The Miraculous Qasidah1

2

O Land of Mudh, while you were on the brink of ruin, a ruined man has perfected your ruin.
A devious man has destroyed you and an instigator has tempted you.

You invited an iniquitous liar,
whom I consider an easy prey like the trout in a brook.

My friends approached you with a brotherly advice and
Told you not to be driven by lowly desires; rather, exercise patience.

But those among you who were held by prejudice
Looked for someone who could howl like a wolf and deceive.

So, they finally procured the services of a wolf,
And by that I mean Sanaullah, and I hereby state it clearly.

When he called on the people, he amused them with his boasts,
And told them to rejoice, saying he would win.

He told them not to disclose that he had already arrived,
Lest the other party, which he said he was eager to face, should flee and run away.

He amused the people of that land by his arrival;
He made them walk on fire, and rejoiced.

Like the mean did he talk—devoid of sense;
You will hear this from those who were present on the occasion.

However, O my denier, if you are in any doubt about this,
You may ask the landowners in Mudh and the reality will be disclosed to you.

When the two parties met for the debate,
And announcements were made and the people assembled;

The situation created fear among my companions,
As they saw the mob turning wild.

Hence, comfort from Heaven descended,
Upon my companions, and God was surely supporting them.

God granted them strength to fight,
And the Holy Spirit aided them; so they were pleased.

The people set off at the growing brightness of the forenoon to witness the debate,
At the place specified by the other party.

A piece of land with trees in it was chosen for the debate,
Towards the west, and my companions were quartered over there.

Sanaullah was chosen by his people to be their representative,
And Maulawi Syed Muhammad Sarwar Shah came up to the stage from our side.

The site of the debate appeared to be like a jungle,
Wherein on one side howled a wolf, and on the other a lion roared.

There stood Sanaullah directing his party to misguidance,
And provoking it through his mean talk against my companions.

Resolute had he become in his grudge against me;
So, he refrained from stating the truth and turned abusive.

Like a mischievous man, he sought to refute my claim,
Covered up the truth and behaved deceitfully.

He came up with a ploy begotten in his heart;
He did not accede to a thorough debate and thus beguiled his people.

So, this method of the debate bore heavy upon my companions;
They thought it would obscure the truth.

They saw an edifice of lies being erected,
So they said: ‘May Allah’s curse be on you for your blatant lies.’

They proposed that the duration of each speech should be an hour at the least;
But the ignorant people rejected it. My companions were, therefore, unhappy with their proposal.

Eventually, after much discussion, they agreed to make it twenty minutes each;
Resentful, however, they were of this settlement, and heart-broken.

The ignorance of the people disappointed my companions,
Who found that the people of Mudh were at daggers drawn with them.

So, my friends had to face a ‘barrage of spears’ at Mudh,
And Ahmad Ali, who chaired the event, is well-informed of this.

On the other hand, Sanaullah continued,
To fuel the fire of mischief and disorder.

The statements he made were more virulent than the barking of a dog;
Lowly passions overwhelmed his heart.

And unless one’s tongue is backed by reason,
It only betrays one’s hidden flaws.

When a person of this kind speaks, everyone finds out,
That he is ignorant with no sense and wisdom.

If Sanaullah was not there, an ignorant person would have,
Doubted my truth and annoyed me with his questions.

It is, therefore, a favour of Maulawi Sanaullah to me that,
He enlightened every ignorant person of my truth, so I am thankful to him.

The one who called me a disbeliever will now be as if he was dead;
For through my victory a Sign of Almighty God has become manifest.

When Sanaullah exceeded all limits in employing trickery,
And instigated the people against my companions;

My companions told Munshi Muhammad Yusuf that this kind of debate and the allotment of only twenty minutes to each side were futile;
But Munshi Muhammad Yusuf was afraid of his people.

My companions therefore prayed to God the Benevolent for His help:
‘We have set foot on a defiled land and patience is our only recourse.’

They did not flee that place despite the fact that they were hit by a ‘barrage of spears’.
And no spear injures a person as does a repeated slander.

And when Sanaullah addressed his people,
It was as if a ghoul had turned them into wild beasts.

And my companions reminded them of the consequences of denying me.
But, has an advice ever benefited the self-indulgent?

Sanaullah, a man reigned by greed and passion, began to decry me,
To deprive those who were unwise of the delicious fruits proffered by me.

Everyone who approached him was told [regarding my claim]:
‘By God, it is nothing but a ploy’.

So much so that he dared to take a false oath by the name of the Honourable and Glorious God.
I am amazed at the audacity of this wicked man.

As a result, one group denounced me as a disbeliever,
While another pronounced him to be a liar.

As a matter of fact, Sanaullah is completely bereft of knowledge and guidance;
I wonder at him—a mere gnat posing as an eagle.

He exceeded the limits and my companions realized,
That he was adamant in rejecting me and that he was not to desist.

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They called upon him to pray to God for the death of the one who lied and misled the people;
But, he neither stopped his propaganda nor did he ever tire of it.

He dismissed my book I‘jazul-Masih and denied its signature eloquence;
Out of sheer imposture, he declared it to be discreditable, and he surely lied.

Hence, he was challenged to write a book like I‘jazul-Masih;
He declared with self-conceit: ‘I will definitely write one.’

He rejected my Signs and dismissed my claim;
He denied my revelation and accused me of being a liar.

He branded me a cheat by every possible means;
And declared me to have been wrong in each and every address I delivered.

I was left alone as Husain was left in the land of Karbala;
And to the people I became like a dead man whose burial had been performed.

He set out to reject me and my Signs;
Out of sheer malice, he took to sting me like a scorpion.

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Under these circumstances, there was one way out of the many at hand that drew my attention;
So that God my Lord may put down the unrest created by Sanaullah.

I composed this poem, namely this qasidah of mine,
So that my God may heap disgrace upon all those who vituperate.

And I have composed it as Sanaullah insisted upon it;
How could I ignore such a persistent plea and how could I reproach the one who made it?

And I cannot be blamed for my response to his plea;
I am only presenting to him the fruit of what he had sown.

If I am a liar, he will succeed in composing a qasidah like the one I have composed;
But if I am from God, his mind will be rendered unproductive and he will not be allowed to put his plan into action.

Thus has God given His verdict regarding the issue between me and them,
So that He may show His Signs, especially the one foretold by Him!

Through this Sign, I have given my judgment regarding all of them;
And God my Lord has made them like the branches severed from the trees.

I can see that the doom of the land of Mudh is nigh;
God my Lord has rendered them like a branch that has been cut away.

O you who has done a favour to me! Desist from your folly and ignorance and from grumbling like a camel;
And thus render not void the good deed that you have done.

Will you hurl abuse at us after you aided us, did a favour to us, and showed generosity toward us?
Will you forget the kindness you demonstrated in Mudh and the assistance you provided to us there?

You can see how the heavens poured down signs like a heavy rain,
When the people wronged me, criticized me, and slandered me.

So, adopt not the path of misguidance and wickedness,
And act not miserly after being so generous—and reflect.

And do not eat my flesh by way of vituperation and back-biting against me;
And I swear by the blessed countenance of my Beloved that speaking ill of me behind my back is to eat a fatal poison.

We have come to your town in all keenness;
We have come to you solely because of your favours upon us.

If you are resentful of my Khilafat,
You may pray fervently to the One who has sent me and ask Him why He has done so!

