1. هنيئاً لكم هذا الهناءُ المجدَّدُ

    ودام لكم هذا السرور المؤبَّدُ

    May this renewed happiness be blessed for you,

    and may this everlasting joy remain yours.

  2. ونِلْتُم به في كلّ يوم مسرَّةً

    يجيء بها في مثل يومكم غد

    May you gain through it a delight each day,

    which tomorrow brings on a day like yours.

  3. سرورٌ وأفراحٌ وأنسٌ ولذَّةٌ

    وأَعيادُ أعمارٍ بكم تتعدَّد

    Joy and rejoicing, companionship and pleasure,

    and life's festivities, multiplied through you.

  4. معاشر قوم ما بهم غير ماجد

    ولا فيهم إلاَّ النبيل الممجَّد

    O company of people among whom none is other than noble,

    and none but the illustrious and exalted.

  5. إذا وُلدَ المولود منهم لوالدٍ

    فللمجد مولودٌ وللمجد يولد

    When a child is born among them to a father,

    it is a child of glory, and for glory it is born.

  6. وإنْ زوَّجوه كانَ من صلبه الَّذي

    تَقَرُّ به عين العلاء وتسعد

    And if they marry him off, from his loins comes one

    who gladdens the eye of eminence and makes it happy.

  7. تَزوَّجَ من كانَ الجميل شعاره

    جميل له منه نجار ومحتد

    He who bore al-Jamil as his emblem has married—

    a Jamil, whose stock and lineage spring from him.

  8. وذلك جمعٌ لا تفرُّقَ بعده

    وشملٌ مدى الأَيَّام لا يتبدَّد

    This is a union after which there is no parting,

    a bond that never scatters throughout the days.

  9. وعيش صفا رغداً كما تشتهونه

    فلا شابه في الدَّهر عيش منكَّد

    And a life grown clear and plentiful, just as you desire;

    may no troubled life ever taint it through the ages.

  10. بأَعراس أيَّام الزَّمان وطيبه

    إذا الزهر يسقى والحمام يغرّد

    Amid the wedding feasts of time's days and its sweetness,

    when blossoms are watered and doves sing.

  11. تبسَّم ثغر الأُقحوان لحسنه

    وأَينَعَ للنوَّار حدٌّ مورّد

    The daisy's mouth smiled at its beauty,

    and the blossoms' rose-red edge ripened.

  12. وصفَّقَتِ الأَوراق من طربٍ به

    وراح لها بانُ النقا يتأوَّد

    The leaves clapped in delight at it,

    and the bān trees of the dunes began to sway for them.

  13. وقد لَبِسَتْ فيه الرِّياض ملابساً

    مُدَنَّرة منها لجين وعسجد

    The gardens had donned garments in it,

    coin-spangled, some silver and some gold.

  14. تعطّر من هذا الرَّبيع نسائماً

    عليهنَّ أنفاسُ المصيف توقَّدُ

    They perfume breezes from this spring,

    upon which the breaths of summer burn.

  15. سقاها الحيا المنهلّ حتَّى كأَنَّه

    لئالئ في أسلاكها تتنضَّد

    The pouring rain watered them until it seemed

    like pearls arrayed upon their strings,

  16. بمثقلة بالودق خلَّت بروقها

    لوامع نيران تشبُّ وتخمد

    from a rain-laden cloud, whose lightning I thought

    was the gleam of fires that flare and die.

  17. يريني ندى عبد الغني قطارها

    على الكبد الحرَّى ألذّ وأبرد

    ʿAbd al-Ghani's bounty makes its raindrops seem to me

    sweeter and cooler upon the burning liver.

  18. من القوم في مضمار كلِّ أَبِيَّةٍ

    أغاروا الفخار المشمخرّ فأَبعدوا

    He is of a people who, in the racecourse of every arduous deed,

    charged toward towering glory and went far ahead.

  19. إذا ما هزَزْناه هزَزْنا مهنَّداً

    وهيهات منه المشرفيُّ المهنَّد

    When we brandish him, we brandish an Indian-forged blade,

    yet the Indian-forged Mashrafi sword falls far short of him.

  20. وإذ أبعد التشبيه منه فإنَّه

    على نائبات الدَّهر سيف مجرَّد

    And though I set comparison far from him, he is

    an unsheathed sword against the calamities of time.

  21. ترى جيّد النَّاس الرّديّ بجنبه

    وفي النَّاس ما دامت رديٌّ وجيّد

    Beside him, you see the best of men as base,

    and among men, while the world endures, are bad and good.

  22. فلا قَدْرَ يدنو قَدْرَه وعلاءه

    ولم تَعْلُ في الدُّنيا على يده يد

    No rank approaches his rank and loftiness,

    and no hand in the world has risen above his hand.

  23. له السؤْدد الأَعلى على كلّ سؤدد

    وما بعد ذاك الفخر فخر وسؤدد

    His is the highest eminence, above all eminence;

    beyond that glory there is no glory or eminence.

  24. لقد جمع الله المحاسن كلّها

    به فهو من بين العوالم مفرد

    God has gathered every excellence

    in him, so among all the worlds he is unique.

  25. تفرَّد من بين الورى بجميله

    فما شكّ في توحيده اليوم ملحد

    He stands alone among humankind in his goodness,

    so today no unbeliever doubts his oneness.

  26. وما تجحد الحسَّاد منه فضيلة

    وهل تجحد الحسَّاد ما ليس يجحد

    The envious deny none of his virtues;

    can the envious deny what cannot be denied?

  27. تلوذ به بغداد ممَّا يسوؤُها

    فمنه لها نعم الدّلاصُ المسرَّد

    Baghdad seeks refuge in him from what distresses her;

    from him she has a splendid coat of smooth, closely linked mail.

