Sol 6.1

  1. O Sha'ban, in the coming year,

    fair are your approaching heralds,

  2. and the appointed time for the Muslims’ conference

    in Egypt, for the lofty purpose.

  3. We count the nights as auspicious

    until you, and watch them drawing near.

  4. Within you the peoples of firm faith will be gathered

    by Egypt, answering the call and summoning.

  5. And angels move among the delegations,

    bearing revelation, at evening and at dawn.

  6. They walk upon her soil, radiant,

    beneath her clear sky.

  7. The lightning flashes recount their conversations

    to every kingdom, retelling them.

  8. They salute the ramparts of this protected land

    and its precious, free banner.

  9. They see the caliphate in its crown,

    as she hopes and yearns,

  10. pledging allegiance with confidence in the destination,

    at the far end of the paths to salvation.

  11. Gone is a time when one of the men came

    with his flimsy excuses.

  12. And dissociated my people from their own kin,

    placating their cunning adversary,

  13. and turned the caliphate away from their land

    as a hostile thrust is repelled.

  14. And Egypt has now become its arena

    and its fertile, sheltering habitat.

  15. It is as though I see, in the protected land’s ports,

    its massive fleets lying at anchor,

  16. and the caliphate’s army, fully mustered,

    marching toward the distant goal.

  17. Right must have strength

    that tyrannical power fears.

  18. Will Egypt take it as her destined lot,

    while the desert’s king seeks it?

  19. Damascus and Baghdad are shackled,

    and Mecca laments and weeps.

  20. She found solace in your gentleness amid her lot,

    and but for you, she would not have been consoled.

  21. She wishes she could move to a place

    on the Nile, or dwell beside one of its reaches.

  22. And after the Muslims have awakened,

    and their storms have blown, scattering,

  23. and they have marched to the Turks to redeem them,

    though they are the East’s errant state,

  24. and alarmed the sons of the West, denouncing

    what the overbearing state does—

  25. does Ankara suddenly take a gamble,

    in its role as ruler and judge,

  26. and exact vengeance upon innocent kings,

    when those nights themselves are to blame?

  27. And does the august title move from

    the very heart of the book to the margin?

  28. And after the atheists have believed

    and rebellious souls have grown calm,

  29. do those who sow division in their faith forsake it

    in a harsh estrangement?

  30. And if its adherents followed religion,

    they would tame the savage beasts with it.

  31. Security for hearts, and light for minds,

    in a surging sea with darkness above.

  32. And how welcome is religion, the restraint of souls,

    when it shields them from the abyss’s harm!

  33. The faction has indeed afflicted the Muslims,

    yet met with no harsh rebuke;

  34. and assailed the crown, tyrannous,

    with a wild storm, hurling and pelting.

  35. And did it know it had revisited

    the bygone ages of Mongol rule?

  36. And that is no marvel in time,

    but a spreading malady.

  37. Nor did the star fall for horror at what

    it decreed, nor did the Overwhelming Hour arise.

  38. So, O lord of the Nile and the two valleys,

    and master of its flowing springs,

  39. I pledge allegiance to you today, before the peoples,

    as herald of your exalted caliphate.

  40. Your forebear, called upon for aid, sought it

    with his rightful, decisive argument.

  41. He guarded it, faithful to his sons,

    deferred for them and enduring.

  42. And it passed beyond Ali to Ahmad,

    sacred, gracious, and complete.

  43. And your forebears carried it onward

    to the son of their trusted one, content.

  44. They saw it as a burden to them, after

    seeing it as the guardian of their glory.

  45. And it became their enemies’ means of reaching them,

    though it had been their cornerstone.

  46. Your reign will succeed a reign of theirs

    that passed away with its outworn beliefs.

  47. And they preserve their affection for Egypt,

    and Egypt cherishes their affection.

  48. And you will preserve, O fifth of the Rightly Guided,

    the unifying bond of the guiding faith.

  49. It comes to you beneath the banner of peace,

    and you take it with the hand that builds.

  50. And your land had been a fortress for it,

    so it has returned to its fortress once more.

  51. What has come to you is no gift,

    nor is what you have kept a loan.

  52. And every goal, however distant,

    is worthy of your exalted nation.

  53. To what listener should I complain?

    And I am not one with a hidden ailment.

  54. Nor has this conscience grown burdened by a secret,

    and it is enough for me to seek well-being.

Sol 6.1