Translation of Ibrahim al-Yaziji's 'Awaken and arise, O Arabs'

Ibrahim al-Yaziji (1847-1906), born in Beirut, was a leading figure of the period in Arab history known as the nahda (“awakening”), which was simultaneously an intellectual and cultural renaissance (that saw, for instance, the first Arabic-language novels and plays) and a political movement that combined secularism with a nascent pan-Arab brand of nationalism, asserting that reason and egalité rather than irrational religious chauvinism (with its inevitable divisiveness) were society’s best hopes for liberation – not only from foreign occupation but from injustice and ignorance in general.

Among al-Yaziji’s foremost individual contributions were his dictionary of synonyms, his pioneering work on Arabic fonts that made Arabic typewriting possible for the first time, and his translation into Arabic of the Bible.

His most famous poem, described by Fawwaz Trabulsi as “the rallying call for the early generations of Arab nationalists”1, is said to have been first recited (for it was too dangerous to write down) at an 1878 meeting of the Syrian Scientific Association. Two years later, it was surreptitiously plastered across the walls of Beirut and Damascus alongside posters calling for independence from the Ottoman Empire2. The resulting scandal led to the dismissal of the grand vizier of Damascus, and the driving of most independence-minded thinkers, including al-Yaziji himself, into exile.

Despite the obvious significance of the poem, I’ve been unable to find a single coherent English translation of it online. The below is an attempt to rectify this. In the interests of my own sanity I have made effort neither to preserve the monorhyme scheme (in the Arabic, every one of the 48 lines ends with the syllable “bu”) nor the rigid metre (known as al-baseet, comprising 14 syllables per hemistich). My aim was to prioritize accuracy over aesthetics: as a result, it isn’t necessarily the most mellifluous read. The language in the original is at times quite obscure and archaic – it’s entirely possible I’ve made errors in places.

Interestingly, not all of the poem has aged well. There are some unpardonably homophobic lines, for instance. Yet, at its best – its injunction to “free yourselves of tribalism” (also translatable as “fanaticism” or “sectarianism”); its appeal to a common and ancient literary heritage; and the stirring eloquence of its call for liberation from a humiliating tyranny – it still feels as radical and forward-thinking as anything written since, and it’s little surprise that homage has been paid to it by Arab Spring protestors, such as those in Syria, who on July 5, 2013, named their weekly nationwide demonstration “The Friday of ‘Awaken and arise, O brigades’”.

