Sol 6

  1. Hear, tell the trustworthy listeners,

    all those spoken of with praise:

  2. You have a generous share of piety

    and a share in meeting the pious.

  3. Among you is one who, when darkness rises

    and the seclusion of night worshipers settles,

  4. strips the garment of sleep from his eyes

    and spends the night repeating clear remembrance.

  5. Clear signs appear to him

    and fill him with ecstasy and longing.

  6. Come, pray for a long life

    for our lord, the Commander of the Faithful:

  7. for him whose justice and bounty embrace humankind

    and who surpasses humankind in worldly and religious affairs.

  8. He spreads a wing over his subjects,

    pouring sweet, flowing water over them.

  9. The earlier just rulers have passed;

    he has taken their place among later generations.

  10. He has cared for the poor with generosity and lifted

    from fathers the burdens of their children.

  11. An imam who made piety his guide

    and did not merely claim trust and certainty.

  12. The caliphate found no way away from his eminence,

    neither left nor right to turn.

  13. God saw him as the purest of them in conscience

    and clasped the precious jewel around his neck.

  14. For some reason I saw all the people

    united in agreement upon him.

  15. The banner of guidance appeared and called him to it,

    and was a firm cause of his attaining it.

  16. Ask the lands and their inhabitants about him;

    you will find them thankful in their reply.

  17. If that brow clothes you in light,

    then your light is yours; await that right hand.

  18. We forgot oppression and darkness when

    his justice shone forth as a clear dawn.

  19. We know neither worries nor calamities,

    nor do we count the months or the years.

  20. If some faults deceive his enemies,

    God is the best of helpers.

  21. Behind his rule stands a prayer

    that makes armored men’s hearts tremble,

  22. and white blades beneath brown spears above black steeds;

    we have wielded them in thousands upon hundreds.

  23. A pledge that the free man shall gain freedom,

    an imam who guarded piety jealously.

  24. And prayer against him is held captive

    before one aided by prayer for him.

Sol 6