تنبهوا واستفيقوا أيها العرب — Ibrahim Al Yaziji

تَنَبَهوا وَاستَفيقوا أَيُّها العَرَب

فَقَد طَمى الخَطبُ حَتّى غاصَتِ الرُّكَبُ

Awaken and rouse yourselves, O Arabs.

For calamity has swelled until the knees are submerged.

فيمَ التَعلُّلُ بالآمالِ تَخدَعَكُم

وَأَنتُم بَينَ راحاتِ الفَنا سلُبُ

Why seek solace in hopes that deceive you,

while you are spoils in the palms of annihilation?

اللَّهُ أَكبرُ ما هَذا المَنام فَقَد

شَكاكُمُ المَهد وَاِشتاقَكُمُ الرَّبُّ

God is greatest! What is this slumber? For already

the cradle has complained of you, and the Lord has longed for you.

كَم تُظلمون وَلَستُم تَشتَكون وَكَم

تُستَغضَبونَ فَلا يَبدو لَكُم غَضَبُ

How often you are wronged, yet do not complain; and how often

you are provoked, yet no anger appears in you!

ألِفتُم الهون حَتّى صارَ عِندَكُمُ

طَبعاً وَبَعضُ طِباعِ المَرءِ مُكتَسَبُ

You have grown used to abasement until it has become

your nature—and some human traits are acquired.

وَفارَقَتْكُم لِطول الذُلِّ نَخوَتكُم

فَلَيسَ يُؤلِمُكُم خَسفٌ وَلا عَطبُ

And your proud spirit has deserted you through prolonged humiliation,

so neither degradation nor ruin pains you.

لِلّهِ صَبركُمُ لَو أَن صَبرَكُمُ

في مُلتَقى الخَيلِ حينَ الخَيلُ تَضطَرِبُ

By God, what patience you have! If only your patience were

where horses meet, when the horses clash!

كَم بَينَ صَبرٍ غَدا لِلذُلِّ مُجتَلِباً

وَبَينَ صَبرٍ غَدا لِلعزِّ يَحتَلبُ

What a gulf between patience that has come to invite abasement

and patience that has come to milk glory!

فَشَمِّروا وَاِنهَضوا لِلأَمرِ وَاِبتَدِروا

مِن دَهرِكم فُرصَةً ضَنَّت بِها الحِقَبُ

So gird yourselves, rise to the task, and hasten to seize

from your time an opportunity the ages have withheld.

لا تَبتَغوا بِالمُنى فَوزاً لِأَنفُسِكُم

لا يُصدقُ الفَوزُ ما لَم يَصدُقِ الطَّلَبُ

Do not seek victory for yourselves through wishes;

victory is not realized unless the striving is earnest.

خلُّوا التَّعَصُبَ عَنكُم وَاِستَووا عُصباً

عَلى الوِئام وَدَفعِ الظُّلمِ تَعتَصِبُ

Cast factionalism aside and stand together as bands

united in concord and in repelling oppression.

لِأَنتمُ الفِئةَ الكُثرى وَكُم فِئةٍ

قَليلةٍ تمّ إِذ ضَمَت لَها الغَلبُ

You are indeed the larger host; how many a band,

small in number, has won victory when united!

هَذا الَّذي قَد رَمى بِالضَّعفِ قوَّتكم

وَغادرَ الشَّمل مِنكُم وَهُوَ مَنشَعبُ

This is what has afflicted your strength with weakness,

and left your unity splintered,

وَسَلّطَ الجورَ في أَقطارِكُم فَغَدَت

وَارضها دونَ أَقطار المَلا خِربُ

and unleashed tyranny in your lands, so they became—

together with their soil—ruins, unlike the lands of humankind.

وَحُكَّم العِلجَ فيكُم مَع مَهانَتِهِ

يَقتادكُم لِهَواهُ حَيثُ يَنقَلبُ

And it set the barbarian over you, despite his baseness,

driving you at his whim wherever he turns,

مِن كُلِّ وَغدٍ زَنيمٍ ما لَهُ نَسَبٌ

يُدرى وَلَيسَ لَهُ دينٌ وَلا أَدبُ

drawn from every vile, baseborn wretch whose lineage

is unknown, and who has neither religion nor manners;

وَكُلُ ذي خَنثٍ في الفَحشِ مُنغَمِسٍ

يَزدادُ بِالحَكِّ في وَجَعائهِ الجَرَبُ

and every effeminate man immersed in obscenity,

whose scabies worsens with scratching at his backside.