Do you reject me while God has made my claim manifest?
Would you curse the one who shines forth like the moon?

All those who are in Heaven testify to my truth;
O impoverished one! Who are you, and what worth does your rejection have?

I have lost myself in my Beloved, so fear the one who is lost in Him;
And do not consider me to be a rotten corpse that is unidentifiable.

To please my Friend, I run to Him like a person who has lost his way;
I run towards Him and passionately seek after Him, covered in dust though I may be.

His love has softened my bones entirely,
And the strong wind that He caused to blow with the power to crush, swept away the self in me.

Seek not to know me, for I am hidden from your eyes;
And my bones have become like dust blown away by ferocious winds.

When my time is over, there will be no more time;
And the pure water that I possess is matchless in its purity.

My prayer is like a sword whose attack cannot be averted;
And my attack on the enemies of God is like the attack of a piercing rapier.

I convey only the message of my King;
I am a manifest truth, I am one like the sun.

To promote the cause of the Faith at a difficult time,
A Warner has been raised by God and he has begun to warn.

God sees him as His honourable and trustworthy servant,
Who is here to save the Faith from ruinous calamities.

He is here to save the Faith from disorders that had become so imminent,
And from the calamities that can crush like a rock.

Behold! I am going to show a great Sign and I am after you now!
So, is there a brave one, a lion, or a wolf [among you]?

Maulawi Sanaullah accused me of being a liar;
I told him that I felt sorry for him as he was going to be exposed soon.

I call upon you all to accept my challenge and get your pens ready;
Compose [a qasidah] as I have done, or leave me alone and accept my authority.

I showed you many Signs but you deny them;
Hence, defile not my land with filth and let it be free of death and mortality.

The best merit of man is to fear God and repent;
Repent to Allah the Benevolent and rejoice.

We suffered hardship at the hands of our adversaries;
The nights of persecution have become so long—God our Lord, pray help us!

We have come to You as dead. Pray, breathe new life into our deeds;
Like the meek and humble, we prostrate ourselves before You. Pray, grant us forgiveness.

My God! I may sacrifice my life for Your sake! You are my Paradise;
I have not witnessed a paradise that bears fruits as You do.

For Your sake we have been expelled from the councils of our people.
You are our Sole Friend, who we have preferred to all.

My Lord! I beg You in the name of Your blessed countenance to pray to take care of Your servant;
There is not a shelter for me or recourse other than You.

My God! To whose door will You send me?
Everyone I approach gently addresses me rudely and turns away from me.

I have endured persecution at the hands of the whole world;
Being estranged from You though is unbearable for me.

Come, my Friend, you are my comfort and peace;
Forgive me if You have ever observed in me a sin.

Your Grace protected me from my enemies;
And Your Beauty has vanquished me of my self. Come and see!

My God! Dispel my sorrows and save me;
My Helper! Crush my enemy and heap disgrace upon him.

I have found You to be Ever-Gracious and thus all my sorrows were removed;
O my Beloved, I beheld You with enlightened eyes.

People! I have come to you as a clear warner,
And I remind you of the days of the Almighty’s wrath.

You are afflicted with a calamity and its cure is to repent and to refrain from sins;
This is why I warned you truthfully and continue to do so.

Discard your affection for this world and for bias;
The one who drinks at night is sure to wake up with a hangover.

I went through a great deal of distress for your sake;
And, my heart continues to be in sincere anguish for you, although I try to hide this from you.

I cry and tears flow from my eyes due to my anguish for you;
And my heart burns for you ceaselessly.

Therefore, worthy reader! Ask Sanaullah, your brother in faith,
Why he is deceiving the ignorant while the warner has appeared.

Beware! I have seen many debaters,
But I have never seen a deceiver like him.

I was surprised that he gave only twenty minutes to [speak in] the debate.
Was it meant to be a debate, or just a game of chance?

O one who calls me a disbeliever! Put aside the past,
And compose a qasidah as I have. If you succeed in composing one, you will emerge victorious.

I am pleased for you to even seek partners to assist you if you fear that you will lose the competition;
I would not hold you accountable if they assisted you in writing down the qasidah.

Sanaullah! Why be afraid of the contest?
Let the qasidah be composed by Muhammad Husain or Qazi Zafr-ud-Din or Asghar Ali.

I can see worms of vanity in their head;
If God so wills, He will remove the worms from there and root them out for good.

If you consider this task to be too difficult for the aforesaid maulawis,
Then where is Mehr Ali Shah who defamed Golra?

Is he dead that he cannot come out?
For a lion will roar anyway.

And if he cannot refute this Sign of mine,
Then tell him to play the tambourine, as it is not for him to pursue knowledge.

Has Muhammad Husain pointed out mistakes in my book I‘jazul-Masih?
How is it possible? How can Muhammad Husain be capable of this? Are you saying this by way of a joke?

If your [champion] Muhammad Husain is really somebody who can be relied upon,
Why do you not call him to your help and tell him that the enemy is getting hard on you?

I consider Muhammad Husain to be an easy prey, like when one hunts a fish. Hence, you ought to produce a poem composed by him;
Mark! No sooner does he enter the ocean of poetry’s metres than I shall hunt him down and overpower him.

If he came out to me, I would give to him the cup of guidance to drink the same morning he approaches me;
So convince him to compose [the qasidah] if he is really capable.

When, as a Sign of displeasure towards him, God gave him a piece of land in Lyallpur,
My opponents said it was an honour bestowed upon him.

Honour is due only for self-denial and righteousness,
And renunciation of the world, and purification of the heart.

To live a life of remissness is a cause of shame for man;
Ask him if his heart has now become purer as compared to the past, or is it still occupied by worldly abominations.

Where will your [champion] Husain be when I will come out to confront him?
If you praise him so highly, let him know of this.

Do you think he is living? By God,
I see him as someone already perished, dead, and in the grave.

If my Lord had so desired, Muhammad Husain would have accepted the truth;
And if God my Lord had so willed, he would have recognized me.

I have still not lost hope about him becoming a believer;
Rather, hopes are high as this is what revelation from Allah means to convey.

A true adherent to the right path is never neglectful of Divine injunctions;
To him are disclosed such hidden truths as cannot be discerned by a philosopher.

God shall disclose to you the fate of your friend, Muhammad Husain;
He is fortunate; therefore, the Day of Reckoning will not be neglectful of him.

He will be given a new life by the hand of God and God surely is capable of this;
The days of piety shall surely come and [his] sins will be forgiven.

He will be offered to drink the water of purity and piety,
With the east wind bringing forth pleasant fragrance and perfuming the air with scent.

My words are true. They are the words of God my Creator;
He who, for a while, lives from among you will witness.

Do you consider this to be strange? You ought not to;
It is the Word of God and pure revelation.

I have not said this based on my own thoughts and thinking;
I have rather been shown this in a vision, and indeed it amazes me.

Will the heart of Muhammad Husain turn to guidance?
Who can imagine that this will happen? It sounds strange, but it is easy for God to accomplish.

Beside him, there are three other men as well; one of them is Ilahi Bakhsh Multani, the accountant;
You must listen to this and make an announcement about this.

I say it by Your name my Lord that I have been injured by their spears in return for no wrong,
And for my part I have chosen only to pray for them.

My heart becomes sad when they are mentioned before me,
As I remember that once each other’s company made us happy.

