Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded. Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī

as in the following verse by al-Ṣafī al-Ḥillī, may God have mercy on him, from his Embellished Ode in the Prophet’s Praise (Al-Badīʿiyyah):¹⁶⁷

       Muḥammadu l-muṣṭafā l-mukhtāru man khutimat

       Bi-majdihī mursalū l-raḥmāni li-l-umamī

      Muḥammad, the Named, the Nominated,

      With whose majesty the messengers of the Merciful to men were made complete

      —where he repeats the letter m in every word of the line. Our poet managed to work the letter j into just two words.

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11.3.13

      (ويقرب من هذا المعنى) ما اتّفق أنّ رجلًا قلاّء سمك كان يهوى امراة جميلة وكان له غلام صغير في غاية من الحذق والفصاحة فأرسله يومًا إليها لتأتي إلى محلّه فذهب الغلام حتّى أتى محلّها وأخبرها أنّ معلّمه يريدها فامتثلت الأمر وأرادت الذهاب معه فحضر زوجها في ذلك الوقت فتنكّر الغلام ومضى ولم يشعر به أحد حتّى أتى إلى معلّمه فرآه يقلي السمك على جاري عادته والناس حوله يطلبوا منه فابتدره بكلام مقفّى موزون يفهّمه فيه القضيّة ويعمّي فيه على الحاضرين فقال (يا معلّمي فق لي من ذا السمك فاقلي جات تجي فجا لو لم يجي لجت ولكن ترتجي لمّا يروح تجي)

      In the same vein is what happened once concerning a man who was a fryer of fish by trade. He was in love with a beautiful woman and had a young servant boy who was extremely quick-witted and a master of correct speech. One day he sent this boy to her to ask her to come to his home. The boy went to her home and told her that his boss wanted her. She accepted and was about to set off with him when her husband turned up. The boy made himself inconspicuous, took off without anyone noticing him, and made his way back to his boss, whom he found frying fish, as was his wont, with people all around him placing their orders. So as to make the man understand the situation while concealing it from those present the boy accosted him with words rhymed and metered. He said to him, Yā muʿallimī fuq lī, min dha l-samak fa-qlī. Jat tajī fa-jā. Law lam yajī la-jat. Wa-lākin tartajī lammā yarūḥ tajī (“Boss, hear my cry! Of this fish now fry! She was going to come, but he came. Had he not come, she would have come. But she hopes, when he goes, to come”).

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11.3.14

      (وتفسير) هذه الكلمات أنّ قوله (يا معلّمي فق لي) أي تنبَّه لقولي واستمع له وافهمه

      These words are to be explained as follows:

      yā muʿallimī fuq lī (“Boss, hear my cry!”): that is, “Boss, hearken to what I say, and listen well to it and understand it!”

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11.3.15

      (من ذا السمك فاقلي) أتى بهذا الكلام ليوهم الحاضرين أنّه يريد شيئًا من السمك أو أنّه يطلب منه سرعة قليه وبيّن قوله (فق لي) و(فاقلي) الجناس المحرَّف المزيد وقوله

      min dha l-samak fa-qlī (“Of this fish now fry!”): he came up with these words to make the people around think that he wanted a portion of fish or that he was asking him to hurry up with the frying (note the “augmentative consonantal paronomasia” between the words fuq lī (“hear my cry”) and fa-qlī (“now fry”)!).¹⁶⁸

      ١٦،٣،١١

11.3.16

      (جات تجي) أي أرادت المجيء وامتثلت الأمر

      jat tajī (“She was about to come”): that is, she wanted to come and obey your summons

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11.3.17

      (فجا) أي زوجها في وقت الإرادة للذهاب ثمّ قال

      fa-jā (“but he came”): that is, her husband, at the moment that she wanted to go; then he said

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11.3.18

      (لو لم يجي) أي زوجها

      law lam yajī (“Had he not come”): that is, her husband,

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11.3.19

      (لجت) أصله لجاءت سهّله للضرورة أي لحضرت إليك ولم تخالف أمرك ثمّ استدرك الكلام بقوله

      la-jat (“she would have come”), which is originally la-jāʾat, which the boy elided for the meter; that is, she would have presented herself and not disobeyed your order. He continues by saying:

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11.3.20

      (ولكن ترتجي) أي حضورها من الرجاء وهو حصول الشيء على وفق إرادة الطالب

      wa-lākin tartajī (“But she hopes”): that is, her coming will be in accordance with her hope (rajāʾ), which means the occurrence of a thing agreeably to the will of the one who requests it

      ٢١،٣،١١

11.3.21

      (لمّا يروح) زوجها ويخلو مكانها

      lamma yarūḥ (“when he goes”), meaning her husband, and leaves the place free

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11.3.22

      (تجي) إليك ويحصل المطلوب والشاهد في قوله جات تجي فجا إلى آخره فإنّه كرّر حرف الجيم في كلّ كلمة كما لا يخفى

      tajī (ilayk) (“to come (to you)”); and what you want will come to pass. The relevant citation lies in his words jat tajī fa-jā, etc., for he repeats the letter j in every word, as you can see.

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11.3.23

      (فإن