سِلاحَهُم في وُجوهِ الخَصمِ مَكرَهُمُ

وَخَير جُندِهُم التَّدليسُ وَالكَذبُ

Their weapon in the faces of their foes is their cunning,

and their best troops are deception and lying.

لا يَستَقيمُ لَهُم عَهدٌ إِذا عَقَدوا

وَلا يَصحُّ لَهُم وَعدٌ إِذا ضَرَبُوا

No covenant of theirs holds firm when they conclude it,

and no promise of theirs proves true when they make it.

إِذا طَلَبتَ إِلى ودٍّ لَهُم سَبباً

فَما إِلى ودِّهم غَير الخَنى سَببُ

If you seek a means to their friendship,

no way leads to their friendship except lewdness.

وَالحَقُّ وَالبُطل في ميزانِهم شرعٌ

فَلا يَميلُ سِوى ما ميَّل الذَّهَبُ

Truth and falsehood are equal in their scales;

so they tilt only as gold makes them tilt.

أَعناقكُم لَهُمُ رقٌّ وَما لَكُمُ

بَينَ الدُّمى وَالطُّلا وَالنردُ مُنتَهبُ

Your necks are in bondage to them, and what you possess

is plundered amid doll-like beauties, wine, and dice.

باتَت سِمانُ نِعاجٍ بَينَ أَذرُعِكُم

وَباتَ غَيركُم لِلدُّرِّ يَحتَلِبُ

Fat ewes have spent the night between your arms,

yet others have spent the night drawing their milk.

فَصاحِبُ الأَرضِ مِنكُم ضِمنَ ضَيعتِهِ

مُستَخدَمٌ وَرَبيبُ الدَّارِ مُغتَربُ

Thus the landowner among you, within his own estate,

is a servant, and the house's own child an exile.

وَما دِماؤُكُم أَغلى إِذا سُفِكتْ

مِن ماء وَجهِ لَهُم في الفُحشِ يَنسَكِبُ

And your blood, when shed, is worth no more

than the honor they pour away in obscenity.

وَلَيسَ أَعراضُكُم أَغلى إِذا اِنتُهِكَت

مِن عِرضِ مَملوكِهِم بِالفلسِ يَجتَلِبُ

Nor is your honor, when violated, worth more

than the honor of their slave, procured for a copper coin.

بِاللَّهِ يا قَومَنا هُبُّوا لِشأنِكُمُ

فَكَم تُناديكُمُ الأَشعارُ وَالخَطبُ

By God, O our people, rise for your own cause!

For how often poems and speeches call to you!

أَلَستُم مِن سَطوا في الأَرضِ وَاِفتَتَحوا

شَرقاً وَغَرباً وَعَزّوا أَينَما ذَهَبُوا

Are you not those who swept across the earth and conquered

east and west, and prevailed wherever they went?

ومَن أَذَلُّوا المُلوكِ الصِّيدَ فَاِرتَعَدَت

وَزلزلَ الأَرضَ مِما تَحتَها الرّهَبُ

And those who humbled the proud kings, so they trembled,

and dread shook the earth from beneath it?

وَمن بَنَوا لِصروحِ العزِّ أَعمِدَةً

تَهوي الصَّواعقُ عَنها وَهيَ تَنقَلِبُ

And those who built pillars for the edifices of glory,

from which thunderbolts fall away, turning back?

فَما لَكُم وَيحَكُم أَصبَحتُمُ هملاً

وَوجهُ عزّكم بِالهونِ مُنتَقِبُ

So what ails you—alas for you—that you have become forsaken,

and the face of your glory is veiled in abasement?

لا دَولةٌ لَكُمُ يَشتَدُّ أزرَكُمُ

بِها وَلا ناصِرٌ لِلخَطبِ ينتَدِبُ

You have no state that could strengthen your backs

by its aid, nor a champion who rises to meet calamity.