O Sanaullah! Were you suckled with falsehood?
What has gone wrong with you that you do not fear [God], nor do you reflect?

You have abandoned the path of truth, fearfulness, and modesty;
You have crossed the limits of justice and verily God is a witness to it.

How can he know the reality of my revelations,
Who insists upon falsehood and openly uses uncivilized language?

If I am a liar as you perceive me to be,
You should all strive for my ruin and never desist.

My light will spread all over the world.
Would you still deny this? Remember this well and I hereby remind you of this.

Sanaullah! You injured the feelings of my companions in Mudh,
By using uncivilized language and by insulting them. Mark! God shall soon overpower you!

My Lord! I yearn for You to be glorified and not myself to be revered;
You very well see my heart and my intention.

I revert to You all the praise I can;
Indeed, I am nothing but one who is like the refuse thrown away to be mixed into the soil.

They [my opponents] said I claimed to be better than Hasan and Husain;
I hereby affirm that I am so, and by God, my Lord will soon make it manifest.

If I were to be an imposter, I would be worse,
Than a Jew or a Christian who apostatized Islam.

But, by the decree of my Lord I am His Khalifah and the Promised Messiah;
You heard His promise, so it is up to you now to reflect!

What do you think about the spiritual station of the Promised Messiah and;
What is the saying of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, that you possess regarding him?

You surely have an authentic hadith with you which you recite;
Therefore, do not conceal what is known to you. Instead, let it be publicized.

And he who conceals this testimony while he has it with him,
Will soon witness the torment of the fire being fuelled constantly.

Hence, make sure your falsehood does not earn you the wrath of the Almighty;
O Sanaullah! Discard falsehood.

You have abandoned moral qualities and the path of noble people;
You intentionally insulted me at Mudh so as to denigrate me.

Surely, you and the righteous are poles apart;
A pious person fears God and refrains from evil.

I had abandoned you, so much so that you said why was it that I was not willing to write anything to you?
Conceited one! You have yourself now sought this encounter.

O one who curses me! What has gone wrong with you that you defame me,
And thus curse the one who has been sent by God and granted honour by Him?

You hurled abuse at me while you were unaware of my reality;
Remember, everyone will be held accountable for his words.

I remained patient in the face of the abusive language you employed to hurt me;
But I cannot remain patient at the imposture you have attributed to me.

I swear by God that I am true in my claim and that I am not an imposter;
So bring not ruin upon yourself by being impetuous; rather, ponder upon the matter.

If I were a wicked liar, I would have incurred harm at the hands of those who,
Out of their enmity, denounced me as an imposter and disbeliever.

You have witnessed how people have raised an outcry against me,
Maligned me and continue to fight me.

They threw upon me all the rocks they had, and they did this out of their ferocious anger against me;
But I was neither distressed nor taken aback by this.

Injury was inflicted to my honour with the spears of defamation,
And daggers of abusive language were cast at me.

They insisted that I am an imposter and untrue in my claim;
My reply was: Leave me alone! The hidden truth shall eventually become manifest.

They hurled abuse at me and hurt my sentiments with uncivilized language of all sorts;
They called me Dajjal [the Antichrist] and labelled me sheer evil, devoid of all good.

They called me Satan and labelled me an atheist;
They also called me accursed and declared me a fabricator.

I, therefore, became like the one who had been targeted with arrows;
I was afflicted with pain so much that people said an extremely contemptuous person I was.

They spared no mischief, so as to crush me for good;
As if this was not enough, they incited the mean against me and instigated them.

However, eventually, they were humiliated;
Signs were shown for me, bright and prevailing.

I, therefore, admonish you O one who walks in the footsteps of Muhammad Hussain!
You ought to repent before God and fear Him as He is the Reckoner.

The world and avarice and the greed for it should not stop you from acting upon Faith;
Divine chastisement is surely hard to bear and very tormenting.

Consider not this world a sweetener made by the manufacturer;
Do you know what the morning will bring for you after the night of celebration?

Are you not afraid of God that you are still engaged in your fabrications?
He who is righteous surely fears God.

If only you had been wise enough!
Will another Messiah descend from Heaven after me and warn you?

How commendable are the words of the warner who said:
‘A wicked and ruined person who is also mean would hate guidance’.

At the time of the debate at Mudh, you said you had many ahadith in your favour,
While the Holy Quran is seen by you to be of no avail and false.

You have turned your back on the Word of Allah;
You have discarded certainty for the sake of uncertainty. It is now for you to reflect.

O arrogant one! The Holy Quran became like ruins;
And that upon which salvation for mankind depended, became hidden.

The words of the Holy Quran served as a cure for mankind;
Shall we still run towards suspicion and abandon the Book?

Having thought of this, my eyes became tearful;
O shameless one! This happened when I heard your arguments.

You intentionally lied at Mudh. As a result,
The ignorant inclined towards you and raised a tumult.

By God, the Holy Quran is possessed of all verities;
Its verses are categorical and unchangeable.

It is like pure water—the water of Paradise;
It is the light of our Lord, whose guidance is clear and free of contamination.

Its verses are beautiful and have descended from Heaven;
There is cure in them for those who ponder over them.

The Holy Quran attracts the hearts of mankind to itself with light and guidance,
And quenches the thirst of the thirsty and offers them milk like a maidservant.

The scriptures before it were like the she-camel that gave birth prematurely to its offspring;
The Holy Quran came to perfect mankind, so that the entire amount of milk could be obtained once and for all.

The Holy Quran came during a night that had spread like a sea-wave;
So, it came and caused all—who were capable—to see.

O one who misleads! Will you dare to deny the glory of the Holy Quran?
O one who fabricates lies! Aside from the Holy Quran, what else is there that we possess?

This man has uttered nonsense only to curry favour with a pack of people. May God never bless their Mudh!
An ignorant person he is and has fulfilled his obligation as a liar by making the people pleased with him.

He is only a body without life and purity,
And boils up occasionally like a thing in a pan, and never reflects.

You have turned away from the guidance God has imparted;
So leave me alone, so that I may lay bare that which is hidden.

I have been granted knowledge from the very source of guidance;
Indeed, His grace has caused the springs [of guidance] to flow in me.

And, I have been granted upright knowledge from God my Lord;
That which you do not know of is taught to me and made known to me.

I have drunk a number of goblets from the hands of the soul of my soul;
It was as if it was a wine of red colour which was shining like a star.

Therefore, O my opponents! Let not mere historical traditions please you;
There are many traditions and sayings that have been fabricated by the fabricators.

Moreover, of what significance are traditional records in light of revelation from God?
Which hadith shall we believe over Divine revelation?

The ahadith are scattered;
Each sect is pleased with their own assortment of traditions.

Do you have an argument to prove the erudition of Muhammad Husain,
Who finds faults with my writings, or are you uttering mere absurdities?

Do you, out of your stupidity, consider Muhammad Husain to be a learned man,
While his hands are soiled with grime and filthy water?

Do you tell me about the one you think has descended [from Heaven], while you have not seen him personally?
And, do you quote to me traditions that have been ruined by interpolation?

And, you are well-aware that a conjecture cannot be presented as a categorical argument,
And that conviction alone satisfies and bears fruits.

And, I am not a prisoner of conjectures as you are;
I am beholding and witnessing Allah the All-Powerful.

