1. Your conquests restored the splendor of sovereignty forever.

    And you are God's sword: through you He shattered the foes.

  2. The Mashrafī sword speaks of you, unsheathed,

    and the Samharī spear praises you, aimed straight.

  3. Victory has revealed in you, time and again, one seasoned

    in clashing with foes, pursuing his accustomed course;

  4. and one who showers Byzantine land with its people's blood,

    a cloud praised whenever its rain drenches the soil.

  5. The working of his rain is contrary: whenever

    a bough appears green, he turns it rose-red.

  6. He journeyed by night, wearing out his face's brocade for God's sake,

    and defended Islam until it was renewed.

  7. He splits helmets and what they contain with his blows,

    and pierces smooth, interlinked mail with his thrusts.

  8. Ah, what a day, so scorching upon them,

    yet so dewy and cool for the upright faith!

  9. And many a towering stronghold adorned with stars—

    you advanced against it, and it vanished, becoming desolate.

  10. It gave you what you desired and entrusted its fate

    to the stars of lances, which it came to wear as a necklace.

  11. You stood before it in ranks like the pillars of its mountain,

    and laid out hard, solid rock within it, stone by stone.

  12. And many a breast behind Sābirī cloth you pierced,

    so it became the lance's straightening clamp when it bent.

  13. And a gleaming host in rippling mail—dust rose

    from its hooves until it turned the air ash-gray.

  14. It advanced in succession; every bird fluttered above it,

    singing whenever the wind's palm shook hands with it.

  15. It shone in the first light of forenoon, as though

    the sun were playing with a polished palace within it.

  16. It escorts stars whose light cannot be kept

    from blazing by the thickening night of battle-dust.

  17. When the patricians see them as ill-omened,

    the ravager of patricians sees them as auspicious.

  18. You cleft a dust-cloud's breast with the lightning of bright swords,

    while fate flashed and thundered within it.

  19. You returned, having soaked its ground with blood,

    as though you had made the spearheads gleam as gold.

  20. Indeed, Islam has donned, in East and West,

    through Ibn ʿAbd Allāh's sword, a far-stretching shade.

  21. He turned the horses from the Euphrates' water, departing after drinking,

    and the waters of the two gulfs became their watering-place.

  22. Over Kharshana's outskirts, borne on them, fly

    scorching flames that rend the lofty, towering edifice,

  23. a blaze shrouding the walls, until they seem

    clad in rich embroidered cloth, two by two and singly.

  24. When the upraised target spends the night safflower-dyed

    by a flying arrow of his, it is black by morning.

  25. He spent the night on the overlooking tower, as though

    eyeing from it one Farqad star, then another.

  26. He scattered raiding parties around it, and they dispersed

    as the wind scatters rain until it is dispersed.

  27. He spent the night pressing forward in arms and galloping,

    raiding them throughout the land and climbing the highlands.

  28. He befriends each lion of fierce pride among them,

    on a noble steed, wild in bearing and supple.

  29. It was as though the spears of al-Khaṭṭ around their homes,

    upon the horses' backs, were scattered pearls.

  30. You presented their lions to the thin, bright blades,

    and drove the oryxes toward them, dark-lipped and sleepless.

  31. You set a flank among them straight for their backs,

    and exalted them with Mashrafī swords, calling aloud.

  32. You brought the sword's edge to the crown of Leon's head,

    to mingle in him the fury of battle with generosity.

  33. He came to you with terror shaking his body's limbs,

    as he had brandished the Indian-steel sword yesterday.

  34. Terror lowers his eyelids before you;

    if he tries to let his gaze range fully, he trembles.

  35. And many a man among them, sharp of speech and gaze—

    you appeared before him, and he recoiled mute and sore-eyed.

  36. You terrified them with raids in swift succession, leaving them

    even far away, with hearts pounding and sleep denied.

  37. They mistake the western clouds for a battalion

    marching eastward, and Syrian lightning for a lance.

  38. If the radiant state has named you its sword,

    to gladden you, Guidance named you the Champion of Guidance.

  39. May you rejoice that the Byzantines' mighty one is humbled,

    so their masters have become slaves through your might.

  40. When 'Sayf al-Dawla' is uttered, their throne trembles,

    and at that they fall, bowing and prostrating.

Sol 6.1