تلِكُم قُرَيشُ تَمَنّاني لِتَقتُلَني

فَلا وَرَبِّكَ ما بَرّوا وَما ظَفِروا

Those are the Quraysh, they wished me dead

There is Quraysh, desiring to slay me,

Yet by your Lord, they gained naught, nor prevailed

Nay, by your Lord! They have not been righteous, nor have they prevailed.

فَإِن بَقيتُ فَرَهنٌ ذِمَّتي لَكُمُ

بِذاتِ وَدقَينِ لا نَعفو لَها أَثَرُ

If I live, my promise binds me to avenge

For if I remain, my pledge to you is bound:

With a keen sword, that grants no respite

A battle of torrential blood, whose trace shall never be effaced.

وَإِن هِلِكتُ فَإِنّي سَوفَ أورِثُهُم

ذَلَّ الحَياةِ فَقَد خانوا وَقَد غَدَروا

And if I die, I bequeath them a life

And if I perish, I shall surely bequeath to them

Of disgrace, for they betrayed and schemed

The humiliation of life, for they have betrayed and played the traitor.

أَما بَقَيتُ فَإِنّي لَستُ مُتَّخِذاً

أَهلا وَلا شيعَةً في الدّينِ إِذ فَجَروا

While I live, I take no tribe or creed

So long as I remain, I shall not take as mine

As allies, once they went astray

Kinsmen nor partisans in faith, for they have transgressed.

قَد بايَعوني وَلَم يوفوا بِبَيعَتِهِم

وَماكَروني بِالأَعداءِ إِذ مَكَروا

They pledged to me, but broke their word

They swore allegiance to me, yet fulfilled not their covenant,

And plotted against me with enemies, when they schemed

And conspired against me with enemies in their deceit.

وَناصَبوني في حَربٍ مُضَرَّسَةٍ

ما لَم يُلاقِ أَبو بَكرٍ وَلا عُمَرُ

And turned against me, in relentless war

They set against me a war that grinds like teeth,

Unlike what Abu Bakr or Umar faced

Such as neither Abu Bakr nor Umar ever met.