So, with the rightly guided leader we pressed upon Mecca by force, our swords flashing while the dust hung low and billowed high.

We advanced in the open, and on the horses’ backs the heat beat down like scalding water, their flanks dark with the fresh blood of the slain.

Then came the Day of Ḥunayn, when the clans of Hawāzin moved against us and the very ribs seemed too narrow for the souls within them.

We remained steadfast beside al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the clash of the enemy and the blows of battle unable to shake us.

Before the Messenger of Allah a banner fluttered above our heads, gleaming like a whirligig of lightning in a rain-cloud.

That afternoon al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Sufyān took refuge behind the Messenger’s own sword, while death stood close at hand.

We shielded brother from brother; had we seen a path of flight, we would have been the first to take it.

Yet the religion of Allah— the religion of Muhammad— is ours; in it we have accepted guidance and law.

By that faith, after our straying, he set our affairs aright, and what Allah has willed none can repel.

Abās ibn Mirdās also said:

The last traces of my bond with Umm Muʾammal are cut; in the end she exchanged her resolve for falsehood.

She had sworn by Allah never to sever the ties, yet she has not spoken true nor kept the oath.

She is of Khufāf: the valley of al-ʿAqīq is her summer camp; among the Bedouin she lodges at Wajrah and then al-ʿUrfā.

If Umm Muʾammal chooses to follow the unbelievers, her distance has already laden my heart with longing.

Soon the All-Knowing will inform her that we refused and sought no covenant save our Lord’s;

that with the guiding Prophet Muhammad we have been faithful, a fidelity unmatched by any thousand men.

With truthful, noble youths of Sulaym— they obey him and do not violate a single command—

Khufāf, Dhakwān, and ʿAwf: you would think them wild she-camels breaking loose in their first frenzy.

Mail of speckled steel and gleaming helmets cloak them like black lions crouching at their posts.

Through us the religion of Allah gained might, without pretence, and we doubled the strength of the force that stood with him.

When we came to Mecca our banner was as an eagle that, after soaring high, swoops to snatch its prey.

It hovered above upturned eyes, and as it wheeled you would think it only sporting with them.

On the morning we trampled the idolaters we found no turning aside from the command of the Messenger of Allah.

In the heart of the fray nothing was heard from us but mutual exhortations and the clang of steel.

With bright blades we sent heads flying from their stations; with them we reaped the necks of champions as ripe fruit is plucked.

How many a slain warrior, armored head to toe, we left behind— and how many a widow now cries out for her husband in grief.