ذِكْرَياتٌ رَدَّدَ الدَّهْرُ صدَاها

وعُهُودٌ يَحْسُدُ المِسْكُ شَذَاهَا

Memories echoed by time

And pacts that musk is envious of their aroma

وَصَلَ العُرْبُ الغَطارِيفُ إِلَى

غايةٍ لا تَبْلغُ الطَّيْرُ ذُرَاها

And the Arabian horses reached

A limit that no bird can attain

وَجرَوْا صَوْبَ العُلاَ في طَلَقٍ

زَاحَمَ الأَنْجُمَ واجْتَازَ مَدَاها

And they raced towards glory openly

Competing with the stars and crossing their orbit

تَقِفُ الأوْهَأمُ حَسْرَى دُونَه

لاهثاتٍ قَصَّرَ الأيْن خُطَاها

The deer stop yearning beneath them

Panting, too short is their stride to catch up

مَرَّ بالشَّمْسِ فَلمْ تَشْعُر بِهِ

إذْ جَرَى إلاّ ظنُوناً واشْتِباها

He passed by the sun unaware of him

As he sped assuming only guesses and confusion

أُمَّةُ الصَّحْراءِ أَقْوَى جَلَداً

مِنْ مَهَارِيها وأَهْدَى مِن قَطَاها

The nation of the desert, firmer in endurance

Than their fine steeds and more rightly guided than their stallions

صَخْرُها أَوْحَى إليها عَزْمَةً

من بَني رَضْوَى وثَهْلاَن بَنَاهَا

Its rock inspired in it determination

From the children of Radwa and Thahlan who built it

وسُكُونُ البِيدِ في رَهْبَتِها

جَرّدَ الرُّوحَ وبالنُّورِ كَسَاها

And the stillness of the wilderness in its awe

Bared the soul and clothed it with light

رُبَّ صَدْرٍ نَافَسَ الْحِلْمُ به

كُلَّ صَحْراءَ بَعِيدٍ مُنْتهاها

Many a breast wherein patience vied

With every far-reaching desert

وخِلاَلٍ أَنْبَتَ الْجَدْبُ بِهَا

عِزَّةَ اليَأْسِ فما لانَتْ قَناها

And dunes that barrenness sprouted in them

The glory of despair, never did its springs run dry

أَبَتِ الضَّيْمَ فمَا مَدَّتْ يَداً

لذَوي النُّعْمَى وَلمْ تَغْفِر جِباهَا

It refused oppression, never extending

A hand to the comfortable, nor forgiving their sin

تحْفَظُ العِرْضَ مَصُوناً ناصِعاً

وإلى الطُّرَّاق مَبْذولٌ قِراها

It preserves its honor, gleaming unsullied

While to the penniless its villages are lavished

أمَمٌ إِنْ يَهْلِكَ المَالُ فإِن

لُمِستْ أَعْراضُها حَلَّت حُبَاها

Nations, if wealth perishes, verily

Their reputation dissolved if touched

رَدَّدَتْ أَشْعَارَها شَمْسُ الضُّحَا

وسِرَاجُ اللَّيْلِ لَمَّا أَنْ تَلاَها

It echoed its poems, the morning sun

And the night lamp when it recited them

آيَةٌ مِنْ نَفْحَةِ اللّهِ فَلَوْ

كانَ للنِّسْيَانِ كف ما مَحَاها

A sign of God's breath, and if

Oblivion had a palm it would not have erased it

رَوْضَةٌ قد لَقَّبُوها كَلِماً

تُخْجِلُ الْحُسْنَ إِذا الْحُسْنُ رَآها

A garden nicknamed "the Word"

