احذر بني من القران العاشر

وانفر بنفسك قبل نفر النافر

Beware, my son, of the tenth conjunction.

And flee for your life before the fugitive takes flight.

لا تشغلنك لذة تلهو بها

فالموت أولى بالظلوم الفاجر

Let no pleasure you revel in distract you.

For death is more fitting for the oppressive evildoer.

واسكن بلاداً بالحجاز وقم بها

واصبر على جور الزمان الجائر

And settle in a land in the Hijaz, and remain there.

And patiently bear the tyranny of unjust time.

ولا تركنن إلى البلاد فإنها

سيعمها حد الحسام الباتر

And do not rely on the lands, for they

Will be engulfed by the edge of the cleaving sword,

من فتية فطس الأنوف كأنهم

سيل طما أو كالجراد الناشر

At the hands of flat-nosed young men, as though they were

An overflowing torrent, or locusts spreading everywhere.

خزر العيون تراهم في ذلة

كم قد أبادوا من مليك قاهر

Narrow-eyed, you see them in abasement.

How many a mighty king have they annihilated!

ما قصدهم إلا الدماء كأنما

ثار لهم من كل ناه آمر

They seek nothing but blood, as though

They had vengeance to exact from everyone who forbids and commands.

وخراب ما شاد الورى حتى

ترى قفراً عمارتهم برغم العامر

And the destruction of what humankind has built, until

You see their buildings a wasteland, despite their builders.

أما خراسان تعود منابتا

للعشب ليس لأهلها من جابر

As for Khurasan, it becomes a growing ground

For grass, with none to restore its people.

وكذا الخوارزم وبلخ بعدها

تضحي وليس بربعها من صافر

So too Khwarazm, and Balkh after it,

Will become so, with no one whistling in their dwellings.

والديلمان جبالها ودحالها

ورها ستخرب بعد أخذ نشاور

And Daylaman, its mountains and its caverns,

And [unclear word] will be laid waste after Nishapur is taken.

والري يسفك فيه دم عصابة

من آل أحمد لا بسيف الكافر

And in Rayy the blood of a band will be shed,

Of Ahmad's family, but not by the unbeliever's sword.

وتفر سفاك الدما منهم كما

فر الحمام من العقاب الكاسر

And you flee from them, blood-shedder, just as

Doves fled from the prey-rending eagle.

فهو الخوارزمي يكسر جيشه

في نصف شهر من ربيع الآخر

For he is the Khwarazmian; his army will be broken

In the middle of the month of Rabi al-Akhir.

ويموت من كمد على ما ناله

من ملكه في لج بحر زاخر

And he dies of grief over what befell him

Concerning his kingdom, in the depths of a surging sea.

وتذل عترته وتشقى ولده

لظهور نجم للذؤابة زاهر

His kin are humbled, and his offspring suffer

At the appearance of a star with a shining tress.

ويكون في نصف القران ظهوره

لكن سعادته كلمح الناظر

And his appearance comes midway through the conjunction,

But his good fortune is like a beholder's glance.

وتثور أعداه علىه ويلتقي

يوعود منهزماً بصفقة خاسر

And his foes rise against him, and he encounters them,

And returns defeated, with a loser's bargain.

ويكون آخر عمره في آمد

يسري إليه وما له من سائر

And the end of his life will be in Amid;

He travels there by night, with no fellow traveler.

وتعود عظم جيوشه مرتدة

عنه إلى الخصم الألد الفاجر

And the bulk of his armies turns away

From him to the implacable, wicked foe.

وديار بكر سوف يقتل بعضهم

بالسيف بين أصاغر وأكابر

And in Diyar Bakr, some of them will be killed

By the sword, among the small and the great.

وترى بآذربيج بدو خيامه

نصبت لجاجاً من عدو كافر

And in Adharbayj you see his tents appear,

Pitched in defiance by an unbelieving foe.

تفنى عساكره ويفنى جيشه

متمزقاً في كل قفر واعر

His forces perish, and his army perishes,

Torn apart in every rugged wasteland.

والويل ما تلقى النصارى منهم

بالذل بين أصار وأكابر

And woe to the Christians for what they suffer at their hands,

In humiliation, among the small and the great.

والويل إن حلوا ديار ربيعة

ما بين دجلتها وبين الجازر

And woe if they descend upon the lands of Rabi'a,

In the tract between its Tigris and al-Jazir.

ويدوخون ديار بابل كلها

من شهرزور إلى بلاد السامر

And they subdue all the lands of Babylon,

From Shahrazur to the lands of al-Samir.

