رَضيتَ لِنَفسِكَ سَوآتِها

وَلَم تَألُ جُهداً لِمَرضاتِها

You were satisfied with its shortcomings

You grew content to let your soul embrace its darker stains,

And did not make any effort to please it

And spared no toil or effort in the seeking of its gains.

وَحَسَّنتَ أَقبَحَ أَعمالِها

وَصَغَّرتَ أَكبَرَ زَلّاتِها

And you made the ugliest of its deeds look good

You varnished over every ugly deed that it had done,

And made light of its biggest mistakes

And minimized the gravest sins and slips that it had spun.

وَكَم مِن طَريقٍ لِأَهلِ الصِبا

سَلَكتَ سَبيلَ غِواياتِها

And how many ways there are for the youth

How often, on the paths of youth where reckless passions tread,

You took the path of its temptations

Did you pursue the winding road where deep seductions led?

فَأَيُّ دَواعي الهَوى عِفتَها

وَلَم تَجرِ في طُرقِ لَذّاتِها

So which calls of passion did you resist

What call of wild desire did you ever cast aside?

And not walk the path of its pleasures

Or fail to race along the tracks where pleasures reside?

وَأَيِّ المَحارِمِ لَم تَنتَهِك

وَأَيِّ الفَضائِحِ لَم تَأتِها

And which of the forbidden acts did you not violate

Which sacred prohibition did you fail to violate?

And which disgraces did you not commit

Is there a single scandal that your hands did not create?

وَهَذي القِيامَةُ قَد أَشرَفَت

تُريكَ مَخاوِفَ فَزعاتِها

And this is the Day of Judgment approaching

And now, behold, the Judgment Day is looming overhead,

Showing you the fears of its horrors

To show to you the panic and the terrors that you dread.

وَقَد أَقبَلَت بِمَواعيدِها

وَأَهوالِها فَاِرعَ لَوعاتِها

It has come with its threats

It has approached, bringing along the promise it decreed,

And its terrors, so intense are its afflictions

With all its horrors—heed the pain and anguish of the deed.

وَإِنّي لَفي بَعضِ أَشراطِها

وَآياتِها وَعَلاماتِها

And I am in the midst of its signs

For truly I am standing now amidst its very signs,

And its evidence and symbols

Among its tokens and the marks that prophecy defines.

تَبارَكَ رَبٌّ دَحا أَرضَهُ

وَأَحكَمَ تَقديرَ أَقواتِها

Blessed is the Lord who spread His earth

Blessed be the Lord who spread the earth and laid it wide,

And perfectly designed its sustenance

And measured out the sustenance that it holds inside.

وَصَيَّرَها مِحنَةً لِلوَرى

تَغُرُّ الغَوِيَّ بِغَزواتِها

And made it a trial for people

He made this world a crucible, a trial for mankind,

Tempting the misguided with its raids

Deceiving the misguided soul with conquests it designed.

فَما نَرعَوي لِأَعاجيبِها

وَلا لِتَصَرُّفِ حالاتِها

So we do not care for its wonders

Yet we do not desist or learn from wonders we behold,

Nor the changes of its states

Nor from the shifting states of fate as destiny unfolds.

نُنافِسُ فيها وَأَيّامُها

تَرَدَّدُ فينا بِآفاتِها

We compete in it while its days

We vie for worldly prizes here, and yet its passing days,

Come back to us with its afflictions

Return to strike amidst us with calamities always.

أَما يَتَفَكَّرُ أَحيائُها

فَيَعتَبِرونَ بِأَمواتِها

Do not its living beings contemplate

Will not the living of this world reflect and understand,

And take admonition from its dead?

And take a warning from the dead who occupy the land?