تَبيتُ سَكارى مِم أُمَيَّةَ نُوَّماً

وَبِالطَفِّ قَتلى ما يَنامُ حَميمُها

Umayya’s drunken men pass the night fast asleep,

while at al-Taff lie slain ones whose near kin cannot sleep.

وَما أَفسَدَ الإِسلامَ إِلّا عُصابَةٌ

تَأَمَّرَ نَوكاها وَدامَ نَعيمُها

Nothing has corrupted Islam except a faction

whose fools took command while its life of ease endured.

فَصارَت قَناةُ الدينِ في كَفِّ ظالِمٍ

إِذا اِعوَجَّ مِنها جانِبٌ لا يُقيمُها

Thus the shaft of religion came into a tyrant’s grasp;

when one side of it bends, he does not straighten it.