وَيُطلِعُ في سُحبِ العَجاجِ كَواكِباً

وَيُطلِعُ في سُحبِ العَجاجِ كَواكِباً

لَها الفِعلُ لا لِلثاقِباتِ الطَوالِعِ

لَها الفِعلُ لا لِلثاقِباتِ الطَوالِعِ

And he makes stars rise amid clouds of swirling dust.

He makes stars appear in clouds of dust,

The power to act is theirs, not the piercing, rising stars'.

With power their own, not that of fate's decrees,

مَكارِمُ مِن أَصلٍ وَفَرعٍ تَجَمَّعَت

مَكارِمُ مِن أَصلٍ وَفَرعٍ تَجَمَّعَت

هِيَ القُضبُ لا ما يُدَّعى لِلقَوارِعِ

هِيَ القُضبُ لا ما يُدَّعى لِلقَوارِعِ

Noble qualities from root and branch have gathered together;

Virtues gathered from a noble stock and branch,

They are the swords—not the powers ascribed to calamities.

The pole, not what the thunderbolts might claim.

إِذا حاجَةٌ نابَت إِلى قَصدِ جودِهِ

إِذا حاجَةٌ نابَت إِلى قَصدِ جودِهِ

فَشافِعُها أَلَّا تَجِيءَ بِشافِعِ

فَشافِعُها أَلَّا تَجِيءَ بِشافِعِ

If a need arises, prompting you to seek his generosity,

If some desire should seek his bounty's aim,

Its intercessor is that you come without an intercessor.

Let no intermediary presume to plead,

إِذا أَنتَ أُعطِيتَ اللُهى بِذَريعَةٍ

إِذا أَنتَ أُعطِيتَ اللُهى بِذَريعَةٍ

فَلا تَشكُرَن إِلّا لِتِلكَ الذَرائِعِ

فَلا تَشكُرَن إِلّا لِتِلكَ الذَرائِعِ

If you are given gifts through some means,

If you are granted joy by some pretense,

Then give thanks only to those means.

Thank none but those convenient excuses.