

    are, to anyone sheltering in them, the same as nothing.

  7. تَبيعونَها بِالربح نَقداً وَأَنتُم

    إِلى أَمد اِبتَعتموها وَذا غشم

    You sell them for ready cash at a profit, though you

    bought them on deferred payment—and that is oppression.

  8. وَيَنفَعُ بَعض بَعضكم في شِرائها

    وَفاعل ذا بِالشَيخ اِبليسَ يأتم

    Some of you assist others of you in purchasing them,

    and whoever does so takes Sheikh Iblis as his imam.

  9. وَإِن جازَ وَالمُضطَر وَافق غالِباً

    وَيَقصرُ عَن إِدراك غال فَيغتم

    Even if the bargain goes through and the desperate buyer usually agrees,

    he cannot afford anything costly, and so he grieves.

  10. فَيبتاع ما لا خَيرَ فيهِ وَقَد رَأى

    لِفَرط اِضطِرار أَن ما اِبتاعَهُ غُنم

    Thus he buys what has no good in it, having come to regard,

    through sheer necessity, what he bought as a gain.

  11. وَماذا عَسى المُضطر يَصنَعه وَقَد

    تَمعر مِنهُ الوَجه وَانقعر الجسم

    What can the desperate man possibly do when

    his face has grown pinched and his body hollowed out?

  12. مُزابنة تَفضي إِلى غاية الربا

    وَذَلك ثلم بالديانة بَل خرم

    It is muzābanah, leading to the furthest extreme of usury;

    that is a breach in religion—indeed, a rupture.

  13. وَمَن يك ربحُ السوء أُسّاً لماله

    وَيَبنِ عَلَيهِ فَالَّذي فَعل الهَدم

    Whoever makes wicked profit the foundation of his wealth

    and builds upon it—what he has wrought is demolition.