Sol 5.6

  1. O ʿAḍud al-Dīn—Pillar of the Faith—you are my mainstay.

    I have heard something that has sapped my strength:

  2. I heard that thieves had entered

    my house and ravaged all that my hand possessed.

  3. They emptied my clothes chest, leaving

    nothing I could wear to cover my body.

  4. And I wondered how my Time could single me out

    for harm while you stood watch.

  5. Then hear my tale, for it is an occurrence

    that never befell anyone before me.

  6. I remain unharmed beside the Euphrates, among the Bedouin,

    yet am despoiled in the very heart of town.

  7. I had reckoned that anything might happen,

    but the taking of my clothes never crossed my mind.

  8. So praise be to God, who has no partner:

    my ill fortune never comes to an end.

  9. Rise, then, to my aid—for you are a noble man

    whose protégé never spends the night oppressed.

  10. Demand back my clothes, for they constitute an unredressed wrong;

    I turn to you to exact due requital for them.

Sol 5.6