Sol 6.1

  1. O critic of words you do not understand,

    Tell me: how can one who does not understand criticize?

  2. O you climbing rugged terrain whose path has narrowed,

    Can one who trembles on level ground climb rugged terrain?

  3. O you walking in a wilderness with no companion,

    What way out is there when the lion slays you unawares?

  4. O you wading into the sea, not knowing how to swim in it,

    Alas for you! Will you survive if the foam rises?

  5. Many a man seeks to trade insults with me, yet I do not answer him in kind,

    And many a one seeks my faults, yet finds none;

  6. And many a man envies me for what I have gained—may there be no end

    To his heart's burning with the fires of envy.

  7. My offense, in the eyes of all the adherents of Rafidism,

    Is that I mobilize to demolish the houses of Rafidism.

  8. O men, to the rescue! Shall the dullard among you become

    Honored, while the leader of learning is persecuted?

  9. So may God never water a land where injustice is done

    To the lions of al-Sharā, while small sheep there play the lion.

  10. I have been afflicted with ignorant people in an age

    In which they rose, while men of learning sat idle.

  11. A people in whose eyes the great among men seem small;

    So they have no ability to resolve whatever arises.

  12. And the upshot of the matter with these people is that they

    Are the bitterest enemies of anyone whose knowledge is sound.

  13. When they see a man who has attained a rank

    In learning beyond what they know, they deny it.

  14. Or if he turns away from false sayings, they leave no

    Door of evil without heading toward it.

  15. As for hadith whose transmission is sound,

    As in the mother collections—none among them is a child of theirs.

  16. You see them: if they see someone saying, 'He narrated to us,'

    They say to him, 'A Nāṣibī—he has no right guidance!'

  17. And if, in their midst, he prays that God be pleased with the Companions,

    They say to him, 'A zealous hater of the Prophet's family!'

  18. O you drowned in innovations at ignorance's bidding,

    And fleeing upright guidance—may they be guided!

  19. Is a young man's diligence in learning a defect?

    The defect lies in ignorance—may the Eternal Refuge never bless you!

  20. Do not reject a water source sweet to its drinker;

    If you must reject it, then come to its waters.

  21. And if you refuse, then the Day of Gathering is our appointed meeting,

    At the place where al-Muṣṭafā stands, with the One as Judge.

Sol 6.1