لمقامك التعظيم والتبجيل — Khalid Al Faraj

لمقامك التعظيمُ والتبجيلُ

ولشخصِك التكريمُ والتفضيل

To your station belong reverence and veneration,

and to your person, honor and distinction.

وبنور طلعِتك البهية تزدهي ال

عليا كأنك فوقها إكليل

In the light of your radiant countenance shines the

height of glory, as though you were a crown above it.

وبكل أرض قد وطأت أديمها

دينُ الإله بنصره مشمول

In every land whose surface you have trodden,

God's faith is encompassed by His support.

لاحت على البلقا لعزك رايةٌ

خفقت لها فوق الحجاز ذيول

Over al-Balqa a banner of your might appeared;

its trailing folds fluttered above the Hijaz.

نَصرٌ من الله العلي مؤَيَّدٌ

بالرعب رفرف فوقه جبريل

A victory sustained by God Most High,

with terror; above it Gabriel hovered.

فَتحٌ مبين فيصلٌ بين الهدى

والغيِّ إذ كادت بناه تطول

A manifest conquest, dividing guidance

from error, whose structures had nearly risen high.

لله إذ أنشاك سرُّ ارادةٍ

فيها لعزةِ دينهِ تأويل

God had, in creating you, a secret purpose,

fulfilled in the exaltation of His faith.

لم يعطِكَ العليا وأنت محلُّها

إلا وجلَّ بأن يعز كفيل

He gave you high station, of which you are worthy,

only as He, exalted, guaranteed its might.

فأقمتَ للإسلام سورَ حمايةٍ

لمعالم من قبل هُنَّ طلول

You erected for Islam a protecting wall

around landmarks that before were ruins.

وأهبتَ بالقوم النيام فبادروا

وكأنما لهمُ الجهاد مقيل

You called to the sleeping people, and they hastened,

as though jihad were their noonday resting place.

ولقد قضوا حِقَباً يقاتل بعضُهم

بعضاً وسترُ ضَلالهم مسدول

They had spent ages fighting one

another, the veil of their error hanging down.

وهناك حكام غفت أجفانهم

والكل في أهوائه مشغول

There were rulers whose eyelids slumbered,

each absorbed in his own desires.

والجهل سُمٌّ للشعوب كأنه

لحياتها إن عم عزرائيل

Ignorance is a poison to peoples, as though it were

Azrael to their lives whenever it spreads.

فجمعتَ بالإسلام كلَّ فلولهم

فكأنهم بالاجتماع قبيل

Through Islam you gathered all their scattered remnants,

as though, united, they were one tribe.

ونهضتَ بالعرَب اُلأولى ملكوا الورى

ليعودَ منهم ذلك التمثيل

You raised up the Arabs, who once ruled humankind,

so that such an example might emerge from them again.

الله يشهد أنَّ نجدَ وما وَلَت

بك للديانة ملجأ مأهول

God bears witness that Najd and its domains

through you are a peopled refuge for the faith.

أجزيرةَ العرَبِ اذكري ما قد مضى

بك أَيِّم تشكو الأسى وثكول

O Arabian Peninsula, remember what has passed:

within you, a widow lamenting sorrow, and a bereaved mother;

ومحارمٌ فقدت أعزَّ عزيزها

ومسافرٌ قد ضاق عنه سبيل

women deprived of their dearest loved one,

and a traveler whose path had grown strait.

واليوم فيك العدلُ أضحى ضارباً

أطنابَهُ ومن الهدى قنديل

Today within you justice has pitched

its tent-ropes, and there is a lamp of guidance.

ومن الشريعة فيك أعذبُ موردٍ

والبغيُ مَع أحزابه مخذول

Within you the sacred law offers the sweetest watering place,

and tyranny, with its factions, is brought low.

والأمن روحُ العيش أضحى شاملاً

والعدلُ أُسُّ الملكِ فيك يجُول

Security, the soul of life, has become all-embracing,

and justice, the foundation of kingship, moves throughout you.

وغدت مروجُك ناضراتٍ بعدما

قد كان فيها للخراب ذبول

Your meadows grew verdant after

desolation had left them withered.

فمن العيونِ على المروجِ تَرقرُقٌ

ومن الطيور على الغصون هديل

From the springs, water ripples over the meadows,

and from the birds upon the branches comes cooing.

