إليك صبت أفيدتنا ولاها

أيا اللَه غيرك يا إلاها

To You our hearts have inclined in ardent love.

O God, none but You, O Deity.

عظمت عن التبعض والتساوي

وأن تحكي لشيء أو تضاهى

You are exalted above division and equality,

above resembling anything or being matched.

فشيء ليس كالأشياء أنت ال

إله فلن تضادد أو تباهى

You are a thing unlike other things—the

God who can neither be opposed nor rivaled.

خلقت الشيء لا من شي لكن

بك المعدوم موجودٌ تناهى

You created things, not from anything; rather,

through You the nonexistent became existent, fully formed.

إذا ما قلت للأشياء كوني

فكانت ما لها عرض ثناها

Whenever You said to things, “Be,”

they were, with no obstacle to turn them back.

ولست لها بمحتاجٍ ولكن

تريها كيف قدرة من براها

You have no need of them; rather,

You show them the power of the One who made them.

فكنت ولا مكاناً منك خال

ولم توجد بأمكنةٍ شفاها

You existed, and no place was empty of You,

nor were You situated within the bounds of places.

خلت على مشيئتك البرايا

فكانت وهي منك كما تشاها

Creatures came to pass according to Your will,

and were, from You, just as You willed them.

وكونت العقول لها دليلاً

ضلالتها بها وبها هداها

You fashioned minds to guide them:

through them comes their error, and through them their guidance.

بعثت الرسل إنذاراً وبشراً

لها وبها فقد وقع ابتلاها

You sent messengers with warning and glad tidings

to them; through these their testing came about.

وعلمك سابق فيها عليها

سعادتها أتيحت أو شقاها

Your knowledge precedes them and all that befalls them,

whether happiness is allotted them or misery.

شهدت بأنك اللهم فرد

شهادة مخلصٍ لك في أداها

I testify, O God, that You are One,

with the testimony of one sincere to You in giving it.

وكل سواك معبود ضلال

وبئس بعابد أشيا يراها

Worship of anything besides You is error,

and wretched is one who worships things he sees.

وإن محمداً لك فهو عبد

رسولٍ والرسالة قد فشاها

Muhammad indeed is Your servant,

a messenger who has spread the message.

صلاتك والسلام عليه لطفاً

وعمت آله الغرر النباها

May Your blessings and peace be upon him in kindness,

and encompass his illustrious, noble family.

وبعد فقد لجأت إليك ربي

وبي علل فهب كرماً دواها

Now I have sought refuge in You, my Lord,

afflicted with ailments: generously grant their cure.

ذنوب يا لها عظمت فخفت

لها الأجبال وزناً واشتاها

Sins—how immense they are! Light have become

the mountains beside their weight, which surpasses them.

ولو تجرى على بحر لأضحى

كأن ما كان بحراً من لظاها

Were they to flow upon a sea, it would become

as though it had never been a sea, from their blaze.

وإن نشرت بكل الأرض أصمت

روائحها الخلائق من خناها

Were they spread throughout the earth, they would deafen

all creatures with the odors of their foulness.

وراج منك يا مولاي عفواً

يمحي العمد منها أو خطاها

I hope for pardon from You, my Master,

that effaces their deliberate wrongs and mistakes.

مقدرةً علي بلا اختيارٍ

ومن كتبت عليه خطىً خطاها

They were decreed upon me, without choice;

whoever has steps decreed upon him takes them.

ومن نفسي إليك اللَه شاكٍ

أغالبها فيغلبني هواها

To You, God, I complain of my own soul:

I struggle against it, but its desire overpowers me.

ومن ظلم فإن النفس أصل

ولذتها تكون بمنتشاها

As for wrongdoing, the soul is its source,

and finds its pleasure in what exhilarates it.

وفيها الحادث الإيمان مهما

إليه وقفت قد بلغت مناها

Within it faith newly arises; whenever

it stands firm in faith, it has attained its desire.

قني يا رب لطفاً شح نفسي

ورضها في رضاك يكن رضاها

Protect me kindly, Lord, from my soul's greed,

and train it in Your pleasure, so that this becomes its pleasure.

بباب العفو أو قفني رجاء

وذي كفي فقد بسطت وعاها

At the gate of pardon, station me in hope;

here is my palm: I have spread out its hollow.

ومهما حاجة وصلت كريماً

وطالبه مؤملها قضاها

Whenever a need reaches a generous man,

and its hopeful bearer asks him, he fulfills it.

وإن لجأ المسيء بجنب لاجٍ

وناشده محا جرمٍ محاها

If a sinner seeks shelter beside one seeking refuge,

and begs him to erase a crime, he erases it.

