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

      the men who built it, of Quraysh and Jurhum,

      An oath: How excellent you are, two chiefs, in every situation,

      whether unraveled or entangled!

      or the binding oath uttered by Sāʿidah,²⁸ who said, when his soul was ascending to its Lord:

      (I swear) an oath of an honest man, whose pledge you’re not familiar with;

      anyone who governs is a man of experience.²⁹

      Further, I swear the pledge of al-Farazdaq,³⁰ when he was afraid of (God’s) vengeance, and took the opportunity, standing between the Kaaba and the Standing Place,³¹ to say, describing what he had done:

      Have you not seen that to my Lord I’ve made a pledge, and that I stand

      between the Kaaba’s bolted door and the Standing Place,

      Swearing an oath that I shall never vilify a Muslim,

      and that false speech will never come out of my mouth.

      (With these oaths I swear) that I am lied against, just as the Bedouin Arabs lie about the ghoul,³² unconcerned with what is transmitted about her; just as what those slanderous proverbs say about the lizard,³³ who cleaves to the rough, hard ground like a lover to his beloved; and just as they put words into the mouth of the hyena though it is dumb,³⁴ its tongue never loosened, in broad daylight or the evening.

      22.2.1

      يُظَنُّ أنني من أهل العلم، وما أنا له بالصاحب ولا الخِلم. وتلك لَعَمري بليّةٌ، تُفتقد معها الجليّة. والعلوم تفتقر إلى مِراس، ودارسٍ للكتب أخي دِراس. ويقال إنني من أهل الدين، ولو ظهر ما وراء السَّدين، ما اقتنع لي الواصفُ بسبٍّ، وودَّ أن يسقيني جوْزلًا بشَبّ، وكيف يُدّعى للعِلج الوحشيّ، وإنما أبَدَ في الرّوض الحَبَشيّ، أنّ تغريده في السَّحَر أشعار موزونةٌ، تأذَن لنظيرها المخزونة^١؟ وهل يصوَّر لعاقلٍ لبيب، أنَّ الغُراب النّاعب صدح بتشبيب، وأنّ العصافير الطائرة بأجنحة، كعصافير المُنْذِر الكائنة للتَّمْنِحة؟ وكيف يظنُّ الظانُّ أن للطائر أساجيعَ حمامة، وإنه لأخرسُ مع الدَّمامة؟ فبعُد مَن زعم أنّ الحَجَر متكلِّم، وأنه عند الضَّرب متألم. ومَن التمس من اللُّغام كُسْوة، فإنه لا يجد إسْوة.

      ١ في كل الطبعات: (المحزونة)، ولعل الصواب (المخزونة) بالخاء المعجمة.

      I am supposed to be a man of learning; but I am neither its master nor its fellow. It is, upon my life, an affliction in which one misses, despite one’s learning, certain truth. The various kinds of learning require application and someone who “threshes” books assiduously.³⁵ It is also said that I am a man of religion; but if what lies behind the veil were to be revealed, those who describe my character could never find enough to their satisfaction to revile me and would be eager to make me drink poison mixed with vitriol. When a wild ass, which roams in lush, dark³⁶ pastures, brays at dawn, how could one claim that it produces metered verses like those that are heard by a damsel kept in her chamber?³⁷ And would any intelligent and astute person imagine that when a crow croaks he utters amatory poetry? Or that birds that fly with wings are like the “birds” of al-Mundhir that existed for the sake of being given away?³⁸ How could one think that any bird can produce the cooing of the dove even when it is in fact deaf as well as ugly? Far from the truth is he who claims that stones will speak and that they feel pain when struck, or who seeks to make a cloak of the foam on a camel’s mouth! He will not find a model to follow.

      22.2.2

      ولو أني لا أشعُر بما يقال فيَّ، لأُرِحتُ من إنكاري وتلافيّ، وكنت كالوَثَن: سَواءٌ عليه إن وُقِّر من الوَقار، وإن أوقِر من الأوقار، وكالأرض السَّبخة ما تحفِل أن قيل هي مَريعة، أو قيل لها بئْسَت الزَّريعة؛ وكالفرير المعتبَط: ما يأبه لقول الآكل: إنه لساحٌّ ، ولا إذا قُصب: إنه بالدِّكة شاحٌّ. والله المستنصَر على الإلاقيّ، لم تُوزَن الراكدة بالأواقيّ، والإلاقيُّ منسوبٌ إلى الإلاق وهو البرق الكاذب.

      وكيف أغتبط إذا تُخُرِّص عليَّ، وعُزيتِ المعرفةُ إليَّ؟ ولست آمنًا في العاقبة، فضيحةً غير مصاقِبة، ومَثَلي، إن جذِلتُ بذلك، مَثَلُ من اتُّهم بمالٍ، فاعتقد أنّ ما ذاع من الخبر يأتيه بحِمال^١، فسرّه قول الجَهَلة: إنه لَحِلف اليسار، والذهب في يمينه واليسار. فطلب منه بعضُ السلاطين أن يحمل إليه جملةً وافرة، فصادف أُكذوبةً زافرة، وضربه كي يُقِرَّ، وقُتل في العقوبة ولم يُعْطَ البِرّ.

      ١ في ب: [بجَمال]، ولعل الصواب ما أثبتنا، بحاء غير معجمة كما جاء في الأصل.

      If I were unaware of what is being said about me, I would be relieved of having to deny it and set things right. I would be like an idol, indifferent whether it is revered or laden with heavy loads, or like a salt swamp that does not care whether it is called a fertile pasture or one says, “what a bad crop!,” or like a slaughtered young lamb that does not mind whether he who eats it says, “it is really fat!” or, when it is cut up, “it is stingy with its fat!” God is the one whose help one asks against false reports (ilāqī); the unmoving earth³⁹ is not weighed in ounces.

      The word ilāqī is derived from ilāq, “false lightning.”⁴⁰

      How could I be happy when people lie about me and when knowledge is attributed to me? I cannot be sure that, as a consequence, there will not be an unbecoming scandal. My situation, were I glad of this, is that of someone suspected of being rich, who then becomes convinced that the rumor will actually bear fruit.⁴¹ He is happy when ignorant people say, “He is a man of ample means. Both his hands are full of gold!” But then some ruler demands that he bring him a large sum, and he finds it to be a lie, uttered as a sigh. The ruler has him beaten to make him confess, until he dies under torture and receives no mercy.

      22.2.3

      وقد شهد الله أني أجذَل بمن عابني، لأنه صدق فيما رابني، وأهتمُّ لثناءٍ مكذوب، يتركني كالطريدة العَذوب، ولو نُطحتُ بقَرْنَيِ الجَرادة، لامتنعتُ من كلِّ إرادة، فأمّا روْق الوعل، فأعْوَزه عندي نطيحٌ، لأني بروْق