يا عَجَباً لَقَد سَمِعتَ مُنكَراً

كِذباً عَلى اللَهِ يُشيبُ الشَعرا

Oh what a monstrosity I have heard

Oh, what a wonder! I have heard a monstrosity,

A lie against Allah that turns hair gray

A lie against God that turns the hair gray,

يَستَرِقُ السَمعَ وَيَغشى البَصَرا

ما كانَ يَرضى أَحمَدٌ لَو خُيِّرا

Eavesdropping and peering with evil eye

That steals away the hearing and blinds the sight.

Ahmad would not be pleased if given the choice

Ahmad would not have been pleased, had he been given the choice,

أَن يُقرِنوا وَصِيَّهُ وَالأَبتَرا

شاني الرَسولِ وَاللَعينَ الأَخزَرا

To equate his successor with the maimed

That they compare his Successor with the one cut off,

The Prophet's defamer, the damned Akhzar

The hater of the Messenger, the cursed, the squint-eyed one,

كِلاهُما في جُندِهِ قَد عَسكَرا

قَد باعَ هَذا دينَهُ فَأَفجَرا

Both assembled armies ready for war

Both of whom have encamped within his army.

This one sold his faith and sinned

This one sold his religion and committed wickedness,

مَن ذا بِدُنيا بَيعَهُ قَد خَسِرا

بِمُلكِ مِصرَ أَن أَصابَ الظَفرا

He who sells his faith for the world loses

He who has lost his trade for the sake of the world,

To gain Egypt’s rule he claimed victory

Hoping to gain the rule of Egypt should he achieve victory.

إِنّي إِذا المَوتُ دَنا وَحَضَرا

شَمَرتُ ثَوبي وَدَعَوتُ قَنبَرا

When death draws near and looms ahead

As for me, when death draws near and arrives,

I don my robe and call upon Qanbar

I tuck up my garment and call out to Qanbar,

قَدِّم لِوائي لا تُؤَخِّر حَذَرا

لَن يَدفَعُ الحَذار ما قَد قُدِّرا

Lead my banner, do not hesitate

"Advance my banner! Do not hang back in caution,"

Caution cannot stop what's been ordained

"For caution will never ward off what has been decreed."

لَمّا رَأَيتُ المَوتَ مَوتاً أَحمَرا

عَبَّأتُ هَمدانَ وَعَبّوا حِميَرا

When I saw death, bloody red death

When I saw death appearing as a crimson slaughter,

I prepared the cargo and loaded the donkeys

I mobilized Hamdan, and they mobilized Himyar.

حَيٌّ يَمانٍ يُعَظِمونَ الخَطَرا

قَرنٌ إِذا ناطَحَ قَرنا كَسَرا

Alive are the people of Yemen, who value bravery

A Yemeni clan who magnify the peril,

A horn that when it strikes another horn breaks it

A horn which, if it butts another horn, shatters it.

قُل لِاِبنِ حَربٍ لا تَدُبُّ الخَمرا

أَروِد قَليلاً أُبدِ مِنكَ الضَجَرا

Tell Ibn Harb to stop drinking wine

Say to Ibn Harb: Do not creep stealthily,

Rest a little, relieve me of annoyance

Wait a little, and I shall expose your distress.

لا تَحسَبَنّي يا اِبنُ حَربٍ غَمرا

وَسَل بِنا بَدراً مَعاً وَخَيبَرا

Do not think me, O Ibn Harb, drunk

Do not reckon me, O Ibn Harb, to be inexperienced,

Ask about Badr and Khaybar, which we saw

But ask regarding us about Badr and Khaybar too,

كانتَ قُرَيشٍ يَومَ بَدرٍ جَزَرا

إِذا وَرَدوا الأَمرَ فَذَمّوا الصَدرا

Quraysh were like meat for slaughter at Badr

Where the Quraysh were, on the day of Badr, like slaughtered cattle,

When they were given commands they resented

When they descended into the affair, they cursed the outcome.

لَو أَنَّ عِندي يا اِبنَ حَربٍ جَعفَرا

أَو حَمزَةَ القَرمَ الهُمامَ الأَزهَرا

If only I had, O Ibn Harb, Ja'far

If only I had Ja'far by my side, O Ibn Harb,

Or Hamza, the fierce lionheart

Or Hamza, that noble chief, the heroic, the radiant,

رَأَت قُرَيشٌ نَجمَ لَيلٍ ظَهَرا

Quraysh would have seen the star of night shine forth

Then Quraysh would have seen their calamity rising like a night star.