While he was waiting on the perimeter for the crowd to...

While he was waiting on the perimeter for the crowd to become less so that he may go and kiss the Black Stone, he noticed a sudden movement among the people who starting making way for a person who had just entered the mosque. That person went straight to the Black Stone and kissed it. It was none other than Imam Zaynu ’l-‘Ābidīn (a.s.). Hisham knew him; but, out of jealousy, he asked his entourage: “Who is this?” Farazdaq, the famous and powerful poet of the time, was standing close by.

When he heard Hisham’s question filled with jealousy and contempt, he could not control himself and extemporaneously started to recite a poem in praise of the Imam. That piece of poetry is of such high eloquence and clarity that even the modern anthologies of Arabic literature include it in their collections. It is a long poem, but we shall just…