Sol 5.6

  1. On gaining Egypt’s kingdom, I congratulate the sovereign of nations.

    Prosper and rejoice: a victory from God is close at hand.

  2. Through your justice, the realm’s scattered whole has become united;

    and through your justice, is anything left unreconciled?

  3. O doer of good from innate nature, without strain,

    and bestower of kindness from inborn character, without weariness;

  4. one who loves a breach in unbelief’s frontier, which delights him—

    not the kissing of a radiant, cool, white-toothed mouth.

  5. How excellent you are, Nur al-Din—what a king!

    Begun with resolve, concluded with victory.

  6. The signs of your resolve in Islam stand clear,

    and its inward truth is manifest in you, unconcealed,

  7. through the justice and beneficence you spread.

    You fear your Lord with the fear of a guilt-laden sinner.

  8. You brought victory’s steeds into Egypt, knowing no

    turning of reins, but boldly bearing down upon the bits.

  9. They came on amid a cloud raised by their slender spears,

    their blades streaming with the blood of heads.

  10. Through them, terror took firm hold in the enemy’s heart,

    as fire, through burning, takes hold in coal.

  11. You marched to sever every bond unbelief possessed,

    frail though it was, and to join every kinship the Faith possessed,

  12. making the roughest roads easy in pursuit of

    lofty glory, plunging into the direst perils,

  13. and fastening their neck-shackles upon the Franks,

    with fetters in place of necklaces and girdles.

  14. You have indeed quenched Islam’s burning thirst and taken vengeance

    upon the enemy with the keen, cutting sword.

  15. God aided her in extinguishing embers of injury

    blazing within Islam from Shawar’s evil.

  16. Through you, Egypt has become, after all her fear,

    like the Sacred Sanctuary in security, glory, and prosperity.

  17. The Sunna was set aright, and heretical innovation effaced;

    the reign of beneficence and generosity returned.

  18. Her kings have become your slaves; and tomorrow

    your servants there shall be kings, men of inviolable honor.

  19. You deputed there on your behalf a noble champion to act for her:

    in valor he stands for ʿAntarah, and in generosity for Harim.

  20. How excellent a king Nur al-Din is—

    a just ruler committed to guarding the cause of the Faith.

  21. Egypt was his province before she attained her glory,

    when the stripping of her dynasty left her like flesh upon a butcher’s block.

  22. The Nile surged on, flowing shamefacedly,

    beside a surging sea of bounty flowing from you.

  23. Campaign against the Franks—for now is the time to attack them—

    and shatter their hosts with the shattering slender spear.

  24. Purify Jerusalem of the Franks’ defilement, and spring

    upon those weakling birds as the fierce goshawk springs.

  25. For Egypt’s kingdom and Syria’s kingdom have now been strung together

    in a well-ordered necklace of Islamic might.

  26. Muhammad, the warrior-king, governs them both

    with virtue, justice, munificence, and blessings.

  27. Every tongue speaks forever in gratitude:

    Mahmud the king is praised in every mouth.

  28. So redress Egypt’s grievance, and proclaim the might of her Sunna—

    how much she claims as her due, against how many she complains—and how many...

Sol 5.6