أَتاني بِإِسنادِهِ مُخبِرٌ

أَتاني بِإِسنادِهِ مُخبِرٌ

وَقَد بانَ لي كَذبُ الناقِلِ

وَقَد بانَ لي كَذبُ الناقِلِ

An informant came to me with his chain of transmission,

A reporter brought me his account

and the transmitter’s falsehood was already clear to me.

And I saw clearly the lies of the transmitter

أَذو العِصمَةِ العاقِلُ الآدَميُّ

أَذو العِصمَةِ العاقِلُ الآدَميُّ

إِلّا كَذي العُصمَةِ العاقِلِ

إِلّا كَذي العُصمَةِ العاقِلِ

Is the rational human, endowed with infallibility,

The reasonable human makes mistakes

anything but like a white-forelegged ibex sheltering on the heights?

Except the one protected by reason

وَلا فَضلَ فينا وَلَكِنَّها

وَلا فَضلَ فينا وَلَكِنَّها

حُظوظٌ مِنَ الفَلَكِ الصاقِلِ

حُظوظٌ مِنَ الفَلَكِ الصاقِلِ

And there is no superiority among us—only

There is no superiority between us

shares of fortune from the polishing celestial sphere.

Just fortunes from the spinning sky

فَهَذا كَسَحبانَ لَمّا اِحتَبى

فَهَذا كَسَحبانَ لَمّا اِحتَبى

وَذَلِكَ في سَمَلَي باقِلِ

وَذَلِكَ في سَمَلَي باقِلِ

So this one is like Sahban when he sat clasping his knees,

So this one stumbled when tested

and that one wears Baqil’s two threadbare garments.

And that one in fertile land lies fallow