وُفِّقتَ مُرتَحِلاً في الوِردِ وَالصَدرِ

وَأُبتَ مُغتَنِماً بِالعِزِّ وَالظَفَرِ

You were granted success as a traveler in love and intimacy,

You have been granted success in your travels, in every arrival and departure,

Yet you refused to seize glory and victory.

And you have returned laden with spoils, wrapped in glory and victory.

مَواهِبٌ خَصَّكَ المَولى الكَريمُ بِها

مِن فَضلِهِ لَم تَكن في قُدرَةِ البَشَر

Gifts especially bestowed on you by the Generous Lord,

These are gifts with which the Generous Lord has singled you out,

Out of His bounty, unattainable by mankind.

Through His grace, for they lie beyond the power of mortal men.

لِلَّهِ فيكَ عِناياتٌ سَتَبلُغُها

تُرى بها سَيِّداً لِبَدوِ وَالحَضَرِ

God has great plans for you, which will make you

God has bestowed upon you providential cares that you shall attain,

A master of nomads and settled folk alike.

Through which you will be seen as master of both the desert and the city.

إِنَّ السَعادَةَ قَد لاحَت مَخايِلُها

عَلَيكَ مِن قَبلِ ذا في حالَةِ الصِغَرِ

Indeed good fortune's visions have shone upon you

Indeed, the signs of felicity have already shimmered

Since childhood with the auspicious one.

Upon you long before this, even in your days of youth.

مِنها اِسمُكَ اِشتُقَّ إِذ كُنتَ السُعودَ لَنا

فَجِئتَ أَنتَ وَإِيّاها عَلى قَدَرِ

From it your name was derived when you were our joy,

Your very name was derived from it, for you were 'Good Fortune' to us,

So you and it came to be according to destiny.

So you and Happiness arrived together, by divine decree.

إِنَّ الذينَ سَروا في لَيلِ بَغيِهِم

مُنوا بِسَوطِ عَذابِ اللَهِ في السَحَر

Those who marched evilly in the night

Those who marched under cover of the night of their transgression,

Were punished by God's whip at dawn.

Were struck by the whip of God's punishment at the break of dawn.

ظَنّوا تَغاضِيَكُم عَنهُم وَحِلمَكمُ

عَن جَهلِهِم أَنَّهُ ضَربٌ مِنَ الخورِ

They thought you overlooked them and were patient

They mistook your overlooking of them and your forbearance,

With their ignorance as if it were dignity.

Out of their ignorance, believing it to be a form of weakness.

أَما دَرَوا وَيلَهُم أَنَّ الأُسودَ لها

إِغضاءُ مُستَصغِرٍ لِلضِدِّ مُحتَقِرِ

Don't they know their doom, that lions though dormant

Did they not know—woe unto them—that lions possess

Are belittled by the despised enemy in pretense?

A sleepy gaze that belittles the foe in utter contempt?

لكِن إِذا أَصحَرَت كانَ المُهيجُ لها

فَريسَةً بينَ نباِ اللَيثِ وَالظُفُر

But when lions wake the provoker becomes

But if they enter the open field, he who provokes them becomes

Prey between the claws and fangs.

Mere prey caught between the lion's fang and claw.

يا بنَ الهداةِ حُماةِ الدينِ إِنَّ لكُم

نُصحاً عَلَينا كَما قَد جاءَ في السُوَرِ

O son of the rightly guided, protectors of the faith, you

O son of the guides, protectors of the faith, truly you are owed

Advise us as the scripture dictates.

Sincere counsel from us, as mandated in the revealed Surahs.

وَالنُصحُ إِن لَم يَكُن رَأيٌ يُؤَيِّدُهُ

مِنَ السِياسَةِ لَم يُؤمَن مِنَ الضَرَرِ

Advice, if not supported by politics,

Yet counsel, if not supported by sound judgment

Won't be safe from harm.

Derived from statecraft, is not safe from causing harm.

وَالعِلمُ إِن لَم يَكُن عَقلٌ يُؤازِرهُ

فَإِنَّ صاحِبَهُ مِنهُ عَلى خَطرِ

Knowledge, if not aided by reason,

And knowledge, if not bolstered by intellect,

Puts its owner in jeopardy.

Places its possessor in peril because of it.

