أبا مصر ومصدر نعمتيها

لقد شاخ الزمان وأنت كهلُ

O father of Egypt, source of her two blessings,

Time has indeed grown old, while you remain in your prime.

بنى لك آل فرعون صروحا

عُبدت بها وأنت لذاك أهلُ

The house of Pharaoh built lofty edifices for you;

You were worshipped in them, and you were worthy of that.

فما نفس رأت نعماً غزاراً

وخصباً لا يقوم لديه محلُ

For no soul that has seen abundant blessings

And fertility before which drought cannot stand,

وكان الشكر مرمى ناظريها

ورَبُّ الكون لم يدركه عقلُ

And whose gaze was fixed on gratitude,

While no mind had comprehended the Lord of the universe,

بمشركة إذا شكرت صنيعاً

عن الإدراك صانعه يجلُّ

Is a polytheist for thanking a kindness

Whose maker transcends comprehension.

فإنَّ الفضل يعرفه ذووه

وفضل النيل لا يعلوه فضلُ

For those endowed with merit recognize it,

And no bounty surpasses the bounty of the Nile.

أبا مصر مضت حقب طوال

وأنت تجود بالخيرات مضرا

O father of Egypt, long ages have passed,

And you lavish bounties on Egypt,

تجيء بها من السودان عفوا

وتنثرها على الأرضين نثرا

Bringing them freely from Sudan

And scattering them widely over the lands.

بحيرات الجنوب لك الجواري

نواصرها لديك تطيع أمرا

The lakes of the south are your handmaidens;

Their helpers obey your command.

فتجرف ترب أحباش ودنكا

وتسبكه فيصبح فيك تبرا

So you sweep up the soil of the Abyssinians and the Dinka,

And smelt it, so that within you it becomes gold dust.

وتحمله على حمر المطايا

تسيل بها البطاح الجرد بجرا

And you carry it on ruddy mounts;

The bare plains flow with them, swollen with water.

سخاه لا يرى شحّ لديه

وجود البحر عند النيل بخل

Its generosity shows no trace of stinginess;

Beside the Nile, the sea's generosity is stinginess.

أبا مصر أتدري كم شعوب

بواديك استعزّوا ثم هانوا

O father of Egypt, do you know how many peoples

Grew mighty in your valley, then fell low?

موات الأرض أحيوه قديما

فحلّ محلّ قاحلها جنان

Long ago they brought the dead land to life,

And gardens replaced its barren ground.

مهندسهم درى مسح الأراضي

وجرّ الثقل ما كان الوزن

Their engineer knew how to survey the lands

And haul a load, whatever its weight.

بنوا الأهرام محكمة الزوايا

لديها كل صرح مستهان

They built the pyramids with precisely formed angles;

Beside them, every lofty edifice seems paltry.

لها الشعرى دليل مستمرّ

ونجم القطب ما كرّ الزمان

Sirius is their constant guide,

And the Pole Star, as long as time rolls on.

وفيها من بديع الصنع آي

إلى صنّاعنا لم يوح مثل

Within them are marvels of exquisite workmanship

Whose like has not been revealed to our craftsmen.

هياكلهم كتاب جاء فيه

حديث ملكوهم من قبل مينا

Their temples are a book containing

Accounts of their kings from before Menes.

ترى جدرانها والنقش فيها

فتحسبه طلاسم ساحرينا

You see their walls and the writing carved upon them,

And take it for sorcerers' cryptic spells.

رآه العرب منذ التح لغزا

فأمسى مغلقا هذي السنينا

The Arabs, since the conquest, saw it as a riddle,

And it remained sealed throughout these years.

ولكن في بلاد الغرب قوم

رأوا جحد المحال هدى ودينا

But in the lands of the West were people

Who saw rejecting impossibility as guidance and a creed.

