يا أيها الوطن العزيز لك الهنا

قد نلت أشرف بغية ومراد

O beloved homeland, joy be yours!

You have attained the noblest aim and desire.

سيعيد تاريخ العلى لك نفسه

ويعود مجد رجالك الأمجاد

The history of glory will repeat itself for you,

and the glory of your illustrious men will return.

آساد غاب ليس ينكر بأسهم

وبنوك نسل أولئك الآساد

Lions of the forest, whose might none can deny;

and your sons are the offspring of those lions.

ابناء يعرب يطلبون تراثهم

ان البنين احق بالأجداد

The sons of Yaʿrub seek their heritage;

surely sons have the greatest claim to their forefathers' legacy.

لا يقنعون من الفخار بتالد

مالم يضيفوا طارفاً لتلاد

They are not content with inherited glory

unless they add new gains to the old.

يا ناطقاً بالضاد مالفضيلة

معنى يتم لغير أهل الضاد

O speaker of ḍād, no virtue has

its full meaning for any but the people of ḍād.

فافخر فانك من سلالة معشر

من طيب ذكرهم يضوع النادي

Take pride, for you descend from a people

whose fragrant memory perfumes the gathering.

أوليس عصر النور من آثارهم

قبست لوامع نوره الوقاد

And did not the age of light draw from their legacy

the gleams of its blazing radiance?

والعلم من ثمرات غرسهم الذي

عم الورى بفواضل واياد

And learning is among the fruits of their planting, which

embraced humankind with bounties and benefactions.

والعدل والاحسان من حسناتهم

وهي التي جلت عن التعداد

Justice and benevolence are among their good deeds,

and these are too great to count.

وعلى مبادينا الحضارة اسست

أيام ليست غيرهن مبادي

Upon our principles civilization was founded,

in days when there were no principles but these.

من عنصر الدين الحنيف إذا انتموا

للدين كانوا اشرف الأولاد

Of the stock of the upright faith: when they claim descent

from that faith, they are its noblest sons.

عرب تحن إلى الفخار سيوفها

وتصد اعراضاً عن الاغماد

Arabs whose swords yearn for glory

and turn disdainfully away from their scabbards.

هم عودوها ان تسل فلم تمل

عن عادة التجريد للأغماد

They trained them to be drawn; they have never turned

from their habit of being bared back toward their sheaths.

من اسرة لهم الاسرّة والذرى

من عهد تبع في الزمان وعاد

They are of a family that possesses thrones and lofty heights

since the days of Tubbaʿ and ʿĀd.

لهم السيوف ومثلهن مقاول

لم ينتضوا منهن غير حداد

They have swords, and tongues to match;

they have unsheathed none but keen-edged ones.

فكأنها فوق المغافر لقنت

منهم فصاحتهم على الاعواد

It is as though, above helmets, those swords had learned

from them their eloquence upon wooden pulpits.

تحوي المنابر منهم بظهورها

فرسان روع في ظهور جياد

The pulpits bear upon their backs men of theirs—

knights amid battle's terror, on the backs of noble steeds.

الصائنين عن الدنية عرضهم

والباذلين النفس بذل الزاد

Who guard their honor against baseness,

and give their lives as freely as provisions.

ان شئت تعرف نكتة من جودهم

فانظر إلى تيار سيل الوادي

If you wish to grasp one hint of their generosity,

look to the torrent flooding the valley.

أو شئت تعلم ما يوازن في الحجا

أحلامهم فانظر إلى الاطواد

Or if you wish to know what can match, in wisdom,

their sound judgment, look to the towering mountains.

كرمت خلائقهم وتعرف منهم

كرم الخلائق ساعة الميلاد

Their characters are noble; in them one recognizes

nobility of character at the very hour of birth.

والعز ينزل منهم متبوئاً

بيتاً اشم على اشم عماج

Glory settles among them, taking up residence

in a lofty house upon a lofty pillar.

علل بذكرهم الفؤاد فانه

ظام وذكرهم الروا لفؤادي

Refresh the heart with their memory, for it

is thirsty, and their memory quenches my heart.

قومي الذين عرفتهم وبمجدهم

تم اعتراف مصادق ومعادي

My people, whom I have known: their glory

has been fully acknowledged by friend and foe.

ابلوا شباب الدهر ثم نبابهم

وعدت عليهم للزمان عوادي

They wore out the youth of time; then it turned against them,

and time's adversities assailed them.

غير الليالي لم تغير منهم

شيم الكرام الذادة الانجاد

The vicissitudes of the nights have not altered in them

the traits of the noble, valiant defenders.

لم يرضخوا للضيم إلا ريثما

ناداهم للعز خير منادي

They yielded to oppression only until

the finest caller summoned them to honor.

لبيك يا داعي الرشاد شعارهم

قدست من داعي هدى ورشاد

‘At your service, O caller to right guidance!’ is their watchword.

Hallowed are you, caller to guidance and right conduct.

أنت الذي انعشت من أرواحنا

ارماقها فنهضن بالأجساد

You are the one who revived in our souls

their last traces of life, so they rose with our bodies.

فمتى تؤلف وحدة عربية

وطنيه الاصدار والايراد

When, then, will you form an Arab unity,

national in what it sends out and brings in?

ليس العراق بموطني هو وحده

فبلاد قومي كلهن بلادي

Iraq alone is not my homeland;

all the lands of my people are my lands.

ويسرني اني على ضعف القوى

كنت القوي بموقفي وجهادي

And it gladdens me that, despite my feeble strength,

I was strong in my stand and my struggle.

قالوا أما من باذل أو مفتد

فبذلت نفسي حين عز الفادي

They asked, ‘Is there none to give or sacrifice himself?’

So I offered myself when few would sacrifice themselves.

ثمر تداوله الجناة ومنهل

حشدت عليه خوامس الوراد

Fruit passed from hand to hand by gatherers, and a watering place

where camels coming to water on the fifth day thronged.

افبعدما ائتلفت ضمائرنا هوى

وتمازجت بمحبه ووداد

After our hearts have united in love

and mingled in affection and friendship,

تأتي على اثر المساعي اثرة

رأي لعمرك لم يكن بسداد

shall selfishness follow in the wake of our endeavors?

An opinion, by your life, that was not sound.

إنا على علاتهم أعضادهم

ما لم يفت الأمر بالاعضاد

Indeed, despite their faults, we are their supporting arms,

so long as the matter does not weaken those arms.

ومن العتاب على الوداد أدلة

ان كانت العتبى من الامداد

And in reproach are proofs of affection,

if that reproach is a form of support.