كَذاكَ لِلمُلكِ أَوتادٌ وَأَعمِدَةٌ

هُنَّ القِوامُ لهُ مِن سالِفِ العُمُرِ

So it is that kingship has pillars and foundations

Likewise, dominion rests upon pegs and pillars

Which support it since olden times:

Which have sustained it throughout the ages past:

الوَحيُ والسَيفُ وَالحَزمُ الحَصيفُ كَذا

رَأيُ المُحَنَّكِ بِالتَجريبِ ذي البَصَرِ

Revelation, the sword, and wise resolution.

Divine Revelation, the sword, and prudent resolve, as well as

The insight of the experienced with vision.

The judgment of the veteran, tested by experience and possessed of insight.

وَقِس عَلى ما مَضى باقي الزَمانِ فَكَم

نَورٍ تَفَتَّقَ عَن مُرٍّ مِنَ الثَمَرِ

Consider the past: how much light emerged

Judge the future by what has passed, for how often

From the bitterness of fruit!

Have beautiful blossoms burst open to reveal bitter fruit.

إَنَّ الرَعِيَّةَ لا تُصفيكَ طاعَتَها

حَتّى تَشوبَ لها التَرغيبَ بِالحَذرِ

The commoners will not obey you sincerely

The subjects will not offer you pure obedience,

Unless you mix reward with intimidation.

Until you blend for them enticement with cautionary fear.

فَالحُرُّ يَكفيهِ أَن تُسدي إِلَيهِ نَدىً

وَذو اللامَةِ حدَّ الصارِمِ الذَكرِ

The free man is satisfied with favours,

For the noble soul, it suffices that you extend generosity,

The servile is limited by the threat of the blade.

But for the base nature, only the edge of the sharp, virile sword.

وَالسوءُ يُزجَرُ قَبلَ الفِعلِ قائِلهُ

إِنَّ المَقالَ بَريدُ الفِعلِ فَاِعتَبر

Evil is deterred before the act, so admonish

Evil speech must be rebuked before it becomes action,

Its speaker, words being the coolness of deeds.

For speech is the harbinger of the deed, so take heed.

لا تَحقِر الشَرَّ نَزراً في بِدايَتِهِ

كَم أَحرَقَ الزَندُ يَوماً حُرجَةَ الشَجَرِ

Do not take evil lightly in its beginnings,

Do not belittle evil as insignificant in its beginning;

How many fires were sparked by a flint's spark!

How often has a single spark burned down a dense forest.

لا تَطمَئِنَّ إِلى مَن أَنتَ واتِرُهُ

إِنَّ العَداوَةَ كَسرٌ غَيرُ مُنجَبِرِ

Do not feel secure with one you have betrayed,

Do not rest easy with one whom you have aggrieved,

Enmity is an unamendable wound.

For enmity is a fracture that can never be fully set.

إِن بانَ خَصلَةُ سوءٍ مِن فَتىً فَلَها

نَظائِرٌ عِندَهُ قَد جاءَ في الخَبرِ

If an evil trait appears in a man, it has

If a single trait of malice appears in a man, know that it has

Counterparts in him, as we've been told.

Many counterparts within him, as tradition has foretold.

وَعاجِلِ الداءِ حَسماً قَبلَ غائِلَةٍ

إِنَّ العِلاجَ لَبَينَ البُرءِ وَالخَطرِ

Treat affliction decisively, before it spreads,

Treat the disease decisively before it becomes a calamity;

Curing lies between wellness and jeopardy.

For true remedy lies balanced between cure and peril.

اِنظُر إِلى عُمَرَ الفاروقِ كَيفَ نَفى

نَصراً بِلا رُؤيَةٍ بِالعَينِ أَو خَبَرِ

Consider Omar: how he banished

Consider Umar al-Faruq, and how he exiled

Victory without seeing or reports.

Nasr, without witnessing a crime or receiving a report.

وَلم يَكُن ذاكَ عَن ذَنبٍ تَقَدَّمَهُ

لكِن لِأَمرٍ بِسِرِّ الغَيبِ مُستَتِرِ

That was not for a prior sin, but rather

That was not for any sin he had previously committed,

A confidential divine matter.

But for a matter hidden within the secrets of the Unseen.

بَل عَن تَمَنّي فَتاةٍ لَيسَ يَعلَمُها

وَلَم تَكُن مِن ذَواتِ الفُحشِ وَالعَهَرِ

Rather, for a girl's wish, unknown to him,

It was due to the longing of a young woman he did not know,

Who was no lewd harlot.

Though she was not a woman of obscenity or vice.

هذا دَليلٌ عَلى أَنَّ الإِمامَ لهُ

أَن يُعمِلَ الظَنَّ في مَن بِالفَسادِ حَري

Proof that the Imam may act on suspicion

This stands as proof that the Imam possesses the right

Against one corrupted or prone to evil.

