لبيك من آمر يا خير من عزما

وبث في كل ارض للهدى علما

At your service, commander, O best of the resolute,

who spread a banner of guidance in every land.

الحق ابلج وضاح تليح به

والسيف احمر بتار يمجّ دما

The truth you hold aloft is bright and clear,

and the sword is red, cleaving, spouting blood.

دعوت قومك للتوحيد ترشدهم

فآمنوا بعد حرب حرها احتدما

You called your people to God's oneness, guiding them,

and they believed after a war whose heat had raged.

واخلصوا بعد ايمان عبادتهم

وكان كل فريق عابدا صنما

After believing, they made their worship sincere,

though each faction had worshipped an idol.

اما الفصاحة فالآيات باهرة

قد اعجزت كل من قد قال اورقما

As for eloquence, the verses are dazzling:

they have confounded everyone who spoke or wrote.

اكبر بما انت قد احرزت من خلق

قد اسند الله في نعت له العظما

How great the character you have attained,

to which God ascribed greatness in His description!

نعم السجايا خصال فيك بارزة

تهدى بانوارها الفياضة الامما

Excellent virtues are the qualities manifest in you,

whose overflowing lights guide the nations.

وفي النبوة اسرار قد استترت

وفي الاشعة ما في العين عنه عمى

Within prophethood lie secrets concealed,

and among the rays are things the eye is blind to.

ان انكرت فئة ما فيك من شيم

فما بذى شيمة من يكر الشيما

If a faction denies the virtues within you,

whoever denies such virtues has no virtue himself.

قاسيت في البدء آلاما مبرحة

لكن لسانك منها ما شكا الما

At the beginning you endured excruciating pains,

yet your tongue complained of none of them.

كانت تخيف بليل الباطل الظلم

حتى تبلج صبح الحق يبتسم

Darkness spread fear in the night of falsehood,

until truth's dawn broke forth, smiling.

وكنت في محقها باللَه معتصما

والله يعصم من باللَه يعتصم

In effacing those shadows, you sought refuge in God,

and God protects whoever seeks refuge in Him.

اما قريش فكانت في عداوتها

كأنها بخشام طال تصطدم

As for Quraysh, in its hostility

it seemed to collide with a towering mountain.

نار بها اضطرمت تلتاع انفسهم

وليس فوق اضطرام النفس مضطرم

Their souls blazed with a fire and writhed in anguish;

no blaze surpasses the burning of the soul.

ان الألى لك قد ابدوا خصومتهم

لم يظلموك ولكن نفسهم ظلموا

Those who showed you their hostility

did not wrong you, but wronged themselves.

حاربت السلم حبا في صيانته

حتى تألفت الاقوام والامم

You fought for peace, out of love for preserving it,

until peoples and nations came together.

وبان للدين نور لا انطفاء له

فما بدا النور حتى زالت الظلم

A light appeared for religion that could not be extinguished;

no sooner did it appear than darkness vanished.

آياته بينات يستضاء بها

كما تضمّ الانجم السدم

Its verses are clear signs by which light is sought,

just as nebulae enfold the stars.

وكان مولدك الميمون مسعدة

عنها تمخض في آزالة القدم

Your auspicious birth was a blessing

which eternity, in its timeless ages, labored to bring forth.

حاولت وصف خصال فيك راجحة

فاعجزتني عن تصويرها الكلم

I tried to describe your outstanding qualities,

but words failed me in portraying them.

من بعد ليل طويل للضلال دجا

اطلعت صبحا جميلا للهدى انبلجا

After a long night of error had grown dark,

you brought forth a beautiful dawn of guidance, breaking into light.

وان دينا رسول اللَه مبلغه

ينير حيث بدا الالباب والمهجا

A faith proclaimed by the Messenger of God

illumines minds and souls wherever it appears.

قد خاب من حاد يوما عن محجته

اما الذي هو عنه لم يحد فنجا

Whoever ever strayed from its clear path failed,

but whoever did not stray from it was saved.

نعم السراج كتاب اللَه انزله

فحيثما التفت ابصر له وهجا

What an excellent lamp is God's Book, which He sent down!