والعدلُ في حفظِ النفوس وما لَها

ببقاء مولانا الإمام كفيل

Justice, in safeguarding lives and their possessions,

is assured by our lord the Imam's continued life.

فاللّهُ لما شاء حفظَ حدوده

أعطاه ملكا في ذراه يطول

When God willed to preserve His bounds,

He gave him a kingdom in whose heights he towers.

وله تعالى كلَّ ما غفل الورى

وعليك ظل العدل منه ظليل

To Him be exaltation whenever humankind grows heedless;

over you His shade of justice spreads deep.

وله البلاد تهللت أرجاؤها

فرحاً عظيما عَرضُها والطول

For him the land's reaches brightened

with mighty joy, across its breadth and length.

وبَدت سريراتُ الورى بسرائر

بَسَمت ومنها للورى ترتيل

The people's inmost thoughts appeared through hearts

that smiled, and from them came a chant for humankind.

هو منقذ الإسلام من شِرك العدى

عبد العزيز الصارم المسلول

He is Islam's deliverer from the foes' idolatry:

Abd al-Aziz, the keen, unsheathed sword.

وهو الإمام ابنُ الإمام المرتضى

مَن لِلأئمَة وارث وسليل

He is the Imam, son of the esteemed Imam,

heir and scion of the Imams.

عنوانُ مجدِ العرب منقذ عزهم

بوقائعٍ غُررٍ لهنَّ حجول

Emblem of Arab glory, deliverer of their might,

through bright-blazed battles bearing white fetlock marks.

ولقد حوى مجدينِ مجدَ أصالة

بذراعهِ والمجد منه أصيل

He has gathered two glories: glory of authentic worth

won by his arm, and glory innate in him.

خلقان ما جمعا بفرد مثلهِ

وبمثله الدهر العتيد بخيل

Two qualities never united in one man as in him;

ever-ready Time is miserly with his like.

مجد علا عن كل مطمعِ عابثٍ

حتى يُردَّ وبأسه مفلول

A glory beyond every meddler's covetous reach,

until he is repulsed, his might blunted.

لم يُخِفهِ بأسُ الخديوي وجيشُهُ

متسلسل من مصره موصول

The Khedive's might did not frighten him, nor his army,

streaming in an unbroken train from his Egypt.

فأعاد كرته الزمانُ فلم يكن

شيئاً وسيف المجد بعد صقيل

Time renewed its assault, but it came to

nothing; glory's sword remained polished.

وبحائل نفخ الطريد بقرنه

صوتاً صداه للحروب طبول

At Ha'il the outcast blew his horn,

a sound whose echo was war drums.

إذ ما بدا جبار حائل واقفاً

وعلى يديه للدماء مسيل

Whenever Ha'il's tyrant stood forth,

at his hands blood flowed.

فأتى الأسودُ إلى الرياض يقودهم

عبد العزيز الفيصلُ المصقول

Then the lions came to Riyadh, led by

Abd al-Aziz al-Faisal, the polished sword.

فأذاق عجلانَ الهلاكَ ولو درى

ماذا لفضل إنه معزول

He made Ajlan taste destruction; had he known

what awaited, he would have preferred dismissal.

ظن الرياضَ هي الرياضُ وما درى

أنَّ الرياض بجانبيها الغيل

He thought Riyadh was simply Riyadh, not knowing

that thickets lay on either flank of Riyadh.

وفريسةُ الضرغام في غاباته

دمها وإن غالت به مطلول

The mighty lion's prey within his forests—

its blood goes unavenged, even if it strikes him treacherously.

تعب ابنُ متعب في جني آماله

إن الأماني شأنها التضليل

Ibn Mut'ib toiled to harvest his hopes;

wishful dreams have a way of misleading.

لم تغن عنه شمر ولكم فنى

منهم شباب في الوغى وكهول

Shammar availed him nothing; how many perished

among them, young and old, in battle!

ثم استجاش الترك حين أضلهم

لجيوشهم وسط القصيم فلول

Then he summoned the Turks to war, having misled them;

their armies lay scattered in the midst of al-Qasim,

حتى قضى بيد الإمام وكل من

قَتل البريء فإنه مقتول

until he perished at the Imam's hand; whoever

kills the innocent is himself killed.

وأعاد ربُّك للممالك أهلَها

وفضالُ رب العالمين جزيل

Your Lord restored the realms to their own people;

abundant is the Lord of the Worlds' bounty.

