1. Shall one slain as a martyr be mourned?
Shall a witness who attained the Truth be wept?

2. Shall he who never cared for himself be eulogized,
One not tempted by promises or threats of the morrow?

3. Why should people mourn one whom God saw
Meet his end through love of God, a duty confirmed?

4. If yesterday, delirious, he went astray,
Today, returned to consciousness, he found guidance.

5. With his confession of Truth he erased the lapse
That yesterday in his affair had occurred,

6. With the dawn of reason he removed the stigma of heedlessness,
And donned the raiment of vigilance, long accustomed.

7. Such was his cleansing, the purest cleansing,
And by martyrdom he whitened what was blackened.

8. He repaired a rift, forbidding what was forbidden,
So wise the one who went astray, and then was guided!

9. He returned from his going astray, the completest return,
Through piety displaying accustomed firmness.

10. He let fall a tear, nay blood, for intense grief
Thereby extinguishing the fire of vengeance.

11. By God's praise he returned like one remorseful;
He saw relapse, then sought refuge in God the Most Praised.

12. He attacked unbelief with belief, a victorious raid,
And the grace of guidance assailed him with an incursion.

13. So neither the warbling of doves made him yearn,
Nor the prime of youth and its vigour tempted him.

14. Though the tongue of the case says he feared death
Or dreaded mishap, such was not the import.

15. Another desires longevity in life,
And yet another craves to live forever immortalized.

16. When asked which of two paths he sought—
Torture and death, or life luxurious and coddled:

17. With optimism he answered that dying for the faith
Was the most felicitous and coddled end for him.

18. Neither the deception of aspirations seized him with a tryst,
Nor was he cowed by threats from those who terrorized.

19. He feared not the frustration of deterrence, nor was made to dread,
Nor shaken when the minatory one brandished his sword.

20. A stalwart whose skin the executioner tore with the lash
Because he dazzled skins by his steadfast endurance.

21. Though torment racked his body and his soul
Steamed within it, he saw the torture as delightful, not refusing

22. What he gained from the cruelty of injustice.
So excellent the integrity of one pained by a speck of dust,

23. Who tomorrow feared not grey hairs or runny nosed senility,
And whom the softness of luxury prevented nothing,

24. So he willingly undertook severe and gruelling travail.
What but God's favour strengthened and aided him,

25. Banishing him while stirring his heart so he was strengthened?
He bared his neck sincerely to the sword, evidencing

26. A true faith with which he had adorned himself.
It graced him with a noble necklace, its regulate

27. Pearls of blood surpassing wish and ruby in preciousness.
The blade of the sword clothed him in a dyed garment

28. The day after disaster, finer raiment than which he did not wear.
Nor was this garb Joseph's shirt,

29. Nor dyed with the dye of Jacob who was so afflicted.
Rather it was Abraham, namesake of his ancestor,

30. Who offered not Isaac, but himself, as ransom.
That was his son whom for God he brought nigh intending,

31. While this was himself—the difference like dawn when it rises.
That one a ram redeemed, returning him safe,

32. While none can redeem this one, so he is redeemed.
If in this world he met with instant wretchedness,

33. In the next he attained bliss everlasting.
Though the burning of torment kindled him,

34. The hand of favour gave him a cooling drink tempered.
You see him lifeless on the ground, yet he

35. Is on the mount of the abstinent, having climbed its ascent.
The greatest sign—blood on earth,

36. Debased, while most high in heaven glorified.
The Merciful ennobled his grave with the sign

37. And made it lustrous with miracles and support.
How many paralyzed hands it stirred from stillness,

38. How many hands gained good fortune through its hand.
How many rigid palms it healed of palsy,

39. And freed from confinement's bondage the fettered.
How many of little means but abundant grace

40. Whose wealth it made whole, the abased and the spurned.
The confined to a wheelchair because of feebleness

41. Freed from the fetters of incapacity to walk around.
Good fortune to you, O Abraham, you became

42. For mankind in adversity an example to emulate.
Good fortune to you, O child, and to your fathers

43. Who cradled in you tremendous glory lasting undimmed.
Good fortune to noble ancestors the ages erased

44. Whose memory is restored, renewed and emboldened.
Good fortune to the church's children—they inherited

45. A most august and firmly rooted principle.
Good fortune to us should you ennoble our stock,

46. Cloaking us in a mantle of splendid honour.
You revived the ways of sanctity, faded,

47. And built with piety an edifice solidified.
You ignited a flame equalling your flame, so it raged

48. On the pages of time with ample, buttressed dominion.
A refined sin adorned your soul, like a mole

49. Beautifying a cheek, staining one with a roseate blush.
The lights of martyrdom you explained openly,

50. So its lantern's sun blazed, enkindled.
By it I imbibed the Messiah's cup, deliberately,

51. You steeped it and reddened it, deliberately imbued.
With love of God you trampled the vintage of disaster,

52. Alone, no partners ascribing, so were unifier.
Therefore you deserved to sit in glory at His right,

53. Sublime, on the throne of glory enthroned.
So grant me happiness with God, for I

54. Am wretched, and my lot is that you be seen blissful.
When I come to God hesitant on Judgment Day,

55. Make my case your concern—intercede and help me!
O best beloved, who died bearing witness to love,

56. O love, what a date you passed away in martyrdom!