النارُ أَهونُ من رُكوبِ العارِ

النارُ أَهونُ من رُكوبِ العارِ

وَالعارُ يُدخُلُ أَهلَهُ في النارِ

وَالعارُ يُدخُلُ أَهلَهُ في النارِ

The fire is easier to bear than incurring disgrace.

Fire is better than riding disgrace

Hellfire is easier to bear than the mounting of shame,

And disgrace brings its bearers into the fire.

And disgrace makes its people enter fire

For shame casts its people into the Fire.

وَالعارُ في رَجُلٍ يَبيتُ وَجارُهُ

وَالعارُ في رَجُلٍ يَبيتُ وَجارُهُ

طاوي الحَشى مُتَمَزِّقُ الأَطمارِ

طاوي الحَشى مُتَمَزِّقُ الأَطمارِ

And disgrace lies in a man who spends the night while his neighbor

And disgrace in a man whose neighbor spends the night

Shame lies in a man who sleeps soundly while his neighbor

Is empty-bellied, his clothes in tatters.

With a starving belly and tattered clothes

Is twisted with hunger, clad in shredded rags.

وَالعارُ في هَضمِ الضَعيفِ وَظُلمِهِ

وَالعارُ في هَضمِ الضَعيفِ وَظُلمِهِ

وَإِقامةِ الأَخيارِ بِالأَشرارِ

وَإِقامةِ الأَخيارِ بِالأَشرارِ

And disgrace lies in denying the weak their due and wronging them,

And disgrace in wronging the weak and oppressing them

Shame lies in crushing the weak and oppressing them,

And in equating the good with the wicked.

And putting the righteous with the wicked

And in supplanting the virtuous with the vile.