444 – It reached me from Ḥarmalah ibn Yaḥyā, who said: “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb narrated to us; he said: Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah narrated to us; he said: A Coptic man from Najrān informed me, saying, ‘These are the lines of the priest of Najrān:
[metre: al-Baḥr al-Kāmil]
The sun’s unending turning bars all permanence—
it rises from a realm where night is never found;
It climbs the sky in crimson when it first appears,
and sinks in yellow, saffron-hued as dyer’s weed.
Today we wait to see what it will bring to pass,
while yesterday has gone, its verdict fully sealed.’”