We give and give until people set their own stores aside,
till the hands of those ladling food to the pilgrims begin to quake.
May Allah reward the company that gathered on al-Ḥajūn,
meeting in full view, counselling firmness and right guidance.
They sat on the slope of al-Ḥajūn as one compact rank—
nay, they were nobler and more illustrious still.
Every falcon-hearted warrior lent his aid;
when he strode, the flapping skirts of mail fenced in a broad chest.
Bold before the gravest ordeals,
like a blazing meteor in the hands of one who strikes a fire.
A noble scion of Luʾayy ibn Ghālib—
should humiliation be thrust upon him, his face will darken with wrath.
His sword-belt long, half his shin showing;
even the rain-cloud seems to water his face and bless him.
Great the ashes of his hearth—a chief, the son of chiefs—
ever urging the feeding of guests and mustering them.
He builds what is good for the sons of the clan,
making ready whenever we roam the lands.
Every dignitary of lofty station clung fast to this treaty,
a bannered leader whose resolve is afterward praised.
They settled their affair in the hush of night, then rose at dawn unhurried,
while the rest of the people lay sleeping.
They brought back Sahl ibn Bayḍāʾ satisfied,
and the news delighted Abū Bakr and Muḥammad.
Since when have other tribes been partners in untying our knot,
when long ago we courted them with friendship?
Of old we never let an injustice stand;
we attained what we wished without harshness.
Alas, O house of Quṣayy! Have you no regard for your own souls,
no heed for what tomorrow may bring?
For you and I are, as a poet once declared:
“The proof lies before you, had even a mute black rock found speech.”