Sol 5.6

  1. Safeguard solemn covenants, for the noble man is he who safeguards them.

    Renew whatever once endured of the ancient covenant.

  2. Those who pledged allegiance to the Chosen One were indeed the most faithful;

    so pledge allegiance to them, and deepen the people’s faith.

  3. Take the Book from al-Siddiq, and seek

    among its pages Abu Hafs and Uthman.

  4. The best of prophets—his love purifies you,

    and God rewards you out of grace and beneficence.

  5. Is that a home for the rising generation which we behold,

    or do we behold a haven for Islam?

  6. The Trusty One passed through it, borne on a breeze from Paradise,

    and added to it pillars drawn from the majesty of Truth.

  7. When you turned toward the Qur’an in devotion,

    the banks of the Nile streamed forth Qur’an.

  8. Those congregations rose from their resting places,

    summoning to God a people who had passed the night half-asleep,

  9. complaining of blindness though God’s Book was in their hand,

    almost denying it through ignorance and forgetfulness.

  10. A light streamed forth—had God not been its sender,

    the peoples of the earth would then have surged forth blind.

  11. When kingdoms stray from its paths,

    their civilization becomes falsehood and calumny.

  12. Whoever among our people goes forth to revive its paths of guidance

    thereby revives many nations and homelands.

  13. If you spread its wisdom throughout the horizons,

    you unleash a deluge of learning and understanding.

  14. And if you strike the sons of this world with its power,

    it turns the surging sea to blood and the earth to a volcano.

  15. It sends fleets victoriously through the verses

    and floods the battlefield with heroes and horsemen.

  16. Upon it the Messenger built a nation that overthrew

    the mightiest peoples through it in glory and dominion.

  17. Indeed, He who sent down the Wise Reminder upon

    His Messenger endowed it further with preservation and clear exposition.

  18. It abides through all time, fearing none of its calamities,

    nor fearing aggression from the aggressors.

  19. Will no great host arise in the royal capital

    to guard the edifice and tend the cause and its affairs?

  20. There the highest authority shall be ours

    whenever we seek a helper in good works.

  21. Every cause must have an endeavor that brings it to fulfillment,

    and God is the most generous One from whom success for our endeavor may be hoped.

Sol 5.6