وَكَمْ مِحْنَةٍ كَابَدْتُهَا وَبَلِيَّةٍ

وَكَمْ مِحْنَةٍ كَابَدْتُهَا وَبَلِيَّةٍإِلَى أَنْ أَتَانَا اللهُ بِالفَتْحِ وَالنَّصْرِ

Wakam miḥnatin kābadtuhā wabaliyyatin, Ilā an atānā Allāhu bi-al-fatḥi wa-an-naṣri

How many trials and afflictions I have endured until Allah brought us opening and victory!

صَبَرْتُ لَهَا حَتَّى انْقَضَى وَقْتُهَا الَّذِيبِهِ وُقِّتَتْ فِي سَابِقِ العِلْمِ وَالذِّكْرِ

Ṣabartu lahā ḥattā nqaḍā waqtuhā al-ladhī, Bihi wuqqitat fī sābiqi al-ʿilmi wa-adh-dhikri

I was patient in them until their time ended, the time appointed for them in the foreknowledge and the decree.

وَلَوْ أَنَّنِي بَادَرْتُهَا قَبْلَ تَنْقَضِيبِمَا تَقْتَضِيهِ النَّفْسُ فِي حَالَةِ العُسْرِ

Walaw annanī bādartuhā qabla tanqaḍī, Bimā taqtaḍīhi an-nafsu fī ḥālati al-ʿusri

Had I rushed at them before they ended with what the self demands in times of hardship,

مِنَ الجَزَعِ المَذْمُومِ وَالغَمِّ وَالأَسَىلَكُنْتُ قَدِ اسْتَجْلَبْتُ ضُرّاً إِلَى ضُرِّ

Mina al-jazaʿi al-madhmūmi wa-al-ghammi wa-al-ʾasā, Lakuntu qadi stajlabtu ḍurran ilā ḍurri

Blameworthy grief, worry and sorrow, I would have brought harm upon harm.

وَمَا جَزَعُ الإِنْسَانِ فِي حَالَةِ البَلَاسِوَى تَعَبٍ فِي الحَالِ يَذْهَبُ بِالأَجْرِ

Wamā jazaʿu al-ʾinsāni fī ḥālati al-balā, Siwā taʿabin fī al-ḥāli yadhhabu bi-al-ʾajri

A person's grief in times of trial is nothing but present weariness that takes away the reward.

إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاكَ اللهُ فَالصَّبْرُ حَقُّهُعَلَيْكَ وَإِنْ أَوْلَاكَ فَالحَقُّ فِي الشُّكْرِ

Idhā mā btalāka Allāhu fa-aṣ-ṣabru ḥaqquhu, ʿalayka waʾin awlāka fa-al-ḥaqqu fī ash-shukri

When Allah tries you, patience is His due from you; and when He favours you, the due is gratitude.

وَمَنْ عَرَفَ الدُّنْيَا تَحَقَّقَ أَنَّهَابِلَا مِرْيَةٍ مُسْتَوْطَنُ البُؤْسِ وَالشَّرِّ

Waman ʿarafa ad-dunyā taḥaqqaqa annahā, Bilā miryatin mustawṭanu al-buʾsi wa-ash-sharri

Whoever knows the world realises that it is, beyond doubt, the homeland of misery and evil.

فَلَا بُدَّ لِلإِنْسَانِ طُولَ حَيَاتِهِوَمَا دَامَ فِيهَا مِنْ مُلَازَمَةِ الصَّبْرِ

Falā budda lilʾinsāni ṭūla ḥayātihi, Wamā dāma fīhā min mulāzamati aṣ-ṣabri

So a person must, all his life, as long as he is in it, hold fast to patience.

فَطُوبَى لِعَبْدٍ قَدْ تَجَافَى نَعِيمَهَاوَآثَرَ دَاراً خَيْرُهَا أَبَداً يَجْرِي

Faṭūbā liʿabdin qad tajāfā naʿīmahā, Waʾāthara dāran khayruhā abadan yajrī

Blessed is the servant who has shunned its pleasures and preferred an abode whose good flows forever:

هِيَ الجَنَّةُ الخُلْدُ الَّتِي طَابَ نُزْلُهَالِقَوْمٍ أَطَاعُوا اللهَ فِي السِّرِّ وَالجَهْرِ

Hiya al-jannatu al-khuldu al-latī ṭāba nuzluhā, Liqawmin aṭāʿū Allāha fī as-sirri wa-al-jahri

The Garden of Eternity, whose hospitality is sweet for a people who obeyed Allah in secret and in public,

رِجَالٍ كِرَامٍ عَظَّمُوا حَقَّ رَبِّهِمْوَقَامُوا بِهِ فِي حَالَةِ العُسْرِ وَاليُسْرِ

Rijālin kirāmin ʿaẓẓamū ḥaqqa rabbihim, Waqāmū bihi fī ḥālati al-ʿusri wa-al-yusri

Noble men who revered their Lord's right and upheld it in hardship and in ease.

أَقَامُوا كِتَابَ اللهِ وَاسْتَمْسَكُوا بِهِوَبِالسُّنَّةِ الغَرَّاءِ وَالأَنْجُمِ الزُّهْرِ

Aqāmū kitāba Allāhi wastamsakū bihi, Wabi-as-sunnati al-gharrāʾi wa-al-ʾanjumi az-zuhri

They upheld the Book of Allah and held fast to it, and to the radiant Sunna and the shining stars,

هُدَاةِ الوَرَى طُوبَى لِعَبْدٍ رَآهُمُوَجَالَسَهُمْ لَوْ مَرَّةً مِنْهُ فِي العُمْرِ

Hudāti al-warā ṭūbā liʿabdin raʾāhumu, Wajālasahum law marratan minhu fī al-ʿumri

Guides of mankind: blessed is the servant who has seen them and sat with them, even once in his life!