2038 — Abū Saīd Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Arābī recited to us from what we had read before him, saying: Muhammad ibn Zakariyyā al-Ghallābī recited to us, saying: Abbād ibn Bashshār recited to us:

[Basīt meter]

How long must tears keep streaming from the eye,
While yearning’s sighs set all the heart afire?

The soul takes flight, the sleepless eye keeps watch—
How can one sleep when wakefulness is his habit?

O people, I offer you sincere advice:
Remain on guard, for caution may avail.

I fear that there may fall upon you from your Lord
Punishments beyond which no punishment lies.

Why do the Rāfidah dwell among you now,
Roaming secure, impelled to excess by insolence?

They offend and revile the Prophet’s Companions,
Those through whom rain was once implored.

Some were Emigrants, ennobled by their emigration;
Others gave them shelter and came to their aid.

How can anyone tolerate one who unjustly disparages them,
When they have no defender among mankind?

To Allah we belong, for the humiliation I see among you;
There is no averting a matter driven onward by destiny.

I have come to see men devoid of all goodness—
Rāfidah who have gone astray without perceiving it.

I fear that you may approve their creed.
If not, have you any excuse to offer?

The Rāfidah have chosen to revile the rightly guided;
What can be expected after the righteous are reviled?

Never accept an excuse from anyone who reviles them,
For such abuse is a matter that cannot be forgiven.

Allah shall never be pleased with them,
Nor the Messenger, nor can any human approve of it.

They sever the bonds of Islam;
When realities are laid bare, they have neither recourse nor escape.

They deny the people of virtue their rightful merit
And fabricate lies against them whenever they are mentioned.

They had enough in themselves to occupy them,
Had they only considered what they were commanded to do.

Yet because of their wretchedness—and while doom fells them—
Their innovation led them to words by which they disbelieved.

They spoke, and we spoke; the best words are the truest.
Truth shines clear, while calumny recoils.

In Alī, and in what trustworthy men transmitted from his words,
Are lessons—if only lessons could avail.

The commander Alī declared from atop his pulpit,
While those firmly grounded in knowledge were present:

“The best of creation after the Prophet is Abū Bakr,
And the best of them after him is Umar.

Thereafter, all precedence belongs to the Most Merciful;
He grants it to whomever He wills, for Allah is all-powerful.”

This is Alī’s own declaration. None denies it
Save a lawless wretch, shameless and insolent.

Accept his declaration—or do not; your appointed place
Is a blazing Fire that neither spares nor leaves.

Were I to recount Uthmān’s virtues,
The whole world could never equal them in worth.

Nor have I overlooked Alī’s kinship
Or his lofty stations, before which sight grows dim.

Those lofty ranks were apportioned among four:
They are the leaders, the guiding beacons, the illustrious ones—

The people of Paradise, as the Messenger promised them,
A promise in which there is neither breach nor betrayal.

In al-Zubayr, the Prophet’s devoted disciple,
Are deeds which, when recounted, bring nearness and honor.

And recall of Talhah what deserves remembrance:
His noble service, which is remembered before Allah.

The Rāfidah display a degree of hostility
That even the Byzantines and Khazars could not attain.

Their enmity can do us no harm;
Rather, it harms them, and disgrace and injury rest upon them.

None can slake and thereby heal a soul against the Rāfidah
Save a fierce and courageous man.

Their Creator has never ceased striking them with humiliation
Until the hair has flown from its very roots.

Treat the Rāfidah with humiliation, for they suffer
The malady of madness whenever their humors rage.

All the Rāfidah are asses devoid of hearts—
Deaf and blind, possessing neither hearing nor sight.

They have strayed from the path—may Allah bring their efforts to ruin!
How vile a faction they are, whether few or many.

A disgrace among the pilgrims, without piety or restraint;
Among the Rāfidah are disease and festering sores.

They never accept the counsel of a sincere adviser;
Among them are asses, camels, and cattle.

The people dwell in layers of blackest darkness;
No sun or moon has ever risen for them among mankind.

They enjoy no safety while all others live secure,
And may they have no safety so long as trees put forth leaves.

May Allah never bless them, nor may there remain
In our midst a single female or male among them.