منكُمْ إِلَيْكم مَساعِي المجدِ تنصرِفُ
ونحوَكُمُ عَنْكُمُ الآمالُ تَنْعَطِفُ
From you to you the paths of glory turn,
And hopes towards you incline and inferences make.
ورُبَّ مَكْرُمَةٍ عَيَّ الكِرامُ بِهَا
أَضْحَتْ ذَلُولاً عَلَى أَهوائِكُمْ تَقِفُ
And many a revered one, whom honor sought,
Became submissive to your wills and stopped.
وأَيْنَ بالبحْرِ عن مَثْواهُ مُنْعَرَجٌ
وأَيْنَ بالنَّجْمِ عن مجراهُ مُنْحَرَفُ
Where in the sea is there a bend from its bed?
Where in a star is there a swerve from its track?
مَنْ ذا ينازِعُكُمْ أَعلامَ مَكْرُمَةٍ
والمجدُ مُتَّلِدٌ فيكم ومُطَّرِفُ
Who contends with you in signs of honor?
While glory is born in you and takes from you its wraps.
أم من يُبارِيكُمُ سبقاً إِلَى كَرَمٍ
والبرقُ عن شأْوِكُمْ بالمجدِ مُعْتَرِفُ
Or who rivals you in precedence of generosity?
While lightning vies to glorify your munificence and your gifts.
والنصرُ مُنْسِلُكُمْ والحربُ مُرْضِعُكُمْ
وشامِخُ العِزِّ والعَلْيا لكمْ كَنَفُ
Victory is your companion, war your suckling nurse,
The gleaming blade of power and domination your scabbard.
والحمدُ والشكرُ مخلوعٌ عِذارُهُما
فيكُمْ وقلبُ العُلا صَبٌّ بكم كَلِفُ
And praise and gratitude are divested of their cloaks
In your presence, and the outpourings of generosity clothe you.
والملكُ ملكُكُمُ غادٍ فمُنْتَظَرٌ
آتٍ فَمُقْتَبَلٌ ماضٍ فَمُؤْتَنَفُ
The kingdom is your kingdom, departing yet expected,
Vanishing yet looked for, passing yet renewable.
من ذا يَعُدُّ كقحطانِ الملوكِ أَباً
والتُّبَّعِينَ إِذَا مَا عُدِّدَ الشَّرفُ
Who reckons Qahtan among the sires of kings,
When the line of glory is recounted and traced?
أَمْ مَنْ كعمروٍ وعِمْرَانٍ وثَعْلَبةٍ
وحاتِمٍ وأَبي ثورٍ لَهُ سَلَفُ
Or who is like Amr and Imran and Tha'labah,
Hatim and Abu Thaur, each of tried repute?
من كُلِّ أبلَجَ كالجوزاءِ مَفْرِقُهُ
فِي عَقْدِ تاجٍ بِعِزِّ الملكِ يُكْتَنَفُ
Where is one like you, whose every knight
Is like a flashing star in the crown of the king's dominion?
إِنْ يَهَبُوا يُجْزِلُوا أَوْ يقطعُوا يَصِلُوا
أَوْ يعقِدُوا عَقْدَ مَحْرُومِ الوفاءِ يَفُوا
Be they harsh or gentle, cut ties or join them,
Break faith or keep troth, fulfill or falsify.
إِن سالَموا الأَرْضَ كانوا غيثَ أَمْحُلِها
أَوْ كَلَّفُوها توالي خَيْلِهِمْ عَنُفُوا
Did they make peace the lands were as grateful showers;
Did they show wrath the lands felt their chargers' hooves.
وإِنْ رَضُوا أَشرقَ الليلُ البهِيمُ بِهِمْ
ويكشِفُ الموتُ عن ساقٍ إِذَا أَنِفُوا
Were they glad, the gloomy nights shone bright;
Did they frown, death lifted its skirts from those they doomed.
