A Wrangle over a Line by al-Mutanabbī

١،٤4.1

ولنرجع إلى ما أشرنا إليه آنفًا من ذكر المباحث في كلام مَن أحسن أزهى الصيغة في البلاغه * وأتقن أبهى البُلغة في تصريف اللغة حين لاغه * فأغلا وِشاح الحديث بصياغة تِبْره * وأحلا عصائد القصائد بإساغة حِبْره * وهو إمام شعراء الإسلام * وزمام أمراء الكلام * أبو الطيّب المتنبّي * سقى الله ساحته من الغفران الصيّب المنبّي * حيث قال [كامل]

وَٱسْتَقْبَلَتْ قَمَرَ ٱلسَّمَاءِ بِوَجْهِهَا

فَأَرَتْنِيَ ٱلْقَمَرَيْنِ فِي وَقْتٍ مَعَا

Let us now return to our stated intention of giving an account of the wrangles over the verse of him who was the best exponent of the most brilliant rhetorical formulation, who perfected a glorious competence in the deployment of grammar at his verses’ declamation, who rendered the sword belt of speech more precious through the remolding of its golden nuggets and bumps and made poetry’s gruel go down easier by providing his ink to smooth out its lumps—that imam of the poets of Islam’s time, that holder of the rope by which poesy’s princes are led in line, Abū l-Ṭayyib al-Mutanabbī—may God send clouds gravid with forgiveness to his grave!—who said:¹⁴⁰

wa-staqbalat qamara l-samāʾi bi-wajhihā

fa-aratniya l-qamarayni fī-waqtin maʿā

And she faced the moon in the sky with her countenance,

thus showing me the two moons at one time together.

٢،٤4.2

فنقول ذَكَرَ العلّامة الأديب * والفهّامة الأريب * بديع هَمَدان * وفاضل بَيْسان * المنسوب إلى مدينة العلم وبابها * المتوِّج بمنثوره ومنظومه فرشَها مع قِبابها * الجامع بين تليد^١ المعنى وطريفه * والفارق بين وضيع اللفظ وشريفه * شمس المعارف * والقريع العارف * الشيخ محمّد بن السيّد محمود * صان الله الودود ناره عن الخمود * في رسالته قُرّة القلب والعين * التي سمّاها ثالثة النيِّريْن * ما نصّه

١ الأصل: تليدَي.

Thus we declare: that scholar in literature well versed, that man of understanding and intelligence, the wonder of Hamadān,¹⁴¹ the paragon of Baysān, who takes his sobriquet from that city of learning and its gate, who has crowned with his poetry its homes, along with its domes, who combines vintage meanings with what is novel and distinguishes the vulgar from the noble, that sun of knowledge, that nonpareil of mystic comprehension, Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Sayyid Maḥmūd¹⁴² (may God, in His affection, preserve his fire from extinction!), in his epistle (that work to bring to heart and eye delight) that he entitled The Third, after the Two Stars That Burn Bright (Thālith al-nayyirayn),¹⁴³ states the following:

٣،٤4.3

ذكر الألْمَعيّ القارئ في حاشية المطوَّل حيث قال * تجاوز الله عن عثراته وأقال * في قول المتنبّي (وَٱسْتَقْبَلَتْ قَمَرَ ٱلسَّمَاءِ بِوَجْهِهَا فَأَرَتْنِيَ ٱلْقَمَرَيْنِ فِي وَقْتٍ مَعَا) أنّه أراد الشمس وهو وجهها وقمر السماء يعني أنّ وجهها لصفائه وشدّة صقالته انطبعت صورة القمر فيه لمّا استقبلته كما تنطبع الصورة في المرآة فرآى العاشق برؤية وجهها الشمس والقمر في آن واحد وقال التبريزيّ يجوز أنّه أراد قمرًا وقمرًا لأنّه لا يجتمع قمران في ليلة كما لا يجتمع الشمس والقمر انتهى وما ذكرناه أمدح وأيضًا القمران في العرف الشمس والقمر انتهى بنصّه

In his supercommentary on The Extended (al-Muṭawwal),¹⁴⁴ the Brilliant Reader¹⁴⁵—may God overlook his mistakes and regard them as undone—says, concerning al-Mutanabbī’s words “And she faced the moon in the sky with her countenance, thus showing me the two moons at one time together,” that, by “the two moons,” the poet meant the sun (this being “her countenance”) and “the moon in the sky,” meaning that her face, by virtue of its clearness and extreme limpidity, was, when she turned to the latter, imprinted with its image as an image is imprinted on a mirror; thus, when he looked at her face, the lover saw the sun and the moon at one time. The Brilliant Reader also quotes al-Tibrīzī¹⁴⁶ as saying, “He may have meant one moon plus another moon¹⁴⁷ because two moons can never come together on a night, and neither can the sun and the moon.”¹⁴⁸ The Brilliant Reader further notes that “Our reading is more laudatory,¹⁴⁹ not to mention that ‘the two moons’ is customarily¹⁵⁰ taken to mean ‘the sun and the moon.’” End of verbatim quote.¹⁵¹