To act on suspicion regarding those prone to corruption.

فَاِعمَل لِوَقتِكَ أَعمالاً تَليقُ بهِ

فَذا زَمانُ اِمتِزاجِ الصَفوِ بِالكَدَرِ

So act in your time in a fitting manner,

So perform deeds suited to your time,

For this is an age of purity mixed with filth.

For this is an age where purity is mingled with turbidity.

فَيا جَمالَ بَني الدُنيا وَبَهجَتَهُم

وَاِبنَ الأُولى هُم جَمالُ الكُتبِ وَالسِيَرِ

O, beauty of the world and its joy,

O you, the beauty of the world’s people and their delight,

Son of the exemplars, beauty of books and legends.

And son of those who adorn the pages of history and biography.

فُقتَ المُلوكَ بِبَأسٍ في الوَغى وَنَدىً

إِنَّ النُجومَ لِيُخفيها سَنى القَمَرِ

You surpassed kings with ferocity and favour,

You have surpassed all kings in might in battle and in generosity;

Stars are veiled by the radiance of the moon.

Indeed, the stars are eclipsed by the radiance of the moon.

أَبوكَ عَبدُ العَزيزِ المُرتَضى كَرَماً

وَمُكرِمُ البيضِ وَالعَسّالَةِ السُمُرِ

Your father Abdulaziz, honourable and generous,

Your father is Abdulaziz, the approved one in nobility,

Who honours the white and brown skinned.

Who honors the white blades and the brown, quivering spears.

مَلكٌ تَجَسَّدَ مِن بَأسٍ وَمن كَرَمٍ

كَالغَيثِ وَاللَيثِ في نَفعٍ وَفي ضَرَرِ

A king of incarnate ferocity and nobility,

A king incarnate, forged from valor and munificence,

Like rain and lion in beneficence and fierceness.

Like the rain in benefit, and the lion in ability to harm.

أَرعى الجَزيرَةَ عَيناً غَيرَ راقِدَةٍ

فَلَم يَبِت ضِدُّهُ إِلّا عَلى حَذَرِ

He guarded the peninsula with an unsleeping eye,

He watched over the Peninsula with an unsleeping eye,

His enemies always anxious.

So that his enemy never slept but in a state of dread.

وَأَنتَ تَتلوهُ مُستَنّاً بِسُنَّتِهِ

أَكرِم بِها سُنَناً مَحمودَةَ الأَثرِ

While you follow his example faithfully,

And you follow him, walking clearly in his path;

Honouring the excellent traditions.

How noble are those paths, and how praiseworthy their traces!

أَرضَيتَ رَبَّكَ في حَربِ البُغاةِ كَما

أَرضَيتَ سَيفَكَ في اللَبّاتِ وَالنَحَرِ

You satisfied your Lord in war with the rebels,

You pleased your Lord in warring against the transgressors, just as

As you sated your sword with skulls and blood.

You pleased your sword by plunging it into their chests and throats.

خُذها اِبنَةَ الفِكرِ أَمثالاً مُهَذَّبةً

كَالتِبرِ فُصِّلَ بِالياقوتِ وَالدُرَرِ

Take these refined proverbs, daughters of thought,

Accept this poem, a daughter of thought, composed of refined proverbs,

Like pearls threaded with rubies and gems.

Like pure gold set with rubies and pearls.

تَختالُ بَينَ الوَرى تيهاً بِمَدحِكُمُ

إِنَّ المَدائِحَ فيكُم حَليُ مُفتَخِرِ

They strut proudly among people lost in your praise,

It walks proudly among the people, boasting of your praise;

For praises of you are prideful adornment.

For praises sung of you are the jewels of the one who glories.

ثُمَّ الصَلاةُ وَتَسليمُ الإِلهِ عَلى

أَزكى البَرِيَّةِ وَالمُختارِ مِن مُضَرِ

Then blessings and peace be upon the purest

Then may the blessings and peace of God be upon

Of mankind and the chosen of Mudar,

The purest of creation, the Chosen One from the tribe of Mudar,

وَآلهِ الغُرِّ وَالأَصحابِ ما صَدَحَت

وَرقاءُ في فَنَنٍ قَد حُفَّ بِالزَهَرِ

And his family, whiter than sheets

And upon his noble family and companions, for as long as

Adorned with flowers in their prime.

A dove coos upon a branch wreathed in blossoms.