قَد بَلَّغَتكَ المَهاري مُنتَهى الأَمَلِ

فَما التَقَلقُلُ مِن سَهلٍ إِلى جَبَلٍ

The skillful have conveyed to you the furthest of hopes

The swift camels have borne you to the summit of hope,

So cease this restless roaming from plain to mountain

So why wander still from plain to rugged mountain?

أَرِح رِكابَكَ فَالأَرزاقُ قَد كُتِبَت

وَلَيسَ يَعدوكَ ما قَد خُطَّ في الأَزَل

Rest your mount for sustenance is preordained

Rest your mounts, for your sustenance has been decreed,

That which is written in eternity none can outpace

And that which was inscribed in eternity shall not pass you by.

فَطالَما أَوضَعَت خوصُ الرِكابِ بِنا

في مَهمَهٍ فَذَفٍ أَو مَجهَلٍ غُفُلٍ

Oft has the saddle-cloth borne us down

For too long have these hollow-eyed camels hastened us on,

In perilous descent, perilous ascent, heedless folly

Through vast, perilous wastelands and unmarked tracks.

سَباسِبٌ يَقلِبُ الأَلوانَ صَيخَدُها

وَتارَةً فَوقَ أَلواحٍ بِذي زَجَلِ

Ferries that shift their hues, now shimmering

Barren lands where the scorching heat distorts all hues,

Now creaking o’er raucous waters, swaying idle

And at times upon wooden planks amidst the roaring waves.

فَالآنَ لَمّا أَقالَ اللَهُ عَثرَتَنا

في دَولَةِ المُرتَضى في القَولِ وَالعَمَلِ

But now Allah has lightened our burden

But now, since Allah has lifted us from our stumble,

In the realm of Murtaza in word and deed

Within the realm of one approved in both word and deed,

فَخَفِّضِ أَلهَمَّ وَاِنعَم في ذَرى مَلِكٍ

وَاِعفِ الرَكائِبَ مِن حِلٍّ وَمُرتَحَلِ

Lower your ambitions; be sated with the glory of a ruler

Lay down your burden and prosper under the wing of a king,

Give respite to travelers, settled and nomad alike

And spare the riding beasts from further saddling and trekking.

مَلكٌ تَباشَرَتِ الدُنيا بِطَلعَتِهِ

وَاِفتَرَّ ثَغرُ الرِضا عَن مَبسِمِ الجَذَلِ

A king whose rise was heralded by Fate

A king whose rising the whole world heralded with joy,

Whose smiling lips parted, teeth gleaming bright

And the mouth of contentment parted in a jubilant smile.

سَما إِلى المَجدِ لَم تُقطَع تَمائِمُهُ

بِصِدقِ عَزمِ فَتىً في رَأيِ مُكتَهِلِ

His glory undimmed as he climbed to greatness

He ascended to glory before his childhood amulets were cut,

With the true resolve of a stalwart hero

With the resolve of a youth matching the wisdom of an elder.

عَبدُ العَزيزِ الذي عادَ الزَمانُ فَتىً

في وَقتِهِ بَعد قَيدِ الشَيبِ وَالقَزَل

Son of Aziz whose youth was restored to him

Abdulaziz, through whom time itself has regained its youth,

After the fetters of old age and senility

In his era, after the shackles of age and infirmity.

لَم يَطلُبِ المُلكَ إِرثاً بَل سَعى وَسَطا

حَتّى حَواهُ بِعزمِ الفاتِكِ البَطَلِ

He sought not the kingdom as inherited right

He sought not the kingdom as a mere heir, but strove and conquered,

But strove with courage to claim his prize

Until he seized it with the resolve of a fearless champion.

لكِن لِآبائِهِ في المُلكِ مَنقَبَةٌ

أَضحَوا بِها غُرَّةً في جَبهَةِ الدُوَلِ

Yet his fathers had a share in this rule

Yet his forefathers held a noble legacy in sovereignty,

And sacrificed themselves at empire’s altar

Through which they became a shining star on the brow of nations.

أَشَمُّ أَروَعُ مِن آسادِ مَملَكَةٍ

أَرسَوا قَواعِدَها بِالبيضِ وَالأَسَلِ

I smell the perfume of a kingdom nobler

Proud and magnificent, scions of a lion-hearted dynasty,

Than lions who built their den with ivory white

Who anchored its foundations with white swords and spear-points.

المُنعِمينَ بِلا مَنٍّ وَلا كَدَرٍ

وَالحاكِمينَ بِلا جَورٍ وَلا مَيَلِ

Bestowing blessings without reserve or rancor

Bestowers of bounty without reproach or resentment,

Ruling justly, without bias or injustice

Rulers who governed without tyranny or bias.

