فتاة ضحوك أمسكت بحمارها

فتاة ضحوك أمسكت بحمارها

أحسن وقبح؟! كيف يجتمعان؟

أحسن وقبح؟! كيف يجتمعان؟

A cheerful girl held onto her donkey.

The cheerful girl held her donkey

A laughing girl holding onto her donkey—

Beauty and ugliness?! How do the two come together?

Beauty and ugliness?! How do they come together?

The fairest and the foulest?! How can they combine?

إذا اختلفا في الحسن والقبح صورة

إذا اختلفا في الحسن والقبح صورة

فما اختلفا في وحدة الحيوان

فما اختلفا في وحدة الحيوان

If they differ in form—in beauty and ugliness—

If they differ in beauty and ugliness of form

If they differ in the form of beauty and ugliness,

Yet they do not differ in their shared animal nature.

They do not differ in the oneness of the animal

They differ not in the unity of animal nature.

وكيف تميز الشيء إلا بضده

وكيف تميز الشيء إلا بضده

لذاك ترى الضدين يقترنان

لذاك ترى الضدين يقترنان

And how can you distinguish a thing except by its opposite?

And how can you distinguish a thing except by its opposite?

For how is a thing distinguished except by its opposite?

That is why you see the two opposites paired.

That's why you see the two opposites paired

That is why you see opposites paired together.

تأمل تر الأضداد في كل كائن

تأمل تر الأضداد في كل كائن

فكم من قباح قورنت بحسان

فكم من قباح قورنت بحسان

Reflect, and you will see opposites in every being.

Contemplate, you see opposites in every creature

Contemplate, and you will find contraries in every being,

For how many ugly ones have been paired with beautiful ones!

So much ugliness paired with beauty

For how many ugly things are coupled with the beautiful.

يشاهدها الانسان في كل حادث

يشاهدها الانسان في كل حادث

وفي كل مرئي بكل مكان

وفي كل مرئي بكل مكان

Humankind sees them in every event,

Man sees it in every event

Man witnesses this in every unfolding event,

And in every visible thing, in every place.

And in everything seen everywhere

And in every visible thing, in every place.

فسلم لمن أجرى كما شاء سنة

فسلم لمن أجرى كما شاء سنة

بديعة ضع من قديم زمان

بديعة ضع من قديم زمان

So submit to the One who established, as He willed, a law,

So submit to Him who enacted as He willed

So submit to the One who enacted a law as He willed,

Wondrous—[“put” is unclear in context]—from ages long past.

A wondrous law since ancient times

A wondrous design established in times of old.