بلغت أمير المؤنين مدى المنى

لأنك قد بلغتنا ما نؤمل

You have attained, Commander of the Faithful, the furthest bounds of hope,

For you have indeed brought us to what we hoped for.

قصدت إِلى الاسلام تُعلي مناره

ومقصدك الأسى لدى الله يقبل

You turned toward Islam, raising high its beacon,

And your sorrowful intent finds acceptance with God.

تداركت دين الله في اخذ فرقة

بمنطقهم كان البلاء موكل

You rescued God’s religion by seizing a faction

With whose discourse calamity was bound up.

اثاروا على الدِّين الحنيفي فتنة

لها نار غيّ في العقائد تشعل

They stirred up sedition against the upright faith,

A sedition whose fire of error sets beliefs ablaze.

اقمتهم للناس يبرأ منهم

ووجه الهدى من خزيهم يتهلّل

You set them before the people, who disavowed them,

And the face of guidance beams at their disgrace.

وأَوعزت في الاقطار بالبحث عنهم

وعن كتبهم والسعي في ذاك اجمل

You ordered that they be searched for throughout the lands,

And their books as well; striving in this is the finer course.

وقد كان للسيف استباق اليهم

ولكن مقام الخزى للنفس اقتل

The sword had indeed been racing toward them,

But the state of disgrace is deadlier to the soul.

وآثرت درء الحد عنهم بشبهة

لظاهر اسلام وحكمك اعدلُ

Yet you preferred to avert the prescribed punishment from them because of a doubt,

Because of their apparent profession of Islam—and your judgment is most just.