1. خذ النفس بالتسلم لله في الأمر

    ودع كيف ما شاءت مقاديره تجري

    School your soul in surrender to God in every matter;

    And let His decrees run however they will.

  2. واجمل فليس السعى إلا تطلبا

    لما لم يزل يأتيك من حيث لا تدري

    And seek moderately, for striving is only a pursuit

    Of what keeps coming to you from where you do not know.

  3. فما بعد ضيق المر إلا انفراجه

    وما بعد هذا العسر شيء سوى اليسر

    For after bitter hardship comes only its relief;

    And after this hardship there is nothing but ease.

  4. وما حالة إلا تحول بأهلها

    وهذا هو المعهود من خلق الدهر

    And every condition changes for those who live through it;

    This is the familiar nature of time.

  5. إذا رضى المولى عليك فهين

    جميع الذي تلقى من الخير والشر

    If the Lord is pleased with you, then easy is

    All that you encounter, whether good or evil.

  6. وسل عن رضاه حسن قصدك وحده

    ولا تغترر منه بنفع ولا ضر

    And ask your good intention alone about His pleasure;

    Do not be misled by benefit or harm from Him.

  7. فكم من محب يجرع المر محننة

    وذي بغضة مستعذب شدة المكر

    For many a lover drinks bitterness as an ordeal,

    And many a bearer of hatred finds fierce scheming sweet.

  8. فأحسن تجد ان زلت الرجل متكا

    بعين إذا انكب المسيء على النحر

    So do good: if your foot slips, you will find a support

    Under an eye's watch, when the evildoer falls upon his throat.

  9. ولا تشف غيظا إن ظفرت فما شفا

    تقى ولا ذى غرة غلة الصدرة

    And do not slake your rage when you prevail; never has

    A pious man or a man of distinction quenched his breast's burning.

  10. وما مات غيظا مثل حساد ماجد

    ثناه اختيار العفو عن درك الوتر

    None has died of rage like the enviers of a noble man

    Whose choice of pardon turned him from exacting vengeance.

  11. وهل مات من لم يكظم الغيظ ظافرا

    بغير انتهاك العرض والهتك للستر

    And has one who did not curb his rage in victory ever died

    Without violating honor and tearing away the veil,

  12. وانكار أهل الله في الله فعله

    فكم ناله من ذلك الربح من خسر

    And God's people condemning his deed for God's sake?

    So how much loss befell him from that gain!

  13. قضى في العدى والحم أيضا لنفسه

    وما هو في إحداهما نافذ الأمر

    He judged his enemies, with the ruling also in his own favor,

    Though he had no authority in either case.

  14. فإن القضا للنفس والحكم في العدا

    بإجماع أهل العلم من أعظم النكر

    For judging one's own case and ruling on one's enemies

    Are, by the scholars' consensus, among the gravest wrongs.

  15. وكان هو القاضي وكان الذي ادعى

    وكان إذا الأشهاد بلغت عن عمرو

    He was the judge, and he was the one who made the claim;

    And then he was the witnesses: 'I was told about ʿAmr.'

  16. فقيل له بلغت ليس شهادة

    فقال وهل أرجو شهوداً ولي أمري

    So he was told: '“I was told” is not testimony.'

    He said, 'Should I seek witnesses when the matter is mine?'

  17. فلو كان هذا الحكم في غير محضر

    من الناس قلنا كان ذلك في السر

    Had this judgment been given away from a gathering

    Of people, we would have said, 'That was done in secret.'

  18. فلا من ذوى أرض تحاشى ولا سما

    ولا رده عن سهوه زجر ذي زجر

    Yet he shrank neither before those on earth nor before heaven,

    Nor did a rebuker's rebuke turn him from his lapse.

  19. فإن كان يدري ما قضي فمصيبة

    وأعظم من ذا ان قضي وهو لا يدري

    For if he knew what he judged, that is a calamity;

    And worse than that is if he judged without knowing.