Wherever I turn, I see its glow.

الدين في كل عصر للحياة مضى

قد كان خير صراط للذي نهجا

In every bygone age of life, religion

has been the best path for whoever followed it.

يريك اوله اعقاب آخره

فما تلاقى به امتا ولا عوجا

Its beginning reveals to you its ultimate outcomes;

you encounter in it neither unevenness nor crookedness.

وقلت هاكم كتاب اللَه والتمسوا

في آية الحق كل الحق منبلجا

You said, 'Here is God's Book; seek

in the verse of truth the whole truth, shining forth.'

قالوا أفيه على تأييده حجج

فقلت ان له من نفسه حججا

They asked, 'Does it contain proofs to support it?'

You said, 'It contains proofs drawn from itself.'

وليس يعلم ما في البحر قاصده

الا اذا خاض من يعبو به اللججا

One who seeks the sea knows not what it holds

until he wades in and draws from its deep waters.

ما احسن الدين قد ادلى بحجته

والعقل والنقل في رأس قد امتزجا

How beautiful is religion, presenting its proof,

with reason and transmitted tradition mingled in one mind!

نهضت بعد جهاد نهض مقتدر

بالدين بالعلم بالاقوام بالبشر

After struggle, you rose with a mighty man's strength,

uplifting religion, knowledge, peoples, and humankind.

ابقيت في كل ارض للهجى اثرا

فجل ما انت قد ابقيت من اثر

You left in every land a trace of guidance,

and great indeed is the legacy you left!

نبت من خير آباء واكرمهم

فانت زهرة ذاك المنبت العطر

You sprang from the finest and noblest forefathers;

you are the flower of that fragrant stock.

وقمت بالعبء عبء الدين تحمله

فما هنالك من نكص ومن خور

You shouldered the burden of religion, bearing it,

with neither retreat nor weakness.

ورحت تدعو اليه القوم منفردا

فلم يكن لك غير اللَه من وزر

You began calling the people to it alone,

with no refuge other than God,

حتى حباك باصحاب ذوي جلد

مناصرين وحتى فزت بالظفر

until He endowed you with steadfast companions

who supported you, until you won victory.

لا دين اكمل من دين دعوت له

في طلعة الشمس ما يغني عن القمر

No faith is more complete than the faith you preached;

the sun's rising leaves no need for the moon.

حاججتهم بكتاب اللَه تفحمهم

فكان امضى من الصمصامة الذكر

You argued with them through God's Book, silencing them;

it was sharper than the hard-steeled Ṣamṣāmah sword.

وفي كتاب عليك اللَه انزله

من روحه متعة الاسماع والبصر

And in a Book God sent down to you

is delight for ears and eyes, drawn from His spirit.

فكان ابقى لهم من كل ما وضعوا

والنقش في الماء غير النقش في الحجر

It outlasted, for them, everything they composed:

engraving on water is unlike engraving in stone.

بعد الشتات تلاقى الشمل مجتمعا

واصبح الملك بعد الفتح متسعا

After dispersion, the scattered company reunited,

and after the conquest, the realm grew wide.

والمؤمنون بواء في اخوتهم

والامر شوى يراه المؤمنون معا

Believers were equals in their brotherhood,

and considered affairs together in consultation.

والحق بان مضيئا لا خفاء به

والغي كان عجاجا زال وانقشعا

Truth appeared in radiance, with nothing concealed,

while error was a dust cloud that vanished and dispersed.

واحمد كان قد ادى رسالته

وحبه كان في الارواح منطبعا

Ahmad had fulfilled his mission,

and love for him was imprinted on souls.

اما الشعوب فتحت الراية اتحدت

وقبل ذلك كانت امة شيعا

The peoples united beneath the banner,

where before they had been a nation split into factions.

في الجاهلية صرعى لا انتباه لهم

كأنهم شربوا من مرقد جرعا

In the age of ignorance, they lay prostrate, never waking,

as though they had drunk draughts of a sleeping potion.