That shames beauty when beauty beholds it

كَمْ حَكِيمٍ أوتِيَ الْحُكْم فَتىً

وفَتَاةٍ مَلأَ التِّبْيَانُ فَاها

Many a wise man endowed with wisdom while young

And a maiden filled with rhetoric her mouth

تُرْسِلُ الأَمْثَالَ تَسْرِي شُرَّداً

لا تُبَالي أَيْنَما كانَ سُرَاها

It unleashes aphorisms wandering freely

Not caring wherever its path may lead

قِفْ عَلَى الأَطْلال واذْكُرْ أمَّةً

خَلّدَ الأَطْلالَ مأْثُورُ بُكَاها

Stop at the ruins and recall a nation

Whose eulogized weeping is immortalized

بَعَث اللّهُ بهَا نُورَ الْهُدَى

من قُرَيشٍ فاصْطَفَاه واصْطَفَاها

God sent with it the light of guidance

From Quraish, so He chose it and chose it

أَشْرَق الصُّبْحُ عَلَى الدُّنْيَا به

بَعْد أن طَالَ عَلَى الدُّنْيَا دُجَاها

The dawn rose over the world through it

After darkness had long loomed over the world

وجَرَى في الأرْض يَنْبُوع هُدىً

بعد أَنْ حَرَّقَها حَرُّ صَدَاها

And in the land burst forth a wellspring of guidance

After the heat of its fervor had scorched it

قَلَّد الفُصْحَى حُلىً قُدْسِيّةً

فَزَهَاها من حُلاَها ما زَهَاها

It adorned eloquence with holy pearls

So it beautified it beyond its own beauty

وبَياناً هاشِميّاً لو رَمَى

قُلَلَ الأجيَال لانْهَدَّت قُوَاها

And an Hashimite rhetoric, if it were to hurl

At the summits of eras, their heights would collapse

أسْهُمٌ مِنْ كَلِمٍ مَسْنونةٌ

جاهَدَتْ في اللّهِ واللّهُ بَرَاها

Arrows of seasoned words that fought

In God's cause and God supported it

كُلَّمَا صَاحَ بها في طَيْبةٍ

مُسْتَثِيراً رَدَّدتها لاَبَتَاها

Whenever it was called out in good faith

Provoking, the wasteland echoed its challenge

يَزْعُمُ الشِّعْرُ سَفاهاً أنَّه

لو عَفَتْ عَنهُ القَوافِي لَحكَاها

Poetry falsely claims that

Were rhyme to turn away from it, it would have told it

نَزَل القُرْآنُ بالضَّادِ فَلَوْ

لَمْ يَكُنْ فِيهَا سِواهُ لكَفَاها

The Qur’ān descended in the letter D, so had

There been naught but it, it would have sufficed

حَسْبُها أَنْ صَوَّرَتْ من آيِهِ

مُعْجزاتٍ عَظُمَت أنْ تَتَنَاهى

It suffices that it has depicted from its verses

Stupendous marvels, too lofty to be attained

وَبنُو مَرْوَانَ للّهِ هُمُ

عُدَّةُ الفُصْحَى وحُرَّاسُ حِماها

And the clan of Marwan belongs to God, they are

The pillars of eloquence and guardians of its sanctuary

رُبَّ مَأْثورٍ لَهُمْ ودَّ لَهُ

صَدَفُ اللُّؤْلُءِ لَوْ كَانَ شِفَاها

Many a eulogy they have which a

Pearl’s oyster would wish had been its reciter

خُطَبٌ هُزَّ لها مِنْبَرهم

يَقْذِف الهَوْلَ دِرَاكاً مَنْ رَماها

Sermons that made their pulpit quake

Casting fright unto whoever it pelts

وقَوافٍ سَلْ أبا حَزْرَتِها

وسَلِ الأَخْطَلَ كَيْفَ ابتَدعَأها

Ask Abū Hazrah about their rhymes

And ask Al-Akhtal how he innovated them

طُفْ ببغداد وسَلْ آثارَها

