1. جهادُكَ مقبولٌ وعامُكَ قابلُ

    ألا في سبيل المجدِ ما أنتَ فاعِلُ

    Your holy struggle is accepted, and your year lies ahead.

    Indeed, all that you do is in the cause of glory.

  2. تجاهدُ بالحظيَّ والخطُّ في العدى

    فمالَكَ في هذا وهذا مماثلُ

    You fight your foes with the spear [reading uncertain] and with the pen;

    In neither do you have an equal.

  3. هنيئاً بعودٍ منْ جهادٍ مباركٍ

    على الناسِ بالجناتِ كافٍ وكافلُ

    Joy upon your return from a blessed struggle,

    Sufficing for the people and assuring them the gardens of Paradise.

  4. إذا حلَّ مولانا بأرضٍ يحلها

    عفافٌ وإقدامٌ وحزمٌ ونائلُ

    When our lord settles in a land, there too settle

    Chastity, courage, resolve, and bounty.

  5. وإنْ لاحَ في القرطاسِ أسودُ خطِّهِ

    يقولُ الدجى يا صبحُ لونُكَ حائلُ

    And if the black of his script appears upon the page,

    Darkness says, ‘O dawn, your hue is fading.’

  6. لأقلامِكَ السمرِ العوالي تواضعَتْ

    وهابَتْكَ في أغمادِهنَّ المناصلُ

    The tall brown lances have bowed before your pens,

    And swords have feared you within their scabbards.

  7. نزلْتُم على الحصنِ المنيعِ جنابُهُ

    فليس تبالي مَنْ تغولُ الغوائلُ

    You encamped before the fortress whose approaches were impregnable,

    And cared not whom calamities might destroy.

  8. نصبتمْ عليهِ للحصارِ حبائلاً

    كما نُصبَتْ للفرقدينِ الحبائلُ

    You set snares against it for the siege,

    As snares were set for the two Farqad stars.

  9. فزلزلتموهُ خيفةً ومهابةً

    فأثقلَ رضوى دونَ ما هوَ حاملُ

    You shook it with terror and awe,

    And even Radwa at its heaviest was lighter than the burden it bore.

  10. ألا إنَّ جيشاً للنقير فاتحاً

    لآتٍ بما لمْ تستطعْهُ الأوائلُ

    Indeed, an army that conquers al-Naqir

    Surely achieves what those of old could not.

  11. فكمْ أنشدَ التكفورُ باحصنُ لا تبلْ

    ولو نظرتْ شرزاً إليكَ القبائلُ

    How often the tekfur recited: ‘O fortress, do not fret,

    Even if the tribes glare fiercely at you.’

  12. فقالَ لهُ اسكتْ ما رأيتَ الذي أرى

    وأيسرُ هجري أنني عنكَ راحلُ

    It answered him: ‘Be silent! You have not seen what I see.

    The least of my desertion is that I am leaving you.

  13. ألمْ ترَ ما قدْ حلَّ بي منْ قتالهمْ

    ولا ذنبَ لي إلا العلى والفواضلُ

    Have you not seen what their assault has brought upon me?

    I have no fault save my loftiness and merits.’

  14. فأصبحَ مِنْ جورِ الحصارِ كأنَّهُ

    أخو سقطةٍ أو ظالعٍ متحاملُ

    From the siege’s oppression it became like

    A fallen man, or a limping one forcing himself onward.

  15. رميتُمْ حجارَ المنجنيقِ عليهُم

    ففاخرتِ الشهبَ الحصى والجنادلُ

    You hurled catapult stones upon them,

    And pebbles and boulders vied in glory with shooting stars.

  16. حجارةُ سجيلٍ لها البدرُ خائفٌ

    على نفسِهِ والنجمُ في الغربِ مائلُ

    Stones of baked clay—the full moon fears them

    For its own safety, while the star sinks in the west.

  17. وعدتم وللفتحِ المبينِ تباشرَتْ

    وقدْ حُطِّمَتْ في الدارعينَ العواملُ

    You returned, and at the clear victory rejoiced—

    Though shattered against armored men—the spearheads.

  18. وفلَّ قتالَ المشركينَ سيوفُكم

    فما السيفُ إلا غمدُهُ والحمائلُ

    Combat with the polytheists has blunted your swords,

    So the sword is nothing but its sheath and carrying-straps.

  19. لعمري لقدْ كانَ النقيرُ مانعاً

    ويقصرُ عن إدراكِهِ المتناولُ

    By my life, al-Naqir was indeed unassailable,

    And whoever reached for it fell short of attaining it.

  20. وكانَ عنِ الإسلامِ أعظمَ آبقٍ

    فأُوثق حتى نَهْضُهُ متثاقِلُ

    It was the greatest fugitive from Islam,

    So it was bound fast, until even its rising was labored.

  21. بغى فبغى ألطنبغا الفتحَ منشداً

    ويا نفسُ جدِّي إنَّ دهرَك هازلُ

    It rebelled, so Altunbugha sought its conquest, reciting:

    ‘And, O soul, be earnest, for your time is jesting.’

  22. فأنشدَهُ الحصنُ المنيعُ ملكتني

    ولو أنني فوقَ السماكينِ نازلُ

    Then the impregnable fortress recited to him: ‘You have taken possession of me,

    Even were I lodged above the two Simak stars.

  23. وقصَّرَ طولي عندكم حسنُ صبرِكمْ

    وعندَ التناهي يقصُرُ المتطاولُ

    Your fine endurance diminished my height before you,

    And at the utmost limit, the towering one falls short.’