Yes some of them are posted upside down :-)
In the quatrefoil cartouche is the ubiquitous:
لا فتی الا علي لا سيف الا ذو الفقار
“There is no hero but ‘Ali, no sword but Dhu’l-Fiqar”
In the two oblong cartouches below this are, with a mistake:
يا قاضي الحاجات / يا خفيالالطاف
“O Requiter of Needs! O Provider of hidden graces!”
In the oblong cartouches on the other side of the blade:
يا مالك الممالك / نجنا من المهالك
“O Possessor of the Realms! Save us from perils!”
In the long inscription are verses from a poem by Abu Tammam (d. 845), not al-Mutanabbi as I stated before. There are some small mistakes in the text, but I have not included them below
السَّـيْـفُ أَصْــدَقُ أَنْـبَــاءً مِـــنَ الـكُـتُـبِ
فِـي حَــدهِ الـحَـدُّ بَـيْـنَ الـجِـد واللَّـعِـبِ
بيضُ الصَّفَائِحِ لاَ سُـودُ الصَّحَائِـفِ فِـي
مُـتُـونِـهـنَّ جــــلاءُ الــشَّـــك والــريَـــبِ
“The sword is more truthful than books,
In the hardness of its blade you find what separates the serious from a game,
The shine of (the blades of) swords, not the black ink of a book’s pages,
That is what eliminates doubt and uncertainty.”
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