أيُّ سِرٍ كَتَمَتْهُ شَفَتاها

Roam Baghdad and ask its relics

What secret have its lips concealed

كُلُّ رَسْمٍ قد وعَى نادِرَةً

لو جَرى النُطْقُ عليه لحَكَاها

Every monument that has marked an epitome

As if speech flowed through it, it would have narrated it

مَشَت الدنْيا إِليْها تَتَّقِي

سُخْطَ بغدادَ وتَسْتَجْدِي رِضاها

The world walked to it cautiously

Fearing Baghdad's wrath, beseeching its approval

وأبو المأمون في مَمْلكةٍ

يتحدَّى المُزْنَ أَنْ تَعْدو قُراها

And Abul Ma’mūn in a kingdom

That dares doom to outpace its locales

بَلَغَتْ بنتُ قُرَيْشٍ ذِرْوَةً

بِبَني العَبَّاسِ صَعْباً مُرْتقَاها

The daughter of Quraish reached a pinnacle

Through the Abbasids, steep was its climb

بَيْنَ شِعْرٍ كأزاهيرِ الرُّبا

عَكَفَ الغَيْثُ عليها فَسَقاها

Among poetry like flowers of basil

Rain poured over it, quenching it

هُوَ دَلٌّ رَدَّدَتْهُ قَيْنَةٌ

وَهْوَ وَجْدٌ فاضَ مِنْ نَفْسِ فَتاها

It is fervor that the ages echoed

And ardor that overflowed from the heart of its youth

وعُلُومٍ تُرْجِمَتْ وَاسْتُنْبِطَتْ

وَفُصُولٍ بَهَرَ الدُّنْيا حِجاها

And sciences translated and derived

And branches that stunned the world with its arguments

آبداتُ القولِ ولَّتْ بَعْدَهُم

طَيَّبَ اللّهُ ثَراهُمْ وثَراها

Enduring speech turned after them

May God scent their burial grounds and their burial grounds

يا بَنِي العَبَّاسِ في مَصْرَعِكُمْ

عِظَةُ الكَوْنِ وَعاها مَنْ وَعاها

O descendants of Al-‘Abbas in your deathbed

A lesson for existence, realized by one who realized it

أُطْفِىءَ النُورُ ودالَتْ دَوْلَةٌ

وَطَوَى الدهْرُ المُنَى حِينَ طَواها

The light was extinguished and a state declined

And fate folded the days when it folded it

شَدَّ هُولاَكُو عَلَى أَرْبَاضِها

شَدّةَ الذُؤْبَانِ أَبْصَرْنَ شِياها

Hulagu assaulted its pillars

An assault like wolves glimpsed its elders

وجَرَى مِنْ حَوْلِهِ عِقْبانُهُ

كُلَّما أَطْعَمَها هاج ضَراها

And his hordes hovered around him

Whenever it feeds them, it intensifies their harm

لَهْفَ نَفْسِي بِنْتُ عَدْنانَ هَوَتْ

وأسُودُ الغِيلِ قَدْ دِيسَ شَراها

My soul yearns, the daughter of ‘Adnan fell

And black injustice has trampled its sanctity

سائِلُوا دِجْلَةَ عَمَّا رَاعَها

أَوْ دَعُوها فَكَفاها ما دَهاها

Ask the Tigris of what alarmed it

Or leave it be, what it lost suffices it

قَذَفَ الكُتْبَ بهَا طَاغِيَةٌ

هَلْ دَرَى ما كَنَزَتْه دَفَّتاها

A tyrant hurled its books

Did he know what its pages had hoarded?

فَتَأَمَّلْ إِذْ جَرَى آذِيُّها

أَتَرَى فيهِ عُقُولاً أَمْ مِياها

So contemplate when its harm occurred:

Do you see in it minds or waters?

ذَهَبَ العَسْفُ بآثارِ النُّهَى

كَيْفَ تَحْيَا أُمَّةٌ ضاعَتْ نهاها

Oppression eradicated the relics of guidance

How can a nation survive when it has lost its navigator?