وكأنما باغي الحجاز ببغيه

حسب التأني العجزَ وهو ضليل

As though the Hijaz's aggressor, in his aggression,

mistook deliberation for helplessness, himself astray.

والحلم عند ذويه أكبر نعمة

ولدى سواهم قَدرُهُ مجهول

Forbearance is the greatest blessing to those who possess it;

to others its worth is unknown.

ظن السراب من الأماني منهلا

والجيش غايته ظبىَّ وصهيل

He mistook the mirage of wishes for a watering place,

while his army's utmost was sword-blades and neighing.

أعطى نضارَ الإنكليزِ لمعشر

متشردين وبأسهُم محلول

He gave English gold to a band

of vagrants whose martial strength was undone.

وأتى ليفتح نجدَ في آماله

والرعبُ رائدُ والضلال دليل

He came dreaming of conquering Najd,

terror his scout and error his guide.

فرأى بتربة كيف تلتهب الوغى

وهناك يدري الفاضل المفضول

At Turabah he saw how battle blazes,

and there the inferior recognizes the superior.

وهنا بدا حلم الإمام مجسماً

من قال إنَّ الراسيات تميل

Here the Imam's forbearance took visible form:

who says the firmly rooted mountains bend?

كبتَ العدوَّ وآب وهو مظفر

فوق الكواكب مجده محمول

He humbled the enemy and returned victorious,

his glory borne above the stars.

خاب الأولى ظنوه بالصاع الذي

كالته أطماعُ الحسين يكيل

Disappointed were those who thought he would mete out with the measure

that Husayn's ambitions had used.

ما آب من جزعٍ ولا من ذلة

لكنه للاتفاق يميل

He did not return from panic or humiliation,

but because he inclined toward agreement.

ولقد تنازل حين مدَّ أكفه

بودادِه أنَّ الكرام تُقيل

He made concessions when he stretched out his hands

in friendship, for the noble pardon mistakes.

وأقام مؤتمر الكويت لكي يرى

هل للهدى بين الغرور سبيل

He convened the Kuwait conference to see

whether guidance had a path amid delusion.

فرأى المطامعَ كأسُها مملوءةٌ

بالضغط من نَفخِ العدو تسيل

He found ambitions' cup filled,

overflowing under pressure from the enemy's breath.

والمسلمون أكفهم مرفوعة

ودموعهم في المحجرين تسيل

The Muslims' hands were raised,

and their tears flowed in both eye sockets.

والسيل قد بلغ الزبى لزعانف

إنَّ الحليم عليهم لجهول

The flood had reached the hilltops because of riffraff,

against whom even the forbearing is provoked to fury.

فاحتلَّ سيفُ الله ساحة أرضه

برجالك الآساد حين تصول

So God's sword occupied the expanse of His land,

through your lionlike men when they charge.

والله ثم المسلمون جميعُهم

قد خولوك وحقك التخويل

God, then all the Muslims,

have empowered you, and empowerment is your right.

من بعد ما كن الحجاز منابعاً

للدين منذ أتاه اسماعيل

After the Hijaz had been a wellspring

of faith since Isma'il came to it,

حرماً ومهداً بالحنيفة آهلاً

برسائلٍ يتلو الرسول رسول

a sanctuary and cradle, peopled by the upright faith,

with messages, messenger following messenger,

جاءت من التاميز فيه دفعة

وجرت على الإسلام منه سيول

a surge came into it from the Thames,

and torrents poured from it over Islam:

مطر إذا جادت سحائبُ ودقه

فنباتُهُ ذل عليه خمول

rain whose clouds, when they lavish their showers,

bring forth humiliation, overlaid with obscurity.

وتغيب شمس الدين تحت غيومه

مكسوفةً يتلو الكسوف أفول

The sun of faith vanishes beneath its clouds,

eclipsed, and after eclipse comes setting.

ومنابت الزقوم يزهر عودها

وثمارها التضليل والتدجيل

The growing beds of zaqqum have blossoming stems,

their fruit is misguidance and imposture.

فالإنكليز هم السموم ولو حلوا

طعماً فإن ختامهم لمهيل

The English are poisons, though they may be sweet

to taste; their end is surely dreadful.

فعداوة مطلية بصداقة

ومواعد لوفائها تعليل

Enmity coated in friendship,

and promises whose fulfillment meets with excuses;

ومفاوضاتٌ جُلُّ مقصدهِم بها

فُرَصٌ تصيع ووقتهن يطول

and negotiations, their chief aim in them being

opportunities squandered and their time prolonged.

