1. The sign of God's selection of a servant is his knowledge,
And his honor is that He reveals the truth to his understanding,

2. The branches of knowledge are but ways,
By which each person pursues what concerns him,

3. And people's concerns for benefit vary,
Each according to diverse aspects, and each has his claim,

4. They were not created but in conformity to a wisdom,
By which the order and system of existence is perfected,

5. So between a shepherd who knows none but himself,
And another engaged in the ranks of his rule,

6. And each builds his direction on a foundation of knowledge,
Whether for guidance therein or for its destruction,

7. How can an ignorant man govern himself or others,
With natural disposition and zeal for his people?

8. Therefore, when God appointed Adam as successor,
He was endowed with a share of the knowledge of realities,

9. Until he knew the secret of harmony between them,
And how the named requires what is its name,

10. So he came to teach the angels their knowledge,
By directing them, not by what was his knowledge,

11. And the superiority of knowledge was shown when they prostrated to him,
And the one who arrogantly refused was pelted with stones,

12. And when he embarked upon the earth as its settler,
He undertook a struggle the self abhors undertaking,

13. So he spread his children across the lands and regions,
That each might tend to the line of a territory and develop it,

14. Thus the center of knowledge, religion and sublimity,
Became where civilization grew and its plan extended,

15. You do not see the light of prophecy shining,
Except on a region centered within its curve,

16. And the self has in the expansion of civilization a desire,
By which religious restraint becomes disordered in its form,

17. For that you see the shadow of absolute rule preceding,
An era whose shadow envelops the caliphate and tarnishes it,

18. No kingdom in civilization is more unjust or blameworthy,
Than a kingdom made loose by prosperity and plenty,

19. There zeal is uprooted by passions,
And the strength of noble ambitions weakened,

20. Passions overshadow one whose mother they are,
Like a shadow to one the sun of knowledge guides,

21. Man loses not the face of prosperity,
If his share of the branches of knowledge is ample,

22. For the body is but a servant to money, striving,
And money is but a servant to status, gathering,

23. And status is but a servant to rule, seeking refuge,
And rule is but a servant to religious law, resolving,

24. And religious law is but a servant to truth, guiding,
By truth existence arose and its darkness receded,

25. You do not see towering might continuing forever,
Unless knowledge is its pillar of support,

26. It reaches the nests of ostriches, though high,
And descends from the slopes of gazelles, though lofty,

27. When man perfects the outward authority,
And its inward reality with firm knowledge,

28. Then he who knows things and fulfills their rights,
To him is submitted what his opponent contends,

29. And every branch of knowledge is beneficial to rule,
Especially what agrees with the wisdom of rule,

30. I see the king like a sphere under its head,
Needing his subordinates for what concerns him,

31. One is the navigating pilot whose action,
Another the retreating sailor whose knowledge is short,

32. And the aim is sailing the ship and keeping it safe,
That each may be secure or profit greatly,

33. Does he sail the seas' swell without resisting waves,
While in its folds there is war, as its name indicates?

34. For this you see the king of the Franks empowered,
By knowledge of the modern sciences and arts,

35. While the kingdom of Islam diminishes in shade,
And parts of its edges crumble from what they encompass,

36. Though it is more enduring and vaster in expanse,
And more moderate in climate by nature,

37. With the most deeply rooted place in civilization's growth,
And the longest historical reach cleaving resolves,

38. With steps advanced far in the sciences,
Having gathered the bounty of crafts within it,

39. And made its expeditions conquer the seven climes,
And neighboring from the barrier of Gog and Magog its buildup,

40. The subjugated found no path to its glory,
Except knowledge, the exemplar of leadership and mother,

41. With it they gained access to wishes,
Especially where an aspect of it was deficient,

42. Whoever is ignorant of Europe and its rule,
And does not penetrate into industries with understanding,

43. Remains in the bosom of ignorance,
Distracted in the bed of customs by his dream,

44. Whoever clings to homelands becomes like herbage,
Growing in its place, then plucked and discarded,

45. They planted the tree of civilization, on its boughs,
Mathematics and natural philosophy flourished,

46. In its shade they took comfortable refuge,
From severity, protected by schemes,

47. We have in the beginning of opinion missed our path,
And would to my life the conclusion be not missed!

48. One procession moves ahead and another lags behind,
If attention be not given to bring the latter group up,

49. By my life, not dead is he who is laid in the dust,
But dead of strength is he who cannot equip himself,

50. Where his body falls short, though his spirit urges,
They killed the life of the two abodes in knowledge,

51. Whoever does not participate with them, his arrow has missed,
Every superior whose merits empower him,

52. Should employ them to benefit the people, and this is his concern,
Shall the free soul remain stuck in confusion,

53. Lingering over idols, distracted by its cares,
While its path is clear and the guide to it beautiful,

54. And the daily guide manifest, its time come?
Nay, but he has resolved the matter and embarked,

55. Upon restoring what diminished from its glory by his resolve,
A brilliant minister of supreme command,

56. Preceding consideration, his mind piercing and speech decisive,
You see him, not knowing whether kindness melts his severity,

57. Or judgment stirs a concern that preoccupies him,
Justice shows him the merit of his opposite,

58. But he conceals the faults in forbearance,
I envy him that knowledge, like one envying,

59. The throne of Bilqis, though rejecting its pagan engraving,
He aimed its horizons with the two brilliant stars, Muhammad,

60. The praised, and The Savior, the blessed celestial bodies,
His two noble sons, both of whom spoke in the cradle,

61. Articulating his name in their loftiness and sublimity,
And paralleled with two mirrors of their thoughts,

62. Transcribing until its form was displayed,
And when they expressed the core of a heart, marveling,

63. All acknowledged the precedence of Arabs in knowledge,
And each was certain that it was the start of an era,

64. In which the horizon of Tunis renews its star,
While the benefit of the chiefs' rule to the people generally,

65. Is complete, once the conclusion unites with the aim,
If the beginning of a matter is rightly guided, then fortunate,

66. Are its consequences, and the approach, its protected mother,
O You, O Minister, by whom God has granted virtue to this land,

67. Adorning it with a pride reaching all,
May the high station your two sons have erected,

68. And the glories you sired through them, endure,
Advance them into public offices as teachers,

69. And pave for them steps of merit guiding,
And raise them in the state of the King who knows from you,

70. What is hidden from the people, of your knowledge,
Seek the pleasure of the Merciful through what He has chosen for you,

71. Of merit penetrating your understanding,
A special quality, veiled in the dark of humanity,

72. Decreed for Adam beforehand in its judgment,
Clarifying it while people are in the veil of heedlessness,

73. Until its dawn uncovered their long night,
So to God belongs the guidance He inspired,

74. And the thought He expanded to encompass existence, gathered,
And I am humbled by elaborating on some of his praise,

75. And magnify him beyond being named by his name,
But it is a debt upon me, prohibiting satisfaction

76. Of my duty to him with the poetry I have composed,
You have remained for this King a man of insight,

77. Your view his mirror and his bounty your mirror,
And you have conveyed in self, family and world,

78. A purpose it is the source of every winning and conclusion,