إذا عاقبت شرّيرا فكحلا

إذا عاقبت شرّيرا فكحلا

فقد يستوجب الكحل الظلوم

فقد يستوجب الكحل الظلوم

If you punish an evildoer, let it be by searing his eyes;

If you punish the wicked, then how wise!

for the oppressor may well deserve such blinding.

For cruelty may warrant such cruel demise.

ألم ترَ كيف أعمى الله قوما

ألم ترَ كيف أعمى الله قوما

من الأشرار وهو بهم عليم

من الأشرار وهو بهم عليم

Have you not seen how God blinded a people

Did you not see how God blinded a folk

from among the wicked, while He knows them well,

Of evildoers, though their acts He could invoke?

وعاملَهُم بما استوجبوه

وعاملَهُم بما استوجبوه

بعلم منه والأعلمى مشوم

بعلم منه والأعلمى مشوم

and dealt with them as they deserved,

And treated them as they did merit-

with knowledge of His own—and the blind man is ill-omened.

With knowledge supreme and vision to ferret.

يحدّ الفاسق الجاني فيبرا

يحدّ الفاسق الجاني فيبرا

وحدّ الله في الأعمى مقيم

وحدّ الله في الأعمى مقيم

The sinful offender is punished, then recovers;

The sinner may wander and guiltily grieve,

yet God's punishment abides in the blind man.

But God's sentence on the blind shall not leave.

وكانت عكبرا لهم محّلا

وكانت عكبرا لهم محّلا

فكلّهُمُ بظاهرِها اللزوم

فكلّهُمُ بظاهرِها اللزوم

And Ukbara was their dwelling place,

Their refuge was ‘Akabah, which then failed

so all of them keep to its outskirts.

And all who dwelled in its shelter then wailed.

أتطمع أن تطرّف بالمصّلي

أتطمع أن تطرّف بالمصّلي

كما كانت وهل تلد العقيم

كما كانت وهل تلد العقيم

Do you hope to go out to the prayer ground

Do you hope to lure the pious therein,

as before? And can a barren woman give birth?

As it was before? Barren women don’t birth again!

حطاما يا بني شيبان فابكوا

حطاما يا بني شيبان فابكوا

كما يبكي لدرّته الفطيم

كما يبكي لدرّته الفطيم

Rubble, O sons of Shayban—so weep,

It's rubble, O Bani Shayban, so mourn-

as the weaned child weeps for his milk.

Like a bereft mother who's suckling was shorn.

فهذا عاجل لكم جزاء

فهذا عاجل لكم جزاء

وعند الله تجتمع الخصوم

وعند الله تجتمع الخصوم

This, then, is an immediate recompense for you;

This is the fate you promptly were served,

and before God the disputants gather.

While with God, all plaintiffs shall be heard.