Sol 6.1

  1. O possessor of bounty and favors,

    and Lord of the hidden and the manifest,

  2. and the One whose creation has borne witness

    to Him through His beautiful deeds:

  3. You granted what was sought through gifts,

    You warded off the harm of afflictions,

  4. by what had never passed through a mind,

    nor ever reached an ear.

  5. So You formed all creatures, and they came

    from nothingness, having never existed.

  6. And You awakened minds to

    You, so they proceeded along the proper course.

  7. Thus none but You was affirmed for them

    by sound thought and discernment.

  8. And You hung the world's trust

    about the neck of a radiant, trusted man:

  9. an imam of those of renown,

    who came at the end of time.

  10. The caliphate of the world came to him,

    and religious authority, joined in one bond.

  11. So he conducted affairs, equal to the task,

    along a path among the established ways.

  12. And he enriched all the people,

    beyond need of kin and homeland.

  13. For through him all people were safe

    from the instigators of evil and strife.

  14. And their eyelids have won

    their delight in drowsiness.

  15. Perfection was truly his, and it had not

    belonged except to a rare few:

  16. the intelligence of Iyas al-Muzani,

    and the asceticism of Uways al-Qarani.

  17. So say to those who envy him—

    and such is the outcome of grudges:

  18. Your existence is headed toward nothingness,

    and your truce toward concealed rancor.

  19. Awake from your blindness,

    and take up the slack of the halter.

  20. And can you annul our truths

    with the falsehood of those conjectures?

  21. And does anyone shun verification

    except one whose watering-ground is narrow?

  22. You abandoned the side of right guidance,

    relying upon an idol.

  23. And you did not fear losing your fortune,

    between loss and poor judgment.

  24. And is one exposed amid bitter cold

    like one taking refuge in a fortress?

  25. I can almost see, if you persist—

    and we find nothing but ruined camps—

  26. the verdict of the white Indian sword,

    or of the supple brown spear:

  27. some bodies without souls,

    and some souls without bodies.

  28. Take up the preparations for death,

    for it cannot be warded off with shields.

  29. And do not linger, for there have surged

    the torrents of the downpouring cloud.

  30. The winds of truth are tempestuous,

    and falsehood has no ships.

  31. And with rebellion, there is nothing for you

    but the sword and the shroud.

Sol 6.1