إذا كان من عاداك يصبح نادما

وكل بهذا منك قد صار عالما

If whoever opposes you ends up repentant,

and everyone has come to know this of you,

فكيف يعادى أو يعاصيك من درى

بان القضا فيه بما شئت حاكما

how can anyone oppose or defy you, knowing

that fate rules his lot as you wish?

صدقت هي الاقدار يعمى بها الفتى

فيمضي ولو اضحى على الموت قادما

You speak truly: fate itself blinds a man,

and he presses on, even if advancing toward death.

ولو خلى الباغي عليك ورايه

لما كان إلا ناصحا لك خادما

Were your assailant left to his own judgment,

he would be only your sincere adviser and servant.

ولكنه يقضى عليه بما قضى

ليهلك أو يهدى إليك الغنائما

But what was decreed is decreed against him,

that he may perish or deliver the spoils to you.

ولله أيضاً في المكاره حكمة

تذكر من ينسى وتوقظ نائما

God also has wisdom in adversities,

reminding those who forget and awakening sleepers.

فكن عاذرا من كلفته يد القضا

إذا هو استعفى ووافاك نادما

So excuse the man burdened by fate's hand,

when he asks pardon and comes to you repentant.

فانت سعيد من نأى عنك هاربا

ثنته الليالي نحو بابك راغما

For you are fortunate: whoever flees far from you,

the nights turn him back toward your gate against his will.

الم تر إبراهيم إذ طوحت به

يد الجهل فاستعصى وعض الشكائما

Have you not seen Ibrahim, when he was flung astray

by ignorance's hand, grew defiant, and bit the bits?

وغر رجالا واستفز عصابة

ليقطع بالتجوير عنك المواسما

He deceived men and roused a band,

to deprive you of the seasonal fairs by alleging injustice.

فخانته أقدار السما وبدا له

من الله امر لم يكن عنه عالما

But heaven's decrees betrayed him, and there appeared to him

from God a matter he had never known.

ولاقى هوانا مثله لم يلاقه

وهسفا وخسفا موجعا ومغارما

He suffered humiliation unlike any he had suffered,

and ruin, painful abasement, and financial losses.

واما الكساد المتلف المال لا تسل

فكم لبثوا لا يبصرون الدراهما

As for the stagnation that devoured their wealth—do not ask!

How long they lingered without seeing a dirham!

واضحوا ندامى يأكلون أكفهم

على الموسم المغني لمن كان عادما

They became remorseful, gnawing their hands

over the fair that enriched those who had nothing.

وقد رفعوا الايدى إلى الله بالدعا

على من هداهم كاشفين العمائما

They raised their hands to God in prayer

against the man who led them, stripping off their turbans.

كساد وتتويه وخسر اصابهم

ومن لم يتوه عاد ندمان سادما

Stagnation, being led astray, and loss befell them;

whoever did not lose his way returned regretful and dejected,

يحذر من لاقا وينذر قومه

مغايظ لاقوها تحر الغلاصما

warning whomever he met and cautioning his people

of vexations they endured that seared their throats.

يلومون ابراهيم وهو لنفسه

اشد ملاما بل اشد تشاوما

They blame Ibrahim, while he himself

is harsher in self-reproach—indeed, darker in foreboding.

قلاه الورى حتى الاقارب اصبحت

عقارب تسعى نحوه وأراقما

All people loathed him; even his relatives became

scorpions advancing toward him, and venomous snakes.

وضاقت به الدنيا فلا أهل مكة

دعوه ولا من غيرهم راح سالما

The world closed in upon him: neither the people of Mecca

left him alone, nor did he escape others unscathed.

اردت له خيرا وربك لم يرد

له الخير مما يستحل المحارما

You wished him good, but your Lord did not wish

him good, for he deems forbidden things lawful,

ويدخل بالكفار والكفر مكة

لرب السما والمسلمين مراغما

and enters Mecca with unbelievers and unbelief,

defying the Lord of heaven and the Muslims.

