هذي المنازل ها هيه

أمست يباباً واهيه

These dwellings—here they are,

now desolate and crumbling.

متنكراتٍ دورها

فكأنها هي ماهيه

Their houses are unrecognizable,

as though they were no longer themselves.

ولقد وقفت بها ولي

عين عليهاماهيه

I stood among them, with

an eye upon them brimming with tears.

ولقد سألت طلولها

عن آهليها الماضيه

And I asked their ruined traces

about their departed people.

ومن المحال بأن ترد

لي الطلول جوابيه

But it is impossible for

the ruins to give me an answer.

أين الذين عهدتهم

فيها بطيب رفاهيه

Where are those I once knew

living there in pleasant ease?

كانت نواديهم بهم

بالأريحية ناديه

Their gathering places, through their presence,

were dewy with openhanded generosity.

وكأنما أقبابهم

بيض السحايب آضيه

And their domed tents seemed

to have become white clouds.

ورماحهم مركوزةً

أمم الجياد العاديه

Their spears stood planted

before the galloping steeds.

فإذا الرعاة تنادبت

خلف الهجام الضاويه

When the herdsmen summoned one another

behind the returning camel herds,

والخيل قد صارت شما

طيطاً بتلك الغازيه

and the horses had scattered

into bands with that raiding force,

فتراهم فوق الجيا

د كأسد بيشةٍ ضاريه

you would see them astride the steeds,

like fierce lions of Bīshah,

متقنعين معافراً

متقمصين الماديه

wrapped in Maʿāfir cloth,

clad in Mādi coats of mail,

متمسكين ذوابلاً

متقلدين الماضيه

gripping slender lances,

girded with keen-edged swords.

أهل السياسة والفرو

سة والروس العاتيه

Men of statecraft and horsemanship,

with proud, unyielding heads;

أهل المآثر والعسا

كر والجيوش اللاويه

men of great deeds and troops,

and of wheeling armies.

لم تحمهم تلك العسا

كر والحصون العاليه

Those troops did not protect them,

nor did the lofty fortresses.

سهت القلوب عن المنو

ن وما المنون بساهيه

Their hearts were heedless of Death,

but Death was not heedless.

نزلت بهم ريب المنو

ن وما المنجنون الداهيه

The hazards of Death descended upon them—

and what a calamitous wheel of fate!

قصدت بهم داراً أوا

هلها عظام باليها

It bore them to a dwelling

whose inhabitants are decaying bones.

لا زائر فيها يزو

ر ولا يجيب مناديه

No visitor there comes to visit,

nor does anyone answer its caller.

قد أوحشوا بعد الأني

س بسكن دارٍ خاليه

They became desolate after companionship,

dwelling in an empty home.

وتبدلوا بعد الحري

ر بجندل متارسيه

In place of silk, they took

heaped-up stones.

فالدود ينثر بالخدو

د على القدود النازيه

Worms scatter through their cheeks,

over bodies once lively.

لو شمتهم عقبى ثلا

ث من ليالٍ ماضيه

Had you beheld them after three

nights had passed,

لسترت وجهك عنهم

ستر الفتاة الغانيه

you would have hidden your face from them,

as a beautiful maiden veils herself.

ونكرت منهم أوجهاً

بالحسن كانت زاهيه

And you would have found faces among them unrecognizable

that once shone with beauty.

وهم هوامدٌ في القبو

ر لهم قلوب صاديه

They lie lifeless in the graves,

their hearts thirsty.

يترقبون النفخة ال

أولى وأخرى ثانيه

Awaiting the blast—the

first, and another, a second.

آهاً لها من نفخةٍ

جمعت جسوماً باليه

Ah, what a blast it is!

It gathers decaying bodies.

وبها لقد كشفت لها

منها سرائر خافيه

And through it, indeed, are revealed to them

secrets within them, once concealed.

وتطايرت فيها القطو

ط أيامناً وشماليه

The records fly apart in it,

to the right and to the left.

فاز السعيد بها فصا

ر إلى القصور العاليه

The blessed one triumphs through it and goes

to the lofty palaces,

ما بين أنهارٍ لدى

جنات عدنٍ جاريه

amid rivers beside

the Gardens of Eden, flowing on,

ووصائف مثل الشمو

س تزف حوراً غانيه

and handmaids like suns

escort beautiful houris,

بين الأسرة والنما

رق والزرابي الصافيه

among couches and cushions,

and spotless carpets.

وقطوفها للأوليا

ء على الحقيقة دانيه

Its fruit clusters, for the saints,

are truly near at hand.

وترى الملائكة الكرا

م لهم تزور مواليه

And you see the noble angels

visiting them in succession.

