1. Some men of knowledge from the people of Mzab
Said to me when I did not visit him

2. Why did you not read my account?
This is true for some

3. People, a judge of punishment
But the excuse is clear

4. No need for an answer
Do not say, O misguided one, I neglected my duties

5. Rather, I visited an imam
Who had invited me by letter

6. So I am his guest until
The day of my passing

7. You are all in my view brothers
Noble and pure

8. And the sheikh's pleasure in reality is more correct
So accept the excuse and forgive

9. And spare me your reprimand
And know that today and tomorrow are like mirages

10. The wise man travels
And socializes with fellow riders

11. People pick up habits like numbers in accounting
So choose what is beautiful of them, observant of scripture

12. For vigilance is in conduct and in clutching the saddlebags
How many brilliant men has ignorance cast in the ruins

13. If people saw him and turned away
He would come to you in wonder

14. How many mountains the messenger climbed, and how many the companions crossed
The spread of religion is only by men like clouds

15. They spanned the land and crossed the seas to complete the number
They went beyond the Green Land to Tlemcen

16. Then when they found comfort in pitching tents
And asceticism was claimed on hilltop monasteries

17. And affectation spread among them
And they took shade under domes

18. The matter was reversed for them
And they drank the poison of torment

19. And their homes became like the land of ruins
And religion seemed strange to its people, downtrodden

20. And so the motto of the successors in trouble became
Is there for us, oh what a pity, anything but "There is no power or might except with God"?

21. And that will not help unless
They study the art of patching tents