If you try to keep pace with him, even a surging torrent cannot keep up; once he moves into a discussion he displays a virtuoso command of its every branch.

An ascetic, a devotee, one who stands in prayer by night; humble, scrupulous, and thoroughly pious.

In every age he is a leader, a proof from the Creator against all creatures on earth.

We regard him as the one most entitled to that station, and he obtained it—for to the imamate he had always been appointed.

The shaykh of humankind, the proof of Islam—his public renown spares us the need to cite any honorific surnames.

I mean Abū al-‘Abbās Aḥmad—indeed, Taqī al-Dīn in truth, the deeply learned, penetrating scholar (1).

⦗154⦘ For Allah’s sake he fears not the reproach of any critic, and he deems even wasting away in His path the summit of every aspiration (2).

Once convinced that everything one leaves behind must perish, even what is most precious and rare,

he set aside no provisions for tomorrow and left no legacy but fair praise.

A capacious breast that—by virtue of its perfection—held within it a mine of every higher science (3).

After his passing the signs (4) of sainthood became manifest; ask, and you will come away certain of these realities.

Hear Aḥmad’s words as he warned his foes: “The Day of Funerals will decide between us.”

Thus the loss most worthy of lament is his, for the death of this scholar is no trivial calamity.

When the overflow of souls is depleted do not censure; rather, aid the eyes to pour out tears like springs (5).