Sol 5.6

  1. Against whom are these many hosts conspiring?

    Halt, Hawazin! Where—where is there any escape?

  2. Halt, Thaqif! You have mounted passion's error,

    and, blinded by delusions, undertaken what must not be undertaken.

  3. Halt, seekers of evil! Muhammad has

    no equal, and no aggressor can escape him.

  4. You said, “He has achieved his aims; the field lies open to us—

    so hasten, for we are a people never defeated.”

  5. Wrongfully you stirred it up, and now it convulses you

    in its drunken fits; reach the watering places, then drink.

  6. Ibn Awf bore your cause amid the ordeal,

    but his back collapsed and his shoulder failed.

  7. Yet Duraid's warning outwitted you: he is

    an elder by whose seasoned counsel affairs are governed.

  8. You sought his counsel, hoping it might shield Malik

    and show him what to undertake and what to avoid.

  9. Far from it! Every counsel is doomed when the foremost men, enraged,

    will accept nothing but battle.

  10. Drive forth the women and muster your livestock as support;

    summon the warriors from every far-flung land.

  11. And when the truthful report reached your chief,

    falsehood came first, and folly became his command.

  12. He reviled those who told him the truth, lest they claim

    that what they had not seen was excess—or lest they lie.

  13. He cast them into prison, fearing what they might say;

    command fell into chaos, and sound judgment lay concealed.

  14. Be angry, Duraid, or be pleased—you are no Malik

    among the people, whether he is pleased or enraged.

  15. He holds command; his order cannot be reversed,

    and soon both leader and led will perish.

  16. Is this truly your claim, Ibn Awf? It is

    a monstrous thing—but no, wretch, you are merely jesting.

  17. Did you suppose Muhammad had never encountered

    before your people anyone who fears and is feared?

  18. And did you think that, should you meet his soldiers,

    no battalion or cavalry troop would avail him?

  19. What you foretold your people has now befallen them;

    surely you marveled at what befell you—more astonishing indeed.

  20. Make light of the two armies' meeting—then look: do you see

    men whose eyes continue to blaze?

  21. The archers pressed in among them—their arrows

    filling the bows, aimed straight at throats.

  22. The places they struck had known nothing of blood until it flowed;

    then they seemed dyed in the archers' blood.

  23. They recoiled from swords—but the battle-din has its champions;

    it calls, and swords are drawn and strike.

  24. Turn aside the armies of God—then advance!

    For war keeps changing through its many phases.

  25. At one time it draws its fang back from the prey,

    seeking its mortal spot; at another it sinks the fang in.

  26. Its lightning drives on its thunderheads—one is true,

    pouring down its shower, while another is a rainless fraud.

  27. Deceptive war: the fool is ruined by its stratagem

    when a veiled matter emerges from the unseen course of events.

  28. It displays aims that it does not seek,

    warily concealing what it truly intends and pursues.

  29. This is knowledge inherited by trustworthy men and increased by

    the veteran of battle, noble sire of the trustworthy.

  30. The furnace of battle blazed—yes, blessed be our Lord!

    So seek refuge in Him: He is the nearest deliverer.

  31. These are His battalions; upon you they descended,

    then swept toward His enemies, springing to attack.

  32. They caught sight of them, and their limbs came apart;

    in terror both narrow path and broad road closed upon them.

  33. At Hunayn, Muhammad, they are like those

    on the day of Badr: their fracture cannot be mended.

  34. Heaven's reinforcement He prepared for you as a helper:

    its host never perishes, nor does He grow weary.

  35. Glory be to Him—there is no god but He,

    if only the ignorant wanderer would take the straight path.

  36. O man enamored of war, pursuing its furthest reach

    in your expansive account of it:

  37. ask the mule that carried God's Messenger whether

    she praised her lean, high-bred horsemen.

  38. They flew away on their mounts, retreating; he did not flee,

    and they passed as routed remnants while he watched, head raised.

  39. A hero sees all death's waves surrounding him,

    yet his resolve floats high while hearts sink.

  40. The people's conjectures pursue his every movement,

    but he eludes the furthest guess of those who speculate and calculate.

  41. Every man approaches great affairs with a certain resolve,

    and by that resolve he is known throughout this wide world.

  42. Whatever genius may be in its highest ranks,

    he is a star in the heaven of genius—

  43. radiant: whoever does not journey within his light

    is destroyed by darkness and swept away by deepest gloom.

  44. Where are those whose black multitude filled the open land,

    whom their chiefs led astray until they formed their factions?

  45. They gained only flight; after them nothing can be seen

    but spoils laid open to seizure and plunder.

  46. Horses were made available—a blessing worthy of thanks—

    driven by decree, a wholesome provision.

  47. They passed into Muslim hands, and surely the Muslims

    have the greatest right to receive such abundant gifts.

  48. Debts are settled with them: neither Ibn Umayya

    complains of delayed payment, nor does Huwaytib reproach.

  49. And God's religion is established among those people who

    were beguiled by idols erected and set upright.

  50. Did Hawazin's slain make Malik grieve,

    and did he go on lamenting and mourning your fallen?

  51. Rise, Duraid, and deliver your people a sermon

    that will dispel their cares, for I knew you as an orator.

  52. Look at the captives and ask them what befell them:

    they were struck down, though they thought they never would be.

  53. Alas for the women and those they bore! Is there no warrior

    to defend their honor—no seasoned champion?

  54. Listen, Duraid: Muhammad has called out,

    bending tenderly over weak young children and caring for them:

  55. “Do not kill the children; among them we have

    no adversary, nor any guilty sinner.”

  56. Did you mock the young man falsely? Did the great

    grey-haired elder escape him with his lifeblood?

  57. He granted what you asked; his sword never hesitated,

    and you were what its edge desired, its very aim.

  58. If your heart constricted when you remembered his mother,

    hers was more capacious, if only you had known.

  59. She said, “Did you kill him, Rabi'a? Indeed he is

    an elder of acknowledged merit and standing.”

  60. What of the Sword of God? Where is his place?

    Can he be absent from the Prophet's sight and far away?

  61. The Prophet asked, and was told, “He is tending his wounds;

    if he were able, he would come rejoicing and exultant.”

  62. So he walked to visit him amid his retinue—

    and, by God, what a retinue of angels surrounded him!

  63. Blessed are you, Khalid! No eye has ever seen blood

    like the blood that streamed abundantly from Khalid.

  64. Rise despite your wounds: they are strength for you,

    leaving the cutting swords bewildered and awed.

  65. Rise to hardships whose hardness never softens;

    you are their strongest, most unyielding master.

  66. Yours is an ambition none can attain, and valor

    stored for the hour when crisis presses.

  67. Whoever fails to know the lion—its fang will pierce him

    wherever it catches prey, and the claw will drive onward.

  68. Bear witness, Hunayn, to what you saw, and fear

    no adversary who contests you, no enemy who clamors.

  69. I have told your tale, and said, “O earth, listen!”

    Then her east trembled, and her west heaved.

  70. What can I say—I, the tongue-tied—even though

    my pen flows with the most eloquent words spoken or written?

Sol 5.6