1. Are you or am I more deserving of congratulations, O son of the best father,
For the ranks you have attained?

2. I know not whom to congratulate, so congratulations to him!
He has congratulated himself through you and through the glory associated with you.

3. I am the one congratulating you for the gifts you have received,
For attaining a multiple of what you have already attained in nobility.

4. O peerless one, nothing has distracted you
From your purposes—no second opinion and no inability.

5. Despite every envious person, you have been granted
Eminence, sublimity, and rank.

6. If the eminent were not worthy of it, there would be
No people worthy of it on earth or in the seven orbits.

7. You are the son of one at whose sight the sun would veil itself
In awe before all creatures from his tremendousness.

8. You are from the best house whose honor
Elevated all people since the Merciful chose the best prophet from them.

9. The tribe of Lu’ayy spread the banner of pride
Over non-Arabs and Arabs alike.

10. If ancestral glory lies in lineage,
We pride ourselves in that pride and lineage.

11. Who would not boast of being descendants of the Messenger when
Their praises have been recorded in scriptures?

12. We were deprived by the hand of fate
Of our inherited and earned glory.

13. Until God decreed that we rebuild
What misfortunes in time had destroyed of our glory.

14. We have, praise God, rebuilt a house of piety
In which the bricks are cemented by morality, not gold.

15. A house raised by merit alone,
Supported by righteousness alone, not columns.

16. Bless the nights in their alternations!
How often they relieve those beset with perils and sorrows!

17. They show clearly the deceits that people harbor
Until wonders unfold from wonders.

18. Vicious natures leave their owners no veil,
So evil the company they keep!

19. Woe to me from a rabble, base and boorish,
Whose best is but an ox with no crime!

20. The cloak of each rests atop his frame
Like a scabbard on a blade of wood.

21. Mean is each stingy soul among them,
Wretched each heart in exile.

22. O band in whom I trusted to find
A true friend—all betrayed me!

23. Each is a father of flames in his malevolence,
And every female shoulders the firewood.

24. I pity the people of my time for the ugly lies and fraud
They suffer—no consent made them acquire such traits.

25. Rather, their ailment is a kind of delirium.
My soul, emulate the prophets! Arm yourself with patience,

26. Seek help from God, persevere—
Soon my people will know the one they ignored is their jewel.

27. When one has nothing but wealth his pedigree,
The fragrance of my mention is enough lineage for me.

28. O you who presumed of me what faults you saw!
I am the sun—look to your own shadows in me.

29. I am he whose origin and pride is that
My mother is virtuous and my father valorous,

30. And that the best youth among his people in nature
Is my brother, of purest morals, above any doubt—

31. One whose lofty title “His Excellency” captures his nobility
And refuses any title lacking the merits that it implies.

32. Muhammad! If praise were to find him,4 I would say
O best endowed with the best name and title!

33. O you whose thirsty sword flows from its scabbard
And whose prolific lance gushes from its case!

34. O you who stood alone in his tremendousness
Before a large assembled host or a looming army—

35. Extending a generous hand, some of whose fingers
Take the place of clouds and rainfalls.

36. O you who freely risked his precious soul, self-sacrificing,
Called to safeguard the sanctity of the sublime.

37. A stalwart—when the neighing of steeds thunders in his ears,
Ecstasy makes his body quiver.

38. He who does not dread death—if his sharp sword were unleashed
The world would be too narrow for death to escape.

39. He who does not fear devastation—if devastation took form to face him,
It would cry out in misery and war.

40. A bold horseman—when the arrow of his ideas takes flight
In the battleground of opinions, it does not go astray or miss.

41. The pride of warriors and protectors are because of him—
The Samhari steeds, the Indians, and the sturdy Kataib horses.6

42. The full moon of glory among his kin appears,
Eclipsing any other unveiled moon.

43. He reins in steeds galloping with brave regiments
Of noble Salab and refined Mahri steeds—

44. All gray-coated, marked beasts
Who charge valiantly but do not approach traps;

45. Lofty, tall, very swift,
Short-bodied, muscular, and supple.

46. They carry the brave whose equals they are—
Unwavering and unterrified.

47. Of every gelding keeping away from wildness
And every stallion drawing near to passion.

48. Their hooves make plains weep whenever he smiles
With his palm, and good tidings shine through his anger.

49. When armies meet on the battlefield,
His prowess makes double-edged swords redundant.

50. God bless the market of war where our heroes played
Games unlike child’s play!

51. A day in which calamities stand in shock
And the sun runs recklessly astray;

52. Horses stumble upon bodies as if they are
Palm trees felled in eras past.

53. Each carcass atop a horse just like it,
Clad in coats of mail the steeds can barely escape with.

54. Whenever the fires of war blaze,
The iron melts onto bodies out of fear.

55. Still he thrusts them forward with his truncheon
As the Sharifi leads them from one post to the next—

56. Every dark-skinned hero with shapely figure,
Every fair and ruddy cheek adorned;

57. An orator whose eloquence on the pulpits
Utters the most moving speeches.

58. Until he left no shelter for fugitives
Among the fighters or onlookers;

59. He drew his sword and satisfied the birds’ every pecking
And the beasts’ every ferocious bite.

60. Say to my critic: Cease your ignorant claim!
Does any fool butt horns with the sun?

61. Suppose you both gained fine fruits;
Far apart are date syrup and fresh dates!

62. O blossom of the vine, you have babbled nonsense
And are not made for sorrel or grapes.

63. The fool aspires, hoping to attain tranquility,
Though his peace is filled with toil.

64. How often the fool’s hopes lead him
To where safety is impossible!

65. Like children wistfully dreaming of water
While thirsty in Aleppo and water lies in Egypt.

66. Like lightning tempting every fanciful soul
With its water, immune from anything but flames.

67. Like clouds sailing angrily as they say:
Not every udder holds milk for the milkmaid!

68. Vain hopes are like wishful dreams,
Deluding souls with the deceptions of vanity.

69. O Master, O He in Whose days we delight,
Ever unchanging in His best transformations!

70. O gem of Beirut, the equal of which is needed
To counterbalance the glory of other frontiers.

71. You have exposed and removed dishonor,
Donned the jewelry of refinement and literary eloquence.

72. You ascended to the throne of virtues
Through good conduct, not wealth or rank,

73. Becoming the best youth for that lofty position,
Attuned to glory, harvesting praise.

74. To you the choicest fruits of thought were presented
When she drew aside her most delightful veils.

75. A father who makes the Arabized Arabs seem lowly
Compared to the true Arab stock—every lineage.

76. A chaste woman proud of her descent
Which she sees rooted in mighty ancestors.

77. She guarded the sanctuary of your Qurayshi lineage;
No pretender star has risen except her own.

78. She was free with you, bestowing upon you
The finest encomiums for the finest chosen one—

79. Every refined concept, humanly attained,
And every expression, safe from barbarity.

80. She gave herself to you, including the train
Of the proudest one, brighter than Suhban to Jarir.

81. Bless the most high in every generous deed!
Its cosmos revolves around your celestial pole.

82. Look—the age obeys your command!
See how excellent its obedience is.

83. Chastise it, make it bow low, say “It hears,” order “It answers.”
Surrender to the undying sun of glory—it never sets!

84. O heir to one the morning sun itself dims before.