Awaken and arise, O Arabs	تَنَبَهوا وَاستَفيقوا أَيُّها العَرَب
For the crisis has overflown to knee height	فَقَد طَمى الخَطبُ حَتّى غاصَتِ الرُّكَبُ
Why the excuse-making with hopes that deceive you	فيمَ التَعلُّلُ بالآمالِ تَخدَعَكُم
While you are in the grip of decline, dispossessed?	وَأَنتُم بَينَ راحاتِ الفَنا سلُبُ
God is greatest, [so] what is this sleep?	اللَّهُ أَكبرُ ما هَذا المَنام فَقَد
The bed has complained about you and the Lord has missed you	شَكاكُمُ المَهد وَاِشتاقَكُمُ الرَّبُّ
How oppressed you are, yet you don’t complain, and how	كَم تُظلمون وَلَستُم تَشتَكون وَكَم
Much you’re provoked and yet appear not angry	تُستَغضَبونَ فَلا يَبدو لَكُم غَضَبُ
You’ve grown accustomed to shame, till it’s become to you	ألِفتُم الهُون حَتّى صارَ عِندَكُمُ
Natural and part of man’s innate nature	طَبعاً وَبَعضُ طِباعِ المَرءِ مُكتَسَبُ
Your pride, from the humiliation’s length, has fled you	وَفارَقَتْكُم لِطول الذُلِّ نَخوَتكُم
Such that neither abasement nor ruin pain you	فَلَيسَ يُؤلِمُكُم خَسفٌ وَلا عَطبُ
By God, your endurance3! If only it were	لِلّهِ صَبركُمُ لَو أَنَّ صَبرَكُمُ
Applied to the meeting of stirred horses [in battle]	في مُلتَقى الخَيلِ حينَ الخَيلُ تَضطَرِبُ
How great the gulf is between endurance that brings abjection	كَم بَينَ صَبرٍ غَدا لِلذُلِّ مُجتَلِباً
And [the kind of] endurance used for milking glory	وَبَينَ صَبرٍ غَدا لِلعزِّ يَحتَلبُ
So get on with it, embark on the matter, and hasten	فَشَمِّروا وَاِنهَضوا لِلأَمرِ وَاِبتَدِروا
Your era offers an opportunity the ages have long withheld	مِن دَهرِكم فُرصَةً ضَنَّت بِها الحِقَبُ
Don’t strive for a triumph [solely] for yourselves	لا تَبتَغوا بِالمُنى فَوزاً لِأَنفُسِكُم
The triumph isn’t true if it doesn’t fulfil the demand	لا يُصدقُ الفَوزُ ما لَم يَصدُقِ الطَّلَبُ
Free yourselves of tribalism and stand up as one	خلُّوا التَّعَصُبَ عَنكُم وَاِستَووا عُصباً
Congregate around unity and repelling injustice	عَلى الوِئام وَدَفعِ الظُّلمِ تَعتَصِبُ
For you are the majority and how many small groups	لأَنتمُ الفِئةَ الكُثرى وَكُم فِئةٍ
Attained victory when they were united4	قَليلةٍ تمّ إِذ ضَمَت لَها الغَلبُ
This is what has thrown weakness at your strength	هَذا الَّذي قَد رَمى بِالضَّعفِ قوَّتكم
And unity has gone from you and [become] fragmented	وَغادرَ الشَّمل مِنكُم وَهُوَ مَنشَعبُ
Tyranny has been empowered in your provinces, so they vanished	وَسَلّطَ الجورَ في أَقطارِكُم فَغَدَت
And land without its country provinces is ruined	وَارضها دونَ أَقطار المَلا خِرَبُ
The heathen governs you with his contempt	وَحُكَّم العِلجَ فيكُم مَع مَهانَتِهِ
Leading you capriciously, however he pleases	يَقتادكُم لِهَواهُ حَيثُ يَنقَلبُ
From every low, wretched [person] of no lineage	مِن كُلِّ وَغدٍ زَنيمٍ ما لَهُ نَسَبٌ
Having neither religion nor breeding	يُدرى وَلَيسَ لَهُ دينٌ وَلا أَدبُ
And every effeminate [gay] man plunged in abomination	وَكُلُ ذي خَنثٍ في الفَحشِ مُنغَمِسٍ
Increases, by the friction in his backside, the itch/scabies	يَزدادُ بِالحَكِّ في وَجَعائهِ الجَرَبُ
Their weapon in the faces of the adversary is their cunning	سِلاحَهُم في وُجوهِ الخَصمِ مَكرَهُمُ
And the skill of their soldiers in deceit and lies	وَخَير جُندِهُم التَّدليسُ وَالكَذبُ
No treaty of theirs is made honestly	لا يَستَقيمُ لَهُم عَهدٌ إِذا عَقَدوا
Nor is a promise kept if they [choose]	وَلا يَصحُّ لَهُم وَعدٌ إِذا ضَرَبُوا
If you were to ask what desire motivates them	إِذا طَلَبتَ إِلى وُدٍّ لَهُم سَبباً
[You would find] they have none but obscenity	فَما إِلى وُدِّهم غَير الخَنى سَببُ
Truth and falsehood on their scales are alike	وَالحَقُّ وَالبُطل في مِيزانِهم شرعٌ
So [those scales] don’t tip except by gold’s doing	فَلا يَميلُ سِوى ما ميَّل الذَّهَبُ
Your necks for them are enslaved, and your money	أَعناقكُم لَهُمُ رِقٌّ وَماُلكم
Is squandered on games and juice-drinking and backgammon	بَينَ الدُّمى وَالطِلا وَالنردُ مُنتَهبُ
The fat of ewes is held your arms	باتَت سِمانُ نِعاجٍ بَينَ أَذرُعِكُم
While those other than you have become the milkers	وَباتَ غَيركُم لِلدُّرِّ يَحتَلِبُ
The landowner is one of you within his village	فَصاحِبُ الأَرضِ مِنكُم ضِمنَ ضَيعتِهِ
Exploited, and the stepson of the house is estranged	مُستَخدَمٌ وَرَبيبُ الدَّارِ مُغتَربُ
Your blood is no more precious, if shed	وَما دِماؤُكُم أَغلى إِذا سُفِكتْ
Than the water poured on their faces during indecency	مِن ماء وَجهٍ لَهُم في الفُحشِ يَنسَكِبُ
