قضى مقبلًا

He Died Facing the Foe¹

1. He died advancing, plunging into death and wrestling it,
   fighting with valour, feared for every blow he rained.
2. A martyr, honoured, he passed on in glory’s field,
   and gave his finest gifts to keep the homelands safe.
3. The free man would accept no less than to win, as he had willed,
   a mighty death, the bride² he had long courted, now his to claim.
4. He went ahead of the soldiers, bearing down on his foes
   like a wave in the sea of glory, surging, roaring, unrestrained.
5. God keep it!³ How sweet a couch of glory, where
   Sinwar sat enthroned, while death was on his trail!
6. His right hand cut away, his left hand bleeding,
   his brows fluttered towards the Gardens of Eternity.
7. On the seat of glory he rested, binding up
   deep wounds, his sides groaning with pain.
8. And when the enemy’s drone drew near him,
   he threw a stick at it⁴, with a joy he could scarce restrain.
9. O scene that put every other scene to shame!
   O hero in war, whose foe fought him in vain!
10. And he was led, a bridegroom², to the Eternity his spirit craved,
    a martyr who had been granted his every aim.
11. O lesson in dignity in an age of shame!
    The generations will recall it, its wonders made plain.
12. It will live on in the book of heroic deeds, a sign⁵:
    whenever it is recited, its clouds pour down on us their rain.
13. O oppressor, you will rejoice for a moment,
    while for ages in people’s hearts his virtues will remain.
14. Though the gallant horseman’s body is gone from their sight,
    the spirit of true jihad has set its processions in train.
15. He will remain, through all the passing of time, a heroism
    whose marvels, like earrings, deck the ear of Time for ever.
16. The martyr of the heights, Sinwar: exalted be his rank!
    Al-Qassam takes pride in him; its “Brigades”⁶ rise in fame.
17. A martyr who saw oppression make his homeland lawful prey,
    and sprang up like an enraged lion, its claws bloodstained.
18. Death folded him away, and the universe is a house of mourning for glory;
    Palestine and al-Aqsa are the women keening there.
19. He rose above the crown of the universe, a radiant sun
    lighting a darkness whose calamities are pitch-black.
20. A man of chivalry⁷, he led the army of the believers to victory,
    and victory’s banner was his companion in every campaign.
21. He defied the tyrants of the earth, unafraid of their might,
    while their arrows of death kept watch on him, taking aim.
22. They said, “A coward!”, yet he was a lion in the fray:
    when he charged, his claws charged with him, dealing death.
23. They said he hid, veiled like a woman,
    and made the captives his armour⁸: such, they said, was his shame.
24. Well, here he is, ascending in a mujahid’s clash of arms,
    after his blows had cut deep into those who fled!
25. You lie! It was not with cowardice that he faced the foe,
    and the faint heart of the base never once came near him.
26. Is it in a woman’s gown that a man wades into battles
    and storms into the terrors, with death at his side?
27. They made that claim to hide their own impotence,
    and the panic-stricken could not find a way to call him to account.
28. A man of chivalry whose one care was Islam, guarding what it holds sacred,
    and giving a soul its owner had sold for eternity’s gain⁹.
29. He knew prison for decades, yet did not weaken,
    and returned to the road of struggle, keeping pace with it again.
30. A captive, he spent twenty years¹⁰ in prison,
    and three more after them; their trials seasoned him and made him sage.
31. His resolve did not soften; his firmness only grew,
    and when the battle raged, men dreaded what would follow in his train.
32. When heroes are named, he is their leader,
    and his noble, swift camels lead them towards the heights.
33. On faith he raised an impregnable tower,
    and built a glory whose ranks no one can attain.
34. A man of chivalry whose one care was freeing Jerusalem¹¹, in obedience
    to the Lord of all creation; and it is God whose gifts we hope to gain.
35. He sold to God, as a mujahid, what was most precious,
    and never once feared that harm might reach his frame.
36. No beguiling world could ever beguile him here¹²,
    when its full-breasted maidens beguile some among us.
37. Never once did he care for any worldly gain he might win,
    nor did his desires lie in this dust¹².
38. Ah, for a lion whose wing was broken,
    whose battalions punished the usurpers time and again!
39. And my grief for him, a leader who stood there and did not bend
    before the enemy of God, his demands only rising higher!
40. A martyr who saw tyranny overrunning his land,
    and rose, leading the soldiers, resolved to fight it.
41. You are the true leader: you woke a nation
    tossed about by an age whose misfortunes came in a chain.
42. And what harm to you¹³ the desertion of those of slight account,
    non-Arabs who howl, and Arabs who then take up their refrain?
43. The men of Hamas made a covenant with God¹⁴
    to press on till the usurper gives back what is rightfully owed.
44. A man of chivalry who drew the sword of truth to guard what he held sacred,
    and its keen blade struck terror into the army of injustice and filth.
45. A valiant chief: when jihad called, he answered,
    and when the road of glory came in view, his mounts were saddled.
46. Whenever he called to war, his call was answered
    by legions of lions rallying to march at his side.
47. Oh, the grief of my heart, when the lion of Gaza fell,
    when his virtues had filled the far horizons of fame!
48. And ah, for a free man who rose high through his deeds,
    so that the sky of glory shone, its stars aflame!
49. Though they have hidden a body away, the spirit of his jihad
    will kindle a zeal¹⁵ whose rallied hosts will surge again.
50. He will remain, through all the passing of time, demanding
    vengeance; and whoever seeks vengeance never sleeps on his claim.
51. You will be shamed by men whose deeds you have already known,
    on a radiant day whose wonders will be plain.
52. Men who pledged one another on the time-honoured covenant,
    and none of its dear sons has swerved from the path of sacrifice.
53. Each one of them has grown practised in hunting you down:
    crushing the foe on the day of battle is his game.
54. Men of jihad, not men of dance halls;
    and whoever goes seeking death, no foe can easily tame.
55. They have made a tryst with the maidens of Paradise, and their heart’s
    heady wine has risen to a fever, its longings surging¹⁶.
56. He watered the earth with pure blood, and the gardens of sacrifice
    blossomed, and the choicest fruits of victory are ripe.
57. The enemies of the sanctuary thought that killing him
    would put out a vengeance that has flared up¹⁷ into flame.
58. They did not know that when a martyr passes on,
    one who is his match will follow in his steps.
59. You were a dawn of dignity, shining bright,
    lighting the roads of glory, so that every side of them lay plain.
60. With the Flood¹⁸ you shook the pillars of their injustice,
    whose tyranny had run unchecked, for all men feared its reign.
61. You tore the mask from the face of darkness,
    and a dazzling morning broke, and the screen that had hidden it swerved away¹⁹.
62. We saw mankind roam the streets crying “Free Palestine!”,
    until even the one who had played at it grew earnest²⁰.
63. Upon you be God’s peace, as long as the east wind²¹ blows,
    and as long as morning breaks and climbs its heights again.

English translation prepared by artificial intelligence and reviewed against the Arabic for accuracy of meaning and rhetoric.