1. To your lofty glory it is attributed and ascribed,
And in your mention history dictates and writes,

2. And in your justice the noble law is represented,
And in your rule examples are recited and coined.

3. Islam has no supporter left but you,
Who backs it for God, pleased and wrathful.

4. You were born to forefathers rooted in Rabia,
In them the pride of eras takes glory and predominates.

5. Pillars of glory from Saud bin Muhammad,
When one pure soul passes, a purer comes.

6. Muhammad son of Turki son of Faisal,
And from the worshiper of the Merciful their glory followed.

7. They are pearls of glory strung in the necklace,
They were born for the eternal and thus begot.

8. They counseled and empowered glory in upright religion,
Never weakening as time toyed with people.

9. On the faith they built a firm foundation,
God's hand protects it and strikes.

10. Muhammad constructed it on upright religion,
And desires no more than guidance.

11. Whoever God supports prevails by His victory,
And the soldiers of God overcome by His triumph.

12. He answered the Sheikh's prayer when it sprouted
In his home until it almost snapped.

13. An Imam descended from a house of inherited knowledge,
Passed down from grandfather to son and father.

14. His father, the Jurist of Al-Ayn, his ample knowledge
Is of the school of Ibn Hanbal.

15. He nurtured the sapling, child and youth, with knowledge,
And he came of age wrapped in its garb.

16. He pursued knowledge and piercing intellect,
Applying in deeds what he sought.

17. Knowledge is only what guides people with its light
To truth, not books narrated and transcribed.

18. The Creator blessed him with insight,
And a mind that extracts truth with candor.

19. No sooner did he glance at the people,
Than he found them turned from their religion.

20. Contradicting the scripture were his people's acts,
Though they falsely claimed ties to the faith.

21. While people strayed in illusion and blindness,
The suns of religion and guidance nearly set.

22. The minaret of faith was clouded by error’s mists,
Like a pool obscured by moss.

23. Bowing to idols they worshipped them,
Each stubbornly adhering in their misguidance.

24. This one invokes them instead of his Lord,
That one courts them over Him.

25. The Sheikh came, faith filling his breast,
While people inclined to misguidance.

26. He called but they blocked their hearing,
Shunning him, anxious and wary.

27. Al-Ayn lost a savior banishing him,
And ignorance played with reason.

28. Had Uthman the Prince given him refuge,
Radiance and fortune would have shone like a star.

29. But he appeased Al-Humaydi in submission,
And from fear of him wavered.

30. In Al-Ahsa he was rude so its people
Shunned him a time and fractured.

31. They sold him for worldly gain,
And angered the Almighty so were punished.

32. They were routed, their homes now lie in ruins,
The owl weeping on their rubble.

33. The champion hosted him with honor, welcoming
Muhammad, pillar of glory of Al-Muqrin’s house.

34. He pledged to him to champion religion and guidance,
As Madina pledged during its delegation.

35. Thereupon Ibn Muammar champed his finger in rage,
And began avoiding and blaming himself.

36. But God’s decree cannot be swayed by His rulings,
For He is the Knowing Ordainer.

37. Wealth and bliss returned to Dariyya,
And its people deserved to prevail.

38. He dispatched regiments in incursions
Against the blind folk to raid their abodes.

39. And Abdulaziz stood firmly with sword,
Completing the openings made by his father.

40. He overcame Daham whose defense failed him,
Nor did his deceit and cunning avail.

41. Then came Saud with forces,
The east and west submitted to his sword.

42. He subjugated the Peninsula’s regions,
Leaving the fractured enemy no escape.

43. The stars of fortune shone in his sky,
Shedding felicity on the house of Saud.

44. Among God’s ways with servants
Are alternating fortunes in their days.

45. Each comfort is followed by unrest,
Each day by nightfall,

46. Each joy succeeded by sorrow,
Each fertile land in the desert rendered barren.

47. Every state established in glory and height,
Stronghold of honor and mount of authority,

48. If not made wise by calamity becomes
Enthralled by humiliation as discord prevails.

49. And when rule came easily to the sons, they grew spoiled,
Concerned only with play and leisure.

50. Their desires differed in passions and lusts,
Until they wasted themselves and fractured.

51. But it was incumbent on Him to test His friends,
To distinguish the thankful from the unbelieving.

52. So each generation brings forth a renewer,