I have partaken from Him who is Living, Self-subsisting, and the One without an associate,
While you narrate traditions on behalf of the dead.

I am being nourished whilst seated in the benevolent lap of Allah,
And I am granted victory by Him in every contest.

God my Lord has bestowed upon me distinction out of His grace and mercy;
He has vouchsafed to me His support, help, and repeated revelation.

He enabled me to drink from the goblet that satisfies,
And guided me to the way that enlightens the truth.

Therefore, O one who misleads, turn away from Muhammad Husain and do not mention him;
Will you compare a dark night to the bright sun?

I am a Knight of Allah. I have come under His command;
I have entered the towns sunk in idolatry. And, God surely is my Guide.

And, I declare openly and without fear that I am the Promised Messiah;
Even though I may be killed by a sword for this declaration.

My excellences are recorded in the Holy Quran,
And the troublesome age in which I was to appear is also recorded.

I am naught but sent by God at a time of trial;
So, strive to alter the command of Almighty God—if you think you are capable.

Out of all His creation, God has chosen me;
The final decision is His. He can do what He chooses.

By God, I am not an imposter and I am true in my claim;
And the light of my truth is shining bright.

The truth of my matter has become manifest like the sun;
My gardens were watered by the springs that nourish them and enable them to flourish.

The waters of others from among the ummah have dried up;
But, my spring is not going to dry up until the last days of the world.

When I become angry at a person, God too becomes angry at him,
Who crosses the limit and is intent on manifest evil.

The time is coming when He will destroy every wrongdoer;
No one will then perish but the one who is already perished.

I may be considered to be the worst among mankind,
If those who maligned me are not punished with humiliation.

By God, I have not made my claim out of egotism;
Rather, I desire a life that is not tainted by even the shadow of arrogance.

My pleasure lay in the fact that nobody should consider me pious;
I wished to have been disposed as one disposes a rotten bone.

When I had distanced myself from arrogance and covered the required distance,
Only then was the revelation of the Gracious God vouchsafed to me, making me immensely honourable.

When I was told that I had been sent by God,
I thought I was being called for a task that the people will find hard to accept.

And, if my people had approached me as seekers of truth,
I would have prayed for them that they be granted wisdom and insight.

But, they sought only to find faults with me, inflicted pain upon me, told lies about me,
And incited the ignorant against me.

And, the slanderers criticized me without having tried me or becoming fully aware of me;
Deranged, they grabbed hold of my garments and made exaggerated statements about my mission.

It surprised me how they all became part of this fight against me,
Ignoring their own mutual animosity and malice.

For long had they been criticizing each other;
Then they all turned their arrows towards me and drew their swords at me.

I then said to them: ‘O my people! What has gone wrong with you?
Why have you vituperated against me to this extent, merely on the basis of misinformation?’

In fact, they were all ignorant people, who would quickly lose their temper without reason;
Just as a round piece of rock slides down fast when pushed.

To sum up, my feet did not move from the battleground,
Nor did I tire, until that time when God granted me victory.

I considered Islam to be a garden,
Lying too far from the spring that could have watered it and caused it to flourish.

So I kept watering this garden. Indeed I watered its lands with rains of heavenly water,
So much so that its departed glory was restored to it.

And, my heart began to free itself from the disorder created by the enemies;
God my Lord then sent down to me an indestructible weapon.

I therefore waited for the day to break and began to look for such people,
So that I may establish my argument against the wrongdoers.

And, their war tactics were confined to verbal rhetoric, that is,
They talked in a manner that misled people, and the sword was not being used for propagation of faith.

So, I approached the horde of the ones who were prepared to fight and struck them down with a single blow;
And, I did not become weary, nor did I tire.

And, I am the Promised Messiah and the Imam Qa’im
Who will fill the earth with justice and turn the deserted jungles into fruit-yielding gardens.

Through me will become manifest the countenance of Almighty God for His creation;
Therefore, O seekers of guidance! Present yourselves at my threshold.

Take from me your share as I am your Imam;
I hereby remind you of your good days to come and give you glad tidings.

My people! I have come to you at a time of need.
Is there among you someone righteous and wise to reflect upon this?

And, what is piety except shunning parsimony when it comes to observing taqwa?
And, what is parsimony but to deny the superiority of the one who is equipped with wider and better knowledge.

And, they said that there was no need for the Promised Messiah;
As it is for the Book of Allah to provide guidance and give glad tidings.

Indeed, this is to treat God with mockery and ridicule;
It amazes me to find people with such audacity.

The fact is that Word of Allah and Prophets are like twins to each other;
It is difficult to understand the Word of God without help from the Prophets.

The blade of the sword needs an arm to cause blood to flow,
And the head to be severed from the body.

Even if the edge of the sword is sharp,
It will result in defeat if handed over to a weak and frail child.

But when a brave man holds a sharp sword, his first attack never needs a second,
As he would slay his enemy with the first strike.

When taqwa in a person diminishes, his ability to infer and deduce,
From he Word of God decreases like the last night of the month that has no light.

I can only pity this situation! Where is taqwa and where is the land that will generate it?!
I see only sinfulness upon sinfulness being manifested.

I see such overwhelming darkness that I wish I had died before witnessing it,
And partaken of the chalice of death; or I had been helped.

I see everyone who is negligent of Almighty God to be crying over worldly matters.
Is there anyone who laments the condition of the Faith being subjected to scorn?

What is left of the Faith but signs of ruin and destruction which I look upon with sadness?
While thinking of the Faith’s glorious palaces of the past, tears are flowing from my eyes.

Darkness has emerged like a storm—the storm that uproots trees violently;
A dark night has surpassed all veils of darkness.

Ferocious thunderstorms are blowing like wild beasts,
Roaring in the land of India like wolves and lions.

I witness hordes of sinners and mischief-makers;
Piety has disappeared and darkness has increased.

I see the spring of the Religion of Allah rendered impure;
And the wild animals walking in it and moving across it.

I find the Faith lying on the ground like a sick person,
And every ignorant person walking by it amusing himself with his pride and vanity.

All their resolve is confined to seeking selfish pleasures,
And all their efforts are confined to seeking an abundance of carnal delight.

They neglected the path of the Faith due to their wickedness and remissness,
And preferred to engage themselves in mischief, misconduct, and gambling.

I see sinfulness becoming an essential part of their nature;
It seems to me that it is impossible for them to distance themselves from their wickedness.

Hence, when sinfulness became rife to the extent of a vicious storm,
I wished for the plague to spread in the country and destroy it.

To the wise, it is better for a person,
To be no more instead of dying a death of ignorance.

And, who is there among them who fears his Reckoner?
And, who among them is opting for the path of righteousness?

And, who among them does not intentionally commit transgression against God?
And, who among them is pious and righteous and has a pure heart?

And, who among them is the one who, out of his so-called sense of piety, has not hurled abuse at me,
And has not pleaded others to forsake me, so that he could cause distress to me and declare me a disbeliever?

How can they prevent themselves from hurling abuse at me,
While they are intent on taking my life and while the sword is drawn?

In fact, they are overwhelmed by my grandeur;
How can a mere calf dare to compete with a lion?

So, what my people have is a tongue alone—
The tongue that is mired in the filth of vituperation. But, God is witnessing all this.

God has decided that a curse be responded with a curse;
And the plague is that very curse. It has now arrived in their country, so that it may open their eyes.

