1. For Umm 'Amr there is, in the sands, a square enclosure
With flags concealed in the ground.

2. The wild birds flee it
And lions quake with fear.

3. It traces the plan of an abode wherein is no companion
Save the fox in the dust and the owl.

4. A mansion fearful of death when it sniffs,
And poison lurks in its jaws.

5. When the scout halted at its ruins,
And the eye overflowed with recognition,

6. I remembered what I was distracted from
I awoke with my grieving heart shot through.

7. It's as if Sirius, what suffering it inflicts,
Aims to melt my liver with yearning!

8. I was amazed by folk who came to Ahmad
With a message that lacked any place.

9. "If you wished, you could reveal to us,"
They said "where the answer lies, and the resolution,

10. Should you die and so leave us
While amongst them are those ambitious for rule."

11. So he replied: "Even if I told you of a refuge,
What would you be able to do,

12. like the People of the Calf when they deserted Aaron?
Departing from him is more fitting.

13. And the words he spoke make clear,
To anyone with an ear to hear,

14. Then came to him a resolve
From his Lord which none can repel.

15. "Preach or you haven't conveyed,"
While God will protect them from harm.

16. At this the Prophet rose — he who obeyed
When his Lord commanded — and took

17. The hand of Ali in his, a light in his palm
That flashes radiances. One hand that lifts,

18. The nobler hand, lifts the hand that is lifted.
And the angels around him bear witness —

19. With God present amongst them — as he declares:
"Whoever I am his master, this man here is his master."

20. Yet still they were not satisfied or convinced.
So they accused and denied the truthful, firmly rooted one.

21. But a people were led astray by their malice
As though their nostrils had been sliced!

22. Until when they buried him in his grave,
And they dispersed after interring him, they neglected

23. What he had yesterday enjoined and bequeathed.
They bought delusion for guidance.

24. They severed their ties of kinship after him.
So they will be recompensed for what they severed.

25. They schemed treachery against his deputy,
Damn what they plotted!

26. They shall not gain access tomorrow to his basin,
Nor he intercession amongst them.

27. A basin, its span from Ayla to Sanaa in Sham's land,
Or vaster still... There shall be erected for it

28. A standard for guidance, while the basin
Gushes with a torrent from which all drink.

29. Flowing from His mercy a generosity
Whiter than silver or more brilliant.

30. Its pebbles are ruby and pearls —
No fingertip has ever touched the like!

31. Its ground is musk, its borders shake
As sweet basil sways delicately.

32. The green growth below paradise flourishes,
What blooms above stirs with a saffron radiance.

33. Essences waft on its breeze
When the wind blows them about gently.

34. A wind commanded, blowing without cease,
From gardens that suffer no decay.

35. When it passes by it, the purest musk diffuses
More fragrant than when first it flows.

36. In it are vessels and cups
From which even the starving glutton drinks his fill.

37. Ibn Abi Talib shields them from those
Who approach to drink like she-camels lifting their tails.

38. When they draw near to imbibe,
They are told "Damn you, go back!

39. "Continue to impoverished pastures,
Which feed or quench appetites,"

40. This is for those who befriended Ahmad's family
And followed none but them.

41. So triumph belongs to those who drink from his pool,
While woe and degradation befall those debarred!"

42. The people, on the Day of Gathering, their signs
Are five, while four-fifths are damned.

43. Their vanguard is the Calf, and their Pharaoh
Is the terrible antichrist.

44. As is the apostate, defective and jet black,
A worshipper of Lat and Uzza, hunchbacked.

45. And there is the banner whose leader
Will shine like the rising sun.

46. The chosen one, Haydar, will meet the Prophet
As the standard of praise is raised.

47. With the Garden commanded concerning him,
And Hellfire shrinking before his awe.

48. The Imam of the Truth whom followers assist
As they drink from the pool without being denied.

49. So it was that revelation came from our Lord:
"O partisans of Truth, have no fear!"