يا مظهر حب الرسول وجهله

يغزيه من سفه ببعض صحابه

O you who profess love for the Messenger, while your ignorance

foolishly drives you against some of his companions!

رمت الهدى فضللت فيه لأنه

ما جئت حب محمد من بابه

You sought guidance but strayed in it, because

you did not enter love for Muhammad through its door.

أتحبه وتعيب قوماً آمنوا

بسنا هداه حال كشف حجابه

Do you love him while reviling people who believed

in the radiance of his guidance when his veil was lifted?

كذبتك نفسك ليس فضل كامل

في دينه الأوهم أولى به

Your soul has lied to you: no virtue belongs to one perfected

in his faith but they have a greater claim to it.

أتذوم أول مؤمن ومصدق

من قومه باله وكتابه

Do you revile the first believer, who acknowledged

God and His Book among his people?

مهلاً فما بدر الوجود وقد سما

في الأفق منتقصاً بنبح كلابه

Hold back! The full moon of existence, having risen

on the horizon, is not diminished by its dogs' barking.

أيكون أول مؤمن سمع الهدى

فأجابه مستوجباً لعقابه

Could the first believer who heard guidance

and answered it deserve his punishment?

أفما يردك عن ضلالك والهوى

عقل فإن الدين ما يعنى به

Will you not be turned from your error and desire

by reason, since religion is given no heed?

أثنى الإله عليهم في قوله

والسابقون فلم تصخ لخطابه

God praised them in His words,

'And the foremost'—yet you did not heed His address.

تباً لمن سمع الثناء عليهمو

من ربهم ورماهمو بسبابه

Ruin upon whoever heard praise of them

from their Lord, then pelted them with his abuse!

تصرو النبي وزازره وقاطعوا

فيه العدا وتمسكوا بجنابه

They aided the Prophet, supported him, and severed ties

with the foes for his sake, and held fast to his side.

لبوه طوعاً إذ دعاهم للهدى

وهمو لدى ظفر العدو ونابه

They answered him willingly when he called them to guidance,

while within reach of the enemy's claw and fang.

فغدوا وهم من هاجر أوطانه

أوصابر أو موثق لعذابه

So among them were those who left their homelands,

or endured, or were bound to suffer his torture.

لذت لهم في الله أوصاب الأذى

ووخيم مرتعه ومطعم صابه

Sweet to them, for God's sake, were the pangs of harm,

its noxious pasture and the taste of its bitter sap,

حتى أدالهم وصب بنصره

منهم على الكفار سوط عذابه

until He gave them ascendancy and, through His aid, poured

through them upon the unbelievers the scourge of His punishment.

ورسا عمود الدين تحت رماحهم

واستحكمت بهمو قوى اسبابه

The pillar of religion stood firm beneath their spears,

and through them the strands of its ropes grew firm.

أصبحت تلبس هجر قولك كل من

رفل الهدى والدين في جلبابه

You now clothe in your foul speech everyone

in whose mantle guidance and religion strode proudly.

لو كان شاهد ما تقول من الأذى

فيهم على خب في أثوابه

Had he witnessed the hurtful things you say

of them, ʿAlī [apparently] would have rushed in his robes;

وقتلت منه بسيف شقوتك الذي

جردته سفهاً على أحبابه

and you would have been slain by him with the sword of your wretchedness, which

you foolishly unsheathed against his loved ones.

ولكان حكمك والخوارج وحد

في دفع حكم الدين عن أربابه

Your judgment and the Kharijites' would be one

in withholding religion's rule from its rightful holders.

فدع الضلال وطرفه وارجع إلى

سنن الهدى وتوخ صوب صوابه

So abandon error and its fringes, and return to

the path of guidance, and seek its true direction.

واحذر عقاب الله واترك مرتقى

كم ذل مثلك في صعود عقابه

Beware God's punishment, and shun an ascent

whose steep passes have humbled so many like you as they climbed.

وغدا يكون لك الرسول مسائلا

عنهم فكن متأهلا لجوابه

Tomorrow the Messenger will question you

about them, so be prepared to answer him.