تلك القضيّةُ هل لها ميعادُ

شرطُ القضيَّةِ أن يطولَ جِهادُ

That cause—does it have an appointed time?

The cause requires that its struggle be long.

كم للشُّعوبِ قضيّةٌ من دُونها

تمضِي القُرونُ وتنقضي الآمادُ

How many causes have peoples, short of whose fulfillment

centuries pass and ages expire.

هل دَانَ للهِمَمِ الرَّواكدِ مَطْلَبٌ

أم صَحَّ للأُمَمِ الضِّعافِ مُرادُ

Has any goal ever yielded to stagnant resolve,

or any wish come true for weak nations?

لا تَحْسَبَنَّ الحقَّ صَيْحَة عاجزٍ

الحقُّ عَزمٌ صادقٌ وجلادُ

Never suppose that right is a helpless man’s cry;

right is sincere resolve and endurance in combat.

صُوني فلسطينُ الذِّمارَ وجَاهِدي

ما للحياةِ سوى الجهادِ عِمادُ

Guard your inviolable honor, Palestine, and strive;

life has no pillar but struggle.

صُونِي ذِمارَكِ إنّه لكِ موقفٌ

فَصْلٌ ويومٌ مِنكِ ليس يُعادُ

Guard your honor: this is, for you, a stand

decisive—a day of yours that shall not return.

هو آخرُ الأيّامِ إمّا مَطْلَعٌ

عالٍ وإمّا مَصْرَعٌ وحِدادُ

It is the last of days: either a dawn

rising high, or a death-ground and mourning.

طَغَتِ الخطوبُ عليكِ لا مُتوقِّدٌ

يَخْبُو ولا مُتَمَرِّدٌ ينقادُ

Calamities have surged over you: no blazing spirit

dies down, and no rebel submits.

وتَحَيَّفتْ فيكِ الحياةَ حوادثٌ

مرّت بها مِئةٌ عليكِ شِدادُ

Events have ravaged the life within you;

a hundred harsh trials have swept through it and over you.

الكَسْبُ عُطِّلَ والمتاجِرُ طُلِّقَتْ

فالعيشُ ضَنْكٌ والحياةُ كسادُ

Earning stands idle and the marketplaces are deserted;

living is straitened, and life lies stagnant.

نِعمَ الجهادُ لمن يضنُّ بِحقّهِ

لو كان للشّعبِ المُجاهدِ زادُ

Blessed is the struggle of one who will not yield his right—

if only the struggling people had provisions.

في نُصرةِ الآجامِ يُحتَملُ الأَذَى

ولها تَجُوعُ وتَشْبَعُ الآسادُ

To defend the thickets, suffering is borne;

for their sake lions hunger, and lions feed their fill.

هِمَمُ النُّسورِ النَّاهِضينَ دَوائبٌ

ومخالبُ الأُسْدِ الغِضابِ حِدادُ

The aspirations of soaring eagles are tireless,

and the claws of angry lions are sharp steel.

عَرَبٌ إذا غَضِبوا لأمرٍ طارقٍ

غَضِبَتْ على بيضِ الظُّبى الأغمادُ

Arabs—when angered by a sudden crisis,

the scabbards rage against the gleaming blades of the wrathful.

وتفزّعَ الآباءُ في أجداثِهم

وتطلَّعتْ مِن ذُعرها الأَجدادُ

Fathers start in terror within their graves,

and forefathers look up in alarm.

واهْتاجتِ الجُرْدُ العِتاقُ وأَقْبلتْ

صُوَرُ المنايا ما لهنَّ عِدادُ

The noble, sleek steeds surge and charge forward,

and forms of death approach beyond all counting.

وجَرَى الدّمُ المسفوحُ يَشْهَدُ أنَّهم

سُئِلوا الجزيلَ مِن الفِداءِ فجادوا

Spilled blood flows, bearing witness that they

were asked for a mighty ransom and gave freely.

جُودوا حماةَ القُدسِ ما بِكِرَامِكُمْ

بُخلٌ ولا للمَكْرُماتِ نَفادُ

Give freely, guardians of Jerusalem: among your noble men

there is no stinginess, nor can noble deeds be exhausted.

ذُودوا العَدُوَّ عنِ البلادِ وناضِلوا

إنّ العدوَّ عن البلادِ يُذادُ

Drive the enemy from the land and fight;

for driving the enemy from the land is what is sought.

اللهُ أكبرُ يا خلائفَ يَعْرُبٍ

أتَضيعُ أوطانٌ لكم وبلادُ

God is greatest, heirs of Ya‘rub!

Shall homelands and countries of yours be lost?

صُنْتُم ودائعَ ربّكم ما رَاعَكُمْ

في الحقِّ طُغيانٌ ولا اسْتبدادُ

You safeguarded your Lord’s trusts, undaunted

by tyranny or despotism where right was concerned.

تلك الذّخائرُ ما لكم من بَعْدِها

في المُؤمِنينَ الصّادقينَ عَتادُ

Those are the treasures; beyond them, what resources have you

among sincere believers, ready as your strength?

تلك الذّخائر يَأْنَفُ الإسلامُ أن

تُؤذَى كرائِمُها وتأبى الضَّادُ

Those treasures—Islam scorns that

their precious things be harmed, and the tongue of Ḍād refuses.

إنّا لَنَذْكُرها جَوازِعَ جُفَّلاً

فَتَبِيتُ تَجْفُلُ حَوْلَها الأكبادُ

Truly, we remember them in anguish and alarm,

and our hearts spend the night trembling around them.

أَبَنِي العُمومةِ ما سَهِرْتُمْ وَحْدَكم

مصرُ الشّقيقةُ لوعةٌ وسُهادُ

O kinsmen, you have not kept vigil alone;

sister Egypt, too, is all anguish and sleeplessness.

إن سَاءَكُمْ ألا تَزالَ هُمومُكم

تَتْرَى فتلك همومُنا تَزدادُ

If it grieves you that your cares still come

one after another, then ours too increase.

لَيْتَ الأُلىَ نَصَبُوا المَصائِدَ جمَّةً

سَألوا عنِ العَنْقاءِ كيفَ تُصادُ

If only those who set so many snares

had asked how the phoenix could be caught.

يا قومُ تلك شريعةٌ ما سَنَّها

من قبلُ ذبّاحٌ ولا جَلَّادُ

O people, this is a law no butcher

or executioner had ever laid down before.

بلفورُ أنزلها وَباءَ بإثْمِها

والظُّلمُ إثمٌ كلُّه وفسادُ

Balfour brought it down and incurred its sin;

oppression is wholly sin and corruption.

هلّا تبيَّنَ وهو يقضِي أَمرَه

أَيُباعُ شعبٌ أم يُباعُ جَمادُ

Could he not have seen clearly while deciding her fate:

is a people sold, or is lifeless matter sold?

شَرُّ الخلائِقِ مَن يَسوسُ فلا يَرى

أنّ السياسةَ حِكْمةٌ وسَدادُ

Worst of all creatures is one who governs yet cannot see

that statecraft is wisdom and sound judgment.

لا تُنكروا الدَّمَ في المَصارع يلتقي

إنّ الرّجالَ بمثل ذلكَ سادوا

Do not condemn the blood that mingles on the battlefields;

for by such means men rose to greatness.