وخلاط ترجع بعد بهجة منظر

قفراً تداوس باختلاف الحافر

And Khilat, after the beauty of its appearance, returns

To a wasteland, trampled by passing hooves.

هذا وتغلق أربل من دونهم

تسعاً وتفتح في النهار العاشر

Meanwhile, Erbil is shut against them

For nine days, and opens on the tenth day.

وبطون نينوه ويؤخذ مالها

ودوابها من معشر متجاور

And Nineveh's inner districts—its wealth is seized,

And its beasts, from a community of neighbors.

ولربما ظهرت عساكر موصل

تبغي الأمان ن الخؤون الغادر

And perhaps Mosul's troops will appear,

Seeking safety from the treacherous betrayer.

فتراهم نزلا بشاطئ دجلة

ومضوا إلى بلد بغير تفاتر

Then you see them lodged on the bank of the Tigris,

And they went to a town without faltering.

وترى إلى الثرثار نهباً واقعاً

ودماً يسيل وهتك ستر ساتر

And toward al-Tharthar you see plundering under way,

And blood flowing, and protective veils torn away.

ويكون يوم حريق زهرتها

التي تأتيه مطر كبحر زاخر

And there will be a day when its bloom is burned,

To which rain comes like a surging sea.

واحسرتاه على البلاد وأهلها

ماذا يكون وما له من ناصر

Oh, my grief for the lands and their people!

What will come to pass, when he has no helper?

ولربما ظهرت عليهم فتية

من آل صعصعة كرام عشائر

And perhaps young men will rise against them,

From the house of Sa'sa'a, men of noble clans.

يسقون من ماء الفرات خيولهم

من كل ظام فوق صهوة ضامر

They water their horses from the Euphrates,

Each a thirsty man atop a lean steed's back.

تلقاهم حلب بجيش لو سرى

في البحر أظلم بالعجاج الثائر

Aleppo meets them with an army that, were it to march

Through the sea, would darken it with swirling dust.

وإذا مضى حد القران رأيتهم

يردون جلق وهي ذات عساكر

And when the conjunction's term has passed, you see them

Arriving at Jilliq, which has armies.

يفنيهم الملك المظفر مثل

ما فنيت ثمود في الزمان الغابر

King al-Muzaffar annihilates them, just

As Thamud perished in ages past.

ويبيدهم نجل الإمام محمد

بحسامه الماضي الغرار الباتر

And the son of Imam Muhammad destroys them

With his keen, sharp-edged, cleaving sword.

ولربما أبقى الزمان عصابة

منهم فيهلكهم حسام الناصر

And perhaps time will spare a band

Of them; then al-Nasir's sword destroys them.

والترك تفني الفرس لا يبقى

لهم أثر كذا حكم المليك القادر

And the Turks annihilate the Persians; there will not remain

Any trace of them: thus has the all-powerful King decreed.

في أرض كنعان تظل جسومهم

مرعى الذئاب وكل نسر طائر

In the land of Canaan, their bodies remain

A feeding ground for wolves and every flying vulture.

وتجول عباد الصليب عليهم

بالسيف ذات ميامن ومياسر

And the worshippers of the cross range over them

With the sword, to the right and to the left.

يا ريع بغداد لا تحويه من

جثث محلقة ورأس طائر

O height of Baghdad, you cannot contain the

Soaring corpses and a flying head.

وكذا الخليفة جعفر سيظل في

أرض وليس لسبلها من خاطر

And likewise the caliph Ja'far will remain in

A land with no one passing along its roads.

وكذا العراق قصورها وربوعها

تلك النواحي والمشيد العامر

And likewise Iraq—its palaces and its quarters,

Those districts and the lofty, inhabited buildings—

يفنيهم سيف القِران فيا لها

من سفرة أودت بمال التاجر

The sword of the conjunction destroys them—oh, what a

Journey that brings ruin to the merchant's wealth!

والروم تكسره وتكسر بعدهم

عاماً وليس لكسرها من جابر

And the Rum defeat him, and are defeated after them,

For a year, with none to repair their ruin.

تمحى خلافته وينسى ذكره

بين البرية صنع رب قادر

His caliphate is erased, and his memory forgotten

Among humankind—the work of an all-powerful Lord.

فترى الحصون الشامخات

مهدة لم يبق فيها ملجأ لمسافر

Then you see the towering fortresses

Demolished, with no refuge remaining in them for a traveler.

وتر قراها والبلاد تبدلت

بعد الأنيس بكل وحش نافر

And you see its villages, and the lands transformed

From human company to every fleeing wild beast.