يا ليلة تفضل الأعوام والحقبا

هيجت للقلب ذكرى فاغتدا لهبا

O night of power preferred over ages and epochs

O night that excels all years and epochs past,

You stirred memories in the heart so it flared up in flames

You stirred a memory in the heart, turning it to flame.

وكيف لا يغتدي نارا تطيح به

قلب يرى هرم الاسلام منقلبا

And how would it not flare up in fire that knocks it down

How could a heart not turn to a consuming fire,

A heart that sees the edifice of Islam overturned

When it sees the pyramid of Islam overturned?

يرى شعائر دين الله هاربة

يسفها النوء تمضي حيثما ذهبا

It sees the rituals of Allah's religion fleeing

It sees the rites of God's faith fleeing away,

Defiled by adversity going wherever it went

Blasted by storms, drifting wherever the wind may blow.

أين العنان الذي تلويه عاصفة

ما فاتحين يرون الموت مطلبا

Where is the restraint which the storm twists

Where are the reins twisted by the gale?

Those who open their eyes see death as their desire

Where are the conquerors who sought death as a prize?

للرغو حول شدوق الخيل وسوسة

والنقع يذري لثاما قنع السحبا

Because of the neighing around the flanks of horses and the temptation

The foam whispers around the jowls of steeds,

Of spears that rip through the veils like clouds' attire

And dust scatters the veil that masked the clouds.

من كل محتسب بالله متكل

عليه يفري ضلوع البغي ان ضربا

Each self-righteous hypocrite

From every soul relying on God, seeking His reward,

Striking the ribs of the oppressed if he was hit

Who cleaves the ribs of tyranny when he strikes.

كأن أسيافهم في كل معمعة

جسر الى جنة الفردوس قد نصبا

As if their swords raised at each spark

As if their swords, in the heat of every fray,

Were a bridge to Gardens of Paradise they built

Were a bridge erected to the highest Paradise.

يا ليلة القدر يا ظلا تلوذ به

ان مسنا جاحم الرمضاء ملتها

O night of Qadr, O shade we take refuge in

O Night of Power, O shade wherein we seek refuge,

If the heat wave of summer afflicted us

When the scorching heat touches us with its blaze.

ذكراك في كل عام صبيحة عبرت

من عالم الغيب تدعو الفتية العربا

The memory of you every year at dawn has made me weep

Your memory crosses every year like a morning,

Calling from the world of the unseen the Arab youth

From the unseen world, calling out to Arab youth.

أقوم أحمد مضروب على يدهم

بالذل من هول ذاك الفتح واعجبا

I stand praising the struck hands

The people of Ahmad are stamped with humiliation,

For the humiliation from the enormity of that conquest and its marvel

From the horror of that conquest—oh, what a wonder!

تفرقوا شيعا في كل حاضرة

قوم يقيمون من أغلالهم نصبا

They dispersed in every city in groups

They scattered into factions in every city,

Appointing from their shackles monuments

A people erecting monuments from their very chains.

لولا بقايا من الثوار صامدة

في ظل وهران تسقي خصمها العطبا

Were it not for the remaining rebels standing firm

Were it not for a remnant of rebels standing firm,

In the shadow of Oran quenching the thirst of their enemy

In the shadow of Oran, serving destruction to their foe,

تكون ولى فرارا من جحافلها

والرعب مما تصك الظالم ارتعبا

It would flee from their armies

Turning in flight from their mighty legions,

Frightened by the injustice the oppressor did

While terror struck the oppressor with trembling fear,

لقلت واضعية الاسلام في بلد

بالأمس أعلى منار الحق ثم خبا

I would say the state of Islam in a country

I would have said: Alas for Islam in a land

Was at its highest minaret then it faded

That yesterday raised Truth's beacon, only to see it fade.

يا ليلة القدر أعلي قدر أمتنا

شهم تعالى على الشيطين وانتصبا

O night of Qadr, raise our nation's worth

O Night of Power, exalt the destiny of our nation,

Fiercely attack the devils and rise up

Through a gallant hero who rose above the devils and stood tall.

