Sol 5.6

  1. A sharp-tongued band has ravaged his honor,

    though all they have is a gleaning from the jewels he scattered.

  2. Taqi al-Din Ahmad, the finest learned scholar—

    through him the rents in difficult questions were sewn shut.

  3. He died beloved and peerless,

    with no attachment to this worldly life.

  4. Had they attended him when he passed away, they would have found

    the angels of Paradise encircling him.

  5. He met his appointed death, with no peer;

    nor was an equal to him ever wrapped in swaddling clothes.

  6. Peerless in open-handed generosity and knowledge,

    to him the solving of difficult questions was entrusted.

  7. He called all humankind to piety

    and forbade a faction debauchery and sodomy.

  8. Even Iblis feared his assault;

    his preaching was a scourge upon hearts.

  9. Ah, by God, what a man a tomb has enclosed!

    And, by God, what a man earth’s carpet has covered!

  10. It was they who envied him because they could not attain

    his virtues; so they plotted and raged with fury.

  11. They were sluggish in following his paths,

    yet full of zeal when it came to harming him.

  12. The pearl’s confinement within its shells is an honor,

    and for the shaykh, imprisonment was bliss.

  13. In the house of the Hashemite Prophet he had a precedent:

    they too tasted death and never compromised.

  14. The sons of Taymiyya once were—and then departed—

    stars of learning overtaken by their setting.

  15. But alas for the remorse awaiting those who envied him!

    For through him the doubt of polytheism was effaced.

  16. Oh, the delight of the Jews at what you have done!

    For an adversary delights in turmoil.

  17. Was there not among you one right-minded man

    who, seeing the Imam imprisoned, would blaze with rage?

  18. An Imam who sought no office,

    no endowment assigned to him, no religious lodge;

  19. nor did he vie with you in amassing wealth,

    nor was he known to mingle with you.

  20. Why, then, did you imprison him—and thereby exalt him?

    Was harming him stipulated as his recompense?

  21. Imprisoning the shaykh is something one like me cannot approve:

    for it lowers the standing of men such as you.

  22. But by God, were it not that I keep my secret

    and fear the evil, the bond would come undone.

  23. I would say all that is within me; but

    excess does not befit men of learning.

  24. Now no one calls for justice;

    each is wholly immersed in his own desire.

  25. Your purpose will be revealed, O you who jailed him,

    and so will your intent, when the Bridge is raised.

  26. Here he has died in your custody: you have found relief.

    So pursue whatever you wished to pursue.

  27. Loosen and bind, with none to answer you;

    that whole arena once arrayed against you has now been folded away.

Sol 5.6