The remedy for the troubles of this era is to show submission to me;
Show obedience to me and the plague shall vanish.

My heart is distressed due to the calamities afflicting the Faith;
And, I know that which they do not know, and I have been made to see.

My pain and affliction has exceeded limits;
Were it not for the grace of Almighty God, I would have perished.

My tears are flooding up to the corners of my eyes;
He who calls me a disbeliever cannot perceive the condition of my distressed prayer.

Indeed, my prayers are making their way up to Heaven;
And my words can pierce even a stone.

I have been granted a holy influence from Allah, who is my Creator;
Those who are pure of heart turn towards my word.

My heart attracts people to itself on account of its blessed qualities;
And, my words can affect even stones.

I have freed myself from the stones of my self with the power granted from Heaven;
My heart has, therefore, become like a river that is made to flow.

And, I have been granted a new birth of guidance;
Therefore, I impress upon the hearts each one of my discourses.

There is one group of fair-minded people that does not reject me;
And, there is one group of mischief-makers that persecutes me and refuses to accept my claim.

They placed hurdles in all that I intended to do;
Hence, God helped me and forced them to flee and distance themselves from me.

By God I am not aware of what caused them to disobey the Almighty;
The light of my erudition, though, shone forth brighter than the sun.

I endured their cruelties and remained patient with them;
On the other hand, my own relatives sought to sting me like a scorpion.

God my Lord knows the secret of my heart as well as theirs;
All that which is hidden is manifest before Him.

No one can break the sword of Almighty God;
He who seeks to break it will himself be broken.

Who can harm me as my enemy while God treats me as a friend?
And, who can fight with me by throwing stones at me while God is my Helper?

If I were false in my claim as they allege;
I would have been dead for long and entered into the grave.

They think I have fabricated lies and manufactured falsehood with deception;
Mark! Some thoughts are rejected by the Shariah as well as by wisdom.

Because God demonstrated my innocence,
And showed such Signs as were bright and evident.

The promise of Almighty God will reach you in a manner that you will not be expecting;
Only a sharp and acute eye will recognize it on that day.

O one who calls me a disbeliever! Calm down,
And fear the power of the Almighty, who says: ‘And follow not that of which you have no knowledge.’

When I say I am a Muslim, you say I am a disbeliever;
O audacious one! Where has your piety gone?

If you do not fear God, you must declare that you are not a believer;
Indeed the time is coming when you will be held accountable and made aware.

I have abandoned the self, the creation, and avarice;
Consequently, neither vituperation distresses me nor does praise make me proud.

There are many who used to be my mortal enemies;
When someone from among them approached me with humility, I reciprocated with even greater humility.

I am not a man with a grudge;
When someone surpasses the limits in hurling abuse at me, I simply turn away from such a person.

I neither nurse a grudge against anyone, nor am I a coward;
Rather, I forgive and throw down my sword. But at times I surely draw it in retaliation.

If you want to reconcile with me, I surely am ready;
But should you look for me in the battleground, you surely will find me there.

God has sent me for the reformation of His creation;
Therefore, my dear, speak not of your selfish motives; rather, be patient and reflect upon my works.

If I am false in my claim, my falsehood will destroy me;
But, if I am from God, why do you become guilty of vituperation against me?

Leave me alone to be with God my Lord and wait for the sword of His command to act;
As it will cut apart my head or the head of the one who calls me a disbeliever.

Refrain from being at war with me and shun your evil practices;
When I enter the battleground, you are bound to flee.

I see that the righteous are granted the ability to act in obedience to me;
But, he who is eternally condemned will enter into the grave in ignorance.

God has put a seal on this since the beginning of time;
And, imprints set by God cannot be changed.

In the same way, guidance does not depart from the one whose nature is blessed with the light of guidance;
And, every date palm eventually bears fruit.

He who is accompanied by divine grace shall attain to the station destined for him—
Whether he does so in his youth or at an old age.

He who is good by nature will not perish;
If he is blind today, he will be able to see tomorrow.

There are signs of ignorance, and there are signs of guidance;
Therefore, study the Signs carefully and then investigate properly.

I see that man’s nose bears signs of man’s wrongdoings;
But, the wronged one—i.e. he who is weak and suffers loss—is eventually helped.

They turned away furiously from every act of piety I proposed to them,
As if I was a raging fire staring at them.

And, he who is wronged is eventually granted help,
In particular the one who is from God.

When an innocent one cries, the angels cry with him;
Many a town is then destroyed and ruined.

When, as a result of the distress he is undergoing, tears flow from the eyes of a righteous servant of God,
The distress is removed, or a glad tiding is given.

On the earth is a group of people whose prayers act like a sword;
He who dares to confront that sword is cut apart.

You witness how I am progressing despite the hardships facing me on all sides;
He who seeks to destroy me and hatches a plan against me is destroyed.

I have the support of a Helper;
I incapacitate those who hatch plans against me, and I prevail.

O one who utters abuse! There is none as vituperative as you;
I do not see you being possessed of qualities as may incite you to show such pride.5

You hurl abuse at me, and I am not aware why you do so;
Is your anger due to what I have said about Imam Husain? Is that what infuriates you?

Do you consider him to be more pious than the entire world?
O exaggerator, what have you gained from such exaggeration?

I consider you a woman who is menstruating and has not yet purified herself;
And has not applied perfume after the purification.

You have believed Husain to be better than the entire creation,
And all those whom God has created.

As if he was the only person whom God purified,
And others are all impure.

This would be like the statement issued by the Christians regarding ‘Isa [Jesus],
O ye who are so similar to the Christians!

I find it amazing how the hearts of these two groups have come to bear such striking resemblance;
Indeed, the heavens may well-nigh rend asunder because of what they say.

Would you, like you do in relation to ‘Isa, lavish such exaggerated praise on a servant?
Would you declare him to be equal to the Prophets?

If only you had been wise enough! Are you personally a witness to his elevated station,
Or is the whole basis [of your belief] based on imagination?

Do you want to raise this edifice merely on falsehood and imposture?
Would you make him drink from the goblet that God has not offered to him?

Indeed, the heavens may well-nigh rend asunder because of what you proclaim,
Even though the appointed time of their rending asunder may not have come.

Was Husain better than all the Prophets?
Was he an intercessor for the Prophets and more pious than all of them?

Be on your guard! For Almighty God invokes His curse on the person,
Who tells lies by making exaggerated statements and utilizes not the insight granted to him.

As for the spiritual station I possess,
God praises me from Heaven and bestows honour upon me.

For me is a Paradise whose flowers serve as its paths of guidance;
The elegance of its beauty astonishes even the serene spring breeze.

The water of the earlier people became soiled,
Whereas the water I offer will not become soiled until the Last Days.

I have witnessed what you have to offer. You speak of [the authenticity of] your narrators;
Do you think mere stories have any standing in comparison to the witnessing eye?

There is a marked difference between me and your Husain,
For I am ever supported and helped by Almighty God.

But, so far as Husain is concerned, recall what happened in the desert of Karbala;
You still cry over it. You ought to reflect.

By the grace of God, I am being brought up in His kind lap and protected against the attacks of the mean,
Who are coated in the colour of a leopard.

If my enemies should come up to me armed with swords and spears,
I will, I swear by God, be safeguarded and granted victory.