وأنت اللَه ذي كرمٍ كثيفٍ

وخلقك منك آملةٌ رجاها

You, God, possess abundant generosity,

and Your creatures hope for their hopes' fulfillment from You.

وأنت بها الرؤوف وإن أساءت

فلطفك للأسى فيها أساها

You are compassionate toward them, though they do wrong;

Your kindness is their remedy for sorrow.

وتمهل في الذنوب بلا اهتمالٍ

لموقف ساعةٍ كشفت غطاها

You grant respite for sins, without neglect,

until the hour of standing, when You lift its veil.

وإن رمنا سؤالك يا كريم

ذكرناها فابلسنا خناها

When we wish to ask You, Generous One,

we remember our sins, and their foulness leaves us speechless.

ذنوب أفضحت متحمليها

فكيف سؤال مفتضح جناها

Sins have disgraced those who bear them;

how can one disgraced by committing them ask?

ولكن لا سواك لنا مآل

وحلمك واسعٌ ستر السفاها

Yet we have no refuge but You,

and Your boundless forbearance veils our folly.

توسلنا بأطفالٍ صغار

وعجف بهائم منعت كلاها

We plead through little children,

and emaciated beasts deprived of their pasture.

وعل مشايخاً في الأرض تدعو

لنا وتجيب أنت لها دعاها

Perhaps elders upon the earth pray

for us, and You answer their prayer.

فإن المحل قد أبلى عمانا

وأنت فقادرٌ تشفي بلاها

Drought has indeed laid waste Oman,

and You have power to heal its affliction.

فنطلب منك أن تنشي سحابا

ورعداً بعد ما نشأت حداها

So we ask You to raise clouds,

and thunder to drive them onward once they have formed,

وبرقاً كالعروق مفصداتٍ

أو البيزان تختطف الشياها

and lightning like veins opened by bloodletting,

or falcons snatching sheep.

كأن السحب برك رازماتٌ

برأس خميلةٍ نفضت ذراها

As though the clouds were kneeling, resting camels,

atop a thicket whose crowns are shaken.

كأن رعودها إبل ولاهٌ

وقد لاقت مثاكيلاً ولاها

Their thunder is like distraught camels,

meeting bereaved mothers in their anguish.

كأن بروقها أسياف عبسٍ

بذبيان تحكم في طلاها

Their lightning is like the swords of Abs,

passing judgment upon the necks of Dhubyan.

إذا ونت الرعود بها حدتها

جنابيها فزادت في بكاها

When thunder slackens within them, it is urged on

by their two flanks, and their weeping increases.

وإن خبت البروق فنورتها

وقد هبت بمطلعها صباها

When the lightning fades, its light is renewed,

their east wind having blown from its rising-place.

فتمخيض السحائب بارتكاز

كتمخيض الحوامل من نساها

Then the clouds' labor, as they bear down,

is like that of the pregnant among their women.

فسال الغيث من يمن ويسرٍ

وواسطةٍ تشق بها حشاها

Rain pours from right and left,

and from a middle that splits their belly.

يظن الغيث تحت المزن مزناً

وفوق الأرض قد نزلت سماها

Beneath the clouds, the rain seems itself a cloud,

and above the earth her sky has descended.

فأودية الجبال لها هديرٌ

تجيب مدائناً فغرت بماها

The mountain valleys roar,

answering towns whose mouths gape with water.

وتسمع للوهاد لها خريراً

تصهلق والصفا انفجرت مياها

You hear the lowlands murmuring,

clamoring, while the rocks burst forth with water.

ومذ بسط الجبال فويق نزوى

كلمحة محدقٍ حتى سقاها

Once it spread across the mountains just above Nizwa,

in an eye's glance it had watered her.

فصارت أرضها تحكي سماها

بحيث هما على نسق سماها

Her earth came to mirror her sky,

the two alike in the pattern of her sky.

فمن رضوى الكبير جرى فلاقى اب

نه الغربي فاختلطا ثناها

From mighty Radwa it flowed and met its son—

the western one—and the two mingled within her.

فطافا الحوبتين بلا ظفارٍ

وقد ملآ من الفيحاء فاها

The two swept around al-Hawbatayn, leaving Dhofar aside,

having filled al-Fayha's mouth.

كأن المزن حور عاطفاتٍ

وكف الأرض يحلب في إناها

As though the rainclouds were tender, white she-camels,

and the earth's palm milked them into its bowl.

كأن جبال ذاك الما سموطٌ

تناثر درها فحلى رباها

As though those mountains of water were necklaces,

whose pearls scattered, adorning her hills.

