Sol 5.6

  1. Bestow on me Your eloquence in praising Your praised one, the Guide.

    Where shall I find a Ḥassān—that singing nightingale?

  2. This is my plea, and good expectation is its guide.

    By God, I adjure all who come and go.

  3. Here is my tongue: I have untied its knot.

    O most eloquent of humankind in speech, among the sons of Ḍād!

  4. I have ventured forth after long restraint, while within me circles

    a poetic inspiration that impels recitation.

  5. Then the rain of rhymes streamed from its lightning flashes,

    driving meanings onward and quenching the thirsty one's burning thirst,

  6. on a night aglow with the light of its master,

    when it was said: “These are celebrations of a birth”—

  7. the birth of Ṭā Hā; the word of His sure decree suffices me.

    How great a proof it is, standing firm to bear witness!

  8. Had his followers not strayed from his paths,

    the East would never have become plunder among enemies.

  9. They were Khosrows—let the Khosrows bear witness—

    whose landmarks became thickets, lairs for lions.

  10. They administered such justice that it won their consciences;

    by God, how wondrous what flowed from that valley!

  11. His rulings among all created beings, every one, are wisdom,

    and those who govern by what they contain stand like mountains.

  12. Ask the historian—and history itself—about ʿUmar,

    the champion of the faith, ever counted among the rarest of men.

  13. By God, how splendid was his saying when we stood confident:

    “Let us proclaim the truth, and let the camel-driver sing it aloud!”

  14. In awe of the truth, he met them all alone,

    fully armed, striding like one ready to sacrifice himself.

  15. He prayed, circumambulated, and called out in their very gatherings:

    “Whoever wishes, let him test me; here I lie in wait.”

  16. Say: such is resolve—the resolve of those sincerely devoted to Him;

    and thus does truth stand mighty in glory.

  17. This man and his peers are champions of the creed of one

    without whom the traitor would have laid us waste, as he laid waste ʿĀd:

  18. the Chosen One, from whom there appeared, on a night like ours,

    the lights of whose countenance herald felicity.

  19. The sun, the full moon, and all the celestial spheres together

    are, like me, dumbfounded by his manifest light.

  20. My incapacity looms immense beside those who fell short in what

    they said of him, though they were encompassed by divine aid.

  21. What can I say of one whose Creator said:

    “Were it not for you, the worlds would never have come into being”?

  22. God indeed singled him out in this world with seeing Him—

    this is a hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās, transmitted with a chain.

  23. In form and character He fashioned and perfected him,

    and in religion he transcended confinement by spans of time.

  24. Had we not found in him that which kept our feet from slipping

    and kept an age of unbelief from overcoming us,

  25. deviation would not have harmed him; rather, it harmed one who clung

    to him in attachment without guidance or right direction.

  26. His sacred law has returned among us as it first began;

    but do its children possess the deeds of their forefathers?

  27. There is neither blemish nor flaw in its teachings

    for those who walk upon its guiding path.

  28. So let us revive it—the pride of Islam among Arabs,

    a people of candor in promise and warning,

  29. proud and high-nosed, refusing humiliation—what of that have

    their sons inherited, to pass it on to descendants?

  30. Will the free man accept the life of the submissive while

    within his breaths a spark remains to be kindled?

  31. Indeed, hearts are volcanoes fiercely ablaze;

    justice, not tyranny, compels them to die down.

  32. Exhaustion has not diminished our worth, if spirits rise

    among us and we guard it with our bodies.

  33. A man possessed by fear deserves no life of honor

    when helplessness casts him into an abyss of misery.

  34. Whoever desires the life of a free man must prepare for it

    its means: courage and generosity.

  35. The right deserves to be granted to whoever seeks it,

    even if the aggressor, buoyed by it, rises like a balloon.

  36. O my people, extend your hands to me, that I may clasp them;

    I remain true to the covenant and will fulfill my promise to you.

  37. And spread your palms, praying with me to the Generous One

    for victory, invoking blessings upon the Guide.

Sol 5.6