1. Behold! The delegation of Kindah has come
Wearing the green robes of glory

2. Quenching their thirst for life’s pleasures
Adorning their eyes with kohl and braiding their hair

3. They drew near and greeted the master of messengers
With the greetings used for lords of sofas and thrones

4. Saying, “You have avoided cursing as fools do—
Keep away from the misguided of ages past!”

5. The messenger of God spurned their greeting,
Seeing in it empty chatter and nonsense,

6. And said, “Leave this, a custom of ignorance,
For I am not a king, nor am I of noble birth.”

7. “Take this from me, for I am Muhammad,
The son of Abd Allah, of that group.”

8. They said to him, “We will call you by your name, though
By your life! That does not please us—it’s too hard.”

9. “What then is your nickname?” he asked.
They said, “Abu al-Qasim—call us by that, it brings ease.”

10. They called him, and said “O Abu al-Qasim listen!
Are you truly God’s messenger, guiding mankind?”

11. “If what you say be true, then what is it
We’ve concealed, to try you and take your measure?”

12. He said, “Wait, I am no soothsayer—
Have patience, for this is a truthful witness.”

13. He stretched out the hand of good, filling it with pebbles—
Not an ant, not a thing else was there.

14. Amazed at what glorified its Lord,
They said, “We bear witness you now show no sorcery.”

15. He guided them to the religion of life and increased
Their guidance with a book, precise in verses and chapters.

16. He recited what he recited, and the heart bowed down
To righteousness, faith—and tears streamed forth.

17. They said, “Are those tears shed from fear
Of what you are sent to mankind to warn against?”

18. He said “Yes, I fear His punishment,
What soul feels safe from God’s cunning?”

19. “I was sent with a faith—if I grow lax in its way
I will have no ally to save me, no excuse.”

20. A path sharp as the blade of a sword—the youth
Cannot remain on it, though he try with all his might.

21. “So do not be tricked by the witness of your state,
For God knows the unseen, and the unseen is expected.”

22. “So take much good for yourself, and increase
What righteous deeds you can do and hoard.”

23. For each person, of his affair, what he has prepared—
Thus does God recompense the pious and the debauched.

24. Their prophet forbade them silk raiment
And nothing else but what he forbade or commanded.

25. They obeyed him, seeking no other way but his
Once they followed him in his path and traces.

26. He who keeps souls from desire
Is religion—not the religion of fancy and nonlinearity.

27. The wont of fools in war: they ignite its flame
Like the wont of women secluded in rooms and veils.

28. When people neglect jihad, you see them,
Though they resemble the living, dead from burials.

29. Were their claws not sheltering them
Every possessor of claws would stir in their bowels.