From there I shall press on to Shiraz and Rayy—know this well!—
Khurasan will be my palace and the armies its rolling seas.
Then to the farthest reaches of Balkh and her sister towns,
to Farghana, to mighty Marw and the mountain passes beyond.
Thereafter I shall lay Sabur utterly waste (1), raze its fortress,
and visit upon it a day like the day of the scorching simoom.
Kerman, too—I shall not forget the whole of Sijistan,
remote Kabul, and the realm of the foreign kings.
From the furthest East I shall wheel back toward the West,
until I reach Qayrawan, land of the turban-clad Arabs (2).
I shall march with my host toward Basra, that city
whose ivory-bright sea roars in churning swells;
then on to Wasit, the very heart of Iraq, and to Kufa,
where once our resolute forefather held his command.
From there I hasten toward Mecca itself,
leading armies like pitch-black, tempestuous nights.
I shall rule it for an age—joyous, unassailed—
and in it set up for truth the scholar’s throne.
All of Najd I shall seize, with its Tihama and high ridges,
the proud heights of Madhhij and the clans of Qahtan.
I shall raid the whole of Yemen—its Zabid,
its Ṣanʿāʾ, its Ṣaʿda, and the accursed tribes;
on to Ḥaḍramawt, its plains and its mountains,
to Hajar, its Aḥsa and the coastal Tihama (3).
These too I shall leave desolate, barren wastes—
a land emptied of people, a haunt for carrion birds.
I shall sweep up all the wealth of the Yemenis,
indeed all that the Qarmatian amassed on the Day of Sacrilege.
Then back to Jerusalem, ennobled for us,
in firm, unshakable glory, rooted and enduring.
I shall mount my throne in prostration; then will bow
the kings of Adam’s seed, bearing their silver tribute (4).
By then the earth will be emptied of every Muslim,
left to the smooth-skinned, uncircumcised, “pure of creed.”
We were granted victory over you when your rulers dealt unjustly
and you flaunted monstrous abominations.
Your judges sold justice—and their very faith—
as Jacob’s son was once sold for a paltry sum of silver.
Every enemy of yours now testifies with lies,
for fine cloth and bribes given to whoever will take them.
I shall open God’s earth, East and West alike,
and spread the faith of the Cross as clouds spread their shade.
For Jesus’ throne is exalted high above the heavens;
blessed is he who befriends Him on the Day of Dispute.
As for your companion, the earth has swallowed him;
he lies as scattered bones among mouldering shrouds.