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

لحوادث الدهر إلّا الصبر الجميل * والتسليم إلى الربّ الجليل * وممّن دهمه حادث الزمان * وانصرفت عنه الأهل والخلّان * (ما يحكى أنّ بعض الحسدة وشّى بالوزير الكاتب ابن مُقْلة) الذي انفرد في زمانه بعلوّ الخط وحسنه وادّعى أنّه دلس على الملك في بعض الأمور قال فأمر الملك بقطع يده فلمّا فعل به هذا الأمر لزم بيته وانصرفت عنه الأصدقاء والمحبّون ولم يأته أحد إلى نصف النهار فتبيّن للملك أنّ الكلام عليه باطل فأمر بقتل الرجل الّذي وشّى به وأعاد ابن مقلة إلى ما كان عليه وندم الملك على ما فعله معه من قطع يده فلمّا رأوا إخوانه عَوْد النعمة إليه عادوا له يهنّوه وأقبلوا إليه يتعذّرون له فعند ذلك أنشد يقول شعر [بسيط]

تَخالَفَ النّاسُ والزَّمانُ	فَحَيثُ كانَ الزَّمانُ كانوا
عاداني الدَّهرُ نِصفَ يَومٍ	فانكَشَفَ النَّاسُ لي وبانوا
يا أَيُّها المُعْرِضون عنّي	عودوا فَقَدْ عادَ لِيَ الزَّمانُ

      وقيل مكث يكتب بيده اليسرى بقية عمره ولم يتغيّر خطّه حتّى مات

      Nothing but “patience fair”²⁶ against the accidents of Fate can remedy afford—that, and submission to the Majestic Lord; and apropos of those caught unawares by fate’s blows and abandoned by kin and fellows, is the story that is told of how a certain envious person slandered the vizier and calligrapher Ibn Muqlah—who was unique in his age for the sublime beauty of his hand—claiming that he had cheated the king in some matter. The king, in consequence, ordered Ibn Muqlah’s hand cut off. After the command had been carried out, Ibn Muqlah kept to his house, while his friends and dear ones abandoned him and up to the middle of the day no one came to see him. Then the king discovered that the accusation against him was false, ordered that the man who had slandered him be killed, and restored Ibn Muqlah to his previous position, repenting that he had had his hand cut off. When Ibn Muqlah’s brethren saw that he was returned to favor, they came back to him and visited him to make their excuses, at which he recited the following verses:²⁷

      Man and time succeed each other in reciprocity,

      So, as time is, man must too be.

      Fate savaged me for half a day,

      And man’s nature was thus revealed and made clear to me.

      O you who turned away,

      Return, for time itself’s turned back to me.

      It is said that he continued to write with his left hand for the rest of his life, and his writing did not change to the day he died.

      ٢٠،١٠

10.20

      (ومن النوادر الدالّة على فصاحة ابن مقلة) ما اتّفق أنّ رجلًا كتب رقعة وألقاها إليه بحضرة الملك ليقرأها عليه وكلّ لفظ منها فيه حرف الراء وكان ابن مقلة لا يقدر أن ينطق بهذا الحرف وصورتها أمر أمير الأمراء أن يُحْفَرَ بيرًا على قارعة الطريق يشرب منه الشارد والوارد قال فلمّا أن تأمّلها غيّر الألفاظ وأتى بالمعنى وقال حكم حاكم الحكّام أن يُجْعَلَ جُبًّا على شاطئ الوادي ليستقي منه الغادي والبادي وكان هذا من قوّة بلاغته رحمه الله تعالى وقيل أربعة يُضْرَب منهم المثل حسّان بن ثابت في الفصاحة ولُقْمان في الحكمة وابن أدهم في الزهد وابن مقلة في حسن الكتابة والخطّ قال الشاعر يصف هذه الأربعة بهذه الأبيات [طويل]

فَصاحَةُ حَسّانٍ وَخَطُّ ابن مُقْلَةٍ	وحِكمَةُ لُقْمانٍ وزُهدُ ابنِ أَدْهَمِ
إِذا اجتَمَعوا في المَرءِ والمَرءُ مُفْلِسٌ	ونُودِي عَلَيه لا يُباعُ بِدِرهَمِ

      A curious anecdote attesting to Ibn Muqlah’s mastery of the language relates that a man once wrote something on a scrap of paper and tossed it to him in the presence of the king for him to read to him, and every word contained the letter r, which Ibn Muqlah could not pronounce. The message read as follows: “The ruler of rulers requires a spring drilled right by the road so every transient and traveler may drink.” After glancing at it, Ibn Muqlah changed the words and kept the meaning, saying: “The king of kings commands that a well be dug next to the wadi, so all who come and go may wet their whistles.” This was an example of his extraordinary skill with words, may the Almighty have mercy on him. It is said there are four men whose qualities have become proverbial: Ḥassān ibn Thābit for eloquence, Luqmān for wisdom, Ibn Adham for self-denial, and Ibn Muqlah for beauty of writing and script. Said the poet, describing these four:

      Ḥassān’s tongue and Ibn Muqlah’s hand,

      The wisdom of Luqmān and the self-denial of Ibn Adham,

      Were these brought together in one bankrupt,

      And he were hawked for sale, he’d not bring in one dirham.

      ٢١،١٠

10.21

      وأمّا ضدّ هذه الأربعة فلله درّ من قال فيها [طويل]

سَماجَةُ أُطروشٍ وثُقْل ابن قَيْنةٍ	وغَفلَةُ قَرْنانٍ وعَكْسُ ابنِ أَيْهَمِ
إذا اجتَمَعوا في المَرءِ والمَرءُ مُوسِرٌ	لَكانَ فَصيحَ القَومِ عِندَ التَكَلُّمِ

      As for the opposites of these four,²⁸ how well the poet put it in the following lines:

      Uṭrūsh is odious, Ibn Qaynah discourteous,

      Qarnān’s credulous, and Ibn Ayham’s obstreperous.

      Were all these faults combined in one with wealth endowed,

      He’d be “the people’s orator”