عبد الكريم الذي جاد الكريم به

أقال من عثرة شعبا بما وهبا

Abdelkrim, the generous one, who the Generous granted

Abd al-Karim, whom the Generous One bestowed,

Relieved a people of their stumbling with what He gave

Lifted a people from their stumble by what he gave.

ما كان يرغب عن أنوالر ثورته

الا الخفافيش ساءت تلك منقلبا

The only ones who disliked his revolutionary treasures

None turned away from the lights of his revolution

Were the repugnant bats, ruined is what they overturned

Save for the bats—how evil a fate became theirs.

هووا الى قاع بئر قرار لها

مستمسكين بحبل من دم خضبا

They plunged into the depths of a pit for them

They plummeted into the bottom of a bottomless well,

Clinging to a blood-stained rope

Clinging to a rope dyed deep with blood.

حبل تشد يد الشيطان أوله

ويجذب الفوضوي الخائن الذنبا

A rope which the devil holds one end of

A rope whose beginning is pulled by Satan's hand,

And the treacherous anarchist pulls the guilty end

While the traitorous anarchist tugs at its tail.

كم جيد عذراء دق الحبل أتلعه

وكم ذراع لطفل قص واجتذبا

How many chaste virgins their rope tore

How many virgin necks has the rope crushed?

And how many children's arms were cut and pulled

How many child's arms were severed and torn away?

ياليلة القدر نورا أضاء لنا

قاع السماء فأبصرنا مدى عجبا

O night of Qadr, a light you illuminated for us

O Night of Power, a light that illumined for us

The ceiling of the sky, so we saw the extent of its marvel

The depths of the sky, revealing a wondrous expanse.

تترل الروح رفافا بأجنحة

بيض على الكون أرخاهن أو سحبا

The soul descends gently on wings

The Spirit descends, fluttering with white wings,

White over the universe it deployed or clouds

Spread gently over the universe or trailing behind.

عطف الأمومة في عينيه متقد

وان يكن للتقاة المحسنين أبا

Motherly affection burns in his eyes

The compassion of motherhood glows in his eyes,

And he may be to the righteous a father

Though he be a father to the righteous and good.

وللملائك تسح وزغردة

تكاد رناتها أن تذهل الشهبا

And for the angels a touch and singing

The angels offer praise and joyful chants,

Their ringing nearly dazzles meteors

Their resonance nearly stunning the shooting stars.

ومن دماء الضحايا في جوانبه

نار تمد اللسان المغلق الذربا

And from the blood of victims on its sides

Yet from the blood of victims on its sides,

A fire stretching out its closed intense tongue

A fire extends a sharp, unspoken tongue.

يشكو الى الله ذرى عقاربه

فأنبت زهرا من سمها أشبا

It complains to God of its scorpions' stings

Complaining to God of the sting of its scorpions,

So He grew flowers from its poison, more beautiful

Until flowers grew thick from their very poison.

ومن هوت تقطع الأضلاع مديته

وساق ظلما الى الجلاد من هربا

And for whoever injustice dragged to the executioner

And he whose knife struck down to sever ribs,

After fleeing the carved up ribs and bitterness

And unjustly drove the fugitive to the executioner.

ذكرى تعود كأن الغدر يبعثها

من كهف أمس الذي ولى بما كسبا

A memory returns as if betrayal resurrects it

A memory returns, as if resurrected by treachery,

From the cave of yesterday which ended with what it earned

From the cave of yesterday, gone with all it wrought.

أمس الذي ان غفلنا عاد جاحمه

فاقتص ممن يحب الله والعربا

Yesterday, if we forget, its blazing will return

The yesterday whose hellfire returns if we forget,

To take revenge on those who love God and the Arabs

To take vengeance on those who love God and the Arabs.

لا صلح بين الهدى والبغي لا سنة

تعمي النواظر عمن سامنا العطبا

There is no peace between the right way and oppression, no tradition

There is no peace between guidance and tyranny, nor slumber

That will blind sight from those who quenched our thirst

To blind our eyes to those who sought our ruin.