1. To Abu Ubaydah in Damascus and Khalid
A pact renewed over a dormant quarter

2. The bones of al-Waqidi trembled and yearned
For the mention of the eternal, glorious conquest

3. The Umayyad Mosque unites a nation
With its call to prayer rumbling like thunder

4. And Damascus is a free Arab kingdom
Capital of an everlasting kingdom

5. How excellent the olden pact and how excellent
A new pact like the flourishing spring

6. After long separation Damascus embraced
Noble, heroic Arabs with unsheathed swords

7. If it could speak, its soil would cry out
“Welcome, welcome to the returning beloved!”

8. It recalled Mu’awiyah the Great and his shadow
In its atmosphere like the shadow of a hunting eagle

9. After despair it looked and saw
A flag fluttering over a laden plain

10. Arab in its colors, Damascene in its homelands
A life of tranquility is hoped for it

11. Four colors on it have become
Drawn on the heart of each fighter

12. Whoever does not generously give his soul to strengthen it
And die in destitution a majestic death

13. All those it unites compete
In nobility and outstanding merit

14. The star of its good fortune rose over the wilderness
Dispelling the gloom from every sullen face

15. It called Damascus, giving it the good news
Of its deliverance from the tyranny of a vanishing rule

16. The cities recalled their mother
And breathed in news like a pleasant dream

17. By God, Damascus will not accept
Another flag to replace the arriving comet

18. The people of prophethood and the caliphate are its people
So God disputes with the remote aggressor

19. Greet him, stand before him praying
With the pride of the Worshipped, the pride of the worshipper

20. May my every vigilant and valiant brother ransom him
With the flash of his sharp sword

21. He is that hero whose feats of valor
Are hoped to set right a corrupt situation

22. His sword is forever for vanquishing the insolent
And the fangs of his stallion for the rising evil

23. The shining light of his brow is for peace
And the flames of his right hand for the obstinate

24. Indeed, the heroic soldier bears a spear
And his sword is the first to be drawn for the kingdom

25. When you see him striking violently you say
He is more ferocious than a raging lion

26. Is he the martyr of his sword or his sword
The martyr of him before the unbeliever?

27. The sword prayed in the necks by his palm
Until a torrent gushed from the barren

28. O Damascus, old age and its misery have made you decrepit
So take youth from the bursting Arab vitality

29. Its blood is strong and pure in its Bedouins
It is the life for every aspiring people

30. When the bloods mix, the fire of determination flares up
After dying embers

31. My anxiety for you when you become captive
With shackles tearing apart the heart of the shackled

32. If you are ignorant, ask Egypt which
Was afflicted with mournful calamities and misfortunes

33. By God, no relief for an imprisoned woman
Whose chains are shaped like necklaces

34. Tell your people after their long tribulation
“You are kinsmen, so frown at those who sever kinship”

35. Or have you not known your share from them when
Their help has receded despite hardships?

36. Woe to you if they become your masters
For the blackened has long suffered from the whiteners

37. Adhere to an Arab national creed
When religions differ

38. Damascus, capital of the countries, fortify yourself
With God against cunning and conspiracies

39. From the plains to the coasts, unite
Cities that have become the kingdom’s best foundations

40. Those foundations were not with their tombs
And palaces but the heritage of glories

41. Never take refuge in a foreign state
To avoid the evils of the lurking enemy

42. Incline away from Arabs toward non-Arabs and not
Tend the reins of beloved kinsmen?

43. No, by those who made their beds its soil
They are neither chaff nor corrupt weeds

44. Beirut, your sister, O Damascus, is indeed
Arab, and God is the greatest witness

45. Its noble youths were martyred in it
And death torments the loving struggler

46. They died ransom to Arab nationalism
That grew strong despite the massive enemy

47. From Gaza to Jaffa to Haifa to Acre
To faithful Tripoli of high aspirations

48. And likewise from Tyre to Sidon to
The port of free Tarabulus

49. And Latakia embraced Mersin
From Alexandretta and its castles from afar

