Ali is the first Moslem and the King of men, 965 In Love’s eyes Ali is the treasure of the Faith. Devotion to his family inspires me with life So that I am as a shining pearl. Like the narcissus, I am enraptured with gazing; Like perfume, I am straying through his pleasure-garden. 970 If holy water gushes from my earth, he is the source; If wine pours from my grapes, he is the cause. I am dust, but his sun hath made me as a mirror: Song can be seen in my breast. From Ali’s face the Prophet drew a fair omen, 975 By his majesty the true religion is glorified. His commandments are the strength of Islam: All things pay allegiance to his House. The Apostle of God gave him the name Bú Turáb; God in the Koran called him “the Hand of Allah.” 980 Every one that is acquainted with Life’s mysteries Knows what is the inner meaning of the names of Ali. The dark clay, whose name is the body-- Our reason is ever bemoaning its iniquity. On account of it our sky-reaching thought plods o’er the earth; 985 It makes our eyes blind and our ears deaf. It hath in its hand a two-edged sword of lust: Travellers’ hearts are broken by this brigand. Ali, the Lion of God, subdued the body’s clay And transmuted this dark earth to gold. 990 Murtazá, by whose sword the splendour of Truth was revealed, Is named Bú Turáb from his conquest of the body.[76] Man wins territory by prowess in battle, But his brightest jewel is mastery of himself. Whosoever in the world becomes a Bú Turáb 995 Turns back the sun from the west;[77] Whosoever saddles tightly the steed of the body Sits like the bezel on the seal of sovereignty: Here the might of Khaibar is under his feet,[78] And hereafter his hand will distribute the water of Kauthar.[79] 1000 Through self-knowledge he acts as God’s Hand, And in virtue of being God’s Hand he reigns over all. His person is the gate of the city of the sciences: Arabia, China, and Greece are subject to him. If thou wouldst drink clear wine from thine own grapes, 1005 Thou must needs wield authority over thine own earth. To become earth is the creed of a moth; Be a conqueror of earth; that alone is worthy of a man. Thou art soft as a rose. Become hard as a stone, That thou mayst be the foundation of the wall of the garden! 1010 Build thy clay into a Man, Build thy Man into a World! If thou art unfit to be either a wall or a door, Some one else will make bricks of thine earth. O thou who complainest of the cruelty of Heaven, 1015 Thou whose glass cries out against the injustice of the stone, How long this wailing and crying and lamentation? How long this perpetual beating of thy breast?