كَأَنَّ بِقَوْسِ النُّونِ تَحْتَ نِقابِها

كَأَنَّ بِقَوْسِ النُّونِ تَحْتَ نِقابِها

هِلالاً بَدا لِلْفِطْرِ في غُرَّةِ الشَّهْرِ

هِلالاً بَدا لِلْفِطْرِ في غُرَّةِ الشَّهْرِ

As though in the arc of the letter nūn, beneath her veil,

As if beneath her veil a crescent moon

a crescent appeared for Eid al-Fitr at the month's beginning.

Appeared to creation on the feast's first night,

تَجاهَلَ خُبْراً ضَوْؤُهُ أَنَّ فَوْقَهُ

تَجاهَلَ خُبْراً ضَوْؤُهُ أَنَّ فَوْقَهُ

لما اسْتَحْسَنَتْهُ العَيْنُ غَيْماً عَلَى بَدْرِ

لما اسْتَحْسَنَتْهُ العَيْنُ غَيْماً عَلَى بَدْرِ

Its light pretended not to know that above it,

Its splendor put the full moon overhead to shame

when the eye found it beautiful, lay a cloud over a full moon.

When eyes admired it gleaming through the clouds upon the moon.