50. All those cities are Arab
In their glorious affliction and bounty

51. After hardship their shackles split
And their Arabness appeared to the observer

52. The power of the Byzantines was sapped if they tampered with it
For false claims,crooked designs, and corruption

53. By the sword of Yazid and his shrine
It will not hesitate or soften before any aggressor

54. Damascus is the sister of Iraq and both
Are the light of Arabism for the lost seeker

55. They are the homelands of my nation and hopes
Are pinned on them by every covenanter

56. Their noble people are paternal cousins, all
Arabs of manners and customs for them

57. But the foreigner corrupts or divides them
And says the tributary has a claim over me

58. By God, were it not for them, his army would have disintegrated
And the plot is foiled by the throat of the plotter

59. They backed him and empowered him against the enemy
Until he dominated and became like a raging lion

60. So upon him is their curse and the curse of his progeny
As long as he is the most lying deceiver

61. O dilapidated land of Arabs and Islam, if
Damascus becomes hunted prey

62. And the foreigners judge its children
And decree the demolition of its schools and mosques

63. And the wolves prey upon their descendants’
Corpses on the barren soil

64. Every despicable coward rolls up his sleeve
And tramples the train of the bowing imam

65. With his blue cunning eye that seems
Hard but a fragile glass vessel

66. Never ceasing to bare his fangs
Like a slippery serpent circling its prey

67. Why don’t you cleanse its land of their filth
When you are the best vanquisher?

68. The foreigners marched with their cavalry and infantry
And took its most precious seats

69. Their ships’ smoke rises for them
And cannons erected for every warrior

70. While all the faithful are isolated with no
Protector for their children or infants

71. The free ones appeared then dispersed
Until wrist parted from arm

72. Forever launching raids by surprise
Squabbling over crumbs and morsels

73. Against the English and French, by God
While the land is like spoils and prey

74. Our brothers in the West, their misery is prolonged
How many eyewitnesses relate the atrocities!

75. Will their fate one day be our fate
As we yearn for ruins with regret?

76. O Damascus, neither shall the crow caw
Nor an eye turn toward the cage of the cawing raven

77. When he trills mournfully or wails
His song is but the echo of my odes

78. I have strung together the rites and feelings
Of my nation, a necklace that the stringer does not unknot

79. Call upon Mu’awiyah the Great, perhaps
He will come to you on the wing of the refractory devil

80. His onslaughts are like ships
And his steeds like claps of thunder

81. He will rout the foreigners from our dwelling places
And frontiers after the vanished dream

82. A kingdom is built only by the ambitious
So ambition is the foundation of a lasting kingdom

83. He is the one who fortified the frontiers and blocked them
From it with every deep pool and plateau

84. He built its navy by which it became impregnable
Holding firm in the enemy’s land

85. By it the Byzantine lands were in turmoil
While the sea raged against the defiant tiderip

86. O Damascene, be steadfast
And for your family or homelands, be combative

87. When called to the unpleasant, be for it
A hero, and scorn the sedentary coward

88. For God and truth, rage even if you die
A martyr, the Praiseworthy will give you life

89. You whose homelands and dependents
Are exposed like worn-out goods

90. Will you not protect the dearest thing to a man
And die before what is inviolable and places of worship?

91. Woe to you if you accept dishonor
That the lowliest slave would not accept

92. If you see unwavering resolve,
Bolster it with Mars or Mercury

93. Strike with your sword or your opinion a separation
Until you change from placid to stormy

94. By God, there is no heroism or freedom
Except by the iron harvester

95. Tell the foreigners with their multitude of ambitions
“Do not deprive a child the affection of parents”

96. Damascus is free Arab land
Whose inhabitants are Arabs under one king

97. If they tamper with its rights and sentiments
It will preserve its Arabness with a rancorous heart

98. From its tearing of its veil will come a day
The soil of Khalid will crack