حَكَيتَ لَنا الصِدّيقَ لَمّا وَلِيتَنا

وَعُثمانَ وَالفارُوقَ فاِرتاحَ مُعدِمُ

You mirrored al-Siddiq for us when you took charge of us,

and Uthman and al-Faruq; so the destitute found relief.

وَسَوَّيتَ بينَ النَّاسِ في الحَقِّ فَاِستَوَوا

فَعادَ صَباحاً حالِكُ الليلِ مُظلِمُ

You made the people equal in justice, and equal they became;

then the pitch-black darkness of night turned into morning.

أَتَاكَ أَبُو لَيلَى يَجُوبُ بِهِ الدُّجَى

دُجى الليلِ جَوّابُ الفَلاةِ عَثَمثَمُ

Abu Layla came to you, while a mount bore him through the darkness—

through night’s deep gloom—a mighty camel, crosser of the wastes—

لِتَجبُرَ مِنهُ جَانباً ذَعذَعَت بِهِ

صُرُوفُ اللَيالي وَالزَمانُ المُصَمِّمُ

that you might mend in him a side that had been shaken

by the turns of the nights and by implacable Time.