Sol 5.6

  1. And when God ordained it, he left not a single Muslim

    unbidden to his allegiance: each answered and submitted.

  2. Whoever wins his affection wins wealth and honor;

    whoever takes him for an evil omen dreads an imminent death.

  3. Have you not seen him give to the pilgrims, as though

    of all the wealth he bestowed, he had given but one dirham?

  4. He sought out the people of the Two Akhshabs, and every one of them

    he enriched, giving each his apportioned largesse.

  5. So they departed for every town with what he had bestowed,

    praising him as they set their nose-ringed mounts swaying.

  6. Like the daytime sun, aloof from mankind: when it appears,

    it gives light; when it vanishes, it effaces the day, and darkness falls.

  7. You see those who desire and hope for his bounty

    encircling one who smiles at evening, a boundless sea.

  8. as though through his beneficence they were seeking rain—

    spring rain the laden clouds had milked forth—so it poured.

  9. Of ancient generosity, he planted his glory firmly in Mecca

    in the age of Dhu al-Qarnayn—or it was earlier still.

  10. For it was they who set forth therein the rites of its people,

    and they who made the sacred al-Hijr and Zamzam inviolable.

  11. It was they who, at al-Marj in the vale of Rahit, defended

    their watering place with bright blades from being razed.

  12. Upon them were close-woven coats of fine steel mail; you would think them

    showing you Canopus, splintered across pools.

  13. Whoever may conceal the manifest truth—as for me,

    because of what I have been given, I refuse all but speech.

  14. Indeed, I hope from your bounty for a coveted boon

    through which I may gain wealth and relieve a debtor.

  15. In you is a true likeness of your father, and a disposition

    that refuses to let you fail to lead in beneficence.

  16. For whomever you exalt grows mighty; and whomever you intend

    to humble has no shield against being crushed.

Sol 5.6