ماذا جَنَيتَ عَليهِم أَيُّها القَلَمُ

وَاللَهِ ما فيكَ إِلّا النُصحُ وَالحِكَمُ

What wrongs have they committed, oh pen

What crime have you committed against them, O Pen?

By Allah, you contain only sincerity and wisdom

By God, you bear nothing but counsel and wisdom.

إِنّي لَيُحزِنُني أَن يَسجُنوكَ وَهُم

لَولاكَ في الأَرضِ لَم تَثبُت لَهُم قَدَمُ

It saddens me that they imprison you while they

It grieves me deeply that they imprison you, when they,

Without you, their feet would not stand firm on earth

Without you, would have no foothold upon this earth.

خُلِقتَ حُرّاً كَمَوجِ البَحرِ مُندَفِعاً

فَما القُيودُ وَما الأَصفادُ وَاللُجَمُ

You were created free, like the waves of the sea bursting forth

You were created free, surging like the ocean waves;

What are shackles, bonds and muzzles to you?

So what are these chains, these shackles, these bridles?

إِن يَحبِسوا الطائِرَ المَحكِيِّ في قَفَصٍ

فَلَيسَ يُحبَسُ مِنهُ الصَوتُ وَالنَغَمُ

If they imprison the singing bird in a cage

Though they may confine the songbird within a cage,

His voice and melody cannot be imprisoned

Its voice and melody can never be imprisoned.

اللَهُ في أُمَّةٍ جرَ الزَمانُ بِها

يَفنى الزَمانُ وَلا يَفنى لَها أَلَمُ

Oh Allah, time has dragged on for a nation

God help a nation dragged down by the hand of Time;

Time passes but their pain does not fade

Time itself may perish, yet her pain remains unending.

كَأَنَّما خَصَّها بِالذُلِّ بارِءُها

أَو أَقسَمَ الدَهرُ لا يَعلو لَها عَلَمُ

As if its Creator singled it out for humiliation

As if her Creator singled her out for abasement,

Or time swore its flag would never rise

Or Fate swore an oath that her banner should never rise.

مَهضومَةُ الحَقِّ لا ذَنبَ جَنَتهُ سِوى

أَنَّ الحُقوقَ لَدَيها لَيسَ تَنهَضِمُ

Wronged, though it did no wrong but

Robbed of her rights, having committed no sin save this:

Seek rights that they do not recognize

That she refuses to let her rights be devoured.

مَرَّت عَلَيها سُنونٌ كُلُّها نِقَمٌ

ما كانَ أَسعَدَها لَو أَنَّها نِعَمُ

Years have passed, all bringing woe

Years have passed over her, each one a calamity—

If only its times had been blessed

How happy she would have been had they been blessings!

عَدوا شِكايَتَها ظُلماً وَما ظَلَمَت

وَإِنَّما ظَلَموها بِالَّذي زَعَموا

They called its grievances injustice, though it was not unjust

They deemed her complaint an act of tyranny, yet she tyrannized no one;

Rather they were unjust in what they claimed

It is they who tyrannized her by the very claims they made.

ما ضَرَهُم أَنَّها باتَت تُسائِلُهُم

أَينَ المَواثيقُ أَينَ العَهدُ وَالقَسَمُ

It did not harm them that it spent nights questioning

What harm did it cause them when she asked of them:

Where are the covenants, where is the oath and promise?

"Where are the charters? Where is the covenant and the oath?"

أَما كَفى أَنَّ في آذانِهِم صَمَماً

حَتّى أَرادوا بِأَن يَنتبَها الصَمَمُ

Were their ears not full of deafness enough

Was the deafness in their ears not enough for them,

That they wished to awaken deafness itself?

That they sought to inflict that deafness upon her too?

كَأَنَّما سَإِموا أَن لا يَزالَ بِها

روحٌ عَلى الدَهرِ لم يَظفَر بِها السَأَمُ

As if they wearied that its spirit still

As if they grew weary that there remains within her

Clung to time that did not manage to make it despair

A spirit that weariness could never conquer through the ages.

فَقَيَّدوها لَعَلَّ القَيدَ يُسكِتُها

وَعَزَّ أَن يَسكُتَ المَظلومُ لَو عَلِموا

So they bound it, hoping bindings would silence it

So they shackled her, hoping the chains would silence her,

But the oppressed cannot be silenced, if only they knew

Yet how hard it is to silence the oppressed, if only they knew!

وَأَرهَقوا الصُحُفَ وَالأَقلامَ في زَمَنٍ

يَكادُ يَعبُدُ فيهِ الطِرسُ وَالقَلَمُ

They burdened pages and pens in an age

They have harassed the press and the pens in an age

Where idols and pens are almost worshipped

Where the written page and the pen are nearly worshipped.

إِن يَمنَعوا الصُحُفَ فينا بَثَّ لَوعَتِنا

فَكُلُّنا صُحُفٌ في مِصرَ تَرتَسِمُ

If they forbid pages, the anguish within us

If they forbid the papers to broadcast our anguish,

Will inscribe each of us as pages in Egypt

Then all of us in Egypt become living pages inscribing it.

إِنّا لَقَومٍ لَنا مَجدٌ سَنَذكُرُهُ

ما دامَ فينا لِسانٌ ناطِقٌ وَفَمُ

We are a people with a glory we will recall

We are a people possessed of glory we shall recall,

As long as we have speaking tongues and mouths

So long as a speaking tongue and mouth remain among us.

كَيفَ السَبيلُ إِلى سَلوانِ رِفعَتِنا

وَهيَ الَّتي تَتَمَنّى بَعضَها الأُمَمُ

How can the path to regaining our loftiness be

How could we ever forget our noble station,

When it is coveted by some nations?

When other nations long for but a fraction of it?

يَأبى لَنا العِزُّ أَن نَرضى المَذَلَّةَ في

عَصرٍ رَأَينا بِهِ العَبدانَ تُحتَرُمُ

Honor refuses that we accept humiliation in

Our honor refuses that we accept humiliation in

An era where we saw slaves respected

An era where we have seen even slaves accorded respect.

المَوتُ أَجمَلُ مِن عَيشٍ عَلى مَضَضٍ

إِنَّ الحَياةَ بِلا حُرِّيَّةٍ عَدَمُ

Death is better than life full of bitterness

Death is more beautiful than a life lived in bitterness;

For life without freedom is naught

For life without liberty is mere nothingness.