And, if my enemy should throw me into a raging fire,
You will find me safe and the enemy shall perish.

Some of my enemies vowed to kill me;
Therefore, they were overtaken by the wrath of the Sovereign Lord and became losers.

Similarly, you too seek the wrath of the Lord who holds everyone accountable,
And I do not see my words having any impact on you.

I have been sent by the Merciful God for the sake of His creation,
So that I may warn those who are afflicted with remissness and so that I may apprise them [of what is to come].

My coming is an act of grace on the part of the Gracious God.
And, His grace surrounds all those who seek reform and are grateful.

I find that people desire Paradise and its bounties and wish to partake of the pleasures therein,
As are of an elevated level and limitless.

My desire, however, is a heartfelt wish on which depends all my pleasure.
And, that wish is to somehow see the Cross broken.

In this lies my Heaven, my Paradise, and my Garden.
Hence, O my Lord, enter me into my Paradise, for I am restless.

I have been granted the inheritance of Muhammad;
I am his honourable progeny who is the recipient of the inheritance.

And, why have I been granted the inheritance while I do not descend from him physically?
You ought to reflect upon this. Is there no one among you to reflect?

Do you believe that our Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
Died issueless, as the ill-mouthed enemy believes?

I hereby swear by Him who created the heavens that it is not true; rather, our beloved Prophet,
Has a few more sons like me and will continue to have even more until the Last Day.

I have partaken of his inheritance like one’s own children.
What further evidence is there that you want me to present?

For him was shown the Sign of a lunar eclipse and for me,
Of lunar and solar both. Will you persist in your denial?

Among his miracles was his miraculous speech as well;
Likewise, I too have been granted the speech that prevails against everyone.

When my people alleged that I am false in my claim to receiving divine revelation,
I was surprised because I am only a reflection of the Moon [i.e. the Holy Prophet].

How can the reflection be different from the object it originates from?
The light in him is shining forth through me.

I have noble ancestry like Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
And the essence of his pure nature is also found in me.

It is quite sufficient for a person to be pious of heart;
And a righteous person cannot be treated with disrespect just because he does not belong to a noble lineage.

The Lord of the heavens, however, desired for the Imams to be descended from a noble ancestry,
So that people may not look at them with contempt in view of their inferior ancestry.

He, who descends from a noble ancestry,
But is devoid of personal excellences, is only mean and worthless.

God be praised and praised again that I comprehend in my person,
A noble lineage both from my side and from the side of my in-laws. I therefore thank God for this.

This, from the very beginning, is the practice of Almighty God in relation to His Prophets;
You ought to fear Him and reflect.

However, he who is not from among the Imams,
Is not in need of a noble ancestry. Hence, rejoice.

I have come like rain which at times pours heavily and at times lightly, making its water flow constantly;
I have caused cities to flourish and be habitable.

There are many who pledged bai‘at to me with sincerity;
They did not oppose my word, nor did they turn wicked.

In short, I made such a sacrifice as caused their necks to become free;
And, God my Lord knows the sacrifice I made and continue to make.

In the court of Almighty God, who is my Creator, I have been granted a place of honour;
Delighted, therefore, should be those who showed submission to me and chose me.

Knowledge was introduced through the ancients, and whatever was left,
To be imparted was introduced later by those who came after them.

I am not but like the riches of trade;
Those who rejected me earned loss and ruin.

The mischief-makers were destroyed for their own parsimony;
They did not seek to understand my words and demonstrated their animal fury.

There are hearts that resemble the forests populated by wild beasts;
And, wild beasts in those forests are averse to human faces.

In this age of ours, great is he who is a great mischief-maker,
And wise is he who is the biggest evil and the biggest deceiver among his people.

Who among them is fearful of God and who is afraid of Him?
I turn my eyes in all directions to find one.

And, he who will be possessed of some insight among them,
Will be the poor fellow enjoying hardly any respect.

And, the ordinary people came up to them like a crowd,
A bunch of people who disagreed with each other and behaved like a blind person. Hence, they denied me.

They camped in a jungle with no sign of vegetation;
Can a barren piece of land generate any vegetation?

I, therefore, cry over [the luck of] these three: Sanaullah, Mehr Ali, and Ali Hairi.
And, I feel pity for those who follow these three.

And, I do not see them having even a little fear of their Lord;
They are a group of ill-fated people taking pride in their wasteful activities.

And, I have not taken up this task of my own volition;
God, who knows the secrets of my heart, is well-aware of this.

I was a person who, from the early days of his life, preferred seclusion;
When someone wanted to see me, I sought solitude.

It was the command of my Master that brought me out of my chamber;
I, therefore, rose up in submission to Him making no delay.

I am from God, the Benevolent;
He protects me in every jungle and guides me.

O enemies! Hatch against me all kinds of plans;
God my Lord will protect me. And, this is what has been decreed.

Gone are the times when swords were drawn for fight.
I slay my enemies with arguments from Almighty God.

To Allah belong sovereignty, command, and grandeur;
I am only a knight who answers His call when commanded.

When I saw Ali Hairi, who is the worst among the lot of ignorant people
I told him: ‘The Signs I put forth are evident. Why then is there need for any debate?’6

I could not be content with an embarrassing silence;
But, I have seen that people are not willing to reflect on this.

I address people openly, I do not call them secretly,
For I am granted revelation from the Gracious God and given the glad tiding.

O one who worships Husain and Hasan! Protect yourself from the fire of Hell;
What has gone wrong with you that you opt for Hell while you know about it?

You are a person who hurls abuse,
While I am from among those who are commanded to make manifest the verities.

You hurl abuse, and to vituperate is in your nature;
All people have their own nature, which does not change.

You see the flaws in me, but you do not see the Signs of our Lord,
As if you are a one-eyed monster with no insight.

You did not spare even Abu Bakr and Umar from your curses;
So, a person like me is more deserving of such curses.

Discard the habit of cursing others, this is my advice for you;
And, there are pieces of advice that one comes to remember at the time of one’s death.

The time is nigh when I will no longer be hidden and become manifest;
What has become of you that you neither fear nor recognize the truth?

Do not quote before me mere traditions,
For they are easily nullified like the abode of a spider.

How can the traditions survive before the Book,
Which comprises the Holy Word of Allah, i.e. the Holy Quran?

So do not follow that—the secret of which—is unknown to you;
O audacious one! You will surely be held answerable after your death.

I am not keen to face the pack of my enemies;
But, when my opponents call me, I surely call upon them.

God is pleased to display the most wonderful manifestations of His grace for the sake of my mission;
And, I observe them in all my works.

The seal of the Almighty left me wonderstruck as to the manner in which He allowed you to go astray;
Hence, I do not see among you any righteous person who is willing to reflect.

Do you have an argument in your favour, such as you have decided to adhere to?
If you have any, present it and I will reflect upon it.

God will punish the liar who abandons guidance;
The parties of both of us are now before God from whom we cannot hide.

Do you, out of sheer transgression, disobey the one who has come to you from your Master?
Surely, the glad tidings were fulfilled and the Signs became manifest.

You have heard that your Imam will be raised from among you;
The Holy Quran has repeatedly foretold this.

I have received a book from a liar;
Sheer evil is that book—stinging like a scorpion.7

I, therefore, said: ‘O the land of Golra! May Allah’s curse be on you;
‘For you have become accursed due to an accursed person in you! As a result, you will surely face ruin on the Day of Judgment.’