٤،٤4.4

فلمّا توسّمتُ من ذكيّ مَن بحث في ذلك من الناس وغبيّه * وبالغه وصبيّه * الصُّبُوَّ إلى ما أوراه القارئ من زناده وناره * والضُّنُوَّ إلى ظلّه ومَناره * قلتُ إيّاكم والغِرّة * والتسلّي من البدر بالغُرّة * لأنّ ما أطلعه ذلك الألمعيّ * مطموس بالّذي معي * برق خُلَّب * وبما سيُذكر مغلَّب * فإنّما ذكره دعوة كاذبه * وجذبة بغير جاذبه * ليس للداعي في هذه الجُمَل * ناقة ولا جَمَل * بعضها مهشوم من نوق العلّامة عبد الله بن هشام * وبعضها دَمْدامة حديقة الدمامينيّ أستاذ مصر والشام *

Having sought first to understand from those who had looked into this matter—clever and dumb, grown men and young—their enthusiasm for what “the Reader” had struck from his flint and for his fire, their pining to be under his shade and follow the light from his tower, I said, “Caution, you there! Beware inattention, and distraction from the full moon by a ‘bright star,’¹⁵² for what that brilliant fellow brought to light is about to be eclipsed by my own repertoire! He is a lightning-bearing cloud that gives false hope of rain and will be put to flight by what’s to come, for what he states is a mere building of castles in the air,¹⁵³ a mendacious claim. The maker of these statements has nothing new to add: some are squirts squeezed from the udders of the she-camels of ʿAbdallāh ibn Hishām, that erudite scholar, others carrots from the garden of al-Damāmīnī, of Egypt and Syria alike the mentor.

٥،٤4.5

والحاصل أنّه لقمة ممضوغه * لكن لا سائغة ولا مسُوغه * لأنّ ما ذكره من انطباع صورة القمر في وجهها كالمرآة وإن كان وجهًا قبيحًا عند وجوه أهل الحكمة كما يظهر من كتبهم يستدعي تشبيه وجهها بالمرآة بطريق الاستعارة بالكناية بعد أن جعلها شمسًا بطريق الاستعارة التصريحيّة وذلك لا يصحّ إلّا بذكر لازمٍ مساوٍ للمشبَّه به وهو المرآة في تصوّره وليس في سياق هذا البيت ولا شياقه ما يدلّ عليه أبدًا من ذكر لازمٍ مساوٍ أو غيره ولا ضرورة داعية إلى هذه الدعوى * كما يبان من تحقيق الفحوى * ومجرَّد الإراءة^١ ليس لازمًا مساويًا للمرآة حتى ينتقل الذهن منه إليها ثمّ الشرط في الاستعارة بالكناية أن لا يكون لازم المشبَّه به منافرًا للمشبَّه كما لو قيل أنشبت الحياة الطيّبة أظفارها يكاد الكلام أن يكون من المهمَلات والمباينة بين الشمسيّة وإراءة^٢ الصورة بالمرآتيّة أظهر من الشمس في الشروق * فكونه غرضًا لسهم بلاغة ذلك البليغ أبعد من العيّوق *

١ الأصل: الارادة. ٢ الأصل: وارَأَة.

“In sum, it is a morsel pre-chewed but neither digestible nor acceptable as food, for his statement regarding the imprinting of the image of the moon on her face as though it were a mirror (even if it be an ugly face in the eyes of the leading sages, as is clear from their books)¹⁵⁴ requires the likening of her face to a mirror using ‘metaphor by allusion,’ and this comes after he has already made her a sun by ‘declarative metaphor.’¹⁵⁵ This cannot work unless something necessarily associated with the thing with which comparison is made—that thing being, in his conceptualization, the mirror—is also mentioned; yet there is nothing, either in this line of verse or in its immediate environs, that in any way points to any such necessarily associated thing, or anything else, and nothing calls, of necessity, for such a claim, as any investigation of the meaning will make plain. Likewise, mere mention of ‘showing’ is not enough to create a necessary association with ‘mirror’ such that the mind is transported from the one to the other.¹⁵⁶ Further, it is a condition of the metaphor by allusion that the associated thing with which comparison is made should not be incompatible with the thing compared; for example, if it were said that ‘sweet life sank its claws [into something],’¹⁵⁷ the words would be almost beneath notice, while the incompatibility of ‘sun-ness’ with the visualization of the image in terms of ‘mirror-ness’ is clearer than that orb at its rising; that such an analogy should be a target for the literary shafts of that eloquent man¹⁵⁸ would be, than his firing off a shot at distant Capella, yet more surprising.

٦،٤4.6

وأيضًا يلزم من تقرير ذلك الألْمَعيّ أن يكون التغليب في البيت بين صورة القمر والشمس وهو مخالف للمقرَّر المعهود في الأذهان * ومناقض لما قرّره في صدر كلامه وأبان * حيث قال أراد الشمس وهو وجهها وقمر السماء ولا شكّ أنّ صورة القمر غير عين القمر فالاستظهار بالعُرْف في مثل هذا التغليب الوهميّ منكر غير معروف

“And again, that ‘brilliant’ fellow’s statement requires that the ‘favoring’ in the line of verse be between the image of the moon¹⁵⁹ and the [real] sun, which is contrary to the familiar concept that currency in men’s minds has gained, and contradicts what he himself declared and at the beginning explained, when he says that ‘the poet meant the sun (this being “her countenance”) and the moon in the sky,’¹⁶⁰ even though there can be no doubt that the image of the moon is not the same as the moon itself. The invocation of customary usage in the case of an illusory ‘favoring’ such as this is objectionable and against convention.

