Faisal I

Author: Amin Rihani

My Lord Faisal,
You planted a garden in Iraq and left before seeing it bear fruit; you sowed seeds in the Arab lands and left before seeing them flourish.
A planter plants, a reaper reaps, and fate mocks and does not straighten.
But today and tomorrow, you are the symbol and emblem of this nation, its heart, its mind, and its beacon. And in its light, travelers and jihadists tread, and the eaglet is at the forefront of the jihadists, for he is the conqueror, and he is a guarantor of the covenant.
And for what the noble successor was.
You were a decisive Faisal in war, and in peace, the gentle, bold, pure one. In politics, you were its discerning eye and its balanced scale. In shrewdness, you were its enchanting countenance and its golden speech.
In skill, you were its title; in resolve, its proof; and in hardship and night, the highest example. In cunning, you were Muawiyah; and in patience and defiance, Al-Sharif Al-Radhi. In forbearance, you were the Prophet's peer; and in meekness, the brother of the Nazarene.