أفكِّر في ادعائهم قريشاً

أفكِّر في ادعائهم قريشاً

وتركهمُ النصارى واليهودا

وتركهمُ النصارى واليهودا

I ponder their claim to be of Quraysh,

I think of their claim, Quraish,

I ponder their pretension to Quraysh,

And their forsaking the Christians and the Jews;

And their abandonment of Christians and Jews.

While casting Christians and the Jews aside,

وكيف تكاونوا من غير شيء

وكيف تكاونوا من غير شيء

وكيف تناولوا الغرض البعيدا

وكيف تناولوا الغرض البعيدا

And how they came into being from nothing,

And how they came to be from nothing,

And how they came into being out of naught,

And how they reached the distant target;

And how they attained the distant goal.

And how they reached for goals so far and wide,

ومن يحمى قرونَهم بنار

ومن يحمى قرونَهم بنار

ويجعلها لأرجلهم قيودا

ويجعلها لأرجلهم قيودا

And who heats their locks of hair with fire

And who will protect their horns with fire

And who is he that heats their horns in fire,

And makes them shackles for their feet.

And make it shackles for their feet.

To fashion them as fetters for their feet?

كذبتم ليس للعسّاس نسل

كذبتم ليس للعسّاس نسل

لأن الناس لا تلد القرودا

لأن الناس لا تلد القرودا

You have lied: al-ʿAssās has no offspring,

You have lied, Al-'Assas has no offspring,

You lie! The night-watch leaves no noble heir,

For humans do not give birth to monkeys.

For people do not give birth to monkeys.

For humankind does not give birth to apes.

أنكذب فيكم الثقلين طراً

أنكذب فيكم الثقلين طراً

ونقبلكم لأنفسكم شهودا

ونقبلكم لأنفسكم شهودا

Shall we disbelieve humankind and jinn about you, one and all,

I deny among you the two burdensome ones,

Shall we belie both Man and Jinn for you,

And accept you as witnesses on your own behalf?

And I accept you as witnesses for yourselves.

And take you as the witness for yourselves?

أتاني عن أُبَيِّ الفضل قولٌ

أتاني عن أُبَيِّ الفضل قولٌ

جعلت جوابه عنه القصيدا

جعلت جوابه عنه القصيدا

A statement from Ubayy al-Fadl reached me;

Words of Abu Al-Fadl came to me,

From Ubayy al-Fadl a statement came to me,

I made verse my answer to him concerning it.

I made my response to him this poem.

For which I crafted this, my poem, in turn;

وآنف أن أجاوبه ولكن

وآنف أن أجاوبه ولكن

رأيت الحلم لا يَزَعُ العبيدا

رأيت الحلم لا يَزَعُ العبيدا

And I disdain to answer him, yet

Just now I was going to answer him, but

I disdain to answer him, and yet I saw,

I found that forbearance does not restrain slaves.

I saw that forbearance does not unsettle slaves.

That clemency restrains not the servile breed.