This ignoble person has talked, like the mean do, in a vituperative manner;
Surely, one is tried at the time of a dispute.

Do you, O chief of darkness, believe that I have fabricated my claim?
Know that my life is free of falsehood.

Would you deny the truth that has come from Creator of the heavens?
The Gracious God will soon make manifest to you that which you deny.

When I saw that your heart had become dark,
Tears flowed from my eyes and my heart became restless.

You have made associating partners with God the focal point of your faith;
Is this what we call Islam, O arrogant one?!

I am God’s vicegerent for all creation;
Therefore, run towards me and shun disobedience and fear Him.

The decree of Allah shall descend from the heavens,
And it is not possible for it to be delayed, aborted, or withheld.

O evil-minded man! You have lied on account of your wickedness;
O one who is awaited by death! Fear Allah. Why are you so audacious?

Do you seek to undermine my honour by misstating facts about me?
Verily, you are not hidden from the Chastiser.

If you hit the glass with a rock,
It will not be the rock, but rather the glass that will shatter.

High was my station, so I became hidden from your eyes;
All who are distant and highly-stationed do become hidden.

It was due to some people in your group that I witnessed some of the Signs;
The reason was that I invited those people in your group [to a contest], and they turned away.

O my enemy! You must reflect whether there are objections that can be raised,
Only against me, and were not raised against other Prophets whom you consider to be pure.

God has sent me accompanied by His Signs,
So that I may reconstruct the building which the mean have destroyed and left in ruins.

There are secrets of Faith and paths that are hidden;
God my Lord makes them manifest to the one He chooses.

There are many verities as are apparently invisible, like the star that is situated too far;
Due to the distance, therefore, the light of such verities becomes hidden.

From God, then, comes a guide,
Who demonstrates the secrets of those verities and expounds upon them.

If you have vowed to continue to deny them,
You are free to deceive people by your falsehood in any way you choose. The truth shall eventually become manifest.

Soon will you witness that I am true in my claim and that I have been helped;
I am, by the grace of Allah, not as you portray me in your writings.

God shall demonstrate to you my reality;
It will then become evident whether I am darkness or light.

I will demonstrate to you and the traitor of this age, Sanaullah, the Hand of God;
All your commotion and tumult will then be put to rest.

God my Lord knows who is mischievous and an imposter,
And whom He considers pious and holy.

Do you seek to put out the light about which it has been decreed that it will be made manifest?
Indeed, you are faced with ill-luck in both the worlds. The light shall surely become manifest.

Beware! The time for falsehood and deception has gone;
Now has dawned the age that shall leave the liar burnt to death. You ought to, therefore, stay patient.

If you have already crossed the limits of pious behaviour,
You may call me a disbeliever and deny my truth, O audacious one!

O one who seeks to persecute me, fear the All-Powerful God,
Who destroys those who cross limits, and punishes them.

When His anger flares up, He annihilates the people;
After that, O base one, no one can protect anyone.

You are not willing to treat me courteously,
And seek to sting and harm me like Maulawi Sanaullah.

Remember that people are treated with respect for their good morals;
He who mischievously seeks only to ridicule someone is himself ridiculed.

Have you befriended a wolf or Maulawi Sanaullah?
Have you stepped on the land of Mudh or Amritsar?

Be warned that he who abuses is reprimanded with a slap on the face,
And, he who is guilty of slapping someone without reason is punished with a whip.

Therefore, you must refrain yourself from defamation, abuse, and enmity;
If you hurl a stone, you will be reproached in kind.

I know that hurling abuse and vituperation has become your habit;
He who constantly calls others disbelievers is bound to be declared a disbeliever himself one day.

Our Master is watching me and you both;
He will decide our case in view of what He is witnessing.

If I am false in my claim as you believe I am,
Then your status will be raised and I will be maligned by the people.

But if I am from among those who come from their Sovereign Lord;
Then you will suffer the punishment that is due for the mischief-makers.

I swear by Allah, the Lord of glory,
That soon God my Lord will vouchsafe honour to me, elevate my station, and enhance my glory.

I have finally come to know of the destined end of the mischief-makers.
And, he who lives for a while will also find them out.

There are snakes in the world and also beasts,
But the worst of them all are those who seek to defame me, hurl abuse at me, and call me a disbeliever.

I stopped them from uttering so many lies. As a result, they became even more frequent in telling lies;
The worst trait of man is to go on repeating falsehood.

You have written your book and I pity the fingers that have written it;
Ruined is he who misleads the people and utters absurdities.

How is it that you had time to write this book?
Were tambourines and other musical instruments no longer available to you?

I see the filth of falsehood in the aforesaid book, as if it is a privy;
I saw it and my eyes detested it.

This is an age that is causing clouds filled with the water of mischief to discharge its toxins at intervals;
Or it can be likened to an earthquake that has destroyed the people while the wind is fierce and blowing fast.

So nowadays, the Messiah—in whose name mankind was misled,
And ruined by the Christians—is being lavished with praise.

Similarly, the followers of the Shiite faith have spread among the followers of Islam,
And, like thieves, secretly killed so many of them.8

I consider Shirk [associating partners with Allah] among the Shias to be as perilous as Shirk among the Christians;
I see the ignorant embracing the Shiite faith and Christianity.

Therefore, O Ali Hairi! Fear God and repent;
If you have decided to confront me, then here I am to confront you.

Like the idol-worshippers you have made rounds of Husain’s grave;
He still failed to grant you salvation and did not come to your help.

Be warned that there are many days testifying to your failure,
Particularly the ones when Abu Bakr and Umar and Uthman became Khulafa’ [successors] but Ali did not.

And, when you did that which you did to Husain’s brother,
Muslim, and Husain’s children—they were all imprisoned.

Then the prisoners—the Ahl-ul-Bait—invoked a curse upon you for your lack of faithfulness;
You fled while they were tortured and killed.

This exposed the weakness and shortcomings of the person, that is, Husain,
About whom you said that on the Day of Judgment he would intercede even on behalf of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, so reflect.

You believe that Husain is the Chief of all mankind;
And that every Prophet shall be granted salvation and forgiveness by his intercession alone.

If the Faith could warrant such Shirk,
Then the advent of all the Messengers of God was simply absurd.

This belief is a calumny and denigration of the high spiritual station of the Prophets;
O beast of the jungle! May you perish! Why have you become so audacious?!

You sought salvation through the one who died in hopelessness;
Therefore, the Lord, who is jealous for His honour and fully capable of destroying anyone, deprived you of all your hopes.

By God, he [Husain] enjoyed no superiority over me;
I have testimonies of Almighty God with me in this regard. You may have a look at them.

I was annihilated by [my love for] the Beloved, but your Husain,
Was killed by his enemies. The difference is evidently clear and manifest.

I pushed your vessels down towards the lowest of the lows,
And am ever engaged in destroying your idols.

By God the present era is admonishing you all the time,
And it does not relent in its admonitions.

All others have shunned the habit of vituperation,
But your tongue persists in hurling curses and does not give in.

You have given currency to this habit of cursing among the Ahl-us-Sunnah;
So, they began to act upon it. You may observe this on your own if you so wish.

If only you had died before following such ways,
The Religion of Allah would not have been ruined on account of your misdeeds.

You declared Husain to be better than all the Messengers;
And thus you crossed all limits of truthfulness. And, surely God is a witness to this.

