Whoever boils a rooster without first slaughtering it—
It will flap from the pot and flee wherever it can.
Whoever has an awl (1) driven into his eye—
Ask him that very moment what blindness is like.
The beard is the hair that sprouts upon the face (2),
Whereas (3) the ʿaqṣa (4) is fastened at the back of the neck (5).
Whoever eats tripe before washing it,
Will have something like filth (6) dripping down his beard.
He continued until he reached the line for which he was envied:
Whoever misses knowledge and fails to gain wealth—
He and a dog stand on the same footing.
He arrived in Egypt in 412 AH, praised its caliph al-Zāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allah, son of al-Ḥākim, and died there in Rajab of this same year—may Allah pardon him.
[Then the year 413 AH began]
That year witnessed a strange incident and a terrible public calamity. A man from Egypt, one of al-Ḥākim’s followers, conspired with a group of Egyptian pilgrims to commit a dreadful act. On Friday—the first day of departure (yawm al-nafr al-awwal)—he performed ṭawāf around the House; when he reached the Black Stone he pretended to kiss it, then struck it three consecutive blows with the mace he carried, crying, “How long will this stone be worshipped? Neither Muhammad nor ʿAlī can stop me from what I am doing. Today I shall demolish this House!” He trembled as he spoke. Most of those present backed away, for he was a tall, powerfully built man, ruddy-skinned with blond hair. At the mosque gate stood a band of horsemen ready to shield him from anyone who might intervene. Then a man from Yemen rushed at him with a dagger and stabbed him; the crowd swarmed, killed him, hacked him to pieces, and burnt him. They pursued his accomplices, killing several of them. The people of Mecca then plundered the Egyptian caravan, and the looting spread to others as well. A tremendous uproar and a great fitna erupted, which subsided only after those who had plotted this act of impiety in the noblest of lands were hunted down—though three fragments had already broken off the Stone