إِنَّما نِعمَةَ دُنيا مُتعَةً

إِنَّما نِعمَةَ دُنيا مُتعَةً

وَحياةُ المَرءِ ثَوبٌ مُستَعار

وَحياةُ المَرءِ ثَوبٌ مُستَعار

This world's blessing is but a passing pleasure.

The joys of this world are but a borrowed delight,

The bounty of this world is merely a fleeting pleasure,

And a person's life is a borrowed garment.

And a man's life a garment taken on loan.

And the life of man is a borrowed garment.

وَصُروفُ الدَهرِ في أَطباقِهِ

وَصُروفُ الدَهرِ في أَطباقِهِ

حَلقَةٌ فيها إرتِفاعٌ وَانحِدار

حَلقَةٌ فيها إرتِفاعٌ وَانحِدار

And time's vicissitudes, in its layers,

The vicissitudes of Fate revolve in their turns,

The vicissitudes of time, in their unfolding layers,

form a circle of ascent and descent.

Rising and falling in ceaseless rounds.

Are a cycle of ascent and descent.

بَينَما الإِنسانُ في عليائِها

بَينَما الإِنسانُ في عليائِها

إِذ هَوى في هُوّةً مِنها فَغار

إِذ هَوى في هُوّةً مِنها فَغار

While a person is at its heights,

While man in his heyday of glory and might,

For while man stands at the very summit,

suddenly he plunges into a chasm within it and sinks from sight.

Is flung into an abyss from which he is gone.

He suddenly plunges into an abyss and vanishes.