Fatima Bint' Abdullah

Fatima, you are the pride Of the Community God bless it! Your dust is holy, every particle of it.

You, houri of the desert, Were fated to win such merit! To give the soldiers of Islam water to drink Was to be your good fortune.

A jihad in the way of God, Waged without sword or shield! What courage the love of martyrdom gives!

O that in our autumn-stricken garden There were flower-buds like this! O that a spark like this, dear Lord, Could be found in our ashes!

In our desert many deer still hide! And in the spent clouds Many flashes of lightning still lie dormant!

Fatima, though our grieving eyes Weep tears like dew over you, Our dirge is also a celebration song.

How thrilling is the dance of your dust, Every atom of which is charged with life.

There is stirring in your quiet grave: Within it a new nation is being reared.

Though I know nothing of the range of its ambition, I see them spring to life from this tomb.

New stars are appearing in the sky above, Stars whose rolling waves of light Have not been seen by the eyes of man;

Stars just risen out of the dark dungeon of time, Stars whose light is not hostage to day and night;

Stars whose radiance is both old and new, And partakes of the splendour Of the star of your destiny too.