Sol 5.6

  1. Ask, O Najd, the people of al-Mayfa‘ah:

    How have they fared since their days of safety and ease?

  2. And behold what unbelief has wrought upon them—

    what harm it delights to inflict.

  3. It is evil’s close kin, or evil’s twin;

    never has it dwelt anywhere without evil beside it.

  4. What could shield them from the one who overwhelmed them—

    a firebrand of war, a lion of the fierce fray?

  5. He came upon them at the head of his champions,

    his whole being resolute, heedless of where he might fall,

  6. defending Islam against its enemies,

    with blood he would not withhold from it.

  7. Even if death itself should stalk within his cloak,

    when he marched to war it would not frighten him.

  8. They seized them in a terrible, crushing onslaught

    that met among them only terror-stricken souls.

  9. Then they returned like radiant stars, amid

    the blessings of what they had won, and abundance.

  10. O son of Zayd, offer your defense and say:

    “O Messenger of God, is there any blame upon me?

  11. A man had resolved to deceive me,

    so I made the sword rise above his jugular.

  12. He professed Islam only to shield his blood,

    though his soul was infatuated with unbelief.”

  13. He said: “Did the young man split open his heart

    to see the secret and know where it lay?

  14. O son of Zayd—what manner of conduct is this?

    You are no believer until you forsake that conduct.”

  15. The rebuke grieved him; his heart grew sorrowful,

    fearing God, his soul in anguish.

  16. He repented of what suspicion had suggested to him

    and rejected it as an invented practice.

  17. No one can know of any matter beyond

    what he has plainly seen or heard;

  18. the mysteries of the unseen belong to God, who

    knows every secret and knows where it lies.

  19. Beware: suspicion is nothing but a doubtful semblance,

    which every scrupulous soul avoids.

  20. Follow the truth, for such is its decree,

    revealed in the Qur’an that you might follow it.

  21. The path of one who seeks right guidance is not

    like the path of one who seeks mere advantage.

  22. The believer does not stray from his accustomed ways

    when he shuns humiliation and casts it aside.

Sol 5.6