And your honours aren’t more precious, if violated	وَلَيسَ أَعراضُكُم أَغلى إِذا اِنتُهِكَت
Than the honour of their slaves procured with pennies	مِن عِرضِ مَملوكِهِم بِالفلسِ يَجتَلِبُ
By God, O our people, embark upon your affair	بِاللَّهِ يا قَومَنا هُبُّوا لِشأنِكُمُ
For how the poems and sermons cry out to you	فَكَم تُناديكُمُ الأَشعارُ وَالخطبُ
Are you not those who attacked the land and conquered	أَلَستُم من سَطوا في الأَرضِ وَاِفتَتَحوا
East and West and were mighty wherever they went?	شَرقاً وَغَرباً وَعَزّوا أَينَما ذَهَبُوا
And who subjugated and shook the arrogant kings	ومَن أَذَلُّوا المُلوكِ الصِّيدَ فَاِرتَعَدَت
[Such that their] fear quaked the earth in its foundations?	وَزلزلَ الأَرضَ مِما تَحتَها الرّهَبُ
And who built pillars for the structures of might	وَمن بَنَوا لِصروحِ العزِّ أَعمِدَةً
That crippled lightning bolts when they struck?	تَهوي الصَّواعقُ عَنها وَهيَ تَنقَلِبُ
So what’s with you, woe unto you, you’ve gone to neglect	فَما لَكُم وَيحَكُم أَصبَحتُمُ هملاً
And the face of your might has been veiled in disgrace	وَوجهُ عزّكم بِالهُونِ مُنتَقِبُ
You have no state to support you	لا دَولةٌ لَكُمُ يَشتَدُّ أزرَكُمُ
Nor is there a saviour assigned for the crisis	بِها وَلا ناصِرٌ لِلخَطبِ ينتَدِبُ
Neither is there reverence, nor mercy for you	وَلَيسَ مِن حُرمةٍ أَو رَحمةٍ لَكُمُ
[To] feel compassion if misfortunes bite you	تَحنو عَلَيكُم إِذا عضتكمُ النُّوَبُ
Your fates in the eyes of the Turks are sinking	أَقدارُكُم في عُيونِ التُّركِ نازلَة
And your rights between the Turks’ hands are raped	وَحَقَكُم بَينَ أَيدي التُّرك مُغتَصَبُ
Neither prestige nor honour are known to you	فَلَيسَ يُدرى لَكُم شَأنٌ وَلا شَرَفٌ
Nor presence, nor a name, nor a title	وَلا وجودٌ وَلا اسمٌ وَلا لَقَبُ
O my people! Who are none other than Arabs	فَيا لِقَومي وَما قَومي سِوى عَرَبٌ
And they shall never be stripped of that lineage	وَلَن يُضَيَّعَ فيهم ذَلِكَ النَسَبُ
Suppose there is none among you of status	هب أَنَّهُ لَيسَ فيكُم أَهلُ مَنزِلَةٍ
To give out orders, or be given authority	يُقَلَّدُ الأَمرَ أَو تُعطى لَهُ الرُّتَبُ
And there is none among you of resolve and spirit	وَلَيسَ فيكُم أَخو حَزمٍ وَمَخبرةٍ
Elected to govern effectively	لِلعَقدِ وَالحَلِّ في الأَحكامِ يُنتخَبُ
And none among you of [sufficient] learning [to handle]	وَلَيسَ فيكُم أَخو علمٍ يُحكَّمُ في
Jurisprudence, [even though] the books came from you	فَصل القَضاءِ وَمِنكُم جاءَتِ الكُتُبُ
Is there not within you blood that haughtiness stirs	أَلَيسَ فيكُم دَمٌ يَهتاجُهُ أنفٌ
Every day, repelling this disgrace when it leaps?	يَوماً فَيَدفَعُ هَذا العار إِذ يَثِبُ
Then let me hear me the clanging and sparks of swords	فَأَسمِعوني صَليلَ البَيضِ بارِقَةً
In the dust I [shall] delight to their sound	في النَّقعِ إِني إِلى رَنَّاتِها طَرِبُ
And let me hear me the echo of the discharged rifle	وَأَسمَعوني صَدى البارودِ مُنطَلِقاً
Reverberating over every plain when it roars	يَدوي بِهِ كُل قاعٍ حينَ يَصطَخِبُ
There’s no longer anything holding you back	لَم يَبقَ عِندَكُمُ شَيءٌ يَضنُّ بِهِ
Except [your] spirits over which abasement is draped	غَيرَ النُّفوسِ عَلَيها الذُّلُّ يَنسَحِبُ
So assail death, and dispense, through its relief	فَبادِروا المَوتَ وَاِستَغنوا براحَتِهِ
With the life of one who died filled with fatigue	عَن عَيشِ مَن ماتَ مَوتاً مُلؤُهُ تَعبُ
With endurance, come on! [Against] the Turks who oppressed	صَبراً هَيا أُمَّةِ التُّركِ الَّتي ظَلَمت
For an age, and shortly the veils will be raised	دَهراً فَعمَّا قَليلٍ تُرفَعُ الحُجُبُ
Let us make our demand with the sword’s edge	لنطلبنَّ بِحَدِّ السَّيفِ مأَرَبنا
For no goal, with [the sword] at its side, shall fail	فَلَن يَخيبَ لَنا في جَنبِهِ أَرَبُ
And let us leave the heathen Turks to lament,	وَنَترُكَنَّ عُلوجَ التُّركِ تَندُبُ ما
In tears, what their own hands have brought them	قَد قَدَّمَتهُ أَياديها وَتَنتَحبُ
And whoever lives shall see, in the events	وَمن يَعِشْ يَرَ وَالأَيام مُقبِلَةٌ
Of the coming days, wonder shining for mankind	يَلوحُ للمَرءِ في أَحداثِها العَجبُ

1 Fawwaz Trabulsi, A History of Modern Lebanon [2012 edition], p. 67
2 Samir Kassir, Beirut [2010 English edition], p. 236
3 Arabic sabr, more fully defined by the late Philip Hitti as “endurance in time of trouble”
4 A similar line is found in the Quran, Sura 2:249 - "كم مِن فئةٍ قليلةٍ غَلَبَتْ فئةً كثيرةً بإذن الله والله مع الصابرين" ("How many a small company has overcome a large company with God’s permission, and God is with the patient”)