What if leaders lose their way, and calamities
Come rushing after them like torrents?
To whom, then, do we turn when the doors
Are bolted shut? Do leaders face such trials?
Truly, when corruption reigns, scorpions
Come to nest even upon the leader’s throne.
If the cleric’s arrogance flares up, kindling
A fire within that melts away established doctrines,
What fault lies with the masses—those who hold
Within their hearts a love for the Prophet, vast as clouds?
It is as the Prophet foretold: the sacred ways
Are abandoned, even by those who once held fast to truth.
As for the tyrants, let the truth be spoken openly—
Proclaimed aloud before a host of witnesses—
Regarding what the "Blessed Land" conceals or hides
Deep within its soil: worms and swarms of angry ants.
Would that they had sought knowledge before speaking,
For knowledge is a piercing light—
Revealing the true measure of men, and exposing
How the flawed may yet attain high office
