أَغَرَّتنا أُمامَةُ فَاِفتَحَلنا

أَغَرَّتنا أُمامَةُ فَاِفتَحَلنا

أُمامَةَ إِذ تُنُجِّبَتِ الفُحولُ

أُمامَةَ إِذ تُنُجِّبَتِ الفُحولُ

Umāma beguiled us, so we chose as our breeding male—

Umama deceived us, so we took as our sire

Umāma—when the stallions were being selected for pedigree.

Umama, when sires were selected for noble breeding.

إِذا ما كانَ فَحلُكَ فَحلَ سَوءٍ

إِذا ما كانَ فَحلُكَ فَحلَ سَوءٍ

خَلَجتَ الفَحلَ أَو لُؤمَ الفَصيلُ

خَلَجتَ الفَحلَ أَو لُؤمَ الفَصيلُ

If your breeding male is a wretched sire,

If ever your sire was a sire of poor quality,

you bear the sire’s stamp—or the young offspring’s baseness.

you removed the sire, or else the camel calf turned out base.