1. همم أتت بخوارق العادات

    وبكل معجزة من الفتكات

    Aspirations have wrought marvels beyond the customary order,

    And every miracle of deadly onslaughts.

  2. ما هذه لعلاك أول آية

    ظهرت عجائبها من الآيات

    This is not the first sign of your exalted rank

    Whose wonders have appeared among the signs.

  3. لك كل يوم في عدو وقعة

    ووديعة في بطن كل فلات

    Each day you have a battle against an enemy,

    And a deposit in the belly of every wilderness.

  4. يا ويح أحمق غر قوما مثله

    القوا بأيديهم إلى الهلكات

    Alas for a fool who deceived a people like himself!

    They cast themselves, with their own hands, into destruction.

  5. استحسنوا زرع الخلاف وما دروا

    أن الحصاد وراء كل نبات

    They approved of sowing dissent, not knowing

    That the harvest follows every crop.

  6. وتهافتوا مثل الفراش على الظبا

    ورموا حناجرهم على الشفرات

    And they rushed headlong, like moths, upon the sword-edges,

    And cast their throats upon the cutting edges.

  7. فغدوا حصيدا للسيوف تكدهم

    فتكبهم صرعا الهامات

    So they became a harvest for swords that wore them down,

    Then flung them down, their heads laid low.

  8. ظنوا القلوب تسل منك إليهم

    هيهات تلك خرافة هيهات

    They thought hearts would be drawn away from you to them.

    Far from it! That is a fable—far from it!

  9. أنت الحياة فمن يميل إلى الردى

    ويجب بيع حياته بمهمات

    You are life—so who would incline toward death

    And have to sell his life for weighty undertakings?

  10. ثؤلول بغى كان أطلع رأسه

    فحسمته قبل انتهى الغايات

    A wart of rebellion had raised its head,

    So you cut it off before it reached its limits.

  11. الآن طأطأ كل غر رأسه

    متواضعا وصحى ذوو السكرات

    Now every dupe has lowered his head,

    Humbly, and those in drunken stupor have sobered.

  12. علموا بأنك طود عز شامخ

    في الأفق لا يوهيه قرع صفات

    They learned that you are a towering mountain of might,

    On the horizon, unweakened by blows upon hard rock.

  13. قد كان خبط في الحساب وأهله

    في هذه وهم ذوو الغلطات

    There had been confusion in the reckoning and among its practitioners

    In this matter—and they are people prone to errors.

  14. زعموا بأن فتى سينشر دعوة

    بين الورى في هذه الأوقات

    They claimed that a young man would spread a call

    Among humankind in these times.

  15. السيف اصدق لهجة فاستفته

    يخبرك كيف النجح في الطلبات

    The sword speaks more truthfully—so seek its verdict:

    It will tell you how success comes in pursuits.

  16. لا تستضئ بغير آراء الظبا

    فيها استقامت قبلة الصلوات

    Seek no light except from the counsels of the sword-edges;

    Through them the direction of prayer was set aright.

  17. لولا السعادة عرضته لحتفه

    يوم اللقاء لطار في الهبوات

    Had good fortune not exposed him to his death,

    On the day of battle, he would have flown away amid dust clouds.

  18. ما كان اطول عمرها من دعوة

    لو لم يعاجل حبلها ببتات

    How much longer that call would have lived,

    Had its cord not been promptly severed!

  19. سكنت أراجيف الكهانة وانجلى

    بهلاكه عنهم صدا الشبهات

    The false rumors of soothsaying subsided, and cleared away was

    The rust of doubts from them, through his destruction.

  20. الله أكبر ما كأحمد قد أتى

    ملك ولا ملك كأحمد آتى

    God is greatest! No one like Ahmad has ever come

    As a king; nor has any king given as Ahmad has.

  21. الناصر ابن الاشرف ابن الإفضل

    ابن علي المجاهد سيد السادات

    Al-Nasir, son of al-Ashraf, son of al-Afdal,

    Son of Ali al-Mujahid, lord of lords.

  22. يا من أطال بذي الخلافة باسه

    ورقي بها في أرفع الدرجات

    O you who extended your might through this caliphate,

    And through it rose to the highest ranks,

  23. في النفس حاجات وفيك فطانة

    تدرى بما في النفس من حاجات

    Within my soul are needs, and in you discernment;

    You know the needs that lie within my soul.

  24. حسبي السكوت وقد علمت بمن له

    همم أتت بخوارق العادات

    Silence is enough for me, for I know one whose

    Aspirations have wrought marvels beyond the customary order.