The Epistle of Forgiveness. Abu l-'Ala al-Ma'arri

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СКАЧАТЬ وأهدى لنا أكبُشًا تُبحبح في المِرْبَدِ وزوجُكِ في النّادي ويعلمُ ما في غدِ

      فقال: لا يعلم ما في غدٍ إلا الله. ولا يجوز أن يُخبر مخبر منذ مائة سنة أن أمير حلب، حرسها الله، في سنة أربع وعشرين وأربعمائة، اسمه فلان بن فلان، وصفته كذا؛ فإن ادّعى ذلك مُدّعٍ فإنمّا هو متخرِّص كاذب.

      As for the story about the Hadith scholars who misspelled Rakhamah as raḥmah (“mercy”), I do not believe anything of the kind happened. Untruthfulness will have the upper hand and be evident, truth is hidden and feeble. «We belong to God and to Him we shall return.»²³⁸ It is the same with the claim of those who assert that ʿAlī (peace be upon him) said, “Basra will perish at the hands of the Zanj” and that the Hadith scholars then misspelled it as “through the wind.”²³⁹ I believe none of this. The knowledge of the unseen²⁴⁰ was not revealed to ʿAlī (peace be upon him) or to anyone else. As it says in the Holy Book:²⁴¹ «Say: None in the heavens or on earth know the unseen except God.» And in a transmitted hadith it is said that the Prophet once heard girls sing the following verses at a wedding:²⁴²

      He gave us rams

      that occupy the middle of the pen;

      And your spouse sits in a gathering

      and knows what will happen tomorrow.

      Thereupon the Prophet said, “No one but God knows what will happen tomorrow!”

      Nor is it possible that somebody would have announced one hundred years ago that the Emir of Aleppo (may God protect it!) in the year 424 would be called So-and-so, son of So-and-so, and would look like this.²⁴³ If someone were to make this claim he would be a confirmed liar.

      28.5.2

      وأمّا النجوم فإنمّا لها تلويح لا تصريح، وحُكي أنَّ الفضل بن سَهْل كان يتمثل كثيرًا بقول الراجز:

لئن نجوتُ ونجتْ ركائبي	من غالبٍ ومن لفيفِ غالبِ
إنّي لَنجَّاءٌ من الكرائب

      وأنّ غالبًا كان فيمن قتله، فهذا يتّفق مثلُه. وأجدِرْ بهذه الحكاية أن تكون مصنوعة. فأمّا تمثّله بالشعر فغير مستنكَر، وربما اتفق أن يكون في الوقت جماعة يُسمّون بهذا الاسم، فيمكن أن يقترن معنى بلفظٍ، على أنّ في الأيام عجائب، وفوق كلّ ذي علم عليم.

      وقد حُكي أنّ إياس بن معاوية القاضي كان يظُنّ الأشياء فتكون كما ظنّ، ولهذه العلِّة قالوا: رجل نِقاب وألمَعِيّ، قال أوْس:

الألمعيُّ الذي يظُّن لك الظـ

ـنَّ كأن قد رأى وقد سمِعا

      وقال:

      نِقابٌ يحدِّث بالغائبِ

      The stars merely hint and do not state explicitly. It is related that al-Faḍl ibn Sahl often quoted the following lines by a rajaz poet:

      If I escape and my mounts escape

      From Ghālib and the band of Ghālib,

      I surely will escape from all adversities!

      Someone called Ghālib was in fact among those who killed him.²⁴⁴ Such things do happen, although it is more likely that this story was invented. It is not implausible that he used to quote the verses, and perhaps it happened that at the time some people were called this.²⁴⁵ It is possible for a meaning to be joined with an expression.²⁴⁶ Strange things may happen in the course of time; but above any man of knowledge is the All-Knowing. It is related that Iyās ibn Muʿāwiyah, the judge, would surmise things which then happened just as he had surmised. It is for that reason that one speaks of a man as being “sharp-witted” or “brilliant.” Aws said:²⁴⁷

      A brilliant mind, who surmises something

      as if he saw and heard it.

      He also said:

      A sharp-witted man, who speaks of unseen things.

      Al-Ḥallāj

      29.1.1

      فأمّا الحسين بن منصور فليس جهله بالمحصور. وإذا كانت الأُمّة ربّما عبدت الحَجَر، فكيف يأمن الحصيفُ البُجَر؟ أراد أن يدير الضلالة على القُطْب، فانتقل عن تدبير العُطْب، ولو انصرف إلى عِلاج البِرس، ما بقي ذِكرٌ عنه في طِرس، ولكنّها مقادير، تغشى النّاظر بها سماديرُ. فكونُ ابن آدم حصاةً أو صخرةً، أجملُ به أن يُجعل سُخرةً. والناس إلى الباطل سِراع، ولهم إلى الفِتن إشراع.

      The ignorance of al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr knew no bounds. If a whole nation sometimes worships a stone, how could a judicious man be safe from defects?²⁴⁸ He wanted to turn error on its axis²⁴⁹ and therefore left dealing with cotton. ²⁵⁰ If only he had applied himself to cotton, his name would have remained unmentioned on any page and forgotten! But these are the workings of Fate that occur, whereby the eye is covered with a blur. It were better for a human being to be a pebble or a rock than be made a laughingstock. People hasten to whatever is vain; they turn their eyes to every temptation.

      29.1.2

      وكم افتُري للحلّاج، والكذبُ كثير الخِلاج، وجميع ما يُنسب إليه مما لم تجرِ العادة بمثله فإنّه المَين الحَنْبَريت، لا أُصدّق به ولو كَرِيتُ. وممّا يُفتعل عليه أنه قال للّذين قتلوه: أتظنّون انكم СКАЧАТЬ