1. The exemplars from the clan of Fihr and their brethren
Have set a tradition for people to follow

2. Pleasing to all whose inner thoughts are
Devotion to God and to the way they pioneered

3. A people who in warfare injured their enemies
Or in seeking benefit benefited their partisans

4. Such is their natural disposition, no innovation
Truly the worst of all creatures are innovations

5. Men do not mend what their palms have rent
In defense, nor do they damage what they have mended

6. If they outstripped people one day, their outstripping triumphed
Or if they vied with men of glory, they took enjoyment

7. If there are any outstrippers among people after them
Then each outstripping is a consequence of their outstripping

8. They do not begrudge a patron his favors upon them
Nor does greed afflict them in ambition

9. They are not ignorant even if you seek their ignorance
Spacious is their sagacity, beyond that, latitude

10. Their chastity was mentioned in revelation, their continence
They covet not, nor does covetousness cast them down

11. How many a friend whose honor they attained
And how many a hostile foe they broke

12. They gave obedience to the Prophet of guidance and righteousness
Never did their support of him waver, nor withdraw

13. If he said march they strove their utmost in marching
Or if he said turn askance from us awhile, they wheeled

14. Their marching did not cease until the people of the cross
And whoever else submitted gained their advantage

15. Take from them ungrudgingly when they are wrathful
And let not your concern be for what they forbid

16. For in their warring, the shedding of their foe's blood
Is an evil that whets the sword and barters lives away

17. We soar when warfare's talons clutch at us
As the spines scatter beneath its claws and shrink away

18. No joy if they smote an enemy, no dejection if smitten
As though war's death and havoc crouched, watching them, quiescent

19. When a lion lies at rest in his lair, withdrawn
If we take aim at a people we do not blame

20. As the young gazelles yearn toward the wilderness, desire
Honor a people whose leader was God's Messenger

21. When divers passions and sects became separated
My heart's praise of them is seconded by a tongue shaping

22. Verily they are the best of all the living
If the earnestness of speech stirs people, or they kindle