كأن الأرض تضحك من سرورٍ

بحيث على الرياض بكى حياها

As though the earth were laughing with delight,

where her life-giving rain had wept upon the meadows.

فما من برزخٍ إلا كساه

وما من تلعةٍ إلا علاها

No ridge was left unclothed,

no watercourse but the water overtopped it.

وما من بقعةٍ إلا وظنت

جميع الماء عنها ما عداها

No patch of ground but thought

all the water was for it, and had not passed it by.

فسلن من الخميس إلى خميسٍ

وقفوها الخميس وما تلاها

They flowed from Thursday to Thursday,

with Thursday in their wake, and the days that followed,

إلى أن أقصبحت نزوى خصيباً

يغني الورق سجعاً في أشاها

until Nizwa became fertile,

with doves cooing songs among her palms.

وأمست كلها منه جناناً

وطاب لمن جنى منها جناها

All of her became gardens through it,

and sweet was her fruit to those who gathered it.

تكون كجنة الفردوس نزوى

وأصحاب السعادة أولياها

Nizwa would be like the garden of Paradise,

with the blessed as her guardians.

فيا رباه دعوة مستغيثٍ

أجب دعوات ذي أملٍ ثناها

O my Lord, a plea from one crying for help:

answer the prayers a hopeful man repeats,

على عجل بلطفك يا كريم

أغثها بعد محل قد عفاها

swiftly, in Your kindness, Generous One.

Send her relief after drought has effaced her.

بلادك بيضة الإسلام نزوى

لجا اللاجي الضهيد إذا لجاها

Your land, Nizwa, the stronghold of Islam,

is the refuge of the oppressed when he seeks her shelter.

قرار العلم والعلماء نزوى

وأهل الزهد ناديها حواها

Nizwa is the abode of learning and scholars;

her gathering has embraced the people of asceticism.

وسادتها الكرام بها تراها

من الأدناس طاهرةً نزاها

Within her you see her noble leaders,

pure of defilement, unsullied.

أعيد نصائحاً من مستشار

وقد حلب الليالي وامتطاها

I repeat counsels from a trusted counselor,

who has milked the nights and ridden them.

أطيعوا الرب يا أرباب نزوى

أريضوا النفس لا تركب ثآها

Obey the Lord, lords of Nizwa;

discipline the soul; let it not ride into its ruin.

مروا بالعروف وانهوا عن نكير

وتقوى اللَه تفروا عراها

Command what is right, and forbid wrongdoing;

and [do not] sever the bonds of reverence for God.

فداركم الجنان وما سواها

فينران ولا بلدٌ سواها

Your homeland is gardens; all beyond her

is fire—there is no other land but her.

متى بالعدل نزواكم أصينت

فكل عمان تحت لوى لواها

Whenever your Nizwa is safeguarded by justice,

all Oman falls beneath the folds of her banner.

فكل عمان من نزوى ونزوى

فمن رجلٍ أطال سما علاها

All Oman draws from Nizwa, and Nizwa

from a man who has made her lofty glory endure.

إذا اقتدت الرجال بذي نهاءٍ

تدل على التكامل في نهاها

When men follow one possessed of discernment,

they show the maturity of their minds.

فما ركبت بدولته شنيعاً

وإن ركبت أطاعت من نهاها

Under his rule they commit no disgrace;

if they do, they obey whoever forbids it.

فعاش وهم به عاشت عزازاً

فكل ملمةٍ عنها كفاها

He prospers, and through him they live in honor;

he spares them every calamity.

هي النعماء حارسها اسطبار

على من كان يسعى في ضراها

Such is blessing; its guardian is endurance

against whoever strives to harm it.

وبعض الذل عز غير ذل

وعز ذل من في العز تاها

Some submission is honor, not humiliation;

the honor of one proud in his honor is humiliation.

وأين من الرجال لك المكافي

ويدري بالعواقب أوخراها

Where among men is one equal to your needs,

who knows outcomes and their final consequences?

نصحت وكم نصحت سراة قومٍ

أبوا فلقوا من التيه التياها

I have advised—how often I advised the chiefs of a people!

They refused and met bewilderment upon bewilderment.

كلاك اللَه يا نزوى وطوبى

لدارٍ مثلك الباري كلاها

May God protect you, Nizwa; blessed

is a land like you, guarded by the Creator.

سقاك اللَه بعد المحل غيثاً

عمان بما سقاك به سقاها

May God water you with rain after drought,

and water Oman with the rain He grants you.

توسلنا بأحمد في الأداعي

وصل عليه فهو مدى مداها

We plead through Ahmad in our prayers;

and bless him, for he is their furthest reach.