فأمضوا خيل عزمهم فجلّت

وحازت كشف سرّ الغابرينا

They sent forth the steeds of their resolve, which proved mighty,

And won the unveiling of the ancients' secret:

تواريخ وأخبار ووصف

لملك دام لم يدخله فصل

Histories, accounts, and a description

Of a kingdom that endured without interruption.

صروح الدين لم يثبت سواها

بوادي النيل من أثر مجيد

Only the edifices of religion endured

Among the glorious monuments in the Nile valley.

تعلّقت النفوس بها فكرّت

دهور وهي في عيش رغيد

Souls clung to them, and there rolled by

Ages while they lived in ease.

يواصلها العواهل بالهدايا

وكهّان الهياكل بالنشيد

Monarchs continually supplied them with gifts,

And temple priests with chants,

وأهل القطر طرّا بالعطايا

لرب الغيب عن كرم وجود

And all the country's people with offerings

To the Lord of the unseen, in generosity and bounty.

عبادات النفوس الأمر فيها

لآمال النفوس بلا محيد

In the worship of souls, authority belongs

To the hopes of souls, with no turning aside.

ومال في سبيل البرّ يعطى

لأفضل ما ازدرعت وتستغلّ

And wealth given in the cause of righteousness

Is surely the best of what you sow and reap.

مدافنهم خلود النفس فيها

أدلّته على نهج أنيق

In their tombs, the immortality of the soul

Has its proofs, presented in elegant fashion.

ترى ماضي الدفين كأن سفرا

يترجمه بتفصيل دقيق

You see the buried man's past, as though a book

Recounts it in precise detail:

مغازيهوما قد نال منها

من الأموال فيئا والرقيق

His campaigns and what he gained from them

Of wealth as booty, and of slaves;

معيشته وما أعطى وأسدى

وما أولاه في سعة وضيق

His livelihood, what he gave and bestowed,

And what he granted in plenty and hardship,

وما يرجوه من نعم وزلفى

ونفس الميت آي الحمد تتلو

And the blessings and divine favor he hopes for,

While the dead man's soul recites verses of praise.

مفاخر حازها أهلوك دهرا

وأورثها البطالس حين سادوا

Glories your people gained over the ages,

Which the Ptolemies inherited when they came to rule.

مشاعر دينهم حفظوا حراما

وأعلوا في هياكلهم وشادوا

They preserved their religious rites as sacred,

And raised high and built within their temples.

أيمة دينهم أرضوا فأرضوا

لفيف الشعب وارتقت البلاد

They pleased their religious leaders, and thus pleased

The masses of the people, and the country advanced.

وجاء الروم بعدهم فجاروا

وجزّوا الصوف واحتلبوا وقادوا

Then the Romans came after them and ruled unjustly,

And sheared the wool, milked the flock, and drove it.

وبعدهم تتابعت الرزايا

جيوشا تستحثّ وتستزاد

And after them calamities came in succession,

Armies spurred onward and ever reinforced.

بناء الملك صعب لم يرمه

سوى العظماء والتخريب سهل

Building a kingdom is hard; none has attempted it

But the great, while destruction is easy.

أبا مصر مضت حجج طوال

أواصرها التخاذل والفناء

O father of Egypt, long years have passed,

Their bonds were mutual desertion and ruin,

وسلب المال والأرواح عفوا

كأن الخلق أنعام وشاء

And the wanton taking of wealth and lives,

As though people were cattle and sheep;

وتخريب البلاد فلا زروع

وتشتيت العباد ولا عداء

And the devastation of the land, leaving no crops,

And the dispersal of people, though there was no enmity.

فضجّ القطر من ظلم وجور

وكم داء يكون به الدواء

The country cried out against oppression and injustice;

And many an ailment holds within it the cure.

فشاء الله أن مضت الليالي

ليالي السوء وأنتشر الضياء

Then God willed that the nights should pass—

The nights of evil—and that light should spread.

وأرسل آل إصلاح وعدل

وحسب الشعب إصلاح وعدل

And sent a house of reform and justice;

And reform and justice suffice the people.