خطونا في الجهاد خطى فساحا

وهادنّا ولم نلق السلاحا

We took wide strides in the struggle,

and made a truce without laying down our arms.

رضينا في هوى الوطن المفدّى

دم الشهداء والمال المطاحا

For love of the homeland we would die for, we accepted

the martyrs' blood and wealth cast away.

ولما سلّت البيض المواضي

تقلدنا لها الحق الصراحا

And when the keen, gleaming blades were drawn,

we girded ourselves against them with plain truth.

فحطمنا الشكيم سوى بقايا

إذا عضت أريناها الجماحا

Thus we shattered the bridle's bit, save for remnants;

whenever they bit, we showed them our unbridled defiance.

وقمنا في شِراع الحق نلقى

وندفع عن جوانبه الرياحا

And we stood at truth's sail to meet

and drive the winds away from its sides.

نعالج شدة ونروض أخرى

ونسعى السعى مشروعا مباحا

We contend with one hardship and tame another,

and pursue lawful, permitted endeavor.

وأيام كأجواف اللَّيَالى

فقدن النجم والقمر اللَّياحا

And days like the depths of nights,

that had lost the stars and the gleaming moon,

قضيناها حيال الحرب تخشى

بقاء الرق أو نرجو السراحا

we spent facing war, fearing

bondage's continuance, or hoping for release.

تركن الناس بالوادى قعودا

من الإعياء كالإبل الرزاحي

They left the people seated in the valley

from exhaustion, like camels too spent to rise.

جنود السلم لاظفَر جزاهم

بما صبرواولا موت أراحا

Soldiers of peace—no victory rewarded them

for their endurance, nor did death bring rest.

فلا تلقى سوى حيّ كميت

ومنزوف وإن لم يسق راحا

So you meet only a living man like the dead,

and one drained of his senses, though given no wine.

ترى أسرى وما شهدوا قتالا

ولا اعتقلوا الأسنة والصفاحا

You see captives who witnessed no fighting,

nor ever wielded spearheads or sword blades,

وجرحى السوط لا جرحى المواضى

بما عمل الجواسيس اجتراحا

and men wounded by the lash, not by keen swords,

through the wrongdoing wrought by spies.

صباحك كان إقبالا وسعدا

فيا يوم الرسالة عم صباحا

Your morning brought prosperity and good fortune;

so, O day of the mission, may your morning be happy!

وما نألو نهارك ذكريات

ولا برهان غرتك التماحا

We spare no effort in remembering your day,

or in beholding the proof in your radiant brow.

تكاد حلاك في صفحات مصر

بها التاريخ يفتتح افتتاحا

Your splendors in the pages of Egypt almost

become the very beginning of history.

جلالك عن سنى الأضحى تجلى

ونورك عن هلال الفطر لاحا

Your majesty shone beyond the radiance of Eid al-Adha,

and your light gleamed beyond Eid al-Fitr's crescent.

هما حق وأنت ملَّئت حقا

ومثَّلت الضحية والسماحا

Both are truth, and you were filled with truth,

and embodied sacrifice and generosity.

بعثنا فيك هارونا وموسى

إلى فرعون فابتدآ الكفاحا

On your day we sent forth Aaron and Moses

to Pharaoh, and the two began the struggle.

وكان أعز من روما سيوفا

وأطغى من قياصرها رماحا

And he was mightier than Rome in swords,

and more tyrannical than her Caesars in spears.

يكاد من الفتوح وما سقته

يخال وراء هيكله فتاحا

Through his conquests and the draughts they gave him, he almost

imagined Ptah behind his temple.

ورُد المرسلون فقيل خابوا

فيالك خيبة عادت نجاحا

And the envoys were rebuffed; it was said they had failed.

Yet what a failure—one that turned to success!

أثارت واديا من غابتيه

ولأمت فرقة وأست جراحا

It roused a valley from its two forests,

and mended division and healed wounds.

وشدّت من قوى قوم مراض

عزائمهم فردّتها صحاحا

And it strengthened the powers of an ailing people—

their resolves—and restored them to soundness.

كأن بلال نودى قم فأذّن

فرجّ شعاب مكة والبطاحا

As though Bilal had been summoned: 'Rise and call to prayer!'

and shook Mecca's ravines and broad plains.

كأن الناس في دين جديد

على جنباته استبقوا الصلاحا

As though the people, in a new faith,

raced along its sides toward righteousness.

وقد هانت حياتهم عليهم

وكانوا بالحياة هم الشحاحا

And their lives had become of little worth to them,

though they themselves had been so miserly with life.

فتسمع في مآتمهم غناء

وتسمع في ولائمهم نواحا

So you hear singing at their funerals,

and hear wailing at their feasts.

حواريين أوفدنا ثقاةً

إذا ترك البلاغ لهم فصاحا

We dispatched trustworthy disciples,

eloquent whenever the message was entrusted to them.

فكانوا الحق منقبضا حيِيّا

تحدى السيف منصلتا وقاحا

Thus they were truth itself, reserved and modest,

challenging the sword, unsheathed and brazen.

لهم منا براءة أهل بدر

فلا إثما تُعد ولا جُناحا

They have from us the absolution of the people of Badr:

so nothing is reckoned as sin or fault.

نرى الشحناء بينهم عتابا

ونحسب جدهم فيها مزاحا

We regard the hostility between them as reproach,

and consider their seriousness in it a jest.

جعلنا الخلد منزلهم وزدنا

على الخلد الثناء والامتداحا

We made immortality their dwelling, and added

to immortality praise and acclaim.

يمينا بالتي يسعى غليها

غدوَّا بالندامة أو رواحا

I swear by that toward which one hastens,

in the morning, with remorse, or in the evening,

وتعبِق في أنوف الحج ركنا

وتحت جباههم رَحَبا وساحا

and whose corner scents the pilgrims' nostrils,

and whose broad courts lie beneath their foreheads;

وبالدستور وهو لنا حياة

نرى فيه السلامة والفلاحا

and by the constitution, which is life to us,

in which we see safety and success.

أخذناه على المهج الغوالي

ولم نأخذه نيلا مستماحا

We secured it at the price of precious lives,

and did not take it as a begged-for gift.

بنينا فيه من دمع رُواقا

ومن دم كل نابتة جناحا

Within it we built a portico of tears,

and a wing from the blood of every young generation.

وما ملا الشباب كروح سعد

ولا جعل الحياة لهم طماحا

And nothing filled the young like Saad's spirit,

or made life for them a striving toward the heights.

سلوا عنه القضية هل حماها

وكان حمى القضية مستباحا

Ask the cause about him: did he protect it

when the cause's sanctuary lay open to violation?

وهل نظم الكهول الصِّيد صفا

وألف من تجاربهم رداحا

And did he marshal the noble men of mature years in a rank,

and from their experience assemble a mighty host?

هو الشيخ الفتىّ لو استراحت

من الدأب الكواكب ما استراحا

He is the old man ever young; even if rest came

to the stars from their toil, he would not rest.

وليس بذائق النوم اغتباقا

إذا دار الرقاد ولا اصطباها

Nor does he taste sleep as an evening draught,

when slumber goes the rounds, or as a morning draught.

فيالك ضيغما سهر الليالي

وناضل دون غايته ولاحى

So, what a lion you are—one who kept vigil through the nights,

and fought for his goal and contended!

ولا حطَمت لك الأيام نابا

ولا غضّت لك الدنيا صباحا

May the days never break a fang of yours,

nor the world ever dim your morning.