Sol 5.6

  1. It is Samarra: her fragrance has wafted abroad,

    and the light of her guiding standards has appeared

  2. at al-Suhā, from a blessed city

    whose soil is musk and whose pebbles are rubies.

  3. How lovely an age we spent within her,

    when our souls attained their desire!

  4. In her abodes our fellowship was perfected,

    and joy was ours there—may rain forever bless her soil.

  5. A passion whose love has enthralled all hearts,

    and an east wind that restores the soul's youth;

  6. blossoms from gardens encircled her,

    amid tender groves whose fruit hung low;

  7. and the waters of Bilqis's palace came,

    flowing in their purity over her smooth flagstones.

  8. Her hills were adorned with their pebbles,

    as shooting stars adorn her sky.

  9. Companion, if you behold the loftiest dome,

    whose height the highest firmament cannot approach,

  10. then set down your traveling gear at the most radiant shrine:

    blessed is whoever casts down his staff in her courtyard.

  11. A Presence whose lights have shone forth

    with lamps of guidance from the House of Ṭā Hā;

  12. a Presence before which earthly kings would be exalted if

    their foreheads were rubbed in her dust;

  13. a Presence for which the highest heavens yearn

    to become mere earth beneath her sky;

  14. a Presence whose horizon-stars wish

    they were but pebbles in her courtyard;

  15. a Presence—had the sun a radiance

    drawn from her light, night could never veil its splendor;

  16. a Presence that the palaces of eternity yearn

    to ascend in glory even to her lowest station;

  17. a Presence—if the Kaaba could perform the

    pilgrimage, each year it would pilgrimage to her sanctuary;

  18. a Presence whose lofty pillars the most blessed

    Stone itself hopes to touch.

  19. Then touch her thresholds, shedding tears,

    weeping and breathing in the fragrance of her soil,

  20. seeking refuge in the two pious al-Askari Imams—

    the two most eminent of creation before God in rank;

  21. the two treasurers of the Messenger of God's knowledge, whose

    merit has ever refused to find an end;

  22. the two Pole Stars of guidance's horizon—rather, its two moons;

    the firmament of glory—rather, the sun of its bright forenoon;

  23. the two eyes of God Most High, through whom He has never ceased

    to raise creation, ever since He tended it;

  24. the two interpreters of His revelation, the two repositories

    of His secret—the truest of all who ever spoke truth;

  25. the two pillars of loftiness's edifice, through whom

    the celestial spheres stand at the zenith of their height;

  26. among Fatima's radiant descendants, those with whom

    God invoked the Mubāhala and in whom He gloried.

  27. Then, when your eyes are graced

    by sight of the minaret gleaming before her,

  28. take off your sandals in reverence and proceed

    humbly: thereby you will grow in might and rank.

  29. Seek protection with al-Qā'im, the defender

    of Islam's domain and guardian of its sanctuary:

  30. God's Proof, who set upright some

    of the faith's supporting shafts after they had bent;

  31. the Pole of God's household—rather, the pivot of the millstone

    of all creation—rather, the pole of its heaven;

  32. possessor of wisdom, lord of discernment, refuge of humankind;

    full moon of glory's spheres, sun of their guidance;

  33. safeguard of the faith and refuge of the radiant...

    Shi'a, savior of their doomed, ark of their salvation;

  34. deliverer of the community from the hands of its foes,

    liberator of the nation from the captivity that afflicted it;

  35. avenger of blood-debts, who will make those who wronged

    the Chosen One's progeny drink cups of their ruin.

  36. O Friend of God, shall there be a Return

    by whose radiant lights the earth will shine,

  37. when the faith will again become one united faith

    in which no confusion or doubt is seen?

  38. Would that I knew: has the time not yet come for

    the blaze we endure to reach its end?

Sol 5.6