أكلوا العباد بحجة نحوية

نَسجُ العناكبٍ عندها مفتول

They devoured the people with a grammatical argument,

beside which spiderwebs are tightly spun.

قد بدلوا الألفاظ عن مدلولها

ليجوز فيها المسخ والتبديل

They shifted words away from their meanings,

to permit distortion and alteration within them.

فهم الصديق إذا المصالح تقتضي

ومتى انقضت فهم العدو الغول

They are friends when interests require,

and when those end, they are the enemy, a ghoul.

لا يرقبُون لمؤمن عهداً ولو

أمضاه منهم قائد ونبيل

They honor no covenant with a believer, even if

a commander and a nobleman among them have ratified it.

بذروا فأنبتت الحجازُ معمماً

نبذ الاخاء كأنه قابيل

They sowed, and the Hijaz sprouted a turbaned man

who cast aside brotherhood as though he were Cain.

جعل الحجاز وما يليه مسرحاً

لمطامع منها البلاء يهول

He made the Hijaz and its neighboring lands a stage

for ambitions whose calamities inspire dread.

أغراه مكماهون في أسلوبه

حلم رآه وإنه لجميل

McMahon's approach beguiled him with

a dream he envisioned—beautiful indeed:

العالم العربي تحت لوائه

والمسلمون لأخمصَيه ذَلول

the Arab world beneath his banner,

and the Muslims submissive beneath his soles.

إن الحسين ومثلُه أبناؤه

خطر على المجد التليد وبيل

Husayn, and his sons who are like him,

are a dire threat to time-honored glory.

أضحوا معاول في أكف عداته

فيما بناه فاتح ورسول

They became pickaxes in its enemies' hands

against what conqueror and Messenger had built.

لورنس بينهم مليك آمر

لم يبق إلا التاج والإكليل

Lawrence among them is a king commanding;

only crown and diadem are lacking.

باعوا البلاد بصفقة مغبونة

وكفاهمُ اسمٌ في البلاد ضئيل

They sold the lands in a losing bargain,

content with a paltry title in the land.

جعلوا كحكام الطوائف عبرة

ليراهم بالعين هذا الجيل

They were made a warning, like the rulers of the factions,

for this generation to see with its own eyes.

لو حاولوا ما يدعون لوحدوا

دولا لهم مجموعهن قليل

Had they attempted what they claim, they would have united

their states, whose total is small.

فيم السكوت وسيف هديك مصلت

وشعاره التسبيح والتهليل

Why the silence, when the sword of your guidance is drawn,

its watchword glorifying God and declaring His oneness?

ولواؤك المنصور فوق قناته

وله المهيمن ناصر وكفيل

Your victorious banner is above its spearshaft,

and the Guardian is its champion and guarantor.

ولديك للإخوان من لا ينثني

وكأن في الرجلين منه شكول

Among the Ikhwan you have men who never turn back,

as though fetters bound both their legs.

بعزائم دعمت على إيمانهم

يرتد عنها الضد وهو كليل

With resolves buttressed by their faith,

from which the adversary recoils, exhausted.

لم يجمع الجبارُ بين قلوبهم

إلا ليهلك معتد وضليل

The Almighty united their hearts

only to destroy aggressors and those astray.

ضمت جموعهم العظيمة كثرة

ما ضمه في جانبيه الفيل

Their mighty hosts gathered a multitude

that no elephant could hold between its flanks.

بجحافل يتلو الخميس خميسها

وفوارس يقفو الرعيل رعيل

In mighty armies, army following army,

and horsemen, troop following troop.

لا ينظرون إلى الوراء يزحفهم

حتى يعود الصعب وهو ذليل

They never look back as he drives them onward,

until the intractable becomes subdued.

آساد غاب أم حَمامُ مساجد

خشعت أمام الله وهي تصول

Are they lions of the thickets, or doves of mosques,

humbled before God even as they charge?

هذي جنود الله أنَقذَ بيته

بهم فقد عم الأنام ذهول

These are God's troops; He rescued His House

through them, for bewilderment had seized all humankind.

أنقذهم إذ أنت عن إنقاذهم

لله إذ ولا كهم مسؤول

Rescue them, for concerning their deliverance you are

answerable to God, who placed them in your care.