1. ما بال قلبي بحب اللهو يشتغل

    والشيب في الراس والقودين يشتعل

    Why is my heart occupied with love of idle amusement,

    While gray hair blazes on my head and temples?

  2. وغصن جسمي ذوى من بعد نضرته

    وحالفت عزمه الأسقام والعلل

    The branch of my body has withered after its freshness,

    And sicknesses and ailments have allied themselves with its resolve.

  3. واحدو دب الظهر من سقم ومن كبر

    هيهات والله بعد الشيب يعتذل

    My back has bent from sickness and old age;

    Far from it, by God: after gray hair it will not straighten.

  4. وجدتي من صروف الدهر قد خلقت

    من بعد ما كان لا يلوى بها الملل

    My freshness has worn away under time's vicissitudes,

    After a time when weariness could not bend it.

  5. وقيدتني يد الأيام واقتربت

    خطايَ إن قمت أو حاولت أنتقل

    The hand of days has bound me, and closer together come

    My footsteps, if I rise or try to move.

  6. فما احتيالي وكر الدهر صيرني

    كالطفل في المهد لا حول ولا حيل

    What recourse have I, when time's onslaught has made me

    Like a child in the cradle, without strength or means?

  7. والضعف حالفني والعزم خالفني

    لكن فؤادي بغل الغي معتقل

    Weakness has allied itself with me, and resolve has forsaken me,

    Yet my heart is imprisoned in the fetter of error.

  8. حتى متى ونجوم العمر قد أفلت

    وكاد بالرغم مني ينتهى الأجل

    How long shall this last, when the stars of life have set,

    And my allotted span is almost ended against my will?

  9. يا نفس توبى عن الآثام واتعظى

    بمن على الآلة الحدباء قد نقلوا

    O soul, repent of sins and take warning

    From those carried upon the hunchbacked bier,

  10. وفارقوا زهرة الدنيا وزينتها

    وفي بطون الثرى والقبر قد نزلوا

    Who left behind the bloom of this world and its adornment,

    And descended into the bowels of the earth and the grave.

  11. أموالهم بعدهم بالرغم قد قسمت

    وهم عن الذر والقطمير قد سئلوا

    Their wealth, after them, was divided against their will,

    And they were questioned about specks and date-stone skins.

  12. فكل ما قدموا في الصحف مستطر

    مما أكنوا وما قالوا وما فعلوا

    All they sent ahead is inscribed in the records,

    Of what they concealed, what they said, and what they did.

  13. فقدّمى صالحا فالموت قد أزفت

    أيامه وحديث الركب متصل

    So send a righteous deed ahead, for near have drawn death's

    Days, and the caravan's talk goes on.

  14. واستمسكي بكلام الله واعتصمى

    بالدين فهو لنا حصن ومعتقل

    Hold fast to God's word, and seek protection

    In religion, for it is our fortress and stronghold.

  15. ولازمى سنة الهادى وسيرته

    فهو الأمان لمن في الحشر قد وجلوا

    Remain faithful to the Guide's practice and his way of life,

    For he is safety for those who fear the Gathering.

  16. سر الوجود وروح الكون من أزل

    بيمن مبعثه قد بشر الرسل

    The secret of existence, the spirit of the universe from eternity;

    The messengers foretold the blessing of his mission.

  17. خير البرية من عمت رسالته

    كل الخلائق فابيضت به السبل

    The best of creation, whose message encompassed

    All creatures; through him the paths shone white.

  18. بشرعه نسخ الأديان قاطبة

    دين قويم وشرع كامل جلل

    By his law he abrogated all religions:

    An upright religion and a complete, majestic law.

  19. جاءت شريعته بالعدل ناطقة

    وفي المكارم مضروب بها المثل

    His law came proclaiming justice,

    And in noble virtues it was held up as the example.

  20. دعا إلى الله أقواما قلوبهمُ

    قدت من الصخر بل من دونها القلل

    He called to God peoples whose hearts

    Were hewn from rock—nay, even mountain peaks fell beneath them.

  21. فأذعنوا وأجابوا صدق دعوته

    بعد العناد وفي الإسلام قد جخلوا

    They submitted and answered the truth of his call,

    After obstinacy, and entered Islam.

  22. كم جادلوه ولكن خاب فألهم

    هيهات حاشى وكلا ينفع الجدل

    How often they disputed with him, but their hopes were dashed!

    Far from it! Never! No—disputation could not avail.

  23. قوم هم اللسن إن قالوا وإن خطبوا

    على البيان وحسن النطق قد جبلوا

    A people eloquent whenever they spoke or gave orations,

    They were fashioned for eloquence and fine speech.

  24. أما البلاغة فيهم فهي ناصعة

    لكن أمام كلام الله قد خجلوا

    As for their eloquence, it shone pure,

    Yet before God's word they stood abashed.

  25. خروا له سجدا من حسن ما سمعوا

    وعن سماء العلا والكبر قد نزلوا

    They fell prostrate before Him at the beauty of what they heard,

    And descended from the sky of loftiness and pride.

  26. وقد أقروا كما قرت شقاشقهم

    بالعجز من بعد ما أعيتهم الحيل

    They confessed, as their blustering tongues grew still,

    To their inability, after their stratagems had failed them.

