Why the blame, O Salmā, for what has befallen you —
blame has passed you by, so cast off reproach.
Leave off blaming a most valiant Hāshimī —
a lion, a fierce one, a hero, a champion.
Have you not learned of my killing, openly —
on an evening when my soul did not fear death,
And my thrusting without dread, and my striking —
necks and backs and entrails and skulls?
I cooled my rancor, then healed my soul —
by my slaying of those who first killed the Imam:
A young man who, in peace, was guidance and light —
and in battle a sharp, cutting sword.
Through him they imitated the deeds of the Banū Ziyād —
on the morning of al-Ṭaff, and followed Hishām.
They brought the steeds and sought, against —
the sons of al-Zahrāʾ, coercion and oppression.
So they found us lions, noble ones —
and we found them cowards, base ones.
We made them drink at the pool of deaths —
and gave them to quaff a cup of poison.
And we said: “O sons of al-Zahrāʾ, defend —
your honor, or die nobly!”

When we assaulted them, we cleared, with all of us —
the dust¹ from our faces,
And the sword of the vengeance of the Banū ʿAlī broke its fast —
after it had long, on their account, been fasting.
We set the keen swords as arbiters upon their necks —
so their skulls fell, split into flying fragments.
We took possession of their horses, and the white swords stripped from them —
and we extended to their captives our protection.
We saw their killing, at that moment, as more fitting —
for us than that we be humbled and oppressed.
We made an assault, vast and spreading, that left —
the noses of the spiteful enemies ground into dust.
My father is al-Hādī, who broke the resistance of mankind —
and defended guidance of old, and protected it.
He was, for them and for the world altogether —
when it was set in order, an ordering for his nation.
And my grandfather is the best who ever rode mounts —
the Messenger of God, who took up the exalted station.

And my people are the first who began the giving of gifts —
and they are the first who began meting out deaths and the press of battle.
We began every noble deed, and we have not —
ceased to be, for glory, a summit since we came to be.
Our first did not cease to be a prophet —
nor does our last cease to be an imam.

We filled the earth with Islam and justice —
and we were given dominion over creation, in Yemen and Syria.
We guided them to a straight path —
and we became an upholding for their religion.
Were it not for us, they would not have fallen prostrate —
nor risen in standing toward any supererogatory prayer,
Nor performed the pilgrimage, nor instituted jihād —
nor paid alms, nor observed fasting as an obligation.
Every adult Muslim invokes blessing upon us —
when he prays, and follows it with the invocation of peace.
And sufficient as a source of pride for you is that we were made —
for every act of guidance and obligation, a completion.

— Imam al-Muntaṣir Billāh Muḥammad ibn al-Mukhtār (peace be upon him)