Original content

English translation

And among them: the heir of prophethood and the lamp of the community, the oppressed master and the pardoned imam, the adornment of the worshippers (Zayn al-Abidin) and the candle of the pillars, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with them.

He was the most noble and most devout of the people of his time, and he is renowned for unveiling realities and disseminating subtleties. He was asked: 'Who is the most fortunate of this world and the hereafter?' He said: 'He whom, when he is pleased, his pleasure does not carry him toward falsehood, and when he is angered, his anger does not remove him from the truth. That is, one who is not content with falsehood when he becomes content, and whose anger does not drive him out of the truth when he becomes angry.'

And this is among the attributes of the perfection of the upright; for to consent to falsehood is falsehood, and to abandon the truth in a state of anger is falsehood; and a believer is not one who follows falsehood.

It is also related that when they killed Husayn ibn Ali together with his sons (may Allah be pleased with them) at Karbala, none remained except him to be the guardian of the women, and he was ill; and the Commander of the Faithful Husayn used to call him Ali al-Asghar. When they brought them, stripped, on camels into Damascus before Yazid ibn Muawiya (may Allah disgrace him), someone said to him: 'How have you fared this morning, O Ali and O People of the House of Mercy?' He said: 'We have awakened among our people as the people of Moses were among the folk of Pharaoh, who slaughtered our sons and spared our women; so that we do not distinguish our morning from our evening, and this is of the reality of our affliction. And we give thanks to God, exalted be His majesty, for His blessings, and are patient over His trials.'

And in the accounts it is told that Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan came one year for the Hajj. He was circumambulating the House and wished to kiss the Black Stone, but because of the crush of the crowd he found no way. Then he went up on the pulpit and delivered a sermon. Then Zayn al-Abidin, Ali ibn al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him), entered the mosque with a moonlike face, a radiant cheek, and perfumed garments, and began the circumambulation. When he drew near the Black Stone, the people, out of reverence for him, cleared the Stone so that he might kiss it.

A man from the people of Syria, when he saw that awe, said to Hisham: 'O Commander of the Faithful, they did not give you way to the Stone, though you are the ruler; who was that handsome youth who came, at whose approach all the people scattered from the Stone and made way?' Hisham said: 'I do not know him' — and his intention was that the people of Syria should not recognize him, nor give him allegiance, nor incline toward his rule.

The poet Farazdaq was standing there. He said: 'I know him.' They said: 'Who is that, O Abu Firas? Tell us, for we have seen a most awe-inspiring youth.' Farazdaq said: 'Listen, that I may describe his lineage extemporaneously:

This is he whose footstep the sacred ground of Batha recognizes, and the House knows him, and the profane land and the sacred sanctuary. This is the son of the best of all God's servants, this is the pious, the pure, the immaculate, the eminent. This is the son of Fatima al-Zahra, woe to you! and the son of the Legatee (Ali), the foremost of you in precedence. When Quraysh sees him, its speaker says: 'To the noble traits of this one nobility comes to its end.' He ascends to the summit of glory which the Arabs of Islam and the non-Arabs fell short of attaining. Through his grandfather the merit of the prophets bowed to him, and the merit of his community — the nations bowed to it. The light of his countenance splits the darkness of night, as the sun by whose radiance the darkness is dispelled. The corner of al-Hatim well-nigh seizes his palm out of recognition, when he comes to touch it in reverence. He lowers his gaze from modesty, and others lower theirs from his awe; so he is not spoken to except when he smiles. In his hand is a fragrant staff whose scent is diffused, from the palm of a splendid one, in whose nose is loftiness. His stock is derived from the Messenger of God, his elements, disposition, and traits are goodly. Both his hands are a rain whose benefit is general; they overflow with bounty and are never touched by want. He encompassed mankind with beneficence, so that there vanished from him the gloom, poverty, and injustice. No generous one can reach beyond their utmost limit, nor can any people, however noble, approach them. They are the rains when a crisis presses hard, and the lions, lions of the thicket, when valor blazes up. Of a folk whose love is religion and whose hatred is unbelief, whose nearness is deliverance and refuge. If the people of piety are counted, they are their leaders; or if it is asked who are the best of the people of the earth, it is said: they.'

And he spoke several such verses in his praise, and extolled him and the Household of the Prophet (peace be upon them). Hisham became angry with him and ordered that he be imprisoned at Usfan — which is a place between Mecca and Medina. This news, exactly as it was, was conveyed to him (Zayn al-Abidin). He ordered that twelve thousand dirhams be brought to him (Farazdaq). He said: 'Tell him: O Abu Firas, excuse us, for we are being tested, and we knew of nothing more than this to send you.' Farazdaq sent that silver back and said: 'O son of the Prophet of God, for the sake of silver I had composed many poems and brought lies into those panegyrics. These verses I spoke as an expiation for some of that, for the sake of God and the love of the Messenger and his descendants.' When the message was brought to Zayn al-Abidin, he said: 'Return and take back this silver and say: O Abu Firas, if you love us, do not consent that we take back what we have given and put out of our possession.' Then Farazdaq took that silver and accepted it.

And the virtues of that master are more than can be gathered, and God knows best.