ردوا بني قينقاع الأمر إذ نزلا — Ahmad Muharram

رُدُّوا بَني قَيْنُقاعَ الأمرَ إذ نزلا

هيهاتَ هيهاتَ أمسى خَطبُكم جَللا

Repel the calamity, sons of Qaynuqa, now that it has descended!

Far beyond reach, far beyond reach! Your plight has grown grave.

نقضتُمُ العهدَ معقوداً على دَخَلٍ

لعاقدٍ ما نَوى غشاً ولا دخلا

You broke the covenant, concluded with hidden treachery,

With a partner who intended neither deceit nor treachery.

مازال شيطانُكم بالغيظِ يَقدحه

بين الجوانِح حتّى شبَّ واشتعلا

Your devil kept kindling it with rage

Within your ribs, until it flared and blazed.

هاجت وقائعُ بدرٍ من حَفيظتِكم

ونَبّهتْ منكمُ الداءَ الذي غفلا

The battles of Badr stirred your rancor

And awakened in you the malady that had lain dormant.

أتنكرون على الإسلامِ بهجتَهُ

والله أطلعه من نوره مثلا

Do you begrudge Islam its splendor,

When God made it rise as a likeness of His light?

دِينُ الهدى يا بني التوراةِ يَشرعُه

للناسِ مَن شرَع الأديانَ والمِلَلا

The faith of guidance, O sons of the Torah, is ordained

For humankind by Him who ordained religions and creeds.

لا تدّعوا أنكم منها بِمُعتصَمٍ

واقٍ ولا تطمعوا أن تُتركوا هَمَلا

Do not claim that they afford you a refuge

To shield you, nor hope to be left unrestrained.

جاء النبيّين بالفرقانِ وراثُهم

سُبحان من نقل الميراثَ فانتقلا

The prophets' heir came bearing the Criterion;

Glory to Him who transferred the inheritance, and it passed on!

رأى النفوسَ بلا هادٍ فأرسله

يَهدِي الشعوبَ ويشفي مِنهمُ العِلَلا

He saw souls without a guide, and sent him

To guide the peoples and cure their maladies.

هلا سألتم أخاكم حين يَبعثُها

هوجاءَ يعصفُ فيها الشرُّ ما فعلا

Why did you not ask your brother, when he unleashed it—

A raging tempest, evil sweeping through it—what he had done?

إنّ التي رامها في عزّها سَفهاً

لَتُؤثِرُ الموتَ ممّا سامها بدلا

Indeed, she whom he foolishly sought in her dignity

Would surely choose death instead of what he demanded of her.

لا يَبلغُ العِرضَ منها حين تمنعُه

من خيفةِ العارِ حتى تبلغَ الأجلا

He cannot reach her honor while she guards it

For fear of disgrace, until she meets her appointed end.

وقد يكونُ لها من ربّها رَصَدٌ

إذا رماهُ بِعَيْنَيْ غَاضبٍ جَفلا

And she may have a guardian from her Lord;

When he casts an angry gaze at him, he recoils.

ما زال بالدّمِ حتّى ظلّ سافحهُ

يجري على دمه مُسترسِلاً عَجِلا

He kept at bloodshed until the one who spilled it

Went rushing over his own blood, unchecked and headlong.

ما غرّكم بقضاءِ اللهِ يُرسله

على يَدَيْ بطلٍ أعظم به بطلا

What deluded you about God's decree, which He sends

Through a hero's hands—how mighty a hero he is!

لقد دعاكم إلى الحسنى فمال بكم

من طائفِ الجهلِ داعٍ يُورثُ الخَبَلا

He called you to what is best, but you were led astray

By a caller from ignorance's haunting spirit, breeding madness.

قلتم رُويداً فإنّا لا يُصابُ لنا

كُفؤٌ إذا ما التقى الجمعانِ فاقتتلا

You said, 'Wait! For us there can be found no

Equal when the two armies meet and fight.

