Sol 6.1

  1. The bitter cup of death goes round;

    it has not slackened in rending gallbladders.

  2. It has sworn a sincere oath

    to give the first and the last to drink.

  3. If a virtuous man could be spared,

    Zahir would have remained among the survivors.

  4. That esteemed imam,

    possessor of noble deeds and glorious distinctions—

  5. from the flickering radiance of his features

    that shone forth in him, pure of heart,

  6. and qualities like the Prophet's,

    with which the breeze of prayer is fragrant.

  7. His loss wounded hearts

    as he had never wounded them from the pulpits.

  8. O al-Zaytuna Mosque, the

    ancient House, can you endure?

  9. And your blazing lamp, indeed—

    they have carried him away from you to the graves:

  10. he, within you, from whose

    teaching rose the fragrance of ambergris;

  11. he whose learning, within you,

    cleared inner vision with its polishing tool.

  12. If he said, 'God has said,' then the

    unveiler of mysteries was at hand.

  13. Or if he said, 'The Chosen One has said,'

    then listen to those jewels.

  14. Or if he spoke of Malik's school,

    both the assenting listener and the disputant were astounded.

  15. Alas for the schools and the

    mosques, the pulpits, and the inkwells!

  16. You left them empty; through whom, I wonder,

    O son of Mas'ud, will they flourish?

  17. The people's grief is redoubled,

    and my share of it is abundant.

  18. Yet some of it is eased

    by the divine favor toward which you are bound.

  19. You left behind unblemished praise,

    and found what inmost hearts desire.

  20. O visitor, may you delight in what

    you have gained from the one you visit.

  21. Rejoice, and ask for what you seek;

    for God, exalted be He, has power over it.

  22. And marvel at a chronicler's words:

    'Heaven weeps for the loss of Tahir.'

Sol 6.1