Leg over Leg. Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq

الطرب والانغام * ومتى ظمى شرب * ومتى تعب استراح فهو فى غنًى عنا من اصل الفطرة * حتى انه يمكنه بحول الله تعالى ان يعيش مائة وعشرين عاما وشهرا من دون رؤية وجه احد منا او مشاهدة تاجه وحلّته الفاخرة وخاتمه النفيس وعصاه المفضّضة *

      From the day of his first cry till he reaches his fourteenth year, the human lives quite independently of us and without any need for what we plan for him. Instinct guides him to what is appropriate to and good for him. Do you not see how a child, if left to his own devices and nature, will not wear thin linen in winter even if it be embroidered, or furs in the heat of summer even if they be edged with brocade? How, when he feels hunger, he asks for food and, when he gets sleepy, sleeps, even if you seek to distract him with all the music and songs known to man? How, when he gets thirsty, he drinks and, when he gets tired, he rests? In other words, he is in no need of us because of his natural inborn disposition. He could even live, through the strength of the Almighty, for a hundred and twenty years, plus a month, without looking on the face of any one of us or setting eyes on our crowns and gorgeous robes, our signet rings of precious metal, our silvered sticks.

      2.1.19

      فلندَعِ الناس اذًا فى دعتهم وسلامتهم وشغلهم * ولا نتطفّل عليهم ولا نكلّفهم ما لا طاقة لهم به * اذ لو شاء الله ان يحوج الطفل الينا لاوحى اليه ان يسال ابويه من وقت ترعرعه عن اسمائنا ومقامنا * وعما نحن عليه من المماحكة والجدال * والقيل والقال * والتشاحن والتشاجر * والتناقر والتنافر * والتلاعن والتهاتر * والتدابر والتهاجر * واحسن من تركه على هذه الحالة ما اذا عُنينا بتاديبه وتربيته وتهذيبه وتعليمه صنعة تنفعه فى تحصيل معيشته ومعيشة والديه * كالقراة والخطّ والحساب والادب والطب والتصوير * وما اذا نصحنا له ان يسعى فى خير نفسه وخير ابويه ومعارفه وجنسه وكل من صدق عليه انه انسان بقطع النظر عن هيئات اللباس وتفاوت الالوان والبلاد * لان اللبيب الرشيد لا ينظر الى الانسان الا لكونه متصفا بالانسانية مثله * ومن اعتبر الامور الطارئة عليه كالالوان والطعام والزىّ فانه يتباعد عن مركز البشرية كثيرا * وانما يتم حسن صنيعنا هذا كله ما صنعناه حسبةً لوجه الله تعالى * غير طالبى الجزآ والهدايا * ولا النذور والعطايا * لان كثيرا من الاطبآ يداوون المعسرين مجّانا * فترى احدهم يغادر طعامه وفراشه ويذهب الى مريض محموم او به جُدَرى او طاعون احتسابا عند الله * اذ الناس كلهم عيال على الله * واحبّهم الى الله انفعهم لعياله *

      Let us then leave people, unmolested, to their humble pursuits and to their work and not stick our noses into their business or charge them with tasks beyond their ability to perform. If God had wanted to make the child dependent on us, he would have inspired him to ask his parents, from the moment that he started to grow and flourish, their names and station and about the matters over which we wrangle and debate—all the back and forth, the mutual wretchedness and recrimination, the sniping and snippiness, the vilification and reviling, the contradicting and cutting. Better than letting him go down that path, we should concern ourselves with teaching him manners and morality, with refining him and teaching him skills that will help him to earn a living and provide for himself and his parents—such as reading, penmanship, arithmetic, letters, medicine, and painting—and in advising him to exert himself for his own good and that of his parents, his acquaintances, his community, and everyone to whom the term “human” may be applied, without regard for the styles of people’s dress or differences of color or country. The wise and well-guided man sees in others only their common humanity, and any who pays attention to incidental matters such as colors, food, and costume distances himself greatly from what is central to humanity. And all that we do in this regard will be good only if we do it for the sake of God Almighty, not as seekers after rewards or gifts, offerings and donations, but like those many physicians who treat the hard-up for free and whom you’ll see leaving their food and beds and going to a patient with a fever, or leprosy, or the plague, in anticipation of only heavenly reward. All people are God’s children, and the person God loves best is he who is of greatest benefit to His children.

      2.1.20

      هذا ما كان ينبغى ان يقولوه * وهذا ما اقوله انا * تامل فى خرجى اقبل يطوف البحار والامصار * ويجول فى الجبال والقفار * ويعرّض نفسه ونفس من ينحاز اليه للسبّ والقذف والعداوة والمشاحنة * وما ذلك الا ليقول للناس انه اعرف منهم باحوالهم * واذا سُئل عن دوآء لعين رمدت * او ساق قرحت * او اُدرة انتفخت * او اصبع دميت * او اذا قيل له ما ترى فى من كثرت عياله * وقلّ ماله * وعظّه زمانه * وجار عليه سلطانه * فمُنى بالجوع * وحُرم الهجوع * واصبح يمشى والناس ينظرون جَهْوته * ويتجنبون خلطته * ولا يستعملونه ولا يستخدمونه * لما تقرر فى عقولهم من ان الفقير لا يحسن عملا * وقد اصبحت اولاده يبكون ويتضورون * وامراته تشكو وتسترحم ولا راحم لها لكون شبابها قد ذهب فى تربية اولادها * او قيل له هل عندك من ماوى لضيف عرير * ما له من نصير * قال ما جئتكم لهذا وانما قدمت اليكم لانظر فى انوالكم التى تنسجون عليها بضاعتكم وفى الوانها التى لا تشاكل ما عندى فى الخرج من اللون الناصع * وما ان يهمّنى النظر فيما فيه راحتكم وانما الراحة فيما به تعبكم * ولو تعطّلت جميع معاملكم لاقتصاركم على لونى الذى ابرزه لكم راموزا وعنوانا واستوجبتم بذلك لوم التجار والحرّاث والحكام لم يكن علىّ فى ذلك من شى *

      This is what they should have said and is what I say now. Take a Bag-man. He