لسنا كقومك إذ يلقون مَهلكَهم

على يديك وإذ يُعطونكَ النَّفلا

We are not like your people, who meet their doom

At your hands and yield you the spoils.'

يا ويلكم حين ترتجّ الحصونُ بكم

ترجو الأمانَ وتُبدي الخوفَ والوَجلا

Woe to you when the fortresses shake with you inside!

They hope for safety and reveal fear and dread.

كم موئلٍ شامخِ العرنين يُعجبكم

يَودُّ يومئذٍ لو أنّه وَأَلا

How many a refuge, its nose held high, delights you,

Yet would wish on that day that it had escaped!

أمسى عُبادةُ منكم نافضاً يدَهُ

فانبتَّ من عهدِهِ ما كان مُتّصلا

Ubada has now shaken his hand free of you,

And what had been joined to his covenant was severed.

نِعمَ الحليفُ غدرتم فانطوى حَنقاً

يرجو الإله ويأبَى الزيغَ والزللا

An excellent ally! You betrayed him, and he withdrew in anger,

Hoping in God, rejecting deviation and error.

ما كان كابن أُبيٍّ في جَهالته

إذ راح شيطانُهُ يُرخِي له الطولا

He was not like Ibn Ubayy in his ignorance,

When his devil began loosening his tether for him.

مَضَى على الحلف يرعَى معشراً غُدُراً

أهوِنْ بكم معشراً لو أنّه عقلا

He persisted in the alliance, sheltering a treacherous company;

How contemptible a company you are—if only he had understood!

لا تذكروا الدمَ إنّ السيفَ مُنصلِتٌ

في كفِّ أبيضَ يُدمِي البِيضَ والأسلا

Do not speak of blood: the sword is unsheathed

In the hand of a fair-faced man who bloodies bright swords and spears.

وجانِبوا الحربَ إن الله خاذلُكم

ولن تروا ناصراً يُرجَى لمن خَذلا

And keep clear of war: God has forsaken you;

You will see no helper to hope in for one He has forsaken.

مشى الرسولُ وجندُ اللهِ يتبعُه

من كلّ مِقدامةٍ يغشى الوغَى جَذِلا

The Messenger marched, and God's host followed him,

Made up of every dauntless warrior who enters battle gladly.

يهفو إلى الموتِ مُشتاقاً ويطلبُه

بين الخميسَيْنِ لا نِكْساً ولا وَكَلا

He yearns for death, longing for it, and seeks it

Between the two armies, neither craven nor faltering.

لو غَيّبتْهُ المواضِي في سرائرِها

ألقى بمهجته يرتادُ مُدَّخلا

Were keen blades to hide him in their secret depths,

He would fling in his life's blood, seeking an entrance.

يُخال في غَمراتِ الرَوْعِ من مَرَحٍ

لولا الرحيقُ المصفَّى شارباً ثَمِلا

In the depths of terror, sheer elation makes him seem

A drunken drinker, though without the pure nectar.

أهاب حمزةُ بالأبطالِ فانطلقوا

وانسابَ مُنطلقاً يَهديهمُ السُّبلا

Hamza called to the heroes, and they set out;

And he swept onward, guiding them along the paths.

عَجِبتُ للقومِ طاروا عن مواقعهم

ما ذاقَ هاربهُم سيفاً ولا رَجُلا

I marveled at the people: they flew from their positions,

Their fugitive had tasted neither sword nor warrior.

مَضَوْا سِراعاً إلى الآطامِ واجفةً

يُخالُ أمنعُها من ضعفِه طَللا

They hurried to the trembling fortresses,

The strongest of them seemed, in its weakness, a ruined remnant.

طال الحصارُ وظلّ الحتفُ يرقبُهُم

حَرّانَ يشجيه ألا ينقعَ الغُللا

The siege dragged on, and death kept watch over them,

Parched, tormented that he could not quench his thirst.

