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

bestows wealth and who uses it to defeat his perdition through good works, and a man on whom God bestows knowledge and who instructs others in it.” The poet says:

      Though they envy me, I blame them not—

      Good men before me have felt the evil eye.

      Let me keep mine and them keep theirs,

      And he who is the more vexed by what he finds can die!

      And another said:

      May your enemies not die but live

      Till you have had the chance to make them livid,

      And may Fate not deprive you of an envier,

      For the best are those who’ve been envied!

      ٢٩،٣،١١

11.3.29

      ثمّ إنّ الناظم انتقل من شكوى ابن عمّه محيلبه إلى شكواه من ابن أخيه خنافر لكونه أيشم عليه من ابن عمّه فقال

      Next the poet moves on from complaining about his paternal cousin Muḥaylibah to complaining about the latter’s nephew Khanāfir, who brings him even more trouble than his cousin. He says:

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      TEXT

      ٤،١١

11.4

وَأَيْشَمُ مِنُّو إِبْنُ ٱخُوهُ خَنَافِرْ

يُقرِّطْ عَلَى بَيْضِي بِخُلْبَةْ لِيفْ

       wa-ʾayshamu minnū ʾibnu-khūhu Khanāfir

       yuqarriṭʿalā bayḍī bi-khulbat līf

      And more inauspicious than him is the son of his brother Khanāfir.

      He draws tight around my balls a palm-fiber knot

      ش

      COMMENTARY

      ١،٤،١١

11.4.1

      قوله (وأيشم) من الشؤم أو من التيشمة وأصله أشأم على وزن أبلم أو أقطم وفي المثل أشأم من طُوَيْس ويقال فلان ميشوم وذو تيشمة أي عنده قوّة وتجبّر وشدّة ظلم وسمّي الخشب الشُوم شومًا لقوّته وصلابته والعرب تهجو بالشؤم واللؤم

      wa-ʾayshamu (“and more inauspicious”): from shuʾm (“calamity”) or from tayshimah.¹⁷³ The word is originally ashʾam,¹⁷⁴ on the pattern of ablam (“more/most stupid”) or aqṭam (“more/most given to passive sodomy”). The proverb says, “More of a jinx (ashʾam) than Ṭuways,”¹⁷⁵ and one says, “So-and-so is mayshūm (‘possessed of the power to jinx’)” or dhū tayshimah, that is, possessed of strength and tyrannical powers and capable of doing great harm to others. Shūm wood¹⁷⁶ is so called because of its strength and hardness. The Arabs use “jinxing and infamy” (al-shuʾm wa-l-luʾm) in their flytings.

      ٢،٤،١١

11.4.2

      (قيل) بنى جعفر البرمكيّ قصرًا بديعًا وزخرفه بأنواع الحرير وغير ذلك وجلس فيه أيّامًا فبينما هو ينظر يومًا من شبّاك له إذ نظر إلى أعرابيّ يكتب على جداره بيتين من الشعر وهما [بسيط]

يا قصرَ جَعْفَرْ علاك الشومُ واللومُ	حتّى يُعَشِّشَ في أركانِكَ البُومُ
إذا يُعَشِّشُ ذاك البُومُ من فَرْحي	أكونُ أوّلَ مَنْ يَنْعاكَ مَرْغومُ

      فقال عليّ بهذا الأعرابيّ فلمّا حضر بين يديه قال له ما حملك على ما فعلت وما سبب دعاءك على قصرنا بالخراب فقال له حملني على ذلك الفقر والفاقة وصِبْيَةٌ خلّفتُها كأفراخ القَطا يتعاوون من ألم الجوع وجئت لأستمطر إحسانك وأرجو نوالك فمكثت شهرًا على باب هذا القصر لا أتمكّن من الدخول إليك فلمّا أيست دعوت عليه بالخراب وقلت ما دام عامرًا لا يفيدني منه شيء فإذا خرب ربّما أمرّ به فآخذ منه خشبة أو شيئًا من زخارفه فأنتفع به قال فتبسّم جعفر وقال عدم علمنا بك قد أطال وقوفك وأضرّ بعيالك أعطوه ألف دينار لقصده إيّانا وألف دينار لطول مكثه على باب دارنا وألف دينار لدعائه على قصرنا بالخراب وألف دينار لحِلْمنا عليه وألف دينار لصبية خلّفها كأفراخ القطا فأخذ الأعرابيّ الخمسة آلاف دينار وارتدّ شاكرًا

      It is said that Jaʿfar al-Barmakī built a magnificent palace and embellished it with all kinds of silks and so on and stayed there some days. Gazing one day through one of its windows, he beheld a Bedouin writing on the wall of the palace two lines of verse, as follows:

      Palace of Jaʿfar, may ill fortune and infamy engulf you,

      Till the owls in your corners make their nest!

      When the owls nest there, from sheer delight,

      I’ll be the first to offer condolences, if under protest!¹⁷⁷

      —so Jaʿfar said, “Bring me that Bedouin!” When the man was in front of him, he asked him, “What has driven you to do as you have done, and what has made you call down ruin upon our palace?” The man told him, “Poverty and need have driven me to it, and a brood of young lads that I have sired, like the chicks of the sandgrouse,¹⁷⁸ that whimper from the pangs of hunger. I came to beseech your charity and plead for your favor and I have dwelt a month at the gate of this palace, unable to come in to you. When I despaired, I called ruin down upon it and said, ‘So long as it remains prosperous, I shall benefit nothing by it. But if it turns to ruins, I may pass by and take from it a piece of wood or some of its embellishments that I can make use of.’” Jaʿfar smiled and said, “Our ignorance of your presence has prolonged your waiting and caused harm to your children. Give him a thousand dinars for seeking us out, and a thousand dinars for dwelling so long at our gate, and a thousand dinars for calling ruin down upon our palace, and a thousand dinars for our clemency towards him, and a thousand dinars for a brood of young lads that he has sired, like the chicks of the sandgrouse!”