ولاؤك مفروض على كل مسلم

وحبك في الدارين أفضل مغنم

Loyalty to you is obligatory upon every Muslim,

and love for you is the finest gain in both worlds.

إذا المرؤ لم يكرم بحبك نفسه

غدا وهو عند الله غير مكرم

If a man does not honor himself through love for you,

he becomes one whom God does not honor.

ورثت الهدى عن نص عيسى بن حيدر

وفاطمة لا نص عيسى بن مريم

You inherited guidance through the designation of ʿIsa, son of Haydar

and Fatimah—not the designation of ʿIsa, son of Maryam.

وقال أطيعوا لابن عمي فإنه

أميني على سر الإله الملثم

And he said, ‘Obey my cousin, for he is

my trusted keeper of God's veiled secret.’

كذلك وصى المصطفى في ابن عمه

إلى منجد يوم الغدير ومتهم

Likewise the Chosen One enjoined concerning his cousin,

to those in Najd and Tihamah on the Day of Ghadir:

على يستوي فيه قديم وحادث

وإن كان فضل السبق للمتقدم

ʿAli, in whom the old and the new are equal,

though the merit of precedence belongs to those who came first.

ملكت قلوب المسلمين ببيعة

أمدت بعقد من ولائك مبرم

You won the Muslims' hearts through a pledge of allegiance,

reinforced by a firmly tied bond of loyalty to you.

وأوتيت ميراث البسيطة عن أب

وجد مضى عنها ولم يتقسم

And you were granted the earth as an inheritance from a father

and a grandfather who departed it, the inheritance undivided.

لك الحق فيها دون كل منازع

ولو أنه نال السماك بسلم

The right to it is yours, excluding every contender,

even if he reached the star al-Simak by a ladder.

ولو حفظوا فيك الوصية لم يكن

لغيرك في أقطارها دور درهم

Had they kept the testament concerning you, there would be

no dirham-sized circle within its bounds for anyone else.

فمنهم فروع في قصي قصية

وأنت ابن بنت المصطفى حين تنتمي

For among them are remote branches in Qusayy's line,

while you are the Chosen One's daughter's son by descent.

وما كل خضراء الغصون بنبعة

ولا كل عيدان القنا بمقوم

Not every tree with green branches is a nabʿ-tree,

nor is every shaft of spear-reed straightened true.

تحملت من ثقل الخلافة ما وهت

قواعد رضوى تحته ويلملم

You bore such weight of the caliphate that weakened

the foundations of Radwa and Yalamlam beneath it.

وجدد من سم الشريعة ما عفا

وأحييت من أعلامها كل معلم

And renew what has faded of the sacred law's mark [reading uncertain],

and you revived every landmark among its guiding signs.

وقمت بعهد الله بين عباده

أميناً وعهد العشر لم يتصرم

You upheld God's covenant among His servants,

a faithful trustee, before ten years had run their course.

ليعلم أن الله جل جلاله

أفادك معنى العلم قبل التعلم

So it might be known that God—exalted is His majesty—

bestowed on you the substance of knowledge before learning,

وأنك نور للهدى متجسد

ولست كأجساد من اللحم والدم

and that you are an embodied light of guidance,

not like bodies made of flesh and blood,

وأنك محروس المكانة عنده

حراسة معصوم البصيرة ملهم

and that your station is guarded in His sight,

with the protection of one infallible in insight, divinely inspired.

ولولا التغالي قلت فيك مقالة

يخلدها في جبهة الدهر ميسمي

Were it not for exaggeration, I would say of you words

that my branding iron would immortalize on time's brow.

ولكن كفاني ذاك أنك خالد ال

مناقب في آي من الذكر محكم

But this suffices me: immortal are your

virtues, in verses of the unambiguous Revelation.

وكل زمان أو مكان رضيتم

به فهو في الإسلام أكرم موسم

And every time or place you are pleased

with is Islam's most honored occasion.

فلم تشرف البطحاء لولا صلاتكم

إلى جبهة البيت العتيق المحرم

For al-Batha would not have been ennobled but for your prayers

toward the face of the ancient, sacred House.

ولا قدم الشهر المحرم قبل ما

عداه سوى تقديمكم للمحرم

Nor was the month of Muharram placed before

the others except through your giving Muharram precedence.

هو العام جاء السعد يحدو ركابه

وقد قدمت أيامه خير مقدم

This is the year when good fortune came, urging its camels onward with song,

and its days have already made the most auspicious entrance.

