1. يا قَوميَ استَمِعوا لِلنُّصحِ يبذله

    أخ لكُم همه الإِخلاص لِلوَطَن

    O my people, listen to the counsel offered

    by a brother of yours whose concern is devotion to the homeland.

  2. إن شئتُمُ أَن تَنالوا الفَوزَ فَاِتَّحِدوا

    فَنَحنُ بَينَ نيوب الجور وَالوَهن

    If you wish to attain victory, unite;

    for we are between the fangs of oppression and weakness.

  3. ضَعف نقاسيه من أَمراض كبوتنا

    حكم يسير بِنا لِلهَول وَالمحن

    Weakness we suffer from the ailments of our downfall,

    a regime that leads us into terror and ordeals.

  4. يا ويح قوم أضاعوا منهُمُ شرفاً

    بَناه أجدادَهُم في سالِف الزَّمَن

    Alas for a people who have squandered their honor,

    which their forefathers built in times long past.

  5. يستقبلون رزايا الدَّهر مفعمة

    سحقاً ومحقاً وعارا غير مضطعن

    They receive the calamities of time, brimming

    with crushing ruin, annihilation, and unchallenged disgrace.

  6. فذاك وَاللَّه لا ظلماً جزاؤُهُمُ

    قد أعقبته إليهم لذة الوسن

    That, by God, is their recompense, not an injustice;

    the pleasure of slumber has brought it upon them.

  7. بِاللهوِ قد قطعوا أيّامهم وهمُ

    في أرضهِم غرباء الدار وَالسَّكَن

    They have spent their days in amusement, while they

    are strangers in their own land, in house and home.

  8. يعاملون بها كَالشاة تطعم ما

    تحتاجُه لنتاج السمن وَاللبَن

    They are treated there like a ewe, fed what

    she needs to produce clarified butter and milk.

  9. يقول ظالِمُهُم إِنّي ممدنكم

    وسالِك بكمُ في أَفضَلِ السنن

    Their oppressor says, “I am civilizing you,

    and leading you along the best of ways.

  10. الظلم أقطعه والعلم أنشره

    فيسبح الناس في بحر من المنن

    I end oppression and spread knowledge,

    so the people swim in a sea of benefactions.

  11. وتِلكَ خطة آبائي أنفذها

    ما بَينَكُم يا ضَحايا الجهل والفِتَن

    And that is my forefathers' plan, which I carry out

    among you, O victims of ignorance and strife.

  12. بذاك قد نلت في الأَقوام منقبة

    يعدها في صحيفاتي أولو الفِطَن

    By this I have gained distinction among peoples,

    which the discerning count in my records.”

  13. كذا يقول وهم قد ألقموا حجرا

    صلدا من الجبن في سروفي علن

    Thus he speaks, while their mouths have been stuffed with a stone,

    hard with cowardice, in secret and in public.

  14. وربما وقعوا بِالصك أَنهم

    راضون عَن عيشهم في سيرة الخشن

    And perhaps they have signed a document declaring that they

    are content with their lives under the harsh one's rule.

  15. هذا مثال لعمر الحَق موعظَة

    لكُلِّ ذي بصر يَقتاد بِالرَّسَن

    This example, by the life of Truth, is an admonition

    for everyone with sight who is led by a halter.

  16. نَقتاد قَهرا إِلى عَيش يجرعه

    كوبا من الخَسف مَملوءاً من الدرن

    We are driven by force into a life that makes one drink

    a cup of abasement filled with filth.

  17. أعنيك يا أمة الخَضراء فَاِنتَبهي

    هبي إِلى المَجدِ لا تلوي إِلى الأَفن

    I mean you, O nation of al-Khadra—awaken!

    Rise toward glory; do not turn toward folly.

  18. ظنوك أمة زهد لا حياة لها

    فَاِستَخدَموك لقصد لَيسَ بِالحسن

    They thought you an ascetic nation with no life of its own,

    so they used you for a purpose that was not good.

  19. جاروا عَلَيك احتقارا فيك وَاِستَتروا

    تحتَ العَدالَة في الأَوراقِ واللسن

    They oppressed you out of contempt for you, and hid themselves

    under the guise of justice, in documents and on tongues.

  20. عرَفت ذاك فقمت اليَوم منكرةً

    ما اِستَدرجوك به من خضرة الدمن

    You recognized this, and today you rose to denounce

    the greenery of dunghills with which they lured you.

  21. قالوا مؤامَرة قُلنا مطالبَة

    بِالحَق لا طلب منا إِلى الشحن

    They said, “A conspiracy!” We said, “A demand

    for justice, not a call from us for hostility.”

  22. فَاِستَعملوا الضغط جورا كي يروا وهنا

    فينا فخاب الَّذي راموا ولم نَهن

    So they used pressure unjustly, to see weakness

    in us; their aim failed, and we did not weaken.

  23. فَحاولوا صدنا بِاللين عن طلب

    يَدوم ما دامَ هذا الروح في البدن

    Then they tried with gentleness to turn us from a demand

    that endures as long as this spirit remains in the body.

  24. وقال رَأسهم هذا يجوزُ وذا

    محال اجراؤه في أيما زَمَن

    And their chief said, “This is permissible, and that

    is impossible to carry out at any time.”

  25. وَهَكذا جبروت القَوم أَقعدَهُم

    عن حق شعب تجافى موقد الفتن

    And thus those people's tyrannical arrogance held them back

    from honoring the right of a people who shunned the hearth of strife.

  26. تَأبى كرامَتنا أَن نَستَكين لِمَن

    يُريدُ إِشغالُنا في أحقَر المِهَن

    Our dignity will not let us submit to anyone

    who wants to keep us occupied in the lowliest occupations.

  27. هذا دم جال فينا من أوائِلنا

    يهيج ذِكرى لِيَوم الدرجِ في الكَفَن

    This is blood that has coursed in us from our forebears,

    stirring remembrance until the day we are wrapped in the shroud.