• O fools, awake! The rites ye sacred hold Are but a cheat contrived by men of old Who lusted after wealth and gained their lust And died in baseness-and their law is dust.

    Al-Maʿarri: O fools, awake! The rites ye sacred hold
 Are but a cheat contrived by men of old
 Who lusted after wealth and gained their lust
 And died in baseness-and their law is dust.