ما المرءُ إلاّ بمقلوبِ اسمِهِ رجلٌ

ما المرءُ إلاّ بمقلوبِ اسمِهِ رجلٌ

بالفارسيَّةِ فافهمْ أيُّها الرجلُ

بالفارسيَّةِ فافهمْ أيُّها الرجلُ

A man is a man only through the reverse of his name,

Man is but the reverse of his name, O man, understand this in Persian

in Persian—so understand, O man.

If his name lacks what I have encoded in it

فإن يكنْ خالياً ممَّا رَمَزْتُ بهِ

فإن يكنْ خالياً ممَّا رَمَزْتُ بهِ

بضمِّ ميمِ اسمِهِ قد جاءهُ الأجلُ

بضمِّ ميمِ اسمِهِ قد جاءهُ الأجلُ

For if he is devoid of what I hinted at,

By adding the letter 'meem' to his name, his time of death has come

with a ḍamma on his name’s mīm, his appointed end has come.