1. If you find yourself alone one day, do not say
I am alone, but say, God is with me, observing me.
١. إِذا ما خَلَوتَ الدَهرَ يَوماً فَلا تَقُل
خَلَوتُ وَلَكِن قُل عَلَيَّ رَقيبُ
2. Do not think that God forgets the deeds of the past,
Or that the hidden is concealed from Him.
٢. وَلا تَحسَبَنَّ اللَهَ يُغفِلُ ما مَضى
وَلا أَنَّ ما يَخفى عَلَيهِ يَغيبُ
3. Our frivolity, by God's life, continues,
Until sins upon sins accumulate.
٣. لَهَونا لَعَمرُ اللَهِ حَتّى تَتابَعَت
ذُنوبٌ عَلى آثارِهِنَّ ذُنوبُ
4. I wish that God would forgive what is past
And permit our repentance, so we can repent.
٤. فَيا لَيتَ أَنَّ اللَهَ يَغفِرُ ما مَضى
وَيَأذَنُ في تَوباتِنا فَنَتوبُ
5. When the era in which you were has passed,
And you are left in a new era, you feel a stranger.
٥. إِذا ما مَضى القَرنُ الَّذي كُنتَ فيهِم
وَخُلِّفتَ في قَرنٍ فَأَنتَ غَريبُ
6. A man journeys fifty pilgrimages
To a spring from which his drink is near.
٦. وَإِنَّ امرَأً قَد سارَ خَمسينَ حِجَّةً
إِلى مَنهَلٍ مِن وِردِهِ لَقَريبُ
7. Your family are those whose hearts embraced you with affection
Not those under the soil, who are no kin.
٧. نَسيبُكَ مَن ناجاكَ بِالوِدِّ قَلبُهُ
وَلَيسَ لِمَن تَحتَ التُرابِ نَسيبُ
8. So reward well those who strove,
For only by your aid you will be rewarded, and rewards have categories.
٨. فَأَحسِن جَزاءً ما اجتَهَدتَ فَإِنَّما
بِقَرضِكَ تُجزى وَالقُروضُ ضُروبُ