[This is part II of the translation. You can read the introduction and part I here and the original Arabic here.]
XVI. Taking the dead down to hell
Jettisoned I was from the heavens,
Two angels tugging my rope,
Like a farmer with his cattle.
Three times then,
I was immersed in boiling tar,
Thrown into the pit of hell,
I could not go very far.
In describing how I fell,
Lord,
Rid me of this torment,
For had I sinned.
Then pardon you can donate,
Like the belly of a volcano,
This hell with its crate.
Red are its fires,
Spitting lava,
Clouds of ash and dust.
All of this I saw,
Then I heard the magma’s murmur,
My skin and hair chilled with terror.
The shriek of the damned within,
Deep down were crusts under crusts.
Beneath it all,
The ultimate pitfall,
Where pain prevails,
Where no sufferer,
Would espouse his brother,
The food that is on offer,
Stodgily stuck in the throat.
With molten rock as a drink,
For the thirsty,
Colocynth and blood,
For them a daily nuisance,
For them a daily perdition,
Surrounded by scorpions and serpents,
Surrounded by lions and panthers.
Beggars for mercy they become.
But pleading in hell has no outcome.
Bitter glances they receive instead.
Hell’s eyes furiously mustered,
And a fire that is ignited,
Stewing souls subsided,
Faces of sinners black as asphalt,
All uniform with no distinctions,
Eyes simmering and inflamed.
I cannot forget the inferno,
Blazes like the tongue of a snake,
Blazes like the waves of the ocean.
And so cried the sinners for clemency,
But salvage from hell is costly.
And so the noble and the poor amongst them,
Became equal in agony.
XVII. A conversation with Leila
In the abyss I was wondering.
And so I saw Leila,
Amongst her peers standing,
On a heap of coal burning,
Surrounded by venomous vipers.
Leila looked dismal,
And her mournful eyes palpable.
“What saddens the beautiful?”
Said I,
“Neither the fire,
Nor the torture.
What saddens me is
Being divided from my lover.
Enmity towards love is unjust.
From each other we are afar.
And today I do not see Sameer.
In a ditch, he was hurled,
No gap from which he could escape,
And no vent.
More pain lies in estrangement,
Than in God’s punishment.
Fire would not burn me,
Had Sameer been beside me.”
“What had you committed that destined you here?”
Said I,
“We had lived life,
Indifferent to judgment and without fear.
To love we were committed,
I and Sameer.”
XVIII. Hell’s poets
Then I saw al-Farazdaq,
Cadaverous and pale,
Beside him al-Akhtal,
Wrestling the flame.
“What is your story?”
Said I,
“Lampooning had placed us in strife.”
They replied,
Around them were others,
Scientists and philosophers,
Anxious artists,
And uncertain connoisseurs.
After further inspection,
I came to the realization.
None in hell was an imbecile,
For the imbecile lies in the heavens.
Then I was greeted by al-Mutanabbi,
Then by the blind poet al-Ma’arri.
As grand as the ocean both were,
Even in hell parading their grandeur.
Then I saw Bashar being strangled.
His gruesome face with blisters disheveled,
Followed Abu Nawas looking dejected.
The joyous drunkard no longer delighted.
Like him were the greats Khayyam and Dante,
Shakespeare and Imru’ al-Qais,
Enduring a sentence,
Eternally,
For belittling faith in their poetry.
XIX. Khayyam’s song of wine
Then I heard Khayyam’s voice,
Making the crowd rejoice,
Chanting ever so splendidly,
Verses from his sincere poetry:
“How I long for thee,
Oh wine,
To rescue me,
With your presence.
The flames do not distress.
Were you here,
Oh wine,
The blazes I would caress.
For they would mesmerise me,
Like a ruby does,
The abyss had taken from me,
But with you my soul returns.”
XX. Socrates`s speech
Then I heard Socrates preaching,
To the people of hell.
Beside him sat Plato,
Listening attentively,
And Aristotle the great philosopher,
And Copernicus the astronomer.
Around the sun,
The earth revolves,
Like a fly follows a torch,
He told.
Then I saw Darwin.
Daringly state,
That we are,
The descendants of apes.
Then I saw Hegel,
Buchner and Gassendi,
Spencer the noble,
Fichte and Thomas Huxley,
Spinoza and Giordano,
Newton the virtuoso,
Then Holbach,
Renan and Rousseau,
Then Voltaire,
Zarathustra and Abu Qur,
Kindi the wise,
Ibn Sina and Naseer,
Ibn Rushd with his bravery,
Abu Dulama and Rawandi.
Serene they all seemed.
When Socrates encouraged them,
His commanding presence beamed,
Toward the flames he pointed,
And explained its being:
“Inevitably we shall conquer it.
And our drudgery will ease.
The basins of this abyss have thresholds.
And soon its fuel shall cease.
No fire could be torched then.
And for us there will be peace.”
With the speech, the crowd was happy.
They applauded Socrates.