In times of trial and hardship you seek help only from him,
As if Husain is your Lord, O wicked liar!

Your religious scholars fell down before him like ones prostrating;
How can you now hold the disbelievers and Christians guilty of such acts of sinfulness?

You have forgotten the honour and glory of Almighty God,
And recite only the name of Husain. Do you think you can deny this?

Hence, this has become a calamity for Islam;
Alas! Alongside a pile of musk is lying a heap of stools.

If the Faith were to warrant idolatry,9
Then the Messengers of Almighty God were sent to the people without purpose.

And, what motive did the Holy Prophet have,
By going to war with the disbelievers? He simply destroyed them.

Through his efforts, he ruined the disbelievers on the battleground,
So much so that the battleground turned red from the blood of the disbelievers’ corpses.

The disbelievers ruined innumerable crops and destroyed so many houses,
And killed the horses that could overtake their peers swiftly.

Consequently, the houses of the disbelievers were also torched,
And numerous bounties of war as well as wealth were seized.

A doomsday spectacle was witnessed in the battles of Badr and Uhad;
The Companions were broken like branches from a tree.

Their blood flowed like a spring,
And covered the sand dunes.

In pure sand alone was where they stood;
With great resolve and dignity they confronted their enemy and showed steadfastness.

As they were faithful people, to lay down their lives they stood at a place,
Where they could see death roaring at them like a lion.

On this occasion a calamity befell the Holy Prophet;
The enemies struck his iron helmet with their swords causing it to depress his skull.

One cannot find a precedent for such hardships,
Among any other Messengers, be it ‘Isa [Jesus] or someone else.

So, reflect whether or not all this happened with a purpose,
And whether Shirk was not something which should have been replaced [by the Oneness of God].

O Sanaullah, you who even shames women by his behaviour!
How long will you keep deceiving others by acting like soldiers on a battlefield?

Did I give in to avarice after I was sixty years of age?
No sane person would have such an opinion about me.

I will show you a number of Signs, after which you will have no excuse against me;
And, if you think that this matter will remain hidden, I assure you it will not.

You wanted to see me disgraced at Mudh; however, you yourself were disgraced;
He who seeks to humiliate a truthful person shall himself be humiliated.

10

Many a Sign there is that I have mentioned;
You witnessed these Signs yet you denied them and accused me of falsehood.

Hence, after so many experiences, I eventually found,
A reason to write these few verses which may apprise you of the Signs.

God, therefore, intends to seal your mouth through this;
And, for my part, I wish to clinch my argument against you in this manner.

The hoofs of my horses destroyed you;
Is there among you a cavalry-man who would come out to confront me?

Or will you now retreat and thus prove my Sign to be a categorical one?
You had rushed to Mudh, so as to ridicule me.

If you turn away from confronting me now,
It will be as if you were a liar [ready to be killed by] a sword drawn over his belly.

If you choose to accept defeat,
And fall disgracefully into the pit of ignominy,

It will bring upon you dishonour and make you accursed both in matters of faith,
And the world, and you will suffer humiliation. Will you not reflect upon this?

But if you are true in your stance, why do you not find the courage now to confront me?
For a truthful person all tasks are made easy.

When you were chosen for the debate at Mudh, you launched,
An assault against me for the sake of your own honour.

But, I swear by God that my essay struck at your head and broke it apart;
Even if you die now, you will not receive the help you thought will make you honourable.

Why at all should help have reached you?
You have abandoned God. You have no Friend now to extend help to you.

Is there among you a rider courageous enough to square up to me?
If there is one, he should come forward without delay.

O one stricken by calamity! I have come to you with a gift,
The gift of sharp swords; that is, I bring you the gift of an unparalleled qasidah.

Therefore, rejoice and give glad tidings on my behalf to every such wicked person who used to hurl abuse at me,
That soon Syed Muhammad Sarwar shall deliver to them a gift from me.

I am the hawk ever-ready to spring upon his enemies;
I have been granted help from Almighty God.

Tempt the east and the west against me,
And call to your assistance every such learned person who hops about like a mosquito.

And invite to your aid all those who can move around swiftly like a camel;
Your people are faced with a humiliating defeat. So, rush and plan.

By God, I am not a cruel-hearted person;
If you answer correctly, I will turn away from my stance.

But if you do not heed these words of mine, you will bring down,
And make redundant the building that you yourself built.

Do you not see that arrows are being shot at you,
By a person whom you deem ignorant, illiterate, and a disbeliever?

Where has the Sign of your truth gone?
Where has gone the knowledge by virtue of which you pronounced others as disbelievers?

Where are the exaggerated claims that you made regarding your scholarship and wisdom?
Where are your people now and the group that supported you?

Where has gone the sharpness of the tongues,
The tongues that were drawn against me like a sword?

I finished my qasidah in five days;
In fact, the actual time is less than that [i.e. three days].

You may, however, try for fifteen nights,
And call to your assistance Muhammad Husain, Qadi Zafruddin, and Asghar ‘Ali.

This is a Sign of God—O my mortal enemy!
Do you think you will be able to produce one like mine O you who are constrained?

Where the cowardly cannot stay, I am standing steadfastly;
If you amount to anything, then come forward to confront me. I surely will meet you head-on.

Do you transgress and thus seek to hide the brilliance of the Signs of our Lord?
Indeed, God my Lord will make manifest all that you hide.

You seek my disgrace and I yours!
The judgment is with Allah; He will surely give His verdict.

You discarded Allah’s Word without an argument in your favour;
The Word of Allah is indeed the true guidance and more manifest than all else.

God made it easy, so that people may commit it to memory;
Doubtless, the Remembrance [i.e. the Quran] is clear and easy to learn.

It contains clear and manifest guidance,
And the All-Knowing has named it ‘Furqan’ [the Discrimination; i.e. the Holy Quran]

Also God called it ‘clear’ and ‘articulate speech’;
Therefore, after it what hadith shall we adopt?

You ought to put aside the debate that involves falsehood;
With an enlightened heart, ponder over what I say.

I have been granted respect and honour in the world while you are afflicted with disgrace;
Every truthful person is eventually granted victory.

I have killed my enemy—Abul-Wafa—with the sword of Allah;
Being grateful for this, therefore, I praise Almighty God.

Abul-Wafa thinks that I have intentionally fabricated falsehood;
I pity his condition, for he is misleading people and uttering absurdities.

I witness that truth has shattered the walls of falsehood;
Consequently, guidance has become manifest like broad daylight.

Today I have published the verses of this qasidah of mine,
While the month of November is almost half expired.

Similarly, the month of Sha‘ban is also half gone;
God my Lord! Make this qasidah a blessed one for those who seek to tread the path of guidance.

I have thrown this qasidah like one throws an arrow, so that I may destroy my enemy in one go;
In fact, it has not been thrown by me, rather by Allah, so that He may cause me to prevail.

I have written this qasidah to fulfill the promise I made at Mudh;
I have not broken my promise, nor have I changed.

I can witness the blessings that have been sent down for me from heaven,
Like the she-camels who are heavy with children. And, what I have composed has been given a new life.

By God! My qasidah is from my Helper;
Therefore, I praise and thank the Benevolent Lord.

O my Lord! If You have sent me out of your providence,
Then support me and cause all that I have envisaged to be accomplished perfectly.