1. The essence of every building is stone
Though adorned with parapets and stone

2. The pillars and foundations rely upon it
As do the towering heights ascending with it

3. So if you stand praising the builder
Turn your eulogy to the foundation with favor

4. And this state for which he called
And led its steeds in its emergence

5. More audacious than early Islam’s cavaliers
The knights of encounter and discourse

6. They differed regarding his origin and ancestry
While the sword on the day of lineage is the son of its blade

7. Some said he was a free Arab of the valley
Others, a slave from the people of the black land

8. And some claimed he alleged ties to Al-‘Abbas
And donned for Hashim a garment

9. He plunged into the Umayyads in his twenties
Against the lair of the stripped hyenas

10. His call found popularity
And the villages entered in droves

11. It was welcomed by the Persians
Of every farmer and every magnate

12. Due to Marwan’s stinginess with gifts upon them
And leaving them neglected like disregarding a blessing

13. And he struck for it many of the Arabs
Who found fault with the Umayyads

14. Rabee’ah allied with him as did Yemen
Revealing the rancor they had concealed

15. So oft did the Marwanids wrong them
And they adopted allies from Mudar

16. Excelling in righteousness and propriety
Sharing with it the blessings of the days

17. Acceding to all they proposed
And bestowing upon the Prophet’s family their dues

18. Abu Muslim al-Khurasani came
Changing its savor to bitterness

19. Hurling the arrows of fate without hesitation
A cunning genius in his view

20. With the youths kindling from his embers
And old age descending upon his judgments

21. Hunting with prayer and connections
And capturing governors with governors

22. Aided by Qahtabah, formidable in might
The first of the Abbasid commanders

23. With their horses he combed the lands and fled
After him ruled his son, al-Muzaffar