لم يحمِلُوا عَيْبَ ذي قالٍ يَعِيبُهُمُ
فِي الجودِ والبأْسِ إِلّا أَنَّهُ سَرَفُ
No slanderer could fault them for stinting generosity,
Or valor - save that they lavished without stint.
هُمُ الَّذِينَ هُمُ آوَوا وهُمْ نَصَرُوا
لما أَتاهُمْ مِنَ الرحمنِ مَا عَرَفُوا
They who gave shelter, they who gave victory,
To the Message their Lord revealed, that they might know.
وثَبَّتُوا وَطْأَةَ الإِسلامِ حِينَ هَوى
والظَّنُّ يُخْلِفُ والأَهواءُ تَخْتَلِفُ
They who knit fast the ties the Faith had loosed,
When fancies failed and hearts were prone to doubt.
هُمُ الَّذِينَ وُقُوا شُحَّ النفوسِ عَلَى
عِلّاتِ مَا جَشِمُوا بَذْلاً وَمَا كَلِفُوا
They who throttled the necks of greed, disdaining
To hoard, lavishing wealth without demand.
الحاكمونَ بحُكْمِ الله إِن حَكَمُوا
والمؤثَرُونَ بسيفِ اللهِ إِنْ زَحَفُوا
Rulers by God's command, victorious by God's aid,
Shakers of earth when mounted, charging to the fray.
والمُوجِبُونَ اهْتِزازَ العرشِ حِينَ ثَوَوا
والمُبْتَنَى لَهُمُ فِي الجنَّةِ الغُرَفُ
For them in Paradise are castles built,
Decked and adorned, pure, and facing one another.
هُمُ الأُلى رَضِيَ الرحمنُ بَيْعَتَهُمْ
للموتِ فِي حُرُماتِ الحَجِّ إِذ صُرِفُوا
They are the loyal band God chose to pledge Him
Their lives, defending the House of God from sacrilege.
فإنْ غَدَتْ منهُمُ الأَيامُ مُوحِشَةً
فالحاجِبُ القائِدُ الأَعلى لَهَا خَلَفُ
Then even if days without them seem gloomy,
The trusted Chamberlain rules, Guide Supreme is he.
سهمُ الخلافَةِ إِلّا أَنَّ راحَتَهُ
وإِنْ نأَتْ أَوْ تَدانَتْ للمُنى هَدَفُ
The arrow of succession none shall bend
Save at its notch, or swerve from destiny's decree.
جَارٍ إِلَى أَمَدِ المنصورِ لا حَيَدٌ
فِيهِ عن السَّنَنِ الأَهْدى ولا جَنَفُ
Steering its course is he who gives Mansur's reign
Enduring fame; from straightness it shall never stray.
تِلْكَ الحجابَةُ لا مطلوبُها عَوَزٌ
فيما لَدَيْهِ ولا مَوْعُودُها خُلُفُ
That Chamberlain, whose rule is free of want,
Of all he promises or hopes for, none shall be denied.
عِلقٌ من المجدِ لاقى كُفْوَهُ فَزَهَا
بمأْلَفِ الشَّكْلِ والأَشكالُ تَأْتَلِفُ
A lofty soul that found its like and merged with it,
Congenial in its ways, and ways adjust themselves thereto.
وافَتْهُ فِي الرَّوْعِ مملوءاً جوانِحُهُ
صبراً عَلَى الهَوْلِ والأَبطالُ تَنْتَزِفُ
It met on the field of awe, steeled 'gainst dismay,
While heroes bit the dust, and curtains fell away.
واسأَلْ بِقَبْرَةَ واللائي أَطَفْنَ بِهَا
عن عَزَمَاتٍ لَهُ فِيهِنَّ تُرْتَدَفُ
Ask Qabra and the dames who sheltered there
About his resolves; how they trembled and were sore afraid.
في فيلَقٍ كعُمومِ الليلِ لا أَمَمٌ
لناظِرٍ أَوَّلٍ منهُ ولا طَرَفُ
A troop, like the night's expanse, no end in sight
For him who strives to plumb its depths or penetrate its shades.
