1. ارضيت ربك بالعدل الذي انتشرا

    في الأرض عنك وعم البدو الحضرا

    You have pleased your Lord with justice that has spread

    through the land from you, embracing nomads and townsfolk.

  2. وأذهب الجور حتى لا يرى أثراً

    له لديك ولا يلقى له خبراً

    It banished oppression until no trace can be seen

    of it in your presence, nor any report of it found.

  3. اسقطت ستين الفاً من جبا جهة

    فغظت إبليس حتى راح منفطراً

    You remitted sixty thousand from a district's taxes,

    so enraging Iblis that he went away rent apart.

  4. فلا يهولك ماساءت بوادره

    فسوف يرضيك من أرضيته سيراً

    So let nothing whose first signs are ill alarm you:

    He whom your conduct pleased will surely please you.

  5. ما نقص العدل مالاً سيق من وجهة

    إلا وبارك فيه الله فانجبرا

    Never has justice diminished wealth brought from any source

    but that God blessed it and made it whole again.

  6. ولا تكاثر مالاً جار جامعه

    إلا جرى موجب تفريقه شذراً

    Nor has wealth multiplied when its collector was unjust

    but that a cause arose to scatter it in fragments.

  7. فدرهم العدل تنميه مسالمة

    من الخطوب إلى أن يملاء البدرا

    A dirham gained justly grows through freedom

    from misfortunes, until it fills the moneybags.

  8. ودرهم الجور ممحوق يلم به

    من الحوادث ما يمحو به أثراً

    But a dirham gained unjustly is blighted; there befalls it

    some calamity that erases every trace of it.

  9. أرض الإِله واسخط من سواه له

    يرضى ويرضى إذا ارضيته البشرا

    Please God, and for His sake anger those besides Him:

    He will be pleased and, if you please Him, will please mankind.

  10. ولا تعامله تجريباً بقدرته

    فمن يعامله تجريبا لها كفرا

    Do not deal with Him by putting His power to the test;

    whoever deals with Him to test it has disbelieved.

  11. يا رب زده على ما ترتضيه له

    عونا ويسر له في الخير ما عسرا

    O Lord, grant him, in what You approve for him,

    greater aid, and ease for him what is hard in doing good.

  12. وزده حسن يقين وارضه كرما

    فيما تولاه من صنع وما وزرا

    Increase his sound certainty, and graciously content him

    in the deeds he has undertaken and the burdens he has borne.

  13. الاشرف الملك ابن الناصر الملك ابن

    الاشرف الملك ابن المعدم النظرا

    King al-Ashraf, son of King al-Nasir, son

    of King al-Ashraf, son of the peerless one.

  14. ما ملكه اليوم إلا رحمة وهدى

    وغيرة نبهت من كان معتبراً

    His reign today is nothing but mercy and guidance,

    and zeal that has awakened those who take heed.

  15. سنٌ حديثٌ ورأى للكهول به

    تعجب وكمال حير الفكرا

    A tender age, yet judgment that leaves mature men

    amazed, and perfection that bewilders thought.

  16. محاسن ما اهتدى للاتصاف بها

    بنو الثمانين خل السابع العشرا

    Virtues whose acquisition has eluded

    men of eighty—let alone one in his seventeenth year.

  17. العهد بالمهد لم يبعد له أمد

    لكن أليس الذي أعطاك مقتدراً

    His time in the cradle is not long past,

    but is not He who bestowed on you all-powerful?

  18. قد كلم الناس في الهد المسيح وما

    جرت العوائد من رب السما نكرا

    The Messiah spoke to people in the cradle; and

    the customary favors flowing from heaven's Lord are nothing strange.

  19. خير الخلائف عدل في رعيته

    أحبهم وأحبوه كما ذكرا

    The best of caliphs acts justly toward his subjects;

    he loves them and they love him, as has been related.

  20. دليل سعدك أن الخير أجمعه

    على يدك وفي شهر الصيام جرا

    A sign of your good fortune is that all this good

    came by your hand, in the month of fasting.

