أَغرَّكِ يا أَسماءُ ما ظنَّ قاسمُ

أَقيمي وَراءَ الخِدرِ فَالمرءُ واهمُ

Has Qasim been deceived, O Asma, by what he supposed?

Stay behind the curtain, for man is deluded.

ذكرتُكِ إِنّي إِن تجَلّت غَيابتي

عَلى ما نَمى مِن ذكركِ اليَومَ نادمُ

If my absence is revealed, I will remember you

And regret the growth today of your memory in me.

تَضِيقينَ ذرعاً بِالحِجابِ وَما بِهِ

سِوى ما جَنَت تِلكَ الرُؤَى وَالمَزاعمُ

You are extremely distressed by the veil when there is in it

Nothing but what those visions and allegations have yielded.

سَلامٌ عَلى الأَخلاقِ في الشَرقِ كلِّه

إِذا ما اِستُبيحَت في الخُدورِ الكَرائِمُ

Greetings to morals in all of the East

When honours are violated in homes.

أَقاسمُ لا تَقذِف بِجيشكَ تَبتَغي

بِقَومِكَ وَالإِسلامِ ما اللَهُ عالمُ

O Qasim, do not attack with your army seeking

Through your people and Islam what Allah knows.

لَنا من بِناءِ الأَوّلينَ بَقِيَّةٌ

تَلُوذُ بِها أَعراضُنا وَالمحارمُ

From the first builders we have a remaining

With which our honours and the sacred things seek refuge.

أُسائِلُ نَفسي إِذ دلفتَ تُريدُها

أَأَنتَ مِن البانينَ أَم أَنتَ هادمُ

I ask myself when you crept in wanting it,

Are you of the builders or are you a demolisher?

وَلَولا اللَواتي أَنتَ تَبكي مُصابَها

لَما قامَ لِلأَخلاقِ في مِصرَ قائِمُ

Were it not for those whose afflictions you weep for

No upholder of morals in Egypt would have stood.

نَبذتَ إِلَينا بِالكِتابِ كَأَنَّما

صَحائِفُه مَمّا حَمَلنَ مَلاحمُ

You tossed to us in the book as though

Its pages were of battles the warriors carried.

فَفي كُلِّ سَطرٍ مِنهُ حَتفٌ مُفاجئٌ

وَفي كُلِّ حَرفٍ مِنهُ جَيشٌ مُهاجِمُ

So in each of its lines there is a sudden calamity,

And in each of its letters an attacking army.

حَنانَك إِنّ الأَمرَ قَد جاوزَ المَدى

وَلَم يَبقَ في الدُنيا لِقَومِكَ راحمُ

Your affection - the matter has exceeded the boundary

And there remains in the world for your people no compassionate one.

أَحاطَت بِنا الأُسدُ المُغِيرَةُ جَهرَةً

وَدبَّت إِلَينا في الظَلامِ الأَراقمُ

The roaring lions have besieged us openly

And the wolves crept toward us in the darkness.

وَأَبرَحُ ما يَجني العَدُوُّ إِذا رَمى

كَأَهون ما يَجني الصديقُ المُسالمُ

And I care not what the enemy reaps when he shoots

Like the least that the friendly peaceful one reaps.

لَنا في كِتاب اللَهِ مَجدٌ مُؤَثَّلٌ

وَمُلكٌ عَلى الحدثانِ وَالدَهر دائِمُ

For us in God's book there is an adorned glory

And eternal kingdom over eras and time.

إِذا نَحنُ شِئنا زَلزلَ الأَرضَ بَأسُنا

وَدانَت لَنا أَقطارُها وَالعَواصمُ

When we will, our might makes the earth quake,

And its regions and capitals submit to us.

نَصولُ فَنجتاحُ الشُعوبَ وَننثني

بِأَيماننا أَسلابُها وَالغَنائمُ

We attack and overwhelm the nations and we bend

With our oaths their booty and spoils.

قَضَينا المَدى صَرعى تَخورُ نُفوسُنا

وَتَخذِلُنا في الناهضينَ العَزائِمُ

We have spent our lives vanquished, our souls withering

And determination failing us among the risers.

فَلم يَكُ إِلّا أَن أَحيط بِملكنا

وَلَم يَك إِلّا أن دَهتنا العَظائِمُ

There remained only that our kingdom be surrounded

And only that the greatest things make us anxious.

تَداعَت شُعوبُ الأَرضِ تَسعى لِشأنها

وَغُودِرَ شَعبٌ في الكِنانَةِ نائِمُ

The earth's peoples hastened seeking their own affairs

While a people slept in Egypt unconcerned.

هَمَمنا بربّاتِ الحِجالِ نُريدُها

أَقاطيعَ تَرعى العَيشَ وَهيَ سَوائِمُ

We sought the virtuous ladies, wanting them

Herds grazing sustenance and they are sublime.

وَإِن امرأً يُلقِي بِلَيلٍ نِعاجَهُ

إِلى حَيثُ تستنُّ الذئابُ لَظالمُ

But a man who at night casts his sheep

To where the wolves lounge in the darkness is unjust.

وَكُلُّ حَياةٍ تَثلِمُ العرضَ سُبّةٌ

وَلا كَحياةٍ جَلَّلتها المَآثمُ

And every life that wrongs honour is disgraceful booty

And no life made great by misdeeds is protected.

أَتأتِي الثَنايا الغُرُّ وَالطُرَرُ العُلى

بِما عَجزت عَنهُ اللِحى وَالعَمائمُ

Do the glorious and the highborn come

With what the beards and turbans failed against?

عَفا اللَهُ عَن قَومٍ تَمادَت ظُنونُهم

فَلا النَهجُ مَأمونٌ وَلا الرَأيُ حازمُ

May God forgive a people whose suspicions went too far

So neither the approach is safe nor is opinion wise.

أَلا إِنَّ بالإِسلامِ داءً مُخامِراً

وَإِنَّ كِتابَ اللَهِ للدّاءِ حاسمُ

Beware - in Islam there is a festering disease

And God's book for the disease is decisive.