وَلَيسَ مِن حُرمةٍ أَو رَحمةٍ لَكُمُ

تَحنو عَلَيكُم إِذا عضتكمُ النُّوَبُ

Nor is there any respect or mercy for you

to bend tenderly over you when misfortunes bite you.

أَقدارُكُم في عُيونِ التُّركِ نازلَة

وَحَقَكُم بَينَ أَيدي التُّرك مُغتَصَبُ

Your standing is low in the eyes of the Turks,

and your rights lie usurped in the Turks' hands.

فَلَيسَ يُدرى لَكُم شَأنٌ وَلا شَرَفٌ

وَلا وجودٌ وَلا اِسمٌ وَلا لَقَبُ

So no standing or honor is acknowledged for you,

nor existence, nor name, nor title.

فَيالِقَومي وَما قَومي سِوى عَرَبٌ

وَلَن يُضَيَّعَ فيهُم ذَلِكَ النَسَبُ

So, alas for my people—my people are none but Arabs!

And that lineage will never be lost among them.

هب أَنَّهُ لَيسَ فيكُم أَهلُ مَنزِلَةٍ

يُقَلَّدُ الأَمرَ أَو تُعطى لَهُ الرُّتَبُ

Suppose none among you is worthy of office,

to be entrusted with command or awarded ranks;

وَلَيسَ فيكُم أَخو حَزمٍ وَمَخبرةٍ

لِلعَقدِ وَالحَلِّ في الأَحكامِ يُنتخَبُ

and none among you possesses resolve and experience

to be chosen to bind and loose in matters of rule;

وَلَيسَ فيكُم أَخو علمٍ يُحكَّمُ في

فَصل القَضاءِ وَمِنكُم جاءَتِ الكُتُبُ

and none among you is learned enough to preside over

the settling of cases—though the books came from you;

أَلَيسَ فيكُم دَمٌ يَهتاجُهُ أنفٌ

يَوماً فَيَدفَعُ هَذا العار إِذ يَثِبُ

is there no blood in you that proud indignation might rouse

one day, to drive away this shame as it leaps up?

فَأَسمِعوني صَليلَ البَيضِ بارِقَةً

في النَّقعِ إِني إِلى رَنَّاتِها طَرِبُ

So let me hear the clash of flashing swords

in the battle dust; I am enraptured by their ringing.

وَأَسمَعوني صَدى البارودِ مُنطَلِقاً

يَدوي بِهِ كُل قاعٍ حينَ يَصطَخِبُ

And let me hear the echo of gunpowder unleashed,

with which every plain resounds when it roars.

لَم يَبقَ عِندَكُمُ شَيءٌ يَضنُّ بِهِ

غَيرَ النُّفوسِ عَلَيها الذُّلُّ يَنسَحِبُ

Nothing remains with you to guard jealously

but your souls, over which humiliation creeps.

فَبادِروا المَوتَ وَاِستَغنوا بَراحَتِهِ

عَن عَيشِ مَن ماتَ مَوتاً مُلؤُهُ تَعبُ

So hasten to death, and let its rest suffice you

instead of the life of one who has died a death full of toil.

صَبراً هَيا أُمَّةِ التُّركِ الَّتي ظَلَمت

دَهراً فَعمَّا قَليلٍ تُرفَعُ الحُجُبُ

Patience, O nation of Turks that has oppressed

for an age; before long the veils will be lifted.

لنطلبنَّ بِحَدِّ السَّيفِ مأَرَبنا

فَلَن يَخيبَ لَنا في جَنبِهِ أَرَبُ

We shall surely seek our aim with the sword's edge,

for no desire of ours will fail at its side.

وَنَترُكَنَّ عُلوجَ التُّركِ تَندُبُ ما

قَد قَدَّمَتهُ أَياديها وَتَنتَحبُ

And we shall surely leave the Turkish barbarians lamenting what

their hands have already wrought, and sobbing.

وَمِن يَعِشْ يَرَ وَالأَيام مُقبِلَةٌ

يَلوحُ للمَرءِ في أَحداثِها العَجبُ

And whoever lives will see; the days are coming,

wonders will appear to man in their events.