إلى العالمِ الفَردِ الذي عزَّ نِدُّهُ

إلى العالمِ الفَردِ الذي عزَّ نِدُّهُ

بِمغرِبنا نَجلِ السَّراةِ أصيلُ

بِمغرِبنا نَجلِ السَّراةِ أصيلُ

To the peerless scholar whose equal is rare

To the peerless individual whose pride

in our Morocco, a noble-born scion of the eminent;

In our west is the scion of the caravans

إليكَ أبا العباسِ مَن سَار ذِكرُه

إليكَ أبا العباسِ مَن سَار ذِكرُه

كَمِثلِ أريجٍ المسِكِ يَذكو أقولُ

كَمِثلِ أريجٍ المسِكِ يَذكو أقولُ

to you, Abu al-Abbas, whose renown has spread

To you, O Abbas’ father, whose fame

like musk’s fragrance, ever intensifying, I say:

Spreads like the aroma of musk igniting, I say:

ألا إنَّ ذاكَ الزَوجَ مَن جاءَ يَشتكي

ألا إنَّ ذاكَ الزَوجَ مَن جاءَ يَشتكي

بزَوجَته والقُولُ فيه طَويلُ

بزَوجَته والقُولُ فيه طَويلُ

Hear this: that husband is the one who came complaining

Behold, that husband who came complaining

about his wife—and the account of him is long.

Of his wife, though the case is complicated

لقد مُنِعَت منه ورَسمُ زَواجِها

لقد مُنِعَت منه ورَسمُ زَواجِها

بِيمناها فيهِ للشُّهود عُدولُ

بِيمناها فيهِ للشُّهود عُدولُ

She has indeed been kept from him, while her marriage deed

She was denied him, though their marriage

is in her right hand; in it, the witnesses have deviated.

Was witnessed by trustworthy men of integrity

وقد نقِطت حاءُ الحَليلِ فأصبحَ ال

وقد نقِطت حاءُ الحَليلِ فأصبحَ ال

حليلُ خَليلاً والخَليلُ حَليلُ

حليلُ خَليلاً والخَليلُ حَليلُ

And the ḥāʾ of ḥalīl (‘husband’) was dotted, turning the

The dot under the “h” of “permissible” was marked out

husband into a khalīl (‘lover’), and the lover into a husband.

So the permissible is no longer a lover, nor the lover permissible