أُقسمُ بالقَادِرِ في ملكِهِ

على الأعادي وابنهِ الغالِبِ

I swear by the Almighty in His kingdom,

Upon the enemies and His victorious son,

لو أَنه أَصبحَ في جَانبٍ

وسائر الأقوامِ في جَانِبِ

If he were on one side,

And the rest of the people on the other side,

أَرعى له عارفةً رَبَّها

كالعِقدِ في سالفةِ الكاعِبِ

I would tend to him, knowing her Lord,

Like a necklace on the throat of an unmarried girl,

ما كنتُ اِلاَّ السيفَ في كفِّهِ

أَدنى الى الضَّربِ من الضَّارِبِ

I would be nothing but a sword in his hand,

Getting closer to striking than the striker,

لا شكرها يَفْنَى ولا ذكرُها

يَذْهَبُ في الدهرِ مع الذَّاهِبِ

His gratitude does not diminish, nor his mention

Disappears in time with the lost,

أَسرفتَ في الجودِ فأَرغبتني

ولم أكنْ قبلَكَ بالراغِبِ

You were excessive in generosity, so you made me covetous,

And I was not like that before you,

ويومَ كانَ الموتُ في ناظري

أَدنى الى العينِ من الحَاجِبِ

And the day death was in my sight,

Getting closer to the eye than the eyelid,

أَوجرتنى الصَّبرَ وقَربتنى

على رئيرِ الاسدِ الواثِبِ

You taught me patience and brought me close,

To the roar of the pouncing lion,

فللتَ حدَّ السيفِ حتى انثنتْ

قد شَمِتَ المعضَدُ بالقاضبِ

So you bent the edge of the sword until it bent,

The hilt smiled at the straightener,

تأوى من الهامِ باجرامها

الى ظِلالِ الاسلِ اللاغِبِ

They took shelter from obsession with their crimes,

In the shadows of the smooth, wandering night,

كل صقيلٍ كشعاعٍ الايا

أو كوميضِ البارقِ الذائِبِ

Every polished and radiant thing,

Or like the twinkling of the fleeting lightning,

من آل عباسٍ فتىً جودُه

كالقطرِ يُفنى عددَ الحاسبِ

A young man from the Abbasids whose generosity

Is like drops that diminish the number of the counter,

مخرنطمُ السُّخطِ بطىء الرضا

سالِمْ به دهرَكَ أَهو حَارِبِ

Slow to anger and deliberate in pleasure,

Your time is safe with him - is he a companion or an adversary?

يا أَعدلَ الامةِ في حكمهِ

ومن نَداهُ شرفُ الطَّالِبِ

O most just of the nation in his rule,

And the one whose aid honors the seeker,

قدمتَ أَمرَ اللهِ في حَاجَتي

فكنتُ كالردفِ من الراكِبِ

You put the command of God before my need,

So I was like the supported rider,

كيفَ يصح العزمُ من تائبٍ

أكذبَ من مَسْلمةَ الكاذِبِ

How can resolve come from a penitent,

More lying than Musaylimah the Liar,

انَّ قضاء اللهِ في خلقهِ

يُفضى اليه هَرَبُ الهَاربِ

Verily the decree of God in His creation,

The fleeing escape to it,

حَلُّ نظامِ الدين في حَلِّهِ

وعقدُهُ في غُلّةِ اللاذِبِ

The system of religion is solved in its solving,

And its knot is in the bundle of the crook,

يحكُم للعبدِ على ربِّهِ

ولا يبالى غَضَبَ الغَاضِبِ

He judges the servant over his Lord,

And does not care about the anger of the angry,

فقل لمن يطمع في نقضهِ

قد كان ذا في الزمن اللاعِبِ

So say to whoever hopes to undo it -

There was that in the playful time,

حتى تلافاه امامُ الهدى

بصائبٍ من رأيهِ الثاقِبِ

Until the Imam of Guidance faced him

With penetrating opinions from his piercing intellect,

قَوَّم زَيعَ الناسِ فاستوسقوا

على منارِ اللقِمِ اللاحبِ

He straightened the crookedness of people, so they prospered,

At the minaret of earnings without effort,

لا بالشفاعات ولا بالرقى

يُخدعُ في اللهِ عن الواجِبِ

Not by intercessions or incantations

Is he fooled about the duty,

يَفديكَ بل يَفدى ثَرى دستَهِ

كلُّ مليكٍ حاضرٍ غائِبِ

Your hand’s soil would ransom you, but every

Present or absent King ransoms the dust of his hand,

هِمَّتُه في العيشِ مشغولَةٌ

بزينةِ المَجْلسِ والراتِبِ

His ambition in life is preoccupied

With the adornment of the council and the salary,

ما فيه فَضْلٌ عن أَغارِيدِهِ

وقُطْبَةِ الكأسِ مع القاطِبِ

No excellence in him beyond his singing

And a goblet with the musician,

قد مَصَّرَ الشرق أفاويقه

والغربُ يُمْرَى بيدِ الحالِبِ

He has scattered the East into factions

And the West is bled by the milker,

متى أَرى خيلكَ مبثوثَةً

تَذعرُ كُدرِيَّ القَطا القَارِبِ

When will I see your horses scattered,

Terrifying Kudraiyya's fleet boats?

من طُرَّةِ الصينِ الى طَنجةٍ

الى دَرَابَنْدَ الى مَأْربِ

From the coast of China to Tangier,

To Darband and Ma'rib,

واسمُكَ فيها تتثنى بهِ

عضائدُ المِنبرِ والخَطِبِ

And your name through them is repeated

By the platforms of the pulpit and the preachers,

أَدالكُ الرحمنُ من معشرٍ

تضحكُ منهم نسبةُ الناسِبِ

May the Merciful give you from a people

Whose ancestry makes the genealogists laugh,

بعُدُهم من سَلفى هاشمٍ

بعدُ الاظلينِ من الغَارِبِ

Their distance from my Hashimite ancestors

Is the distance of the dark from the setting sun,

يا والعاً يدعو قريشاً أَباً

ويثعَلُ الوِرْدَ مع الشَّاربِ

O frequent invoker calling Quraish father

And mingling peppers with the drinker,

مالكَ من أَحواضِها قَطرَةٌ

غير عبيطِ العَلِقِ الذائِبِ

You have no drops from its basins

Except the fleeing torrents of the wadis,