  27. فقام يوقظهم من نوم غفلتهم

    ففاز بالعز من ضلوا ومن جهلوا

    Then he rose to wake them from the sleep of their heedlessness,

    So those who had strayed, and those who were ignorant, won honor.

  28. وقد علت برسول الله رايتهم

    وواصلوا الجد حتى للعلا وصلوا

    Their banner rose through God's Messenger,

    And they kept striving until they reached the heights.

  29. أما الملوك فهابت باس سطوتهم

    فسالمتهم ملوك الكون والدول

    As for kings, they feared the force of their might,

    So the world's kings and states made peace with them.

  30. قوم كأنهم للطعن قد خلقوا

    فالسيف ديدنهم والرمح والأسل

    A people who seemed created for spear-thrusts;

    The sword was their wont, and the lance and the spears.

  31. تخالهم وسيوف الهند في يدهم

    نار الصواعق في الأعداء تشتمل

    You would think them, with Indian swords in their hands,

    The fire of thunderbolts engulfing their enemies.

  32. شم صناديد في الهيجا غطارفة

    هم الضراغم إن شدوا وإن حملوا

    Proud, high-nosed champions, noble lords in battle,

    They were lions when they charged and when they attacked.

  33. فما استكانوا الأعداء وإن كثروا

    يوم النزال ولا فروا ولا فشلوا

    They never yielded to enemies, however numerous,

    On the day of combat, nor fled, nor faltered.

  34. إما المنايا وإما النصر غايتهم

    وجنة الخلد إن ماتوا بها دخلوا

    Either death or victory was their goal,

    And if they died, they entered the Garden of Eternity.

  35. وإن هم ظفروا في الحرب وانتصروا

    كان الجميع له من نصرهم جذل

    And if they prevailed in war and were victorious,

    Everyone found joy in their victory.

  36. كان النبي إذا ماجد جدهم

    يوم الوغى لإله العرش يبتهل

    Whenever their struggle grew fierce, the Prophet would

    Implore the God of the Throne on the day of battle.

  37. فيرسل الله جندا من ملائكة

    مسومين وفي أيديهم شعل

    Then God would send a host of angels,

    Marked, with flames in their hands,

  38. حتى له عنت الأقوام خاضعة

    إن القويّ أمام الحق ينخذل

    Until peoples bowed to him in submission.

    Surely the strong are defeated before truth.

  39. لولا النبي ولولا صدق دعوته

    ما كان كون ولا قامت به دول

    Were it not for the Prophet and the truth of his call,

    There would have been no universe, nor states arisen within it,

  40. ولم يكن قط من شمس ولا قمر

    ولا الثريا ولا الشعرى ولا زحل

    Nor would there ever have been a sun or a moon,

    Nor the Pleiades, nor Sirius, nor Saturn,

  41. ولا نهار ولا ليل ولا سحر

    ولا حقير ولا سامى الذرا جلل

    Nor day, nor night, nor the hour before dawn,

    Nor anything lowly, nor anything lofty-peaked and majestic.

  42. هذا النبي هو المختار في أزل

    فحبذا من أكنّ الغيب والأزل

    This is the Prophet, chosen from eternity;

    How excellent is he whom the unseen and eternity concealed!

  43. هذا النبي له الأشجار قد سجدت

    والضب كلمه والظبي والجمل

    This is the Prophet before whom the trees prostrated,

    And to whom the spiny-tailed lizard spoke, and the gazelle and the camel.

  44. وكم له ظهرت في الكون معجزة

    بها الجميع أقروا بعد ما نكلوا

    How many miracles appeared for him in the universe,

    Through which all acknowledged him after recoiling!

  45. يا خير من ظهرت في الكون معجزة

    بها الجميع أقروا بعد ما نكلوا

    O best of those for whom a miracle appeared in the universe,

    Through which all acknowledged him after recoiling!

  46. يا خير من طهّر الرحمن عنصره

    كن لي شفيعا فإني خائف وجل

    O best of those whose substance the Merciful purified,

    Be my intercessor, for I am fearful and afraid.

  47. وانظر إلي بعطف منك يشملني

    فلى بعطفك يا خير الورى أمل

    Look upon me with tenderness from you that enfolds me,

    For in your tenderness, O best of creation, I have hope.

  48. وانظر لأهلى وأولادي وذى رحمى

    إنا بنوك وحاشى عنك ننفصل

    And look upon my family, my children, and my kin;

    We are your sons; far be it that we part from you.

  49. فكلّنا بعرا الزهراء مرتبط

    وكلنا برسول الله متصل

    We are all bound by the bonds of al-Zahra,

    And all connected to God's Messenger.

  50. صلى عليك إله العرش ما سجعت

    ورق الرياض وما ماست بها الأسل

    May the God of the Throne bless you, as long as there coo

    The gardens' gray doves, and as long as reeds sway within them,

  51. والآل والصحب والأحباب قاطبة

    ما ازدان بالشمس في إشراقها الحمل

    And all your family, companions, and loved ones,

    As long as Aries is adorned by the sun in its radiance.