طَارَتِ الفُصْحَى لِمِصْرٍ تَبْتَغِي

ناعِمَ العَيْشِ خَصِيباً في ذَراها

Eloquence migrated to a land seeking

Gentle life, fruitful in its valley

بَقِيَتْ فيها تُلاقِي شَظَفاً

في أَحَايِينَ وفي حينٍ رَفاها

Remaining in it, experiencing destitution

At times and in times of prosperity

ثُمَّ هَبَّتْ حَوْلَها عاصِفَةٌ

خَلَطَ الذُّعْرُ ضُحاها بِمَساها

Then around it stormed a tempest

Fright mixing its morn with its evening

وإِذَا نَجْمٌ بَدا مُؤْتَلِقٌ

شَخَصَتْ نحوَ سَنَاهُ مُقْلتَاها

And if a shining star appeared

Its eyes stared at its radiance

وإِذا مُنْقِذُ مِصْرٍ ماثِلٌ

وإذا مِصْرٌ وقَدْ شُدَّتْ عُراها

And if a savior of land loomed

And if the land has donned its defense

وإذا العِلْمُ يُدَوِّي صَوْتُهُ

وإِذا الضَّادُ أضاءَتْ صَفْحَتاها

And if knowledge raised its voice

And if the letter D illuminated its page

ظَفِرَتْ بالعَبْقَرِي المُرْتَجَى

فاسْتَجَابَتْ للعُلا لمَّا دَعاها

It chanced upon the long-awaited genius

So it responded to glory when it called it

دَوْلةُ العِلْمِ بِهِ رُدَّتْ إلى

عَرْشِ مِصْرٍ بَعْدَ أَنْ طَال نَواها

The state of knowledge through him was restored

To Egypt’s throne after its absence lengthened

مَنْ كَإِسْماعِيلَ في آلائِهِ

يَنْفَدُ القوْلُ ولا يَفْنَى جَداها

One like Ismael in his virtues

Words run out but his bounty never ends

زُهِيَتْ مِصْرُ جمَالاً وَسَناً

بِأَبِي الأشْبالِ واهْتَزَّتْ رُباها

Egypt glimmered with beauty and eminence

Through the father of fine youth and its hills shook

تخْجَلُ السُّحْبُ إذا ما وازَنَتْ

مَرَّةً بَيْنَ نَداهُ وَنَداها

Clouds are too shy whenever it weighs

Once between its prominence and its prominence

غَرَسَ العِلْمَ بِمِصْرٍ دَوْحَةً

كُلَّمَا أَخْضَلَها طَابَ جَنَاها

He planted knowledge in Egypt durably

Whenever he nurtures it, its harvest tastes sublime

سَمَتِ الآدابُ والدُّنْيا بِهِ

وَبَدَتْ تَخْطِرُ في أَزْهَى حُلاها

Conventions and world rose with it

And began to envision its most splendid adornment

يا ابْنَ إسْمَاعِيلَ يا ذُخْرَ النُّهَى

جَدَّدَتْ مِصْرُ بِكُمْ عَهْدَ صِباها

O son of Ismail, O guide of divine law’s nucleus

Through you has Egypt renewed the epoch of its youth

كُلُّ أَشْتَاتِ النَّدَى إنْ فُرِّقَتْ

فَإِلَى بابِ فُؤادٍ مُلْتَقاها

Every small remnant of dew, if dispersed

Its meeting point is a heart’s threshold

هِمَّةٌ شادَتْ بِمِصْرٍ دَوْلَةً

صانَها الإِنْصَافُ والعِلْمُ وَقاها

An ambition that erected in Egypt a state

Safeguarded by justice, knowledge and foresight

مَسَحَتْ مِصْرُ بهِ عَيْنَ الكَرَى

بَعْدَ أَنْ طالَ عَلَى مِصْرٍ كَراها

With it Egypt wiped the eye of blindness

After longing had long loomed over Egypt

وَثَبَتْ وَثْبَتَها دَائِبَةً

كلَّما أَجْهَدَها السَّعْيُ زَجاها

And its stand remained constant

Whenever effort exhausted and impoverished it

أًيْنَما أبْصَرتَ تَلْقَى نَهْضَةً

تَمْلأُ العيْنَ وإِقْبَالاً وَجَاها

Wherever you gaze you find revival

Filling the eye and leaning its favor

وَقُصُوراً لاَمِعاتٍ كَالضُّحَا

رَدَّدَ العِرْفانَ في مِصْرَ صَداها