No concealed inheritor.

53. Proving true for them the words of one who praises:
If one star disappears, another appears.

54. In Egypt, after the French a current rose,
Seeking glory after humiliation.

55. With it coals were fired in engines
And kindled by the spark of an ardent soul.

56. The Khedive Muhammad came to revive it
With the Nile’s torrents pouring forth.

57. He coveted the Uthmani realms,
Unattainable by the most ambitious.

58. He attacked kings and played with thrones,
And the rulers became playthings.

59. Dodging the Sultan with his cunning,
One moment feigning obedience, the next rebellion.

60. No longer did Egypt’s Vali rule
By the King’s decree, appointment or dismissal.

61. The Turkish Caliph became supreme ruler,
And by the title Commander of the Faithful dubbed.

62. Beholding weakness and dangers closing in,
East and west darkened before his eyes.

63. In Egypt arose Al-Arnaout’s state,
And in Najd a state stirred.

64. This idea disturbed Jengiz’s sons,
Fearing the Arabs’ vigor might revive.

65. Lest Najd become an Arab state,
Aspiring to the Caliphate, desirous.

66. They cunningly plotted against it,
Not ashamed to slander and lie.

67. Supported by foreigners in the name of religion,
Worldly gain their godless goal and profit.

68. Among politicians, divide and conquer is wisdom,
Countering a foe with a foe deemed prudent.

69. The opponents’ losses are the gain,
So they plotted against Najd with Egypt’s alignment.

70. Not only the Ottoman Sultan feared,
But proximity gave Egypt greater alarm.

71. A claim of religious fervor provoked the Khedive,
His alert conscience awaiting a pretext.

72. Feigning to rescue the Hijaz,
And by the Caliph’s name wreak havoc.

73. His aim was to check the Caliph a while,
And test his new army in Najd.

74. But Najd firmly resisted Tosun Basha,
Nearly reversing the tide against him.

75. Panic flew amidst the Hijaz,
Until tumult seethed in Egypt.

76. Thereupon Ibrahim Pasha marched with armies,
Dark clouds and cannon like thunder crashing.

77. With endless regiments numberless as rain,
If one was held back another poured forth.

78. Colliding with Najd’s lions they wounded them,
Each fang and claw bloodied.

79. Had they met face to face they would have proven
Their mettle as excellent knights and Arabs.

80. But in the flame’s tongues they were isolated,
Can the prey escape the cannon’s blaze?

81. They waged true jihad with resolve,
Never surrendering until they were wiped out.

82. Dariyya met destruction and doom,
A shameful mark in the Khedive’s chronicles.

83. Oh what astonishment! Muslims did
What no godless invader would dare.

84. If they resented the people of Najd’s zeal,
Why destroy after victory and ransack?

85. They should have pardoned their captive,
Not slaughter and crucify afterward!

86. The Almighty rescued one for His purpose,
On the victory ship triumphantly sailing.

87. As if his name symbolized fate’s mystery,
Marvelous but his will more wondrous.

88. He came to Najd in tumult’s turmoil,
When safety had vanished and ruin poured forth.

89. Those claiming rule had parted,
Fracturing unity amongst them.

90. Not until the throne was seized by force
And the famous cane struck it.

91. With it he purified the land with sword, the cure
For an ailment with rage simmering.

92. Thereafter glory returned renewed
As camphor dissolves to sweet musk.

93. Abdullah succeeded him, a vast kingdom,
Inviting the ambitious to band together.

94. He campaigned until he humiliated them,
But God's decree overcomes man.

95. And conflict arose between him and his brother,
Unleashing consequences foreseen.

96. None who ingratiate themselves as friends
Can be trusted where poison mixes with honey.

97. So their enmity surfaced in Ibn Rashid,
Estranging and opposing the once close ally.

98. The opportunist continued weaving his nets,
Grinning with bared teeth of a hunting wolf.

99. Until he dominated the entire realm,
Waging campaigns to raid and loot.

100. Man may dislike what is ultimately good,
True knowledge comes from experience.

101. For Al-Saud, God has a purpose
To distinguish friends from adversaries.

102. Those who lost wars and fled had regrouped,
Venting their rage on Shammar.

103. When security spread, they grew restless,
Meet folly with forbearance, yet still war.

104. But the sword settles matters best,
The right prevails and the truth is declared.

105. You marched with resolve, mercy and care,
As a father or tutor might instruct.

106. You approached the trap confidently
That uprooting the cause is ideal and proper.

107. Who desires war kills himself,
