Success is about YOU not your age or status

ترقّى على رؤوس الرجال ويخطب	أرى الغر في الدنيا إذا كان فاضلا
يقاس بطفل في الشـوارع يلعـب	وإن كان مثلي لا فضيلة عـنـده

I saw that the inexperienced in the world if he is outstanding, will ascend onto the heads of men and give address.

And were he to be like me and have no excellence,

Then he would be like the child playing in the street.

The poem is emphatically stating that experience is not the end all of everything, especially in symbolic or ideal-based leadership positions. If an individual is truly outstanding, then he will rise rapidly, and surpass those who used to be above him. The word “yukhtabu” which is translated here as “give address” literally refers to the Friday sermonizing that happens all across the world every Friday which nearly all Muslim men listen to. In other words the Imam is saying that if someone deserves such a lofty position and has the knowledge and temperament for it, then he will reach that position, or should be allowed to reach it.

The Imam then shows his humbleness by saying he has “no excellence” and describes the opposite of brilliance and leadership as children playing on the street. This is a fascinating analogy as the word “yalabu” “to play” has connotations of wasting time in Arabic texts. It says in the Qur’an that “And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement.” (6:32).
A child often doesn’t have any concerns or worries, even if their parents do, and is unaware of them. This unawareness or unconcern is being used as a simile to the unconcern and unawareness we have of the greater objectives in life, and the concern for the hereafter.