1. أنا لولا الرحمن والعفو منه

    داخل في الجحيم بعد المعاد

    I, but for the All-Merciful and His forgiveness,

    would enter Hell after the resurrection.

  2. إنما في سلاسل ذرعها سبعون

    أمشي رسفا وفي أقياد

    Indeed, in chains seventy cubits long,

    I walk, shuffling, bound in fetters.

  3. يوم يزجوني للجحيم تلظى

    سبعة من أملاك ربي الشداد

    On the day they thrust me into blazing Hell—

    seven of my Lord's mighty angels.

  4. نصبوا فوقها صراطاً يحاكي

    شعرة أوشبا السيوف الحداد

    They erected above it a bridge resembling

    a hair, or the edges of sharp swords.

  5. ثم قالوا هذا طريقك فانهجه

    وإن طال فوق ذاك الوادي

    Then they said: This is your path; follow it,

    even if it stretches long above that valley.

  6. فتمشيت فوقه وهي تحتي

    تتراءى حمراء ذات اتقاد

    So I walked upon it, with Hell beneath me,

    appearing red, fiercely ablaze.

  7. تتلظى كأنها بركان

    ثار من بعد هجعة ورقاد

    It blazed as though it were a volcano

    that erupted after slumber and sleep.

  8. فهي ترمي من جوفها بشواظ

    وشظايا حجارة ورماد

    So it hurled flames from its depths,

    and shards of stone and ash.

  9. يضرع الخاطئون من تحت فيها

    بصراخ يشق قلب الجماد

    The sinners within it below pleaded,

    with screams that rent the heart of lifeless matter:

  10. انفحونا ياعابرين بماء

    إنما هذه النفوس صوادي

    Give us water, O you who cross!

    For these souls are parched!

  11. ثم ذاك الصراخ يضعف حتى

    يختفي في زفيرها المتمادي

    Then that screaming grew faint, until

    it vanished in its unceasing exhalation.

  12. بدلتهم سمومها من بياض

    كان يطرى الوجوه لون السواد

    Its scorching wind changed their whiteness—

    which had freshened their faces—to the color of blackness.

  13. يا له من هول جسام ومرأى

    يرسل الحزن منه للأكباد

    What immense horror, and what a sight,

    sending sorrow from itself into the very vitals!

  14. رب ثبت رجلي رب وسلمني

    عليه يا رب كل العباد

    Lord, steady my foot; Lord, keep me safe

    upon it, O Lord of all Your servants.

  15. وأمامي على الصراط أناس

    واصلوا السير في بطئ وعادي

    And before me on the bridge were people

    who kept moving, some slowly, some at a run.

  16. ثبتوا عند عبرهم لتقاهم

    في متون الأكباش كالأوتاد

    They were held firm as they crossed, for their piety,

    on the backs of rams, like pegs.