٧،٤4.7

وأيضًا المذكور في الكلام (قَمَرَ ٱلسَّمَاءِ) لا عكسه فعينه يتعيّن للمعهوديّه * واللازم من تقريره إسقاطه عن النظر في قوله (فَأَرَتْنِيَ^١ ٱلْقَمَرَيْنِ) بالكليّه * والإرادة^٢ عكس القمر مجازًا والشمس مجازًا تغليبيًّا ودون بطلانه بطلان قولك للصورة هذا إنسان إلى آخره ثمّ إراءة^٣ القمرين (فِي وَقْتٍ مَعا) ولو على تأويل التغليب تحصل بمجرّد استقبال المحبوبة نحو قمر السماء لأنّه يمكن أن يتمكّن الرأي في تلك الحالة من النظر إليهما دفعة واحدة في طرفة عين كما هو الشأن في المبصرات المتقابلة للأشعّة البصريّه * الخارجة عن البصر فلا يفوت المعيّه * كما لا يُخفى على الأذهان الألمعيّه *

١ الأصل: واورتني. ٢ الأصل: وارادة. ٣ الأصل: ارَأَة.

“Yet more, what is mentioned in the verse is ‘the moon in the sky,’ not its reflection, and the real moon must be dealt with according to the rules of the real world. His assertion, however, requires that the latter be totally lost sight of in the poet’s words ‘thus showing me the two moons.’ What is intended by the reflection of the moon is a figure of speech, and what is intended by the sun is likewise a figure of speech, by virtue of ‘favoring.’ Yet, by token of the fact that it is invalid to say of the reflection of a man or the like ‘this is the man himself,’ so too is this invalid.¹⁶¹ Furthermore, even if the interpretation that this is ‘favoring’ is accepted, the showing of the two moons ‘at one time together’ could still come about simply as a result of the beloved’s turning her face toward ‘the moon in the sky,’ because it would be possible, under such a condition, for the sight to take in both at one time, in the blinking of an eye,¹⁶² as is the case with perceived objects that are directly in front of the optical rays emanating from the visual faculty, without, as should be obvious to any ‘brilliant’ mind, straining the laws of simultaneity.

٨،٤4.8

فليت شعري أيّة داعية دعت إلى جعل القمرين عبارة عن الشمس وعن المنطبع في تلك الشمس من شكل القمر الحقيقيّ على زعمه واختيار المتنبّي الوقت الأوسع الأشمل على الآن * أبهر دليل على ما شنّفنا به أذنك وأبهى برهان *

“Would, then, I knew what impelled him to consider ‘the two moons’ as a way of saying ‘the sun plus the impression on that sun of the real moon,’ as he claims! Al-Mutanabbī’s choice of the broader and more comprehensive waqt (‘time’) over ān (‘an instant’)¹⁶³ is, of these words that we have hung in your ear like a pendant,¹⁶⁴ the most effective confirmation and demonstration resplendent.

٩،٤4.9

ثمّ تخيّل التغليب في هذا المقام * مع إحجام القواعد والقرائن عند كلّ الأحجام * مخلّ لنظام مقاصد صاحب الكلام ومحاسن الانسجام * وناسب إيّاه إلى التفوّه * بالحشو المموّه * ودونه الشتيمة بالسفه كإضافته القمر إلى السماء مثلًا إذ لو قال وبوجهها القمر المنير تقابلت لصحّ التغليب فلمّا تعلّق بإضافة القمر إلى السماء مع استغنائه عنها عُلم أنّ به غرضًا صحيحًا فيها وهو إدّعاؤه وجه المحبوبة قمر الأرض على وتيرة المقابلة

“In addition, to imagine the ‘favoring’ in this case—absent the pertinent rules and concomitants, of all shapes and sizes—is to disturb the order of the author’s intended effects and the beauties of his harmonious arrangement and to imply that he was mouthing mere persiflage, with padding camouflaged, and, even worse, to insult him by accusing him of foolishness, in questioning, for example, his placing of the moon in a possessive construct with the sky. After all, had he said ‘and with her countenance the shining moon she faced,’ the ‘favoring’ would have been correct.¹⁶⁵ When, then, he insisted on placing the moon in a possessive construction with the sky, even though ‘the moon’ does not demand to be identified as being ‘of the sky’ in order to be understood as such, it may be deduced that he had an appropriate reason for so doing, namely, his claim that the face of his beloved was ‘the moon of the earth,’ by way of simple contrast.

١٠،٤4.10

وأيضًا تشبيه وجه مي ورباب وزينب وسعاد وشباب بالبدر المنير البادي * أرسخ في ضمائر شