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

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СКАЧАТЬ مهْلاً فداء لك الأقوامُ كلُّهُمُ وما أُثمِّر من مالٍ ومن وَلَدِ

      فأمّا البصريّون فقد روَوْا في هذا البيت: فداءٍ لك.

      I shall remind the Sheikh of that expression that occurred (in his letter),¹¹ since he began with such friendly words, and distanced himself from the malicious wiles of mankind.

      Is it not strange that the expression of the Bedouin Arabs fidāʾin laka (“may I be your ransom!”) has the ending -in?¹² The rajaz poet said:¹³

      Woe! May I be your ransom (fidāʾin laka), Faḍālah!

      Stab him with your lance and take no heed of him (lā tubālah).

      Another version that is transmitted has “do not fear him” (lā tuhālah).¹⁴ Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd ibn Nāṣiḥ, who is known as Abū ʿAṣīdah, mentions that in the expression fidāʾin laka, with -in, this ending is not allowed if there is something that requires a nominative.¹⁵ No doubt he adopted this view from the Kufan scholars. His specific evidence for this was the verse by al-Nābighah:¹⁶

      Gently—may all men be your ransom (fidāʾun laka)

      and whatever wealth and children I may produce.

      The Basran scholars, however, transmit this verse with the reading fidāʾin laka.

      21.4

      وكيف يقول الخليل المُخْلص، وهو عن الهِجران متقلِّص: إنّ حنينه حنين والهٍ من النُّوق، وهي الذاهلة إن حُمل عليها بعضُ الوسوق، وإنما تسجَع ثلاثًا أو أربعا، ثمَّ يكون سُلوُّها مُتْبعا؟ فأمّا الحمامة الهاتفة فقد رزقها البارئُ صِيتًا شائعا، وظلَّ وصفُها بالأسف ذائعا، تنهض إلى التقاط حَبٍّ، وتعود إلى جَوْزَلها ذات أَبّ، فإنْ هي صادفتْه أكيلَ سُوذانق، ليس مَن أبصر أثره بالآنق، غدا به ظُفر شاهِين، وهي البائسة من اللاهين، فما هي إلا مثلُ الحيوان، تمَلُّ حالَها في أقصر أوان.

      وقد زعم زاعمٌ، لا يصدَّق، أنّ الحمائم في هذا العصر يبكين مُقْعَدًا هلك في عهد نوحٍ، أبرح له البارح أم رُمي بالسُّنوح، وإنّ دوامها على ذلك لدليلُ الوفاء، وما العِوَض عن خليل الصّفاء؟ لا عِوَض ولا نائب إلا فيه، وكيف يُعْتَب الزَّمن على تجافيه؟ وإنما حُشي بشَرٍّ وغدْر، وكُتِب له العزُّ في القَدْر.

      وأمّا الظَّبْية فإنها لا توصَف بحنين، ولكن تبتقل بلبٍّ مَنين. ومن لها باليانع من الأَراك، ولا تقول لفارس الخيل الشازبة: دَراكِ! ومن كان وجْدُه يعدِل عن الخَلَد، فإنه إذا جنب إلى الولد، فسوف تَذَره المُدَد ناسيا، كأنه ما جزع آسيا.

      وما أقلَّ صِدقَ الأُلّاف، ولو بِيعوا من الذَّهب لا الوَرِق بآلاف:

وليس خليلي بالمَلول ولا الذي

إذا غِبتُ عنه باعني بخليلِ

      وأحسب كُثيِّراً تفوَّه بهذه المقالة على غِرَّة، وما عرف مكانَ الشِّرّة، فكيف يُقْدَر على إخاء المَلَك، أم كيف يُرتفع إلى الفَلَك؟

      How can my sincere friend, who is so reluctant to stay away, say that he yearns to meet me as a bereft she-camel yearns for her calf,¹⁷ whereas she forgets it as soon as she is made to carry a load? She may moan three or four times,¹⁸ after which she thinks of it no more! As for the bewailing dove, the Creator has given her widespread fame. She is widely characterized as grieving. She gets up to peck a grain and returns to her young with some food—but if she finds that it has been devoured by a peregrine (whoever sees its traces is not pleased!); the talons of a falcon have taken it away! Yet she, the wretch, will soon forget about it. She is but an animal, which is bored in the shortest time with being in the same state. Somebody has asserted—he should not be believed—that pigeons in the present time weep for an unfledged chick that perished in the time of Noah;¹⁹ either the event was inauspicious or the strike was propitious. The fact that they are still doing it proves their loyalty. What can compensate for a sincere friend? Compensation and proper substitute can only be found in such a person. But how can one reproach Time for its cruel behavior? It is replete with evil and perfidy; it is predestined to be mighty in the divine decree.

      The gazelle doe should not be described as yearning. She merely grazes with an unconscious mind. Who will give her a tender twig of the arāk tree? She will not say to the rider of the emaciated horses: “Reach!”²⁰ If someone’s passion leaves his mind, then, when he longs for a (deceased) child,²¹ the passage of time will make him forget, as if he never grieved. How scarce is the sincerity of intimate friends, even if they could be bought for thousands of gold, let alone silver coins!

      My friend is never tired of me, nor will he,

      if I’m absent, sell me for another friend.²²

      I think that Kuthayyir was inexperienced when he uttered this, unaware of how much evil exists. How could one aspire to the friendship of angels, or be raised to the celestial sphere?

      On Ibn al-Qāriḥ’s Excessive Praise of Abū l-ʿAlāʾ

      22.1

      وأمّا ما ذكره من حالى، غُطِّيَ شخصه أن يُلحَظ بنواظر الغِيَر، ومُتِّع من مالٍ بِحِيَر، أي كثير، قال الراجز:

يا ربَّنا مَن سرَّه أن يَكبرا

فسُقْ له ياربِّ مالًا حِيَرا

      فطالما أُعطيَ الوثنُ سعودا، فصار حضوره للجَهَلة موعودا! فإن سُررتُ СКАЧАТЬ