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

a book on which they collaborated—the people of Baghdad and Cairo claim that nothing like it was ever written on the subject, on account of its slim size and its great learning—al-Quṭrabbulī22 and Ibn Abī l-Azhar23 tell how al-Mutanabbī was taken from prison in Baghdad, to the court of Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā, the vizier (God have mercy upon him).24 The latter asked, “Are you Aḥmad, the would-be prophet (al-mutanabbī)?” Al-Mutanabbī replied, “I am Aḥmad the prophet (al-nabī)!”25 He bared his stomach and showed him a wen.26 “This,” he said, “is the stamp of my prophethood and the sign of my mission.” The vizier gave orders that his shoe be removed and his head be slapped with it fifty times. Then he sent him back to his prison.

      Al-Mutanabbī also said, addressing Sayf al-Dawlah:

      You are angry with him who has obtained your support,

      so that annoyance and gifts27 torment him.28

      He lies, by God! He had been badgering him about these acts of generosity and rubbing him up about them, jealously wanting them to come only from him and through him. But this does not detract from the polish of his poetry or the splendor of its fine style.

      3.1

      ولكني أغتاظ على الزنادقةِ والملحدين الذين يتلاعبون بالدين، ويرومون إدخال الشُبَهِ والشكوك على المسلمين، ويستَعذِبون القدح في نبوّة النبيّين، صلواتُ الله عليهم أَجمعين، ويتظرّفون ويبتدئون إعجابًا بذلك المذهب:

      تِيهُ مُغَنٍّ وظَرْفُ زنديقِ

      وقتل المهديّ بشّاراً على الزندقة، ولما شُهر بها وخاف، دافع عن نفسه بقوله:

يا ابن نِهْيا١ رأسي عليَّ ثقيلُ	واحتمالُ الرأسين عبْءٌ ثقيلُ
فادْعُ غيْري إلى عبادةِ ربَّيْ‍	‍نِ فإنّي بواحدٍ مشغولُ

      ١ ب: (نَهْيا)، والصحيح ما أثبتناه.

      But I am furious about those heretics29 and apostates30 who make fun of religion and wish to instill doubts and skepticism among the Muslims, those who take delight in detracting from the prophethood of the prophets, God’s blessings be on them all, and who are so satisfied with their sophistication and invention:

      The conceitedness of a singer and the sophistication of a heretic.3132

      Al-Mahdī had Bashshār killed for heresy. When the latter attracted notoriety for this and began to be afraid, he defended himself by saying,

      Ibn Nihyā,32 my head is heavy for me,

      and carrying two heads would be a heavy load!

      Let others call for worshipping two Lords:

      One is enough to keep me busy!

      3.2

      وأحضر صالح بن عبد القدّوسِ وأحضر النطع والسيّاف، فقال: عَلامَ تقتلني؟ قال: على قولك:

رُبَّ سِرٍّ كتمتُه فكأَني	أَخرسٌ أَو ثَنَى لسانِيَ عَقْلُ
وَلَو ٱنّي أَظهرتُ للناسِ ديني	لم يكنْ لي في غير حَبْسِيَ أَكْلُ

      ياعُدَيَّ الله وعُدَيَّ نَفسِه:

السِتْرُ دون الفاحشاتِ ولا

يَلْقَاكَ دونَ الخيْرِ من سِتْرِ

      فقال: قد كنت زنديقًا وقد تُبت عن الزندقة. قال: كيف وأنت القائل

والشيخُ لا يَتركُ عاداتهِ	حتى يُوَارَى في ثَرى رمْسِه
إذا ارْعَوى عاد إلى غَيِّه	كذِي الضنَى عاد إلى نكْسِه

      وأخذ غَفلتَه السيّافُ، فإذا رأَسه يَتَدَهدأُ على النطع.

      Al-Mahdī also summoned Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Quddūs. He called for the execution mat and the executioner. Ṣāliḥ asked, “Why are you sentencing me to death?” The caliph replied, “Because you said:

      Many a secret I have hidden, as if I

      were dumb, or my tongue were tied.

      If I had exposed my religion to the people

      the rest of my meals would be taken in prison.

      “Enemy of God, and enemy of yourself!

      A fine reputation veils scandalous deeds;

      but you’ll find no veil that covers good deeds.”33

      Then Ṣāliḥ said, “I was a heretic but I have repented and renounced heresy!” But al-Mahdī said, “How can that be! You yourself said:

      An old man will not abandon his habits

      until he is buried in the earth of his grave.

      Though he may mend his ways, he will return to his error,

      just as a someone chronically ill will relapse.”

      The executioner struck before he knew what was happening, and his head rolled on the mat!

      3.3

      وظهر في أيامه في بلد خلف بخارى وراء النهر رجل قصّار أَعور، عمل له وجهاً من ذهب وخوطِبَ بربّ العِزَّة، وعمل لهم قمراً فوق جبلٍ ارتفاعُهُ فراسخُ فأنفذ المهديّ إليه فأُحيط به وبقلعته، فحرق كل شيء فيها، وجمع كل مَن في البلد وسقاهم شرابًا مسمومًا، فماتوا بأَجمعهم، وشرب فلَحِق بهم، وعجَّل الله بروحه إلى النار.

      In his reign, in a town beyond Bukhārā in Transoxania, there lived a one-eyed man, a fuller, who made himself a gold mask and who was addressed as Lord Almighty.34 He also erected a moon on a mountain several parasangs high for his followers.35 Al-Mahdī dispatched an army to him, which laid siege to him in his fortified town. Then the heretic burned everything in it, gathered all the townspeople and gave