And shining palaces like the morning glow

Reverberating gratitude in Egypt's firmament

يا نَصِيرَ العِلْمِ فِي مَمْلَكَةٍ

بَلَغَتْ بِالْعِلْمِ غاياتِ مُناها

O champion of knowledge in a kingdom

That with knowledge has reached the horizons of its aims

كُلَّ يَوْمٍ لَكَ حَفْلٌ لِلعُلا

وَأَيادٍ تَبْهَرُ الدُّنْيا لُهاها

Every day you have a summit of glory

And hands that dazzle the world stunned

وَجَدَتْ بِنْتُ قُرَيْشٍ مَوْئِلاً

في ذَرَا المُلْكِ وحِصْناً مِنْ عِداها

The daughter of Quraish found a haven

In the expanse of dominion and fortress from its foes

لُغَةُ القُرْءَانِ تُزْهَى شَرَفاً

أنَّ حامي الدِّينِ وَالْمُلْكِ حَماها

The tongue of the Qur’an adorned with honor

As the protector of religion and kingdom has shielded it

حِكْمَةُ المَأْمُونِ عَادَتْ دارُها

بِابْنِ إِسْماعيلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ بِلاَها

The wisdom of al-Ma'mun has returned its abode

Through the son of Ismail after being lost

مَجْمَعُ الفُصْحَى تَجَلَّى مُشْرِقاً

في سَماءِ الْمَجْدِ مُجْتَازاً سُهاها

The gathering of eloquence gleamed luminously

In the sky of glory, surpassing its zenith

هُو في مِصْرَ مَنارٌ كُلَّما

أَرْسَلَ الأضواءَ في مِصْرَ هَداها

It is in Egypt a beacon; whenever

It emanated lights in Egypt, it guided it

رَأَتِ البَصْرَةُ فِيهِ حَفْلَها

وَرَأَتْ بَغْدَادُ فِيه مُنْتَدَاها

Basra witnessed in it its heyday

And Baghdad witnessed in it its assembly

مَنْ رَسُولِي لأَعارِيبِ اللِّوَى

أَيْنَ أَعْرَابُ اللِّوَى أَيْنَ لِوَاها

Who is my envoy to the nomads

Where are the desert-dwellers, where are their encampments?

أَنَّ مِصْراً بَعَثَتْ آدابَها

وأبا الفاروق قَدْ أَحْيا لُغاها

That Egypt has launched its conventions

And Abū al-Fārūq has revived its lexicon

وَبنَى اليومَ عُكاظاً ثانياً

تَاهَ إِعْجَاباً بِه الدَّهْرُ وبَاهَى

And built Ukaz anew today

Bewildered by it, the ages wandered confused

هَلْ حَبا الآدَابَ تاجٌ مِثْلَما

صاحِبُ التَّاج بِمِصْرٍ قَدْ حَباها

Has the love of culture a crown like

The crown of Egypt’s sultan who cherished it?

أَنْهَضَ التَّأْلِيفَ مِنْ كَبْوتِهِ

فَسَقَى الأَحْلاَمَ رُشْداً وَغَذاها

He set authorship aright from its regression

Quenching dreams with integrity, nurturing them

كَمْ كِتَابٍ دَوَّنَتْ أَخْبارُهُ

مِنَناً كان فؤادٌ مُبْتَداها

How many a book whose chronicles

Recorded a blessing that a heart initiated

رَحَلَ الأَعْلامُ في الغَرْبِ إِلَى

سُدَّةٍ يَسْطَعُ بِالْعِلْمِ سَنَاها

The beacons traveled westwards to

A dominion whose knowledge illuminates its mark

فَرَأَوْا مَمْلَكَةً وَثَّابَةً

ومَلِيكاً بِهُدَى اللّهِ رَعاها

And they saw an abiding kingdom

And a king guided by God shepherding it

دُمْ فُؤَادَ الْقُطْرِ تَحْيا أُمَّةٌ

لَمْ يَكُنْ إِلاَّكَ يَوْماً مُرْتَجاها

Rejoice heart of the region, a nation lives

That yesterday was none but you it aspired to

وَسَما الفَارُوقُ نَجْماً ساطِعاً

لِبَنِي مِصْرَ وَعُنْوانَ عُلاها

And al-Fārūq labeled a shining star

For Egyptians, sign of its ascension