ألا يا ربع بالهضب — Al Akouk — Saqi

Ah, O dwelling-site at al-Hadb,
stretching to al-Khalsa at al-Naqb,
like a thin remnant of worn cloth,
or the faded writing of books.
To the noblest of Qahtan
we linked wilderness to wilderness,
to the gathering-place of bounty
and the resting-place of the caravan's saddles:
Humayd, the nation's refuge
in the East and in the West.
As though mankind were a body, and he
held within it the place of the heart.
When he makes peace with a land,
it lives on, secure in its ways;
and if he wars against it, there descends
upon it the camel-calf's bellow.
When he meets the vanguard of death
with the slender lance and lances,
and green-hued coats of mail,
and keen Indian blades,
he goes forth, steadfast of heart;
he has an army of terror.
So what triumph for whoever befriends him,
and what misery for the guilty man!
And nothing cures the aching head
like a keen, cutting sword.
O generous one, live unharmed as long as
age follows upon age.
For you are rain in peace,
and you are death in war.
And you are the uniter, the divider
between distance and nearness.
Through you God rescued the people
after stumbles and calamities,
and returned bright swords and fair women
to their scabbards and their veils,
through your bold advance in war
and your feeding others in famine.
So how often you have brought safety from fear,
and how much turmoil you have stirred;
and how many a crisis you have set right,
and how many a bride you have widowed!
And you give her no dowry except
thrust after thrust and blow after blow.
Through you Qahtan has attained
the utmost height and ancestral honor,
so it surpassed the nobility of other tribes,
as the head surpasses the tailbone.