Sol 6.1

  1. Speech begins with praise of God.

    And whoever seeks attains what is sought.

  2. And who is worthier of that praise than He,

    when His blessings are multiplied and immense?

  3. You sleep, though you are a target for death,

    while your Lord guards you and never sleeps.

  4. A Protector has spared you misery and hardship;

    your hand has free choice among His gifts.

  5. Had He repaid you justly for your deeds,

    retribution would have swiftly reached you instead of grace.

  6. He guarantees your sustenance every day,

    yet you refuse to let suspicion leave you.

  7. You put your hopes in people—would that I knew:

    who is the Provider if people are miserly?

  8. Who, then, revives the earth after death,

    and by whose power do the clouds pour rain?

  9. Sins have indeed blinded your inner sight,

    and this rainless cloud has deceived you in your thirst.

  10. You have distracted your gaze from meaning with sense perception,

    while mighty terrors lie before you.

  11. You have been self-reliant in treating your body,

    yet beneath your ribs lies an incurable disease.

  12. You are reproached for your immersion in sins,

    yet you have no heart for reproach to hurt.

  13. Darkness comes upon you, yet there is no night prayer,

    and midday heat visits you, yet there is no fasting.

  14. Foolishly, you have prolonged your suckling at the world,

    but every suckling has its weaning.

  15. So heed death: indeed, the gray hair

    at your temple is a halter from its snares.

  16. People have wept over sins, while you have nothing but

    indifference toward your sins and smiles.

  17. You have turned toward worldly chaff to acquire it;

    do not amass too much, lest that chaff crush you.

  18. You were miserly with what you gathered—is it right

    for one like you to persist in stinginess and wrongdoing?

  19. O you grown gray in sin—will you not feel shame?

    Morning has appeared, and darkness has cleared.

  20. To God is the return, and there is no abiding,

    when the journey is urged onward; there is no staying.

  21. Awake! Gray hair has already filled the forelocks,

    and beyond it lies nothing but death.

  22. For a Lord has decreed your passing away,

    to whom uniqueness and eternity are due.

  23. Contemplate your Lord's handiwork; you will find in it

    wonders screened from sight by a veil.

  24. His blessings surpass words of thanks;

    they throng above one another's heads.

  25. And indeed, the greatest boon is an imam,

    in whose hand lies command of the earth's dominion.

  26. Arabs and non-Arabs seek refuge in his kingdom,

    and Yemen and Sham look to his rule.

  27. A rain cloud followed by no clearing,

    and a full moon whose fullness never leaves it.

  28. From his right hand's bounty comes hoped-for rain,

    and his brow's light is lightning watched for rain.

  29. A prayer moves behind his rule;

    it is gleaming, keen-edged swords and arrows.

  30. Can a sound mind deny his merit,

    when the doves have proclaimed his nobility?

  31. So tell his enemy: desist, and desist,

    or see clearly: the sharp sword has been drawn.

  32. And he has filled the lands with dread for you—

    an imam with a vast army behind him,

  33. with every warrior accustomed to plunging into death,

    whenever war's blaze flares up,

  34. and a sleek steed that hears whispered urging,

    and understands what the bridle intends for it.

  35. So seek refuge at his side and gain safety,

    if you sincerely seize your opportunity with him.

  36. Do not let conceit carry you away, and know

    that rest makes a colt unruly.

  37. Hasten, then hasten, then hasten

    to a king—visiting him is a pledge of safety.

  38. Do not advance against a rending lion

    while you are a wild ass followed by ostriches.

  39. Folly promises you what you desire,

    but God and the imam refuse it.

  40. Yours is the exhausting toil, and then you suffer

    through it; his are safety and peace.

Sol 6.1