فصاح داعي الهدى فيهم ينبههم

من رقدة بات فيها العقل منقطعا

Then the herald of guidance cried among them, rousing them

from a slumber in which reason lay dormant:

يا ايها القوم هبوا من مراقدكم

فانما الصبح كل الصبح قد طلعا

'O people, rise from your sleeping places!

For dawn—dawn in all its fullness—has risen!'

دعا الى وحدة فيها سلامتهم

وقد اجاب من اختار الهدى ووعى

He called for a unity in which lay their safety,

and those who chose guidance and understood answered.

اقبح بدنيا بلا دين تعف به

ما احسن الدين والدنيا اذا اجتمعا

How ugly is worldly life without religion to keep it pure!

How beautiful are religion and worldly life when joined!

يا ايها الدين انت الحول والشرف

ما بال اهلك في الاقطار قد ضعفوا

O religion, you are strength and honor;

why have your people grown weak across the lands?

انا على ما اصيب المسلمون به

لآسفون وان لم ينفع الاسف

We, at what has befallen the Muslims,

are truly sorrowful, though sorrow does no good.

طال الجدال على اشياء تافهة

واعرضوا عن صميم الدين واختلفوا

Debate dragged on over trifling things;

they turned from religion's heart and quarreled.

وولوا الحق الا البعض اظهرهم

وانكروه وقد كانوا به اعترفوا

All but a few turned their backs on truth,

and denied it, though they had once acknowledged it.

الدين سمح فما ان فيه من عقد

والدين ما كان يستهدى به السلف

Religion is lenient: it has no tangled knots;

it is what the forebears sought for guidance.

الدين اسوة من ضيموا ومن حزنوا

والدين سلوة من في عيشهم شظف

Religion is solace for the wronged and grieving,

and consolation for those whose lives are harsh.

الحق دين ولكن قل ناصره

والدين حق ولكن اهله جنفوا

Truth is religion, yet few uphold it;

religion is truth, yet its people have strayed.

العيب في امة اخلاقها فسدت

لا عيب في الدين عنه اهله انحرفوا

The fault lies in a nation whose morals have decayed,

not in religion, from which its people have turned aside.

ان الألى قد صفت منهم سرائرهم

ما ان لهم عن كتاب الله منصرف

Those whose inner selves are pure

have no turning away from God's Book.

وان احمد بحر في معارفه

فليغترف منه من قد كان يغترف

Ahmad is an ocean of knowledge;

let those who draw knowledge draw from him.

اكبر بفيصل ملكا طاهر النسب

يرى بلوغ العلى في وحدة العرب

How great is Faisal, a king of pure descent,

who sees the heights attained through Arab unity!

نجل الرسول الذي كانت قد انقلبت

به العروبة قبلا خير منقلب

Scion of the Messenger, through whom

Arabdom once underwent its finest transformation.

له عيون بنور الله ناظرة

الى الامام ولا ترنو الى العقب

His eyes look by the light of God

ahead, never gazing backward.

يبني فيرفع ما يبني بحكمته

ويأخذ الشيء بعد الشيء عن كثب

He builds, and by his wisdom raises what he builds,

and handles each matter in turn at close hand.

اقرأه واقرأ سجايا اوليه تجد

ما شئت من نسب حمد ومن حسب

Study him and his forebears' virtues, and you will find

all you could wish of praised lineage and ancestral honor.

نرجو من الله في ايامه رشدا

في الدين في العلم في الاخلاق في الادب

We hope from God, in his days, for right guidance

in religion, knowledge, morals, and literature;

وان تكون خطى غازي موفقة

فهو الامير الذي نرجوه في الكرب

and that Ghazi's steps may be favored with success,

for he is the prince we look to in adversity.

وسوف تحمل اشبال العراق ظبيً

تحمى الثغور بها في عسكر لجب

The young lions of Iraq will bear blades

with which frontiers are defended, in a clamorous host.

لا يحفظ الثغر الا الجند محتشدا

فالملك كالعين والاجناد كالهدب

Only soldiers massed together can guard the frontier:

the realm is like an eye, its soldiers like the lashes.

والعلم افضل لو زيدت وسائله

مما هنالك من مال ومن نشب

And knowledge, if its means were increased, is better

than all the money and possessions there are.