وَالعامِرينَ مِنَ التَقوى سَرائِرَهُم

وَالناهِجينَ على الأَهدى مِنَ السُبُلِ

Upholding piety in their inner hearts

Those who built their inner sanctuaries upon piety,

Following rightly-guided paths

And walked steadfastly upon the most righteous of paths.

ياِبنَ الأَولى قَرَّضوا الدُنيا بِمَجدِهِمُ

كَما بكَ الآنَ أَضحى الكَونُ في جَذلِ

O scion of the great ones who traded the world for glory

O son of those who lent the world their splendor,

While it now weeps for you in sorrow

Just as the universe now rejoices because of you.

هُم فاخَروكم لَدى النُعمانِ فَاِرتَفَعَت

راياتُكُم عِندهُ في ذلكَ الحَفلِ

They brought you honor in al-Nu’man’s court

When they vied for honor before Al-Nu'man, up rose

And so your banners flew high at his feast

Your banners high above them in that great assembly.

فَظَلَّ قَيسٌ يُديرُ الريقَ مِن غُصَصٍ

وَجَرَّ عامِرُ ذَيلَ الغَبنِ وَالخَجَلِ

Qais then held sway over all the clans

Leaving Qais choking back the bitter taste of defeat,

While Amir dragged behind him shame and disgrace

While Amir dragged the heavy robes of loss and shame.

وَفي أَوانِ اِغتِرابِ الدينِ كانَ لَكُم

مَشاهِدٌ أَصلَحَت ما كانَ مِن خَلِلِ

And when chaos engulfed the faith you stood

And in the era when true Faith was estranged, you stood

And corrected the flaws that had emerged

In scenes of valor that mended every breach.

نَصرتُموهُ بِضَربِ صادِقٍ خَذِمٍ

أَنسى مَعارِكَ مِن صِفّينَ وَالجَمَلِ

With true loyalty, pure of heart and deed

You defended it with strikes true and severing,

Did you defend it, heedless of past quarrels,

That eclipsed the memory of the battles of Siffin and the Camel.

حُزتُم بهِ الدينَ وَالدُنيا وَصارَ لكُم

فَخراً وَأَجراً إِذا ما جيءَ بِالرُسُلِ

Upholding religion and world affairs alike

Through this you won both this world and the Faith,

To earn merit and reward when the envoys come

Gaining glory here and reward when the Messengers are summoned.

لَو كانَ فَيصَلُ يدري قَبلَ ميتَتهِ

أَنَّكَ من صُلبِهِ اِستَبطا مَدى الأَجَلِ

If only Faisal had known, before he passed,

Had Faisal known, before his passing,

That you were of his loins, what longevity you’d attain!

That you would spring from his line, he would have deemed death too slow.

أَطلَعتَ شَمساً عَلى الآفاقِ مُشرِقَةً

لكِنَّها لَم تَزَل في دارَةِ الحَمَلِ

You rose like a radiant sun over the horizon

You have raised a radiant sun upon the horizons,

Though still circling in its orbit’s curve

Yet it remains forever rising in the vernal sign of the Ram.

أَصلَحتَ لِلنّاسِ دُنياهُم وَدينهم

فَأَصبَحوا بكَ في أَمنٍ وَفي خَولِ

You set right for the people their affairs, worldly and spiritual

You have restored for the people their world and their creed,

And they awoke to find safety and tranquility

So they live, through you, in safety and abundance.

أَرشَدتَ جاهِلَهُم عِلماً وَمُحسِنَهُم

فَضلاً وَمُذنِبِهُم عَفواً عَن الزَلَلِ

You guided the ignorant with knowledge

You guided their ignorant with knowledge, their virtuous

Honored the virtuous with favor

With bounty, and their sinners with pardon for their slips.

عُدلٌ تَظَلُّ بهِ السيدانُ خاوِيَةً

مِنَ الطَوى وَهيَ بَينَ الجَدي وَالحَمَلِ

And forgave the sinners their trespasses

A justice that leaves the wolves gaunt,

Justice that leaves the mounts free of saddle and pack

Starving even as they roam amidst the kid and the lamb.

اِنظُر إِلَيهِ تَجِدهُ في فَضائِلِهِ

مِلءَ المَسامِعِ وَالأَفواهِ وَالمُقلِ

Look upon him, and you will find in his virtues

Gaze upon him, and you shall find him in his virtues

Ample proof, though mouths and ears reject it

Filling all ears, all mouths, and all eyes.

مَكارِمٌ لَم تَكُن تُعزى إِلى أَحَدٍ

مِمَّن مَضى كُنتَ فيها غايَةَ المَثَلِ

Noble qualities none ascribed to another

Noble traits never before ascribed to any man

You were the epitome of all that’s sublime

Of the past; in them, you are the ultimate exemplar.

