1. أَبّدَ اللَّه حسنَ هَذا الزّمانِ

    وَسَقاهُ مِن مائِهِ الهَتّانِ

    May God perpetuate the beauty of this age,

    and water it with His pouring rain,

  2. حَيثُ فيهِ أَبدى لَنا شَمس فَضلٍ

    قَد سَمَت بِالعُلى عَلى كيوانِ

    for within it He revealed to us a sun of excellence,

    which has risen in loftiness above Saturn.

  3. أَحمد البرّ بَحر فَضلٍ وَجودٍ

    مُقلَة العزِّ عينُ هَذا الأوانِ

    Ahmad the virtuous, an ocean of excellence and generosity,

    the eye of glory, the very eye of this age;

  4. مُفرَد الدّهرِ لا نَظير يُداني

    فَبِهِ الدَّهرُ قَد خَلا عَن ثانِ

    unique in all time, with no peer approaching him,

    for through him the age is left without a second.

  5. نَجل غُرٍّ أَماجِدٍ وَكِرام

    جير وَهوَ الغرّي غرّة آني

    Scion of illustrious, noble, generous men,

    indeed, he is the splendid one, the glory of my time.

  6. فاضلُ العَصرِ فائِق الفاضِل القا

    ضي كَما قَد سَما بديع الزّمانِ

    The scholar of the age, surpassing al-Fadil the Qa—

    —di, just as Badiʿ al-Zaman rose to eminence.

  7. خَدَمتهُ النُّقوشُ مِثل المَباني

    لِمَعانٍ ما إِن لَها مِن معانِ

    Inscriptions have served him, like verbal forms,

    for meanings that no other meanings can match.

  8. منْ مَثاني ثَنا المَعالي عليهِ

    أَطرَبَتنا فَعَوَّذت بِالمَثاني

    From the repeated praises that lofty virtues bestow upon him,

    they delighted us, so I invoked protection with the Oft-Repeated Verses.

  9. يا لَهُ اللَّه مِن فَصيحِ بَليغٍ

    يَنظِمُ الدرَّ مِثل عَقدِ الجُمانِ

    O God, what an articulate, eloquent speaker he is!

    He strings pearls like a necklace of pearl beads.

  10. وَرَفيعٍ تَتيهُ بَيروتُ فيهِ

    بِاِفتِخارٍ بِهِ عَلى البُلدانِ

    And a man of high rank, in whom Beirut glories,

    boasting of him over the other cities;

  11. وَبَديعٍ لَقَد أَتى بِبَديع

    فاقَ فيهِ البديعُ في هَمدانِ

    and an innovator who has indeed brought forth wondrous art,

    in which al-Badiʿ excelled in Hamadan.

  12. جَمع الشّرعَ وَالحَقيقةَ فيها

    فَهما في سَمائِها النيِّرانِ

    There he united sacred law and spiritual truth;

    so in its sky they are the two luminaries.

  13. فيهِما قَد أَقام لِلحقِّ وَزناً

    فَرَأَيناهُ مُقسط المِيزانِ

    In both he has given truth its due weight,

    so we have seen him keep the scales just.

  14. شَمسُ عِلمٍ كَأَنّما العلم فيها

    إِذ بَدَت وَالمَعارفُ الفَرقدانِ

    A sun of learning—as though learning there

    and the sciences, when it rose, were the twin Farqad stars.