1. To Alewah came the repentant visitor,
Beyond its smooth rock plateau bubbled the spring.

2. After wandering lost, to us she was guided,
A tall palm's daughter from the womb of time.

3. I asked her, "How did you find us, when beyond us
Lie barren wastes where the mounted hordes roam?"

4. A dreadful emptiness where ostriches graze
Like veiled virgins covered in shifting sands.

5. To the household from whom impurity was removed
And whom were cleansed of all filth, made pure and fragrant,

6. To the household no true believer can lack devotion,
Nor in guardianship can people disagree over them.

7. How many a critic berated me for loving them,
How many a complainer by night would blame me, saying

8. Without intending harm, blaming me for straying,
Such faultfinding being the wont of womankind,

9. You left praising the excellent, the virtuous,
And those striving for good whom you used to extol,

10. You left your neighbors and loving friends
Whom you are estranged from when called by name,

11. So you are a stranger among them, kept apart,
As if they are lions you cower from in fear.

12. You blame their faith while yours, they say,
Is more blamable and contemptible than theirs.

13. I said, "Leave me be! I will never again praise
Any but them, for as long as I make the pilgrimage."

14. Will you forbid me from loving Muhammad's family
When loving them brings me nearer to God?

15. Loving them is like praying, and to people
More binding than some forms of praying.