Sol 6.1

  1. Hope rests in you, whether you greet or bid farewell,

    whether deliberate in what you seek or swift.

  2. The fields of action need only this among your qualities:

    they have found you firm of resolve and valiant.

  3. You strive alone toward the noblest aims,

    and attain among them what was far off and inaccessible.

  4. Until you restored, of virtues and glory,

    what stubborn time had taken away and squandered.

  5. And you united the two nations, blessed with success,

    for good, through a bond that will never be severed.

  6. And you spared your people alarm at any calamity

    and fear of the foes' might and greed.

  7. And you filled your age with conquests that

    left no lofty fortress or position untouched,

  8. with battalions you shaded with fluttering banners,

    like clouds, except that they will never disperse.

  9. And you assailed the realm's foe with a war

    in which you gave the cannon victory over the sword.

  10. No sooner did it erupt in fury and unleash flame

    than the lofty, firmly rooted mountains fell in heaps.

  11. And your troops swept through the land, shaking it

    with terror and constricting its spacious expanse.

  12. Your might never ceased moving among the tribes,

    filling their hearts and striking down the foes,

  13. until their blood flowed and quenched a thirst

    the blessed Nile, brimful, had not quenched.

  14. And there came to you, rejoicing in your rule and content,

    those who once refused to be humbled and submit.

  15. So you magnanimously forgave the repentant their sin,

    and freely bestowed on them life's serenity.

  16. Complete this blessing upon them, and do not

    deny them a glimpse of the light of your face.

  17. And be gentle with them, for their hearts almost

    split apart with longing to meet you.

  18. Visit them as did your great forefather, who

    left no place without a memory of his bounty.

  19. And review the fearsome army, showing

    you how it brought death to the rebels:

  20. a warning to those you spared, not gloating

    over the dead, nor grieving for them.

  21. From time to time, pour forth your kindness among them,

    until you see the desert become a lush meadow,

  22. and the bliss of their lives endures, assured,

    so long as you remain a more abundant source for the two Niles.

  23. Joy is theirs, for through their land flows

    a river sweeter to drink from than the two rivers.

  24. Had a sincere counselor brought them glad tidings of your reign,

    they would not have believed their Mahdi's claims.

  25. Nor would they have built a stronghold against your army,

    nor seen any refuge except in you.

  26. You will see them, when their delegations meet you,

    like the sea, its billows heaving and rushing forward.

  27. And from sheer joy their faces almost

    turn white, until you behold them gleaming.

  28. If the departed knew what you have bestowed upon the

    survivors, they would choose to return to you.

  29. And had they sought rescue from death before then,

    they would have found in your favor an intercessor whose plea was accepted.

  30. Abbas, for faith, the Sultan, and the

    homelands is all that you are now resolved to do among us.

  31. God's promise endured among His servants,

    until they saw in you its awaited fulfillment.

  32. So summon the peoples to the Caliph, uniting

    in God, religion and worldly life together.

  33. And set for them, in every land far removed

    from them, a beacon or a broad, open road.

  34. May you ever be blessed in your travels, bringing life

    to summer and spring retreats through your stay.

  35. And may He protect you—He who gave you just rule

    and guidance by which you govern four kingdoms.

Sol 6.1