سَمعاً بَني الوَقتِ إِنّي غَيرُ مُتَّهَمٍ

في نُصحِكُم لا وَلا أَطوي عَلى دَخَلِ

Listen closely, people of these times, I speak without bias

Listen well, O sons of this age, for I am beyond suspicion

Not hiding self-interest or personal gain

In my counsel to you; I harbor no hidden deceit.

أَنا الكَفيلُ لِمَن لَم يَدرِ قيمَتَهُ

بِساعَةٍ تَفصِلُ الأَعضا مِنَ القُلَلِ

I guarantee one who knows not his own worth

I am the guarantor for him who knows not his own worth

An hour that sunders bone from tendon

In that hour when limbs are severed from heads.

حَذارِ مِن أَسدٍ إِن هيجَ كانَ لَهُ

زَماجِرٌ تَقذِفُ الأَروى مِنَ الجَبَلِ

Beware the lion, if provoked his roar

Beware the Lion! If provoked, he releases

Hurls boulders down from the mountain’s height

Roars that cast the mountain goats from the highest peaks.

يَموجُ بَحرُ المَنايا عِندَ غَضبَتِهِ

بَينَ الأَظافِرِ أَو أَنيابِهِ العُصُلِ

When furious, the sea of death froths and foams

The sea of death surges when his anger rises,

Baring fangs and claws without relent

Between his claws and his crushing fangs.

إِنَّ الغَريمَ الذي ماحَكتُمُ شَرِسٌ

إِذا تَقاضى مُلِحٌّ لَيسَ بِالوَكِلِ

Verily your formidable foe is relentless

The adversary you have challenged is ferocious;

Brooking no compromise or deputized emissary

Relentless in exacting dues, never weak nor wavering.

لا يَصعُبُ الأَمرُ إِلّا رَيثَ يَركَبُهُ

مُصَمِّمُ العَزمِ لا يُصغي إِلى العَذَلِ

No task is hard when girded with resolve

No task is difficult once he sets his mind to it;

Heeding nor weakness neither pleadings to relent

Resolute in will, heeding no voice of discouragement.

فَلَيتَ شِعرِيَ هَل لِلنُّصحِ مُستَمِعٌ

أَم كُنتُ أَنفُخُ في نارٍ عَلى وَشَلِ

I wonder, is there one who hears my counsel

Oh, how I wish to know: is there one who listens to counsel?

Or do I blow upon dead embers, futilely stoking their dying flames?

Or have I been blowing into a dying fire upon a wet stone?

مَن لَم يَقِس ما بَقي مِن دَهرِهِ نَظراً

لِما مَضى فَهوَ مِن مُستَعجَمِ الهَمَلِ

Who does not weigh his remaining years against those passed

He who does not measure his future days by looking

Is rash, reckless and doomed to fail

To the past, is but dumb cattle lost in the wild.

كَم شَدَّ قَومٌ وَجَدّوا في عَداوَتِهِ

فَأَصبَحوا بَينَ مَوهوقٍ وَمُنخَذِلِ

How many have pulled tight the knot of enmity

How many have striven hard in enmity against him,

Only to be left defeated and abandoned!

Only to end up ensnared or utterly forsaken.

فَلا يَغُرَّ أُناساً عَفوُهُ فَهُمُ

إِن أَحدَثوا يَسقِهِم صاباً مِنَ العَسَلِ

Do not let his clemency trick the foolish

Let not his pardon deceive the foolish, for they—

If they provoke him, he will serve them poisoned honey

If they transgress, he shall feed them bitterness disguised as honey.

ما كُلَّ يَومٍ يُقالُ المَرءُ عَثرَتُهُ

لَو قالَ لا ناقَتي فيها وَلا جَملي

A man’s trespass cannot be mentioned daily

Not every day is a man’s stumble forgiven,

As though to say, “My she-camel is not to blame, nor my stud camel”

Even should he plead: "I have no stake in this feud."

خُذ ما أَتَتكَ بهِ عَفواً سَجِيَّتهُ

وَلا تَقُل لِلذي يَأباهُ ذلكَ لي

Take what his nature freely gives you

Accept the pardon his noble nature freely offers,

And say not to one who refuses it: “Shame on you!”

And claim not as your right that which he denies.

يا واحِداً في بَني الدُنيا بِلا شَبَهٍ

في عَصرِهِ وَلا في الأَعصُرِ الأُوَلِ

O peerless one in all the world

O unique one among the sons of earth, without peer

In your time or in ages past

In this age, or in the annals of ages past.

