على من بالهدى يا ابن الإمامه

تحيل ومن بعصبته المضامه

On whom, in matters of guidance, O son of the imamate,

do you lay the charge, and to whose clan does the wronged one belong?

أتستلقى الأبوة عنه يوما

وتنتبه القرابة والرحامه

Can fatherhood ever lie heedless of him,

while kinship and blood ties awaken?

إذا لم يحم عن شبل هزبر

أتحمي عن أداحيها النعامه

If a lion will not defend its cub,

will an ostrich defend her nesting hollows?

وما ائتمن الإله سواك فيه

فلا تأمن على مرعى مسامه

God has entrusted no one but you with it;

so do not entrust a pasture to a grazing herd.

شكا الإسلام من قوم رموه

بافك وادعوا فيه الزعامه

Islam has complained of people who assailed it

with falsehood and claimed leadership within it.

وقال فلا جزاه الله خيرا

زعيمهم ولا رؤى عظامه

And he said—may God grant him no good—

their leader—nor may his bones ever be seen—

بأن عبادة الأصنام حق

وإن لكل معبود كرامه

that worshipping idols is right,

and that every object of worship has its honor,

وأن الله تعرفه رجال

وليس لهم فيعرفهم علامه

and that there are men who know God,

yet they have no mark by which He may recognize them.

وقال لأنه من شاء منا

يقيم بنفسه ربا أقامه

And he said: for whoever among us wishes

sets up within himself a lord he has fashioned;

فيعرفه وما المبنى يدرى

ببانيه فما أقوى اقتحامه

thus he knows him, though what is built knows nothing

of its builder—how brazen his intrusion!

يصرح فوه فض الله فاه

بتعطيل يبيح لك اصطلامه

His mouth openly declares—may God shatter his teeth—

a denial of God that permits you to destroy him.

فحذر منه والعنه لترضى

به البارى فقد بارى ذمامه

So warn against him and curse him, that you may please

the Creator thereby, for he has defied His covenant.

فلا والله ما يثنى عليه

سوى رجلين اما ذو سلامه

No, by God, no one praises him

except two kinds of men: either a guileless

غبي أو شويطين رجيم

تزندق فهو يركب ما أمامه

fool, or an accursed little devil

who has embraced heresy and rides whatever lies before him.

أتحمد من يقول صنعت ربي

عليه لعنة الله المدامه

Do you praise someone who says, 'I made my Lord'?

Upon him be God's unceasing curse.

فإنك بالثناء عليه تدعو

الا ان تعبد الصور المقامه

For by praising him, you call

for the erected images to be worshipped.

لان عبادة الأصنام شيء

تراهم خير طرق الاستقامه

For idol worship is something

you see them deem the best of the paths to uprightness.

ألم تر رده لمقال نوح

فكم في ذمه ليغوث لامه

Have you not seen his rejection of Noah's words?

How often he blamed him for condemning Yaghuth!

واما قوم هود قال فازوا

بما علموه في دار المقامه

As for the people of Hud, he said they had triumphed

through what they knew in the abode of permanence.

وانكر لعنة قد اتبعوها

على الدنيا وفي يوم القيامه

And he denied a curse that had been made to follow them

in this world and on the Day of Resurrection.

فقام لربهم منا رجال

لهم فيه على الحق استقامه

Then men from among us rose for their Lord,

steadfast upon the truth in this matter.

وهب لنصر ملته عداه

وقاموا في ضلالته مقامه

And His enemies sprang up to champion that man's creed,

and took his place in his misguidance.

فقلنا منصفين سلوا بهذا

رجال العلم تنتقدوا كلامه

So we said impartially: 'Ask about this

the men of learning, so you may scrutinize his words.'

فاما الصالحون فما تلكوا

ولا قالوا نخاف من الملامه

As for the righteous, they did not hesitate,

nor say, 'We fear blame.'

وافتوا بالذي علموا وخافوا

وعيداً نال من رضى اكتتامه

They gave rulings according to what they knew, and feared

the threatened punishment incurred by anyone content to conceal it.

واما غيرهم فرعى أمورا

وآثرها على يوم القيامه

As for another, he tended certain concerns

and preferred them to the Day of Resurrection.

وقال الشيخ أحمد لي صديق

وكل منه يفرط بالسلامه

And the shaykh said, 'Ahmad is a friend of mine,'

and each, because of him, is careless with his safety.

فقلت الله عند سواك أولى

وأجدر من صديقك بالكرامه

I said: 'In anyone else's eyes, God is more deserving,

and worthier of honor than your friend.

أترضيه بسخط الله جهلا

وتأمن مكر ربك وانتقامه

Do you please him, ignorantly, at the cost of God's wrath,

and feel safe from your Lord's stratagem and vengeance?

صديقك قد يموت وأنت حي

وقد يبقى فيحرمك اهتمامه

Your friend may die while you are alive;

or he may survive and deny you his care.

نهار الشرق ليس يقوم وزنا

بقيراط الفضيحة والسخامه

The daylight of the East does not equal in weight

a carat of disgrace and soot-blackness.

من الدين انسخلت ومن ذويه

علام حصلت بعدهما علامه

You have stripped yourself of religion and its people;

what have you gained after both—what?

على دنيا بعيد ان تراها

وان حصلت فما تسوى قلامه

A worldly gain you are unlikely to see;

and if you gain it, it is not worth a nail-paring.

لقد أسرفت في ظلم لنفس

لديك الا تداركت الظلامه

You have indeed gone too far in wronging a soul

in your keeping—will you not redress the injustice?

ستبكي حين يضحك منك قوم

وتندم حين لا تغني الندامه

You will weep when people laugh at you,

and regret when regret is of no avail.'

سمعتم في المهيمن كل موذ

وشاركتم بتلك الابتسامه

You heard every hurtful utterance against the Guardian,

and joined in with that smile.

ولم تأنف لكم في الله نفس

ولا حسر امرؤ منكم لثامه

Yet no soul among you felt indignation for God's sake,

nor did any man among you lift his face-veil.

فلا والله لا ادع انتصارا

لديني أو يرى يومي حمامه

No, by God, I will not abandon the defense

of my faith until my day beholds its death.

وإن أك مفردا بين الأعادي

فقد تحمي البنانة بالقلامه

Even if I am alone among enemies,

for a fingertip may indeed be defended by a nail-paring.