Sol 6.1

  1. Separation conceals what love openly revealed.

    And what the heart concealed rose in the eye between us [wording uncertain].

  2. A lovesick lover conceals love’s sickness as a ruse,

    to attain union through a passion that reveals his wasting illness.

  3. For a heart stricken by passion, it is all the same

    whether love retreats from him through self-abasement or draws near.

  4. You kiss her two palms and sip her lips,

    and cling to her flanks, uncovering folds of belly flesh.

  5. We spend the night lamenting love to her beneath a veil,

    when we remove it, folded, from the face.

  6. Nor have I forgotten her mourners among us at al-Ma‘lāh,

    or our departing from her with thirst quenched, and our coming to water.

  7. We pass through her markets, as though we were

    bereaved souls, afflicted by meetings and partings [wording uncertain].

  8. We passed the two green markers, keeping to the right.

    And at the gate—or we stood in hope and felt safe [wording uncertain].

  9. When we beheld her, our minds took flight;

    she has an awe that seizes the innards of whoever gazes.

  10. We walked toward her with delicate steps.

    Our eyes, turned toward her, glimpse the radiance.

  11. When we stroked the Corner and the Stone at which

    we had invoked God, the Glorious, our Lord,

  12. and made seven circuits, greeting every corner,

    and stroked it [unclear wording], or [possibly with praise],

  13. when we completed our circumambulation with supplication,

    we quenched our thirst from Zamzam before washing.

  14. When we poured water over our garments,

    we turned to the gate of al-Safa to renew our ritual walk.

  15. When we walked at al-Safa and Marwah,

    and passed the two green markers without weariness,

  16. we set out for Mina in the manner of those departing,

    and spent the night until the sun appeared in Mina.

  17. We passed through the valley of Muhassir and Muhassab,

    to Arafat; God hears our clamorous cries.

  18. We stood, praising God, and God was witness

    to our standing; we hope that He accepts our pilgrimage.

  19. We stood until the sun disappeared beyond Hira,

    then descended and traveled toward Jam‘ with our company.

  20. When we alighted and assembled with our company,

    to gather seventy pebbles, counted out for our casting,

  21. at the pure Sacred Monument, all of us

    prayed the dawn prayer when we could discern the light.

  22. We passed through the valley of Muhassir and Muhassab,

    and came to Mina to attain our wishes there.

  23. There we cast the pebbles, and afterward

    we returned and lived on—by my life—with our sin [wording uncertain].

  24. When we sacrificed in Mina on our day of sacrifice,

    we made for Layla to secure our release from consecration.

  25. From where we had circled and sought aid, toward Mina

    we returned with the advent of happiness and abundance.

  26. A caravan swiftly traversed a stretch of ground [wording uncertain],

    upon [unclear mounts], like bows or spears.

  27. Night travel whittled them like reeds, and they came on,

    racing the desert’s ostriches, darting about, or [unclear].

  28. They plunged into early night [the phrase about a gazelle is unclear]; when there appeared

    to them the dawn, they waded through springs of night travel.

  29. And I praise them for midday travel [wording uncertain], until I saw them:

    their backs and bellies had become like their girth-straps.

  30. For them the mirage is a sea, they are ships, and their riders—

    their turbans are sails [the closing phrase is unclear].

  31. They did not rumble with longing for a watering place behind them,

    nor recall a pasture they had grazed or a resting place by water.

  32. The caravan’s camel-drivers chanted them onward, driving them gently.

    They set off like curved bows, urging us along.

  33. I say to them as they urge them onward: At Quba,

    give them rest [unclear word], since they complain of weariness.

  34. At dawn, turn them toward Muhammad’s grave.

    When you make them kneel there, bliss is yours and theirs.

  35. Offer him especially our greetings of peace and our praise.

    Oh, the triumph of whoever bestows praise upon Ahmad!

  36. God’s blessing be upon him, living and dead,

    and His greeting of peace, and praise from us [final word unclear].

  37. A prophet, the seal of all the prophets,

    and foremost among them in excellence, noble and manifest.

  38. A prophet whose name God joined

    whenever the caller to prayer called and proclaimed the summons.

  39. Moses’ Torah bore witness to his excellence,

    and Jesus’ Gospel made plain his abundant excellence.

  40. The Qur’an expressly proclaimed his glory;

    the text paired his name with the name of God.

  41. Were it not for him, neither gardens of Paradise nor hellfire would have been created,

    nor the hereafter, nor these earthly worlds.

  42. At his birth, Persia’s fire was extinguished,

    and Kisra’s vaulted hall collapsed after he had built it.

  43. In the valley a camel and a gazelle greeted him;

    she spoke to him, and the lion submitted to him.

  44. She-camels, a gift for the Yemeni, greeted him.

    Abu Jahl disputed over them [final phrase unclear].

  45. The radiant full moon was split for him by his sleeve,

    and the radiance of the two full moons shone among the multitude.

  46. His sign among the clan of Halima’s household—

    the people knew it with knowledge held certain.

  47. Milk flowed from her, though only yesterday she was dry.

    He never sucked her breast without our having milk [wording uncertain].

  48. A cloud shaded him in the midday heat.

    And the sun [unclear wording about a ridge, thickets, and our cradle].

  49. Glory be to Him who took him by night, during a spell of sleep,

    to al-Masjid al-Aqsa; then he was gladdened and returned [reading uncertain].

  50. Thus he became a bellowing camel-stallion for Islam,

    and unbelief’s camel-stallion became [unclear], smoke-darkened.

  51. He did not die until idolatry was left in ashes.

    Through him it came amid clouds; then we dealt grievous blows [wording uncertain].

  52. It encompassed the two holy men resting beside him after him,

    and encompassed all his family; good fortune encompassed us.

  53. Through love of God’s Messenger we hope for intercession,

    on the day when the gathering-place of resurrection embraces us.

  54. To you, Messenger of God, a greeting from me:

    accept its praise, for it is the vaulted hall of our clan [wording uncertain].

  55. For after God, you are witness to our love,

    though our dwelling has kept us far from you.

  56. Whenever we see those visiting your presence,

    our livers are torn apart, and longing for you shakes us.

  57. I offer you my praise as a plea,

    for I was a wrongdoer who garlanded a benefactor with praise.

  58. How can my praise of you suffice, when God, with praise,

    has praised you—and that is praise itself?

  59. Even if Luqman and Noah were long-lived,

    and I had become entirely tongues for praising you,

  60. I could not hope to count a tenth of a tenth of your praiseworthy qualities,

    nor a tenth of a tenth of a tenth of what we learned of you.

  61. But my hope is for intercession from your hands;

    if I gain that grace, then truly I am I!

Sol 6.1