  21. كم من يد لك تدعو وهي صائمة

    طوراً وطوراً تناجي بالدعا سحرا

    How many a hand prays for you while fasting,

    at times, and at others whispers prayers before dawn.

  22. احييتهم بعدما ماتوا وكنت لهم

    نفعا نفى بعد ما أحياهم الضررا

    You revived them after they had died, and were to them

    a benefit that, after reviving them, banished harm.

  23. سيدفع الله بالإِحسان عنك إذا

    ما كان يدفعه شيء إذا حضرا

    Through your kindness, God will ward harm off from you when

    nothing else could ward it off, should it come.

  24. وتذكرون مقالي اليوم حينئذ

    وتشكرون إلها خير من شكرا

    Then you will remember what I say today,

    and thank God, the best of all to be thanked.

  25. غرست خيرا وأنت اليوم منتظراً

    ستجنين غدا من غرسك الثمرا

    You planted goodness, and today you wait;

    tomorrow you will surely reap the fruit of your planting.

  26. فإنه الله قد عاملته طمعا

    فيه وما خاب راجيه ولا خفرا

    For it is God with whom you have dealt, hoping

    in Him; none who hoped in Him has failed or been betrayed.

  27. وقد يحدث بعض الناس أنفسهم

    بغير هذا ويمسى خائفاً حذراً

    Yet some people may tell themselves

    otherwise, and end the day fearful and wary.

  28. يرعى القياس وما تقضى العقول به

    من أن من لم يقدر راكب خطرا

    They heed analogy and what reason decrees:

    that whoever fails to reckon rides into danger.

  29. فقل له أن للرحمن مقدرة

    تمضي وتترك أحكام القياس ورا

    So tell him that the All-Merciful has power

    that advances, leaving analogy's judgments behind.

  30. جاء النبي بما عاد الانام له

    وكان فرداً وملء الأرض من كفرا

    The Prophet brought that to which mankind returned,

    and he was alone, while the earth was full of unbelievers.

  31. ولم يزل أمره ينمو بقدرته

    حتى بدا واضمحل الكفر واستترا

    Yet his cause kept growing through His power,

    until it became manifest, and unbelief dwindled and hid away.

  32. وكان أعجب من هذا تآلفهم

    لكل ما يوجب التنفير والحذرا

    More wondrous than this was their mutual affection

    through all that should have caused aversion and fear.

  33. هل في القياس بأن الحرب موجبه

    إرشاد من ضل أو وتأليف من نفرا

    Does analogy admit that war should bring

    guidance to the lost, or reconciliation of the estranged?

  34. وكان صلى عليه الله يقتلهم

    حتى يحبوه المبصر البصرا

    He would—may God's blessings be upon him—kill them

    until they loved him, the one who enlightened sight.

  35. أهَلْ يحبك من أمسيت تقتله

    أباً وعماً وتروي الصارم الذكرا

    Would someone love you when you have been killing

    his father and uncle, and slaking the keen sword's thirst?

  36. لقد أحبوه والثارات تبعثهم

    على هواه هذا في القياس جرا

    Indeed they loved him, with blood-feuds urging them

    toward love of him—did this follow reason's reckoning?

  37. الله باق على تسهيل كل رخا

    للمتقي وعلى تيسير ما عسرا

    God is ever constant in making every comfort attainable

    for the God-fearing, and in making hardship easy.

  38. من حاول الأمر بالعصيان أبعده

    مما رجاه وأدنى منه ماحذرا

    Whoever pursues an aim through disobedience, God distances him

    from what he hoped for, and brings near him what he feared.

  39. كل الأمور إِلى الرحمن مطرحا

    جوراً نهى عنه وأعدل مثلما أمرا

    Entrust your affairs to the All-Merciful, casting aside

    the injustice He forbade, and be just as He commanded.

  40. تجده عونك فيما قمت تطلبه

    ولا تبال أقلَّ المالُ أم كثرا

    You will find Him your helper in whatever you seek;

    care not whether wealth diminishes or grows abundant.