XXI. Mansur al-Hallaj speaks to God
Then I saw Hallaj,
Raising his gaze toward the sky.
Anguish was in his chant:
“Oh Lord,
You alone are the eternal,
For all the other things end,
You the one from whom I come,
Why have thou bestowed desolation upon me?
Why have thou not even tempted me?
On the earth I died for thee.,
Today in this hell I shall be.”
Hearing his chant I reacted:
“What is written must happen,
Even if the writer is mistaken.”
XXII. The inventions of hell’s dwellers
In anticipation,
The crowd congregated,
Awaiting an invention,
That a wise man created.
The purpose of this device,
Was to annihilate the flames.
Then another scientist,
Proposed a gadget,
That destroys the abyss,
But also the crowd.
XXIII. Revolt incited
Then a youthful rioter,
Called for attention.
The crowd assembled,
Around him and listened,
“Oh people,
Hell has slumbered.
Revolt!
For matters have worsened.
You have shouldered,
More than what an ox could bear.
Oh people,
Unjustly we have been regarded.
Revolt!
Amongst you are those,
Who God had destined,
To blaspheme.
Is it fair then,
For you to endure torment?
Oh people,
Do not fear.
Through the utmost evil,
You have already been.
Persevere!
Hope is only attainable,
If you walk the bridge towards it.
Today you can look for freedom,
Even though you are mere convicts.
Resist the evil power.
Retaliate against it.
Today you are many,
And the angels are few.
What do we fear then?
For if we challenge them,
We would win,
And reclaim our souls.
Triumph is for the unified.
Alas,
The arbitrator’s judgment,
To you had been prejudiced,
As if his heart was stone.
In our sciences,
He saw no benefits,
And damned us eternally.
Torment at every dawn,
Upheaval erupted.
The crowd revolted.
The valleys of hell trembled.
As the people maneuvered.
Eradicating the inferno,
The crowd’s fury unexpected.
A revolt in hell,
Shaking,
The divine throne,
To its core.
Prepared were the rebels,
As they ambled.
Chanting boisterously,
Songs of freedom.
XXIV. Ma’arri and the rebels
Ma’arri:
“They have taken away your rights,
And in doing so they have cheated you.”
Rebels:
“They have taken away our rights,
And for our rights we revolt.”
Ma’arri:
“Tents and yurts for you in hell,
For them palaces in paradise.”
Rebels:
“They have taken away our rights,
And for our rights we revolt.”
Ma’arri:
“If you succumb, then all you gain,
Is eternal affliction and pain.”
Rebels:
“They have taken away our rights,
And for our rights, we revolt.”
Ma’arri:
“In life we had to sweat,
And in death, we want rest.”
Rebels:
“They have taken away our rights,
And for our rights we revolt.”
Ma’arri:
“Is fire the reward for those,
Who are gallant and sensual?”
Rebels:
“They have taken away our rights,
And for our rights we revolt.”
XXV. The Zabanya[1]
The Zabanya recoiled in defence.
As the rebels charged,
War conquered the realms,
Like no other war had.
Women and men,
The rebels were,
Unified,
Unhesitant in attack,
Gouging the bellies,
Of the Zabanya,
While their heads rolled.
XXVI. War
Then came the demons,
In support of the rebels,
Lucifer at their front.
Then came the angels,
From the heavenly throne,
With Ezrael as their guide.
Scuffled the white seraphs,
With the demons’ might,
Above the abyss they met.
One of fire,
One of light.
Clashing like the waves,
Of the ocean.
In the heavens,
The screaming can be heard.
The blood of the wounded gushed.
They fought with thunder,
Stormy streams,
Fire that melts the rocks,
And lightning beams.
The demons fought with fire,
And rocky mortar,
Rivers of lava,
Earth and water.
God’s throne became troubled,
After ages of being unruffled.
The skies almost fell.
The stars also fell,
Melancholic.
War was nay but a huddle at first.
The rebels now euphoric.
The angels were subjugated.
And to their shelter, they returned.
For the rebels a majestic triumph,
With the demons in their band.
At last they could respite,
From their pain and misery.
They have not fought in vain,
They have planned, and now they reign.
XXVII. The invasion of the heavens
On the backs of demons,
The rebels rode.
Swiftly flying like hawks,
The heavens they sought.
Upon their advent,
A rapid scuffle occurred.
Their victory certain,
They begun to direct,
Exiling the unwise,
And keeping the fit.
Fleeing went Radwan,
With his defeated cronies.,
While the rebels feasted,
And ecstatically celebrated,
Their revolt returned them glorious,
More than any other did.
Awakened jadedly,
I went on to detect,
The rays of the sun,
Filling the sky’s chest.
For this was nay,
But a reverie,
Caused by some,
Watercress.
[Translated from the Arabic by Firas Massouh]
[1] The Zabanya are angels whose feet are on earth, while their heads are in the heavens. In this particular context, they act as “angels of security,” even though they are not attributed to such duties in the Qur’an.