بداية سعد لا يزال دوامها

يصاحبه الإقبال غير متمم

The beginning of good fortune whose enduring course

prosperity keeps accompanying, never brought to an end.

أما والمقام العاضدي فإنه

أجل يمين في ألية مقسم

Now, by the station of al-ʿAdid—for it is

the greatest oath in a swearer's solemn pledge—

لقد جملت أبناء رزيك دولة

جعلت مدار الأمر فيها عليهم

the sons of Ruzzik have indeed adorned a dynasty

whose affairs you made revolve around them.

وأضحوا سواراً في يمين زمانها

وسوراً عل الإسلام غير مهدم

They became a bracelet on the right hand of its age,

and an undemolished rampart protecting Islam.

وجلوا بنور العدل كل ظلامة

فما أن ترى في الناس من متظلم

With the light of justice they dispelled every wrong,

so among the people you see no complainant of injustice.

وقام بأمر الملك منهم متوج

له بينهم حكم العزيز المحكم

A crowned one among them took charge of the kingdom;

among them his is the mighty ruler's unassailable command.

ترى سيماء الملك فوق جبينه

يلوح لعين الناظر المتوسم

You see the mark of kingship upon his brow,

shining to the eye of the discerning observer.

مهيب السطى لولا تبسم وجهه

لما كان فوق الأرض من متبسم

Fearsome in assault, were it not for his smiling face,

there would be no smiling person upon the earth.

تظل المنايا والمنى في زمانه

مقسمة ما بين بؤس وأنعم

Deaths and hopes remain, in his age,

apportioned between misery and blessings.

فلله مجد صالحي ورثته

وشنشنة نيطت عراها بأخزم

God be praised for the Salihi glory you inherited,

and a disposition whose ties were bound to Akhzam.

أعرت المنايا شيمة عادلية

وعلمتهن البشر بعد التجهم

You lent the Fates an ʿAdili disposition,

and taught them cheerfulness after scowling.

فلا الجو من بعد الصباح بمشمس

ولا هو من بعد المساء بمظلم

So the sky is not sunlit after morning,

nor is it dark after evening.

وكانت نفوس الناس تخشاك قبل أن

ملكت ويجلى كل ظن مرجم

People's souls feared you before

you ruled—and every conjectural suspicion is dispelled.

وقالوا أملك قاهر وشبيبة

وصولة شبل طالب ثار ضيغم

They said, ‘Overpowering kingship, and youth,

and a lion cub's onslaught, seeking vengeance for a mighty lion?’

فأخلفت ما ظنوا بأحسن سيرة

يفوح بها مسك الثناء من الفم

But you belied what they thought with the finest conduct,

for which the musk of praise wafts from the mouth.

وقلمت ظفر الشر عنهم فقبلوا

أنامل كف برها لم يقلم

You clipped evil's claw away from them, and they kissed

the fingertips of a hand whose goodness was not clipped.

وألفت أشتات القلوب برأفة

حبيب إليها العفو عن كل مجرم

You united scattered hearts through compassion;

dear to them is pardon for every offender.

جمعت إلى ما سرها من كرامة

مكارم أوجدن الغنى كل معدم

To the honor that delighted them you added

generous deeds that brought wealth to every destitute soul:

مواهب لم تفرح بها نفس واهب

سواك ولم تسمح بها كف منعم

gifts in which no giver's soul rejoiced

but yours, and which no other benefactor's hand bestowed.

غدا لك فيها الحمد من جملة الورى

وللصالح الهادي ثواب الترحم

For them, praise from all humankind became yours,

and for al-Salih the guide, the reward of prayers for mercy.

إذا نحن قلنا ما عسى أن نريده

وقد جزت عن حد الندى والتكرم

When we say, ‘What could we desire?’

since you have surpassed the bounds of bounty and generosity,

صبرت على الأوهام حتى إذا انتهت

أتيت بأخرى لم تكن في التوهم

you patiently bear with our imaginings until, when they end,

you bring another that had never entered our imagination.

فقدنا زماناً لست مالك أمره

فما بعد فقد الماء غير التيمم

May we be spared an age whose affairs you do not rule,

for after the loss of water, nothing remains but dry ablution.

ولا برحت علياك في كل موسم

معظمة في ذا المقام المعظم

And may your eminence, at every occasion, remain

honored in this exalted station.