1. Who etched a home like an illuminated book
Along the winding valley's incline which the defeated sought?

2. After the ghosts of friends were gone it seemed
As though riders on spirited, unbroken steeds galloped there.

3. I imagined after they had gone that it
Had eras coming and going in succession.

4. The dwellings of tribes were transformed -
The land perished, no longer a secure refuge.

5. They heard a fourth rain so they followed it
Over every muddy, puddled terrain.

6. The long villages tell of its footsteps when it walked -
The hollows of the uneven valley echoed back.

7. They crossed the belly of the mountain until they made it
A trip westward, the goal of one performing ablution.

8. When they had crossed all the harvests
Leaving behind every fault-finder and slanderer,

9. They set out for the white forehead which had
A crown like the crown of anointed kings.

10. I praise the Commander of the Faithful whom our Lord chose
With favor above every Muslim.

11. The Hamdanid glories were built up in him -
He ascended to a lofty, unblemished edifice.

12. Among the children of Eve there is no branch higher
Than the honored Prophet in noble traits.

13. I did not find the Hamdanid court closed off
Or inaccessible, guarded from visitors.

14. You brought together praiseworthy traits -
May you have the blessing of goodness and well-being!

15. The first is righteousness and righteousness prevails -
No secret faults are known about you.

16. The second was a blessing from God
Upon the Muslims - He is the Best Provider.

17. The third is that you have no inclination
To unjustly oppress or walk the path of criminals.

18. The fourth is that you will always remain
Urging honorable, authoritative command.

19. The fifth is that in judgment you give justice
To the weak - none taught by God is like the blind.

20. The sixth is that the One who is our Lord chose you -
Whoever follows you will have no regrets.

21. The seventh is that you surpassed all
In noble deeds before every striver and toiler.

22. The eighth is your lofty position among people -
None among them has been ennobled above the ennobled.

23. The ninth is that all humanity
Count themselves followers of a perfected leader.

24. The tenth is that restraint always
Accompanies your forbearance in authoritative speech.

25. Open-handed, his door does not cease providing
For those in need, rejoicing in his blessings.

26. His writers have been given provisions -
The keys to his distributed favors.

27. When a delegation comes he receives them in kind
On thoroughbred riding camels with embroidered saddles.

28. They survey the wilderness with their hands as though
Their fields were acres the size of outstretched arms.

29. It is as if the hillsides where they camped
Were a dwelling place in the darkness of night.

30. They halted when the distance was long - it was as though
They were drunkards gathered around a verdant meadow.

31. They halted briefly then were roused
By a distant call to prayer from a cloaked figure.

32. A bold traveller whom deadly spears cannot dismay
When the poisonous arrows of fate assail him.

33. He struggles with the dawn and morning light
Battling them with flaring nostrils and mouth.

34. The sun had tanned him after some time
Until he became like reddened, burnished iron.

35. When he playfully butts his companions with his forehead
Piercing the deep darkness of night he does not frown.

36. The coarse hair of his forelock he winds
Around a torn, threadbare turban.

37. It is as if the little bells of his headdress are hung
By his ears from a twisted palm trunk.

38. It is as if his protruding neck veins were stamped
By a foreign scribe with mud from the Golan.

39. If you wish to meet a bold and high-born man
Of ancient lineage and precedence recognized,

40. Be an Umar - come to him and none can match him.
Ask people and understand fully.

41. A man veiled from depravities -
None of them mixed with his flesh or blood.

42. Tomorrow he will don fine clothes and his honor
Will be apparent to the discerning observer.

43. Stern toward the hostile when he doubts him,
Repelling harm from the oppressed victim.

44. It is as though the crescent moon smiled at him
Through the cloudy heavens of a fourth night.

45. On the sanctified pulpit of the whole valley
He preaches with consistent, eloquent speech.

46. More radiant in leadership than others -
Among those fulfilling promises, no blemish on him.

47. He carried him to the heights - beneath them
The costs overwhelm the honorable man of means.

48. He had three perfect fathers, each of them
A fully just king, then was weaned.

49. Kings who see justice as an obligation -
The beauty of their faces provides guidance for the blind.

50. By the permission of Him to whom
Creation's bountiful blessings belong, they were a light for us.

51. They considered our affairs and handed leadership
To our most God-fearing - we did not know we were taught.

52. This is my true praise, not lies,
For them. Whoever does not judge fairly will regret it.