Lady Zaynab’s Karbala Lament (rhymed)

After the tragedy of Karbala (in the year 61H / 680 CE), in which the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Husayn was slaughtered along with many of his family members, the following lines of poetry were recited by Zaynab bint `Ali (Husayn’s sister) (according to another version it was Zaynab bint `Aqil, Husayn’s first cousin. I had previously translated these lines into unrhymed English (here), and now I am pleased to present them with rhyme and meter:

 

Imagine if right now the Prophet spoke;

What have you done, O last community?

My offspring, and inviolate women folk

Are drenched with blood, or in captivity?

Recall you not, when ere your Prophet spoke,

To caution you against such perfidy?

ماذا تقولون إن قال النبي لكم * ماذا فعلتم وأنتم آخر الأمم
بعترتي وبأهلي بعد مفتقدي * منهم أسارى ومنهم ضرجوا بدم
ما كان هذا جزائي إذ نصحت لكم * أن تخلفوني بسوء في ذوي رحمي

Sources: Tarikh Dimashq, Ansab al-Ashraf, Muruj al-Dhahab  with slight variations in the wording of the lines of poetry