بل ما رأيت ولا سمعت به — Farazdaq

Nay, I have neither seen nor heard of

A day like the day of the women of the palace—

A day that will grant safety to everyone in hiding

Or joining the leaders of unbelief.

So remember widows who have no allowance,

And imprisoned men, as an occasion for reward.

Were they tried by anything other than their imprisonment,

They would endure, even if confined upon burning coals.

And indeed, through you he guided every bewildered one,

And through your justice healed all who harbored rancor,

Until each followed his established way aright,

And knew, though before it he had not known.

And you took justice from your father for us,

And rid us of every arrogant man,

An insolent tyrant who, when the wronged man admonished him,

Turned a blind eye to a weighty admonition.

We surely hope that you will restore to us

The ways of the caliphs of Banu Fihr:

Uthman, when they wronged him and violated the sanctity of

His blood on the morning after the night of sacrifice;

And the pillar of religion that stood upright—

Umar, and his companion Abu Bakr;

And the two sons of Abu Sufyan, when they sought vengeance for

Uthman—they did not spend the night with a grievance unavenged;

And your father's father, for every calamity—

Marwan, religion's sword, with its patterned blade;

And your father, when through him God dispelled

Blindness from us, and he shone like dawn;

And your brother, when through him God granted conquest,

And made him mighty with good fortune and victory;

Caliphs who left their prescribed ordinances

Among us, and the way of men remembered with honor.