أفنوْا من الزادِ والماعونِ ما ادّخروا

واحتال أشياخُهم فاستنفدوا الحيلا

They exhausted the provisions and supplies they had stored,

Their elders schemed, then exhausted their stratagems.

مِن كل ذي سَغَبٍ لو قال واجدُه

كُلْنِي ليعلمَ ما في نفسهِ أُكلا

Each starving man—if someone finding him said,

'Eat me,' to learn what lay within him, the speaker would be eaten.

لا يملكون لأهليهم وأنفسهم

إلا العذاب وإلا الظنَّ والأملا

They had nothing for their families and themselves

But torment, conjecture, and hope.

ظلّت وساوسُهم حيرى تجولُ بهم

في مجهلٍ يتردَّى فيه من جَهِلا

Their bewildered misgivings kept wandering with them

Through a trackless waste, where the ignorant fall headlong.

حتّى إذا بلغ المكروهُ غايتَه

وهال كلَّ غويِّ الرأي ما حملا

Until, when affliction had reached its utmost limit,

And what he bore appalled every man of misguided judgment,

تضرّعوا يسألون العفوَ مُقتدرِاً

يجودُ بالعفو إن ذو قُدرةٍ بخلا

They pleaded, asking a powerful man for pardon,

Who gives pardon freely when a man of power withholds it.

أعطى النفوسَ حياةً من سماحته

فكان أكرم من أعطى ومن بذلا

He gave souls life out of his generosity,

And was the most generous of those who gave and bestowed.

لو شاء طاح بهم قتلاً فما ملكوا

من بعد مَهلكهم قولاً ولا عملا

Had he wished, he would have felled them in slaughter, and they would have had

No word or deed after their destruction.

ما الظنُّ بابن أُبيٍّ حين يسأله

من الأناةِ وفضلِ الحِلمِ ما سألا

What is to be thought of Ibn Ubayy, when he asks him

For the patience and abundant clemency he requested?

أما رأوه جريحاً لو يُصادِفُه

حِمامُه لم يجد من دونه حِوَلا

Did they not see him wounded? Had he encountered

His appointed death, he would have found no escape from it.

زالوا عن الدورِ والأموالِ وانكشفوا

عن السلاح وراحوا خُضّعاً ذُلُلا

They left their homes and riches, and were divested

Of weapons, departing submissive and humbled.

هو الجلاءُ لقومٍ لا حُلومَ لهم

ساؤوا مُقاماً وساؤوا بعدُ مُرتَحلا

It was exile for a people without sound judgment;

Bad was their stay, and bad afterward their departure.

ساروا إلى أذرعاتٍ ينزلون بها

نُكْداً مشائيمَ لا طابت لهم نُزُلا

They journeyed to Adhri'at, settling there,

Wretched and ill-omened—may their lodgings never be pleasant!

بادوا بها وتساقَوْا في مصارعِهم

سُوءَ العذابِ ومكروهَ الأذى نَهَلا

They perished there, and drank together where they fell

A first draught of bitter torment and loathsome pain.

يَلومُ بعضٌ على ما كان من سَفَهٍ

بعضاً فمن يَقترِبْ يسمعْ لهم جَدلا

Some lay blame for the folly that occurred

On others; whoever draws near hears their wrangling.

أهلُ المعاقلِ هدّتهم مُدمّرةٌ

تَمضِي فلا معقلاً تُبقي ولا جبلا

The people of the strongholds were shattered by a devastating force,

That sweeps on, sparing neither stronghold nor mountain.

رمى بها من رسولِ الله مُتّئِدٌ

لا يأخذُ الناسَ حتى ينبذوا الرسلا

God's Messenger hurled it with deliberation,

Not seizing people until they reject the messengers.

هل دولةُ الحقّ إلا قُوةٌ غَلبْت

فافتحْ بها الأرضَ أو فامسَحْ بها الدُّولا

Is truth's dominion anything but a force that has prevailed?

So conquer the earth with it, or wipe away realms with it.