هو الإثم، زلزلَ زلزالها

فـزلزلتِ الأرضُ زلزالها

It is the sin that shook its earthquake

It is sin that caused its quaking,

So the earth shook its earthquake

So the earth shook with its mighty convulsion.

وحَمَّلها الناسُ أثقالها

فـأخرجت الأرضُ أثقالها

And people loaded it with its burdens

The people loaded it with their heavy burdens,

So the earth brought out its burdens

And the earth cast out its burdens.

وقال ابن آدمَ في حُمقه

يسائلها ساخرًا ما لها؟؟

And the son of Adam said in his foolishness

And the son of Adam said in his folly,

Mockingly asking it, what is wrong with it?

Asking it mockingly: "What ails it?"

فلا تسألوا الأرض عن رجّةٍ

تحاكي الجحيم وأهوالها

So do not ask the earth about mercy

Do not ask the earth about a tremor

That mimics hell and its horrors

That mimics Hellfire and its terrors.

ألا إنّ إبليس أوحى لكم

ألا إن ربك أوحى لها!

Behold! Satan has revealed to you

Behold, Satan has whispered to you,

Behold! Your Lord has revealed to it

But behold, your Lord has inspired *it*!

تعاليْتَ يا ربّ! كم عابثٍ

بآيك، لم يك يُصغي لها!

Exalted are You, O Lord! How many jesters

Exalted are You, O Lord! How many a mocker

With Your signs, would not listen to it

Of Your signs, refused to heed them!

وجلّ جلالك! كم أنفسٍ

تحدّاك، قطّعْتَ أوصالها!

And Your majesty is supreme! How many souls

Majestic is Your Glory! How many souls

Defied You, so You cut its limbs

Defied You, and You severed their limbs!

وكم أممٍ، غيّرتْ ما بها

فغيّرتَ يا ربّ أحوالها!

And how many nations, changed what was in it

And how many nations changed what was within them,

So You changed, O Lord, its conditions

So You changed, O Lord, their condition!

وزلّت بأعمالها فغدت

ترى في الزلازل أعمالها

And it slipped because of its deeds and became

They slipped in their deeds, and so they woke

Seeing in earthquakes, its deeds

To see their own actions in the quakes.

عساها تثوبُ إلى رشدها

فأولى لها، ثم أولى لها

Hopefully it will return to its sanity

Perhaps they might return to their senses;

So first for it, then first for it

If not, then woe to them, and woe again!

أمانًا! ألا يا سماءُ أقلعي

فقد صبّت الأرضُ أنكالها

Safety! Behold, O sky, stop

Mercy! O sky, withhold your rain,

For the earth has poured its floods

For the earth has poured out its punishments.

ويا أرضُ، رحماك! لا تبلعي

صبايا البلاد وأطفالها

And O earth, have mercy! Do not swallow

And O earth, have mercy! Do not swallow

The country’s children and infants

The land's young maidens and its children.

ويا سيلُ قِفْ، واحتشمْ إنَّ في

طريقك أكبادَ يُرثى لها

And O torrent, stop, and be modest, for

And O torrent, halt! Have shame, for in

In your way are livers that are grieved for

Your path lie beloved hearts worthy of pity.

كأنك والناسُ حيّهمُ

كمن مات، قد جئتَ غسّالها

As if you and the people are their snakes

It is as if—while the living among the people

As if dead, you have come its undertaker

Are like the dead—you have come to wash their corpses.

جرى ما كفى! هل كفى ما جرى؟

كفى بالجزائر، ما نالها؟

Enough has flowed! Is enough what has flowed?

Enough has passed! Is what happened not enough?

Is it enough for Algeria, what befell it?

Has Algeria not suffered enough of what befell her?

ويا خطبُ! رفقًا بهذي البلا

دِ، ألم ترَ، يا خطبُ، أحمالها؟

And O orators! Gently with this country

O Calamity! Be gentle with this land;

Did you not see, O orators, its burdens?

Do you not see, O Calamity, its heavy loads?

ألم ترها، بين جهلٍ، وفقرٍ

تجرّر للموت أذيالها؟

Did you not see it, between ignorance and poverty

Do you not see her, betwixt ignorance and poverty,

Dragging the tail of death?

Dragging her skirts towards death?

وما فعل الغُشْم،ُ في أمرها

وقد فوّضت فيه جهّالها

And what did the upstarts do about it

And what tyranny has wrought upon her affairs,

When you entrusted its ignorant people

When she has entrusted them to her ignorant ones.

فلن تستحق العلا أمةٌ

تولّي القيادة أرذالها

So a nation does not deserve elevation

For no nation shall deserve glory

That makes frogs its heroes

That grants leadership to its vilest men.

وكيف تريدُ البقاء بلا

دٌ تعدّ الضفادعَ أبطالها

And how can it seek survival without

And how can a land hope to survive

A country that counts geckos as its champions

When it counts frogs among its heroes?

وليست ببالغةٍ أمرها

وجلادها صار دلالها

And its matter is not eloquent

She shall not reach her destiny

And its torturer has become its crony

While her executioner has become her broker.

ولا خيرَ فيها إذا لم تثُرْ

لتنسفَ بالنار أغلالها

And there is no good in it if it does not revolt

And there is no good in her if she does not rise,

To blow up with fire its shackles

To blast apart her shackles with fire.