وبعد فاسمع يا بني وافهم

And then, my son, listen and understand; do not take matters through mere conjecture.

When God cast this war upon the sons of the East and the peoples of the West,

For a wisdom He alone knows, He fills actions with its hidden mysteries,

Bringing them forth tomorrow from the tent; tomorrow will surely bring you the news.

The slumbering powers of destiny stirred, and the factors of grief marched in succession.

And God's decree of exile from the homeland came to pass—a trial long visited upon the wise.

So I began to summon against my sorrows the daughters of thought, not as a fleeting affliction,

Fending off emptiness and idleness; ruined is he who lets idleness kill him.

Until God willed that I should versify the monumental lives of great men,

Knowing well the momentous deeds and events that such chronicles awaken in history.

A child is nourished by what he is fed, so flood him with exemplary models to imitate.

And I chose the vast sea of the rajaz meter, which critics claim is a vessel for the incapable.

They hold one opinion while I hold its opposite; the cup is not the pure wine itself.

The value of the pearl lies upon human throats through its own worth, not through the oceans.

A poem wherein I bound myself to what was not required; yet leaving such constraints would have suited me better and been wiser.

Beauty fails if it lacks eloquence in speech, exposing your pursuit of refinement to bitter blame.

I pitted solid rock against the flowing, pure stream; truly, sweet water can emerge from stones.

The spirit of rivalry challenged my imagination and it answered, treading the path of eloquent ancestors.

I neither despaired of the generous soul who overlooks faults, nor felt secure against the spiteful envier.

Perhaps I have minted proverbs that push past the limits of boldness expected from one like me.

So that the youth might find in this new work a delight absent from mere repetition.

Should you find a flaw, let your eye be one of benevolent approval, or pass by like the noble, simply turning away.