هذا الجزاء لهم لأي

يام سوالف خاليه

This is their recompense for

days long past and gone.

أما الشقي بها فتسبق

لأمه هي هاويه

But the wretched one there is hurried

to his mother—she is the Abyss.

واللَه بينهما له

إذ قال نار حاميه

And God explained both to him

when He said: "A fiercely burning fire."

يهوي بأقصى قعرها

وموكلاً بزبانيه

He plunges to its deepest bottom,

committed to the guards of Hell.

قال الشقي بها وقد

سحبته فيها العاتيه

The wretched one says there, when

the raging fire has dragged him within:

يا ليته عني أغ

نى في حياتي ماليه

"Oh, if only it had availed me—

my wealth, during my life!

أو ليته أهلك من

قبل القضا سلطانيه

Or if only it had destroyed

my authority before the decree!

فلعلني لم أعط يو

ماً بالشمال كتابيه

Then perhaps I would not, one day, have been given

my record in my left hand,

أو لا ألاقي ما ألا

قي من عذاب حسابيه

or not encounter what I

encounter of torment at my reckoning.

أو أنني من أن أكا

بد من أليم عذابيه

Or that I [might be spared] enduring

any of my painful torment.

يا مالك هل رجعةً

بعد انقضا لحياتيه

O Mālik, is there a return

after the ending of my life,

فلعلني أتأهب ال

حسنى لوقع مماتيه

so that I might perhaps make myself ready

with goodness for the coming of my death?"

قال اخسأوا فيها ووي

لكم عصاةً خاسيه

He said: "Stay abased in it! And woe

to you, contemptible rebels!

ما حظكم فيها سوى

لفح الجحيم الحاميه

Your share in it is nothing but

the scorching blast of blazing Hell,

ونواهش الحيات أم

ثال النخيل الساميه

and biting serpents like

towering palms,

وعقارب مثل البغا

ل وكالنسور الهاويه

and scorpions like mules,

and like vultures plunging down.

هذي هي الدار التي

أوعدتموها باقيه

This is the dwelling that

you were warned of, everlasting.

ليست كداركم التي

خلفتموها فانيه

It is not like your dwelling, which

you left behind, destined to perish."

يا رب عفوك إنني

قد تبت من آصاريه

O Lord, Your pardon! I

have repented of my burdens of sin.

وإليك إني تبت من

ذنبي ومن عصيانيه

And to You indeed I have repented

of my sin and my disobedience.

ورجاي فيك هو المنى

حقق لديك رجائيه

My hope in You is my desire;

fulfill the hope I place in You.

فاغفر ذنوبي الماضيا

ت تعمدي وخطائيه

So forgive my past sins,

my deliberate wrongs and my errors.

وإلى رضاك فاهدني

واجعل متابك زاديه

And guide me to Your pleasure,

and make repentance to You my provision.

أدعوك يا رباه فاس

مع واستجب لدعائيه

I call upon You, O my Lord, so hear

and answer my prayer.

سهل علي مشقتي

وامنن علي بعافيه

Ease my hardship for me,

and grant me well-being.

واجعل طريقي آمناً

فيها أجر ردائيه

And make my road safe,

along which I trail my cloak,

مهما ركبت البحر أو

كور القلاص الناجيه

whenever I ride the sea, or

the saddles of swift young she-camels.

يا رب أنت بي العلي

م وما أسر فؤاديه

O Lord, You know me fully,

and what my heart conceals.

في مسقط قد صار مك

سور العظام جناحيه

In Muscat my wing has become

broken in its bones.

ما لي بها أبداً صدي

ق نازل بالناحيه

There I have not a single friend

dwelling in the vicinity.

لي مقلةٌ مطروقةٌ

عافت لذيذ مناميه

I have a stricken eye

that has shunned my sweet slumber.

ناءٍ عن الأهل وال

أصحاب أو أوطانيه

Far from family and

friends, or my homelands,

فإليك أشكو والشكا

ية للكريم موافيه

to You I complain; and complaint

reaches the Generous One.

فاختر لي اللهم ما

ترضاه لي وصحابيه

So choose for me, O God, what

You approve for me and my companions.

ولمكة حدد لنا

نهج الطريق العافيه

And toward Mecca, mark out for us

the course of a safe road.

وامنن علي بعاجل التس

هيل منك إلهيه

And grant me swift easing

from You, O my God.

وعلى النبي محمد

أزكى الصلاة الزاكيه

And upon the Prophet Muhammad

be the purest, most blessed prayers,

وعلى جميع الأنبيا

ء وآله المتواليه

and upon all the prophets

and his family, continuing in succession,

ما رنحت عذبات با

نات قبولٍ ساريه

as long as the tips of bān trees sway

beneath an east wind passing through the night.