إِنّي وَإِن أَطالَ مَدحي فيكَ مُقتَصِرٌ

وَأَينَ مَن في الثَرى يَرقى إلى زُحلِ

Though I prolong my praises of you I admit my limits

Though I prolong my praise, I fall short of your due;

For who on earth can reach the heavens' vault?

For how can one on the dust ascend to Saturn's sphere?

وَإِن كَسَوتُكَ مِن حُسنِ الثَنا حُلَلاً

فَأَنتَ مِن قَبلِها أَبهى مِنَ الحُلَلِ

If I dress you in fine apparel of poetry

And though I clothe you in the robes of fair praise,

You were more resplendent before it

You were, before them, more splendid than any robe.

وَإِنَّما الشِعرُ يَرتاحُ الكِرامُ لهُ

يَهُزُّهُم كَاِهتِزازِ الشارِبِ الثَمِلِ

Verse but gives respite to the noble soul

Yet poetry brings delight to noble souls,

Shaking them like wine does the winded drinker

Moving them as wine sways the enraptured drinker.

وَالمَرءُ حَيٌّ إِذا بَقيَت مَآثِرُهُ

تُتلى بِحُسنِ الثَنايا بِالمَنطِقِ الجَزِلِ

A man lives on if his achievements survive

For a man remains alive so long as his deeds endure,

Recited in melodious verse and weighty prose

Recited with fair praise in eloquent speech.

وَأَنتَ كَالغَيثِ يَعلو كُلَّ رابِيَةٍ

وَيَستَقِرُّ لِنَفعِ الناسِ في السَهل

You are like rain, towering over every mound

You are like the rain that covers every high hill,

Settling far-reaching plains with beneficence

And settles in the plain to nourish mankind.

خُذها إِلَيكَ كَنَظمِ الدُرِّ فَصَّلَهُ

شَذرٌ مِنَ التِبرِ لَم يُسبَك عَلى زَغَلِ

Take it, as prose arranged like joined pearls

Accept this poem, like a strung necklace of pearls,

Fragments unfired, unrefined

Set with beads of pure gold, unmixed with dross.

غَرّاءُ تَفزَعُ أَسماعُ الرُواةِ لَها

بِمَنطِقٍ صينَ عَن عِيٍّ وَعن خَطَلُ

Polished rhymes that stir the souls of reciters

A radiant verse that startles the ears of narrators,

Articulate, flawless, void of defect

With words guarded against stammering and error.

إِن تَرضَها فَهوَ مَهرٌ لا كِفاءَ لهُ

وَمن طِباعِكَ إِغضاءٌ عَنِ الخَلَلِ

If you accept it, none can match its worth

If you accept it, that is a reward beyond measure,

But you overlook all flaws, as is your noble way

For it is in your nature to overlook defects.

وَاللَهُ يُعطيكَ مِن أَعمارِنا مَدَداً

في ظِلِّ عَيشٍ أَنيقٍ دائِمٍ خَضلِ

And may God grant you length of days from our lifetimes

May Allah grant you length of days from our own lives,

In continued comfort and everlasting grace

In the shade of a life elegant, enduring, and lush.

تَدومُ لِلدّينِ وَالدُنيا تَحوطُهُما

بِعاجِلِ النَصرِ في عِزٍّ وَفي مَهل

Abiding, to safeguard religion and world

May you endure for the Faith and the world, guarding both

With imminent victory, in honor and respite

With swift victory, in glory and in ease.

مُمَتَّعاً بِبَنيكَ الغُرِّ مُبتَهِجاً

بِالآلِ وَالخالِ وَالإِخوانِ وَالخَوَلِ

Delighting in your sweet children, joyful

Delighting in your noble sons, rejoicing

With family, in-laws, siblings and progeny alike

In kin, in maternal lines, in brothers, and in aides.

فَلَيسَ إِلّا كُم شَيءٌ نُسَرُّ بهِ

أَنتَ الغَنيمةُ من حافٍ وَمُنتَعلِ

You are our only pride and joy

For there is nothing but you to bring us joy;

Our prize, defended and protected

You are the greatest prize for the barefoot and the shod alike.

ثُمَّ الصَلاةُ على الهادي الذي نُسِخَت

بِشَرعِهِ شِرعَةُ الأديانِ وَالنِحَلِ

Then blessings upon the Guide whose law superseded

Then blessings be upon the Guide, by whose Law

All creeds and faiths revealed afore

The laws of all previous faiths and sects were superseded;

مُحمدٍ خيرِ مَن يَمشي على قَدَمٍ

وَالآلِ وَالصَحبِ في الأَبكارِ وَالأُصَلِ

Muhammad, best of all who tread upon this earth

Muhammad, the best who ever walked upon the earth,

And his family and companions, the earliest and the latter ones

And upon his Kin and Companions, at dawn and at dusk.