أسفي على هذا الزمان وأهله

هذا لعمرك آخر الأزمان

My sorrow for this age and its people!

This, by your life, is the last of ages.

زمن الغواية والمناكر والخنا

والفحش والإرهاق والخسران

An age of misguidance, evil deeds, and obscenity,

And indecency, oppression, and ruin.

سوق المفاسد في رواج بينهم

لا عهد لا ميثاق للأيمان

The market in vice flourishes among them.

No pledge, no covenant binds their oaths.

فإلى الضلالة كلهم متسابق

وإلى الهداية كلهم متوان

So toward error they all race,

And toward guidance they all lag.

لا الوازع الديني رادعهم ولا

ذكرى ترجعهم إلى الإيمان

Neither religious restraint checks them, nor

Does a reminder bring them back to faith.

ركن الرذيلة في النفوس موطد

أما الفضيلة ما لها من بان

The pillar of vice is firmly set in souls;

As for virtue, it has no builder.

خالوا التعمقق في الظلال تمدنا

غلطوا فباءوا فيه بالخسران

They thought deep immersion in shadows was civilization;

They erred, and incurred ruin through it.

من كان في عرش الملاهي جالسا

فكأنما كسرى على الإيوان

Whoever sits upon the throne of amusements

Is like Khosrow in the vaulted hall.

هذا يغازل هذه وكلاهما

في الموبقات وخزيهم ضوان

This man flirts with this woman, and both

Are amid ruinous sins and their disgrace [final word unclear].

سرب الغواني بين شبان الهوى

ألعوبة في مسرح الشيطان

A flock of beautiful women among the youths of passion

Is a plaything on Satan's stage.

ساد الفساد فلا غبار عليهمو

شيخ وطفل في الغرام سيان

Corruption reigns, so they are beyond reproach;

Old man and child are alike in amorous passion.

أمر ونهي بينهم لكن على

عكس الذي قد جاء في القرآن

Commands and prohibitions exist among them, but run

Counter to what has come in the Quran.

حال لعمر الحق محزنة فهل

من نظرة للعالم الإنساني

A sorrowful state, by the life of the Truth—is there

Any regard for the human world?

غضب الإله ونحن في غفلاتنا

يصمي القلوب ونحن في طغيان

God's wrath, while we are in our heedlessness,

Strikes hearts dead while we are in transgression.

يسطو القوي على الضعيف فإن شكا

ثانيهما المسكين عد الجاني

The strong attacks the weak; and if he complains,

The latter, the poor wretch, is deemed the culprit.

ضاعت حقوق اللّه بين عباده

فأضاع حقهم على العصيان

God's rights have been lost among His servants,

So He caused their rights to be lost for disobedience.

فتكت بنا الحرب الضروس ولم نزل

منها نقاسي في البلا ونعاني

The savage war ravaged us, and we still

Suffer from it amid affliction and endure hardship.

واشتدت الأزمات في أنحائها

لنرى عيانا صولة الديان

And crises have intensified throughout its reaches,

So we may see with our own eyes the Judge's onslaught.

حاق العذاب بنا وهذا سخطه

مذ دل عنه الخسف في اليابان

Torment has engulfed us, and this is His wrath,

Since the sinking of the earth in Japan revealed it.

في كل شيء للمهيمن آية

وضجيع يثرب آية الرحمان

In everything is a sign of the Guardian,

And he who rests in Yathrib is a sign of the All-Merciful.

يا من بعثته للبرية رحمة

وجعلت دينه خاتم الأديان

O You who sent him as a mercy to creation,

And made his religion the seal of religions,

أرسل بحقه للعباد مجددا

ومؤيدا لهلالنا العثماني

Send, for his sake, a renewer to Your servants,

And a supporter of our Ottoman crescent.

واسلك بنا طرق الكما محققا

آمالنا وانصر بني الأوطان

And lead us along the paths of [perfection], fulfilling

Our hopes, and grant victory to the sons of the homelands.

وارفع لتونس في المالك شأنها

وانظر اليها نظرة الإحسان

And raise Tunisia's standing among the [kingdoms?],

And look upon her with a glance of kindness.

أنا صوتهم فاسمع بحقك صوتهم

ولسانهم عند الدعاء لساني

I am their voice; so, by Your right, hear their voice.

And in supplication, my tongue is their tongue.

قومي دعوت لهم وهذا ديدني

فيهم وحسبي أنهم إخواني

My people—I prayed for them; this is my constant way

With them; it suffices me that they are my brothers.