فما هو الا وسط كفك واقع

بلا ذمة ترعى لديه ولا حما

So he lies in the very hollow of your hand,

with no protective pledge to be honored for him, and no sanctuary.

وموعده الباب الذي ان شددته

عليه فما يلقى من السيف عاصما

His appointed place is the gate; if you bar it

against him, he will find no shield from the sword.

لعمري لقد افضلت لولا ذنوبه

إلى الله لم يحرمه تلك المحارما

By my life, you have been generous; but for his sins

against God, he would not have been denied those sanctuaries.

فلا تقطعن حبل التواصل بينكم

وابق على العهد القديم المراسما

So do not sever the cord of fellowship between you,

and preserve the courtesies of your former covenant.

فقد سمعت اذني وابصر ناظري

تلطفهم مستعطفين المراحما

For my ear has heard, and my eye has seen,

their gentle entreaties, seeking to stir compassion.

وما ملك عبدالله الا كرامة

انامت سطاها في العمود الصوارما

Abdullah's kingship is nothing but a divine grace,

whose might has lulled keen swords to sleep in the ranks.

وأمست بها غلب الرقاب خواضعا

شم الأنوف الراغمات رواغما

Through it, thick-necked men have become submissive,

their proud noses brought low, rubbed in the dust.

وراءك عنه تنج ارومه طالبا

مكارمه يملا يديك مغانما

Keep back from him and be safe; I seek him to request

his generous favors: he fills your hands with spoils.

الا انه المنصور فاحذر لقاءه

بحرب وكن منه لنفسك راحما

Indeed, he is al-Mansur; beware of meeting him

in war, and have mercy on yourself in dealing with him.

وما لك والمر الذي لا تطيقه

اهل عاد من عاداه قبلك غانما

Why face bitterness that you cannot bear?

Has anyone who opposed him before you returned with gain?

معاديك ملق في المهالك نفسه

وآت بما فيها به صار آثما

Your foe casts himself into deadly dangers,

and commits there what makes him sinful.

ومن ربه في عونه فعدوه

شقي تلاقى من شقاه القواصما

Whoever has his Lord to aid him—his enemy

is ill-fated, meeting crushing blows from his own ill fate.

ايرمى امرء جهلا إلى فوق راسه

بما أن رماه عاد للراس هاشما

Would a man ignorantly throw above his head

something that, once thrown, returns to crush his head?

وان زمانا أنت سلطان أهله

ملى بان يكفي القضايا العظائما

An age whose people have you as their sultan

is well able to settle the gravest affairs,

وان يدفع الجلي ويوسع أهله

ميامن لا يبقى لديهم مشاوما

to ward off great calamity and lavish on its people

good fortune, leaving no ill omens among them.

وقد أدركت نفسي إليك بقية

من العمر فيه بعد عهد تقادما

My soul has lived to reach you in a remnant

of life in this age, after a long lapse of time.

غفرت بها ذنب الزمان وما بقي

عليه لها عتب فادعوه ظالما

Through it I have forgiven Time its sin; no longer

has my soul a grievance against it, that I should call it unjust.

فشكرا له عمرا اراني مدة

رايتك فيها بالخلافة قائما

So lifelong thanks to it for showing me a time

in which I saw you upholding the caliphate.

فان كان حظ كان وقتك وقته

فما ارتجى من بعد حاتم حاتما

If fortune had its moment, your time was that moment;

I look for no second Hatim after Hatim.

وانى على ظهر الطريق مسافر

وما الزاد مثل الرزق يطلب دائما

I am a traveler upon the open road,

and provisions, unlike sustenance, are not sought continually.

فزود وعش ما شئت بعدى عيشة

تسرك في الملك العقيم مسالما

So provision me, and live after me as long as you wish,

a life that delights you, at peace in kingship that knows no kin.