رموا الجمار وفي فؤادي منهم — Alshaghouri

They cast the ritual pebbles, while in my heart, because of them—

I would ransom them—ghada-wood embers blaze.

When they came to Arafat, they wrapped themselves in

denial of us; they were safe—why did they not greet us?

On Safa their affection was not pure, and I had

a heart there, bewildered and enslaved by love.

They attained life's wishes when Mina was reached,

until, when the mounts were haltered at Zamzam, they murmured.

They proclaimed their pilgrimage call to God; there met

the scattered pearls and the pearls strung in order.

And toward the jet-black Stone they bent smiling mouths,

from which lightning flashes smile as they gleam.

And during our circling they unveiled faces,

in envy of which the forenoon sun veils itself.

They headed for the Ancient House to slay us;

evil the deed, but excellent the House they sought.

When they gazed with their eyes, through their arrows

blood streamed down cheeks because of them.

This is what we receive from them, and we follow their pale camels,

whether they go to Yemen, or Najd, or Tihama.

Is their pilgrimage valid, when not a single glance

of theirs fails to kill a Muslim?

Between me and those people stands Najm al-Din, the most

diligent of those eminent in the sciences, and the most learned.

An ocean, but one overflowing with noble deeds;

a scholar before whom every scholar is silenced.

His pens water the regions with rain,

and with them the claws of calamities are clipped.

His resolves are piercing meteors in the heights,

by which the devils of his foes are pelted.

Praises refuse to be fashioned for anyone else,

out of pride, and succeed when set in verse about him.

His adversaries appear before him as sheep frightened

at the gathering by the roar of the lion within him.

Praise surged, but I found no worthy recipient,

no one but him; so the faultfinders did not blame me.

No equal exists for him; were wealth to be found

in our age, no destitute soul would be found.

Were he given ownership of the world, he would lavish it on

whoever sought his bounty, promptly and without regret.

When he saw the base world, whose people

worship their dinar and dirham,

he forsook wealth and built himself the best of buildings;

his endeavors prospered—what a splendid gain!

Whoever acts like this in his lifetime,

God decrees every blessing for him.

Alert to earning praise, he presses forward,

and holds back from base deeds and greedy desires.

And to the foremost rank he has been raised by

virtues whose embroidered mantle is faith.

Steadfast when the minds of the wise lose their balance,

more firmly rooted than Yadhbul's twin flanks—indeed, greater.

And he treads on the crown of the two Farqad stars with an aspiration

beneath whose instep lie Suha and Mirzam.

No rain-drenched garden, whose blossoms smile at

the forenoon sun and shed fragrance, all embroidered,

is ever sweeter among humankind than your garments—

no indeed, nor aromatic musk that fills the nostrils.

I offered glass beads to one whose speech is

pearls—center-gems whose beauty you discern.

If peoples have found their way by a star,

the stars have come to be guided by Najm al-Din.

Baghdad envies Hama because of him; and her Tigris

obeys and serves Hama's Orontes.

He is the son of a scholar whose excellence no

Muslim ever denies, nor his eminence in Islam.

Every man falls short of his reach,

and through him all who advance have advanced.

You, Najm al-Din, are indeed a lucky star, reviving

Abu Sa'd within you, where he is also portrayed.

Yours, O image of your father, is his resolve; and whoever

resembles his father does no wrong.

Yours is a lofty, 'Usruni aspiration;

so the meteors beneath it are gray steeds, neighing.

Through you, al-Shafi'i's glory endures after him;

his lights are renowned, not hidden.

Toward Abu al-Barakat we saddle our horses,

in hope of his abundant bounty, and bridle them.

May he never cease, throughout time, to lift the obscure,

and impart knowledge of good to those who do not know.