Letters · To the governor of Basra upon learning that he had accepted an invitation to a lavish banquet

Translation

Of course, all that we had in our possession under this sky was Fadak [1], but a group of people felt greedy for it and the other party withheld themselves from it. Allāh is, after all, the best arbiter. What shall I do: Fadak, or no Fadak, while tomorrow this body is to go into the grave in whose darkness its traces will be destroyed and (even) news of it will disappear. It is a pit that, even if its width is widened or the hands of the digger make it broad and open, the stones and clods of clay will narrow it and the falling earth will close its apperture.

Verified published translation — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.