كَأَنَّما الشمسُ فِي أَثناءِ هبوتِهِ
سارٍ تَدَرَّعَ جنحَ الليلِ مُعْتَسِفُ
As though the sun, mid the confusion of their march,
Donned the night's cloaks, veiled in its darkest shades.
ضاءَتْ كواكِبُهُ والْتَجَّ عِثْيَرُهُ
فالليلُ منهُ ضِياءٌ والضُّحى سُدَفُ
Its stars grew pale, its Pleiades lost their cluster;
The night shone bright from it; the dawn mantled by its shades.
والخيلُ لاحِقَةُ الآطالِ ساهِمَةٌ
فِي مَعْرَكٍ عَدْوُها فِي ضَنْكِهِ رَسَفُ
The horses, gray-white of brow, surged onward
To race the lightning sparks, plunged in the foe's depths.
مُسْتَشْرِفاتٌ إِلَى تَدبيرِ مُتَّئِدٍ
عن رأْيهِ ظُلَمُ الغَمَّاءِ تنكَسِفُ
They spied the moves of the sly and cautious ones
Though darkness hid their plans from all but God and them.
مُشَيَّعِ العزمِ بالإِقدامِ مُقْتَحِمٍ
لغَمرَةِ الموتِ والهاماتُ تُخْتَطَفُ
Stalwart in their resolve, daring all, rushing in
Where death's tumultuous waves crashed mountain-high.
لا يَقْرَعُ السِّنَّ فِي ضَنْكِ المَكَرِّ إِذَا
تقارَعَتْ فِيهِ بِيضُ الهِنْدِ والحَجَفُ
No tapping of white Indian steel disturbs their cool,
When flashing blades cross in the fray and wildly strike.
وأَبْرَزَ الموتُ عن مُسْوَدِّ أَوْجُهِهِ
فالصبرُ يَبْعُدُ والأَقرانُ تَزْدَلِفُ
Though death bares its visage, dark before their eyes,
Patience retreats, and comrades waver and draw back.
ففازَ قِدحُكَ بالفتحِ المُبِينِ ضُحىً
والكُفْرُ مُنْتَهَبُ الأَقطارِ مُنتَسفُ
Your troop by victory's light succeeded at the height of morn
While disbelief, its streams blocked, retired, cast down.
وأُبْتَ بالمفخَرِ الأَسْنى يُشَيِّدُهُ
حَقٌّ بسيفِكَ للإِسلامِ مُعْتَرِفُ
Good news: the Foe, its bastions crushed by your sword's might
- As justice owes - abased; the Faith exalted high!
أَمكَنْتَ من رِقِّهِ الإِسلامَ مُحْتَكِماً
فِيهَا وأَسْلَمَها حَرَّانُ مُلْتَهِفُ
You held its neck beneath the Yoke of Islam, judging it,
While, humbled and submissive, the two Harrs bowed and bent.
مُخَدَّعٌ بأَمانِي الغَدْرِ مُكْتَئِبٌ
بالخِزْيِ مُشْتَمِلٌ بالذُّلِّ مُلْتَحِفُ
A foe deceived in plots, distraught,
Disgraced, afflicted, steeped in misery, misfortune-rent.
فاتَ السيوفَ بِشِلوٍ حائِنٍ وَمَضى
أَمْضى من السيفِ فِي أَحشائِهِ الأَسَفُ
Swift swords slid smoothly through their necks, and it passed on
More penetrating than a sword through their vitals' depths.
فالفخر منتظِمٌ والملك منتقمٌ
والحقُّ منتصِرٌ والدينُ مُنْتَصِفُ
So glory is entwined and sovereignty avenged,
Truth victorious, religion's cause upheld!
فِي شِيعَةٍ بَيَّنَ الخزيُ المحيطُ بهم
عن غِبِّ مَا اجْتَرَحُوا غَدْراً وَمَا اقْتَرَفُوا
Among a horde whom encircling shame proclaimed
Evil dishonorable deeds they had designed and dangers dared.
