لَعمرُكَ ما من مسجدٍ بعدَ مسجدٍ

لَعمرُكَ ما من مسجدٍ بعدَ مسجدٍ

بمكّةَ طُهراً أو مصلّى بيثرب

بمكّةَ طُهراً أو مصلّى بيثرب

By your life, no mosque—apart from the mosque

By your life, no mosque after a mosque

in Mecca, in its purity, or the prayer-place in Yathrib—

In Mecca is purer, or a place of prayer in Yathrib,

بشرقٍ ولا غربٍ علمنا مكانَه

بشرقٍ ولا غربٍ علمنا مكانَه

من الأرض معموراً ولا متجنَّبِ

من الأرض معموراً ولا متجنَّبِ

in east or west whose location we know,

In East or West we knew its location,

anywhere on earth, frequented or shunned,

Inhabited on earth or secluded.

بِأبينَ فضلاً من مصلّى مباركٍ

بِأبينَ فضلاً من مصلّى مباركٍ

بكوفانَ رحبٍ ذي أرأسٍ ومَحْصَبِ

بكوفانَ رحبٍ ذي أرأسٍ ومَحْصَبِ

has more evident merit than a blessed place of prayer

With my father, more virtuous than the blessed mosque

in Kufan, spacious, with summits and pebbled ground.

In the vast Kufa with heads and curved backs,

مصلَّى به نُوح تأثَّل وابتنى

مصلَّى به نُوح تأثَّل وابتنى

به ذاتَ حَيزومٍ وصدرٍ مُحَنَّبِ

به ذاتَ حَيزومٍ وصدرٍ مُحَنَّبِ

A place of prayer where Noah settled and built

The mosque where Noah took refuge and built,

there a vessel with a breast and an arched chest.

With concave chest and prominent breastbone.

وفار به التنّورُ ماءً وعنده

وفار به التنّورُ ماءً وعنده

له قيل يا نوحٌ ففي الفُلكِ فاركبِ

له قيل يا نوحٌ ففي الفُلكِ فاركبِ

And there the oven gushed water, and beside it

And by it the oven gushed water, and it was said

he was told: ‘O Noah, then board the Ark!’

“O Noah! Embark on the ship!” Thus he embarked.

وبابُ أميرِ المؤمنين الذي به

وبابُ أميرِ المؤمنين الذي به

ممرُّ أميرُ المؤمنينَ المهذّبِ

ممرُّ أميرُ المؤمنينَ المهذّبِ

And the gate of the Commander of the Faithful, through which

And the gate of the Commander of the Faithful, by which

the refined Commander of the Faithful passes.

The refined Commander of the Faithful passed.