While who desires peace attains his needs.

108. You freed souls deemed worthless by them,
Which ignorance nearly doomed.

109. You entered jubilantly calming their fears,
Healing and dressing their condition.

110. You ruled justly reprieving where most
Would have seized victory to wreak havoc.

111. Nor have my ears heard of a conqueror
Who lavishes goodness and ceases looting.

112. You pardoned abundantly without abusing them,
So you were plundered while they pillage.

113. You could have reciprocated tit for tat,
And sin would have met fitting punishment.

114. Thereafter, propaganda spread in the Hijaz
Masquerading as religious and national zeal.

115. Led by one claiming ancestry
To the Prophet’s household in Batha.

116. Putting Islam in an awkward position,
Every enemy conspiring against it.

117. But an opportunity for the Ashraaf,
Had they considered their plight, they would shudder.

118. Dreams of transient rule lured them,
Promises on scraps of paper scrawled.

119. They called for discord and so were goaded,
Claiming to champion the Arabs, allegedly.

120. But it was a brief spell before they awoke
To jilted promises and renounced pledges.

121. They found the drink was mirage,
The kingdom a vanished delusion.

122. Once propped by foreign monies like parasites,
They collapsed when abandoned suddenly.

123. Outwardly kings but empty of authority,
As soldiers perished and coffers depleted.

124. The pretender fulfilled his dream,
And met the fate that befell Ma’rib.

125. He then tyrannized pilgrims in the Sacred House,
Looting and enslaving visitors and dwellers.

126. The outrage of Umm Al-Qura and its keepers,
Oppression choking its inhabitants.

127. But your Lord lies in wait, delaying retribution
To punish deeds at the fitting moment.

128. That Sheikh grew bold seeing his people’s weakness
And titles he falsely claimed.

129. Your patience for his transgressions provoked,
Tying your hands while he roamed freely.

130. You summoned them when they went too far
To prove who would deviate from wisdom.

131. They came only to impose terms
Closer to the impossible than acceptable.

132. Your clemency towards the blind their offense,
Your pardon before capability, their disbelief.

133. But forbearance, while oppression continues,
Why restraint as trespass persists?

134. Did they not prevent us from worship?
As the Qarmation devastator did.

135. The torrent then reached the creek’s end
For a people who drank enmity's draught.

136. You approached them gently prior to their violation,
Nearly forfeiting your right in forgiveness.

137. You barely granted authorization
To armies prepared and arrayed.

138. They marched as if the torrent’s course
Was the trail where their masses galloped.

139. As if the swell rising above their heads
Were clouds covering the horizon, pouring.

140. As if their takbeer and tahleel
Were thunder reverberating when provoked.

141. Its echo the cannon’s dreadful rumble,
Horses on the plain trotting.

142. Ibn Hussein’s troops fled before them
Hastily, for where is sanctuary from your power?

143. Their multitudes circled Taif’s fortress,
Impenetrable and unassailable.

144. But it was the horror of dread, as though
Their hearts shuddered in its intensity.

145. No escape remained for the pretender
Except the sea, fleeing on a vessel.

146. Abandoning the millions he had extorted,
Now discarded papers strewn.

147. He looked upon those ruins
With a heart aflame with profound regrets.

148. And saw the fruits of his injustice,
Without doubt, oppression leads to humiliation.

149. Then God's soldiers entered reverently,
Circling, praying and beseeching.

150. You regained the land and rescued its people
From the fires of turmoil blazing.

151. One lies dead, another killed him,
This one plundered, that one pillages.

152. In every land, rather every tribe,
Raids perpetuated by blind zeal.

153. But it was a brief period before order returned
With your justice and widespread security.

154. Every conflict has reconciled
To please God through acts of devotion.

155. So greetings of peace for the shelter of religion,
And champion guarding its sanctuary.

156. O King whom hearts incline towards,
Consciences profess and tongues express.

157. Hope of Muslims entirely, protector of sanctity,
Their sights set on the guidance beacon.

158. Wherever you lead eastwards they follow,
Wherever you lead westwards they trail.

159. You ruled people’s hearts before their bodies,
No difference between distant and near.

160. So persist for the religion and Arabs’ abode,
To your lofty glory it is attributed and ascribed.