  28. يقيها سهام النائبات فلم تبل

    إذا طاش سهمٌ للخطوب مسدَّد

    He shields her from calamity's arrows, so she is untroubled

    when a well-aimed arrow of disaster goes astray.

  29. حماها ولا حامٍ سواه ولا له

    سوى الله في كلّ الأُمور مؤيّد

    He protected her; she has no protector but him, and he

    has no supporter in any matter but God.

  30. وقام أبو محمود في كلّ موقف

    عليه لواء الحمد يُلوى ويعقد

    And Abu Mahmud stood at every encounter,

    above him the banner of praise is wound and tied.

  31. وكم وقعةٍ شبَّت وشبَّ ضرامها

    وشابَ لها نصل الظُّبا وهو أَمرد

    And how many a battle blazed, its flames blazing,

    and the swords' blade grew gray from it, though beardless.

  32. وقد أنهضَتْه همَّةٌ بلغت به

    من المجد ترقى ما تشاء وتصعد

    An ambition had roused him, carrying him

    to heights of glory, climbing and ascending at will.

  33. وقد يطأ الأَهوال بالهمَّة الَّتي

    لها موطئٌ هام السّماك ومقعد

    He treads upon terrors with that ambition

    whose foothold and seat lie atop al-Simak.

  34. فأَبدى وقد أَخفى أخو الجبن نفسه

    ونالَ شجاع القوم ما كانَ يقصد

    Thus he displayed—while the coward concealed himself,

    and the people's brave man won what he sought—

  35. أسارير ذاك الوجه والوجه عابس

    وأبيض ذاك الفعل واليوم أسود

    the radiance of that face, while faces frowned,

    and the whiteness of that deed, while the day was black.

  36. وأكرومة تحكي وأكرومة عَلَت

    يقوم بها هذا الزَّمان ويقعد

    And a noble deed that tells a tale, a noble deed so exalted

    that this age rises and sits at its bidding.

  37. تسير بها الرّكبان شرقاً ومغرباً

    فذا مُتْهِمٌ فيها وآخر منجد

    Riders carry its tale eastward and westward,

    one bearing it to Tihama, another to Najd.

  38. تناقلها عنك الثّقاتُ روايةً

    عن المجد عن علياك تُروى وتُسنَد

    The trustworthy have handed down its account from you,

    narrated from Glory, from your high estate, with its chain of transmission.

  39. أرى مُطْلَقَ الأَمداح من حيث أطلقت

    بغيرك يا مولاي لا تتقيَّد

    I see unbounded praises, wherever they are uttered,

    bound to no one but you, my lord.

  40. إذا تُليت آثار ذكرك بيننا

    نميل كما مالت بنشوان صرخد

    When accounts of your renown are recited among us,

    we sway as Ṣarkhad's wine sways a drunken man.

  41. يذوق بها التَّالي حلاوةَ ذاكرٍ

    من الحمد تتلى كلّ آنٍ وتنشد

    The reciter tastes in them the sweetness of one who praises,

    in praise recited and chanted at every moment.

  42. فيا باسطاً للنَّاس من فضله يداً

    لها جملة الأَحرار إذ ذاك أعبد

    O you who extend to people a hand of your bounty,

    to which all free men are then slaves.

  43. فللناس من تلك المناهل منهلٌ

    وللناس من تلك الموارد مورد

    For people there is a watering place among those watering places,

    and a water source among those water sources.

  44. لك الجود والإِحسان والفضل كلّه

    هو الفضل والمعروف والله يشهد

    Yours are generosity, kindness, and all bounty;

    it is bounty and beneficence, and God bears witness.

  45. ولست أقول الغيث والغيث مرعد

    ولست أقول البحر والبحر مزبد

    I do not call you rain, for rain thunders,

    nor do I call you the sea, for the sea foams.

  46. وما عاقَ دون الجود وعدك نيله

    وما لهباتٍ من عطاياك موعد

    No promise of yours has delayed the receipt of your generosity,

    and gifts from your largesse have no appointed time.

  47. كأنِّي بمدحي في علاك منجّم

    يبيت لأَجرام السموات يرصد

    In praising your loftiness, I am like an astrologer

    who spends the night observing the heavenly bodies.

  48. وهل أَكرَه الإِملاقَ أو أَطلب الغنى

    ولي منك كنزٌ ولا وربّك ينفد

    And should I dread poverty or seek wealth,

    when I have from you a treasure that, by your Lord, never runs out?

  49. فلا زلت مسرور الفؤاد بقرَّةٍ

    لعينيك ما دامَ الثناء المخلَّد

    May your heart always rejoice in a comfort

    to your eyes, as long as immortal praise endures.

  50. هما قمرا مجد وإن قلتُ فرقدا

    سماءٍ فكلٌّ منهما هو فرقد

    They are two moons of glory; and if I call them the two Farqads

    of heaven, each of them is indeed a Farqad.

  51. تزوَّج زاكي العنصرين بكفوه

    وتمَّ بحمْد الله ما كنت تقصد

    He who is pure in both ancestral lines has married his equal,

    and, praise be to God, what you intended is fulfilled.

  52. أَقولُ له لمَّا تزوَّج بالهنا

    بملءِ فم الأَقلام حين تردد

    I say to him, now that he has married, in congratulation,

    with the full mouth of the pens as they repeat:

  53. تزوَّجتَ فلتهنا هناءً مؤَرَّخاً

    وقد سَرَّنا هذا الزَّواج محمّد

    You have married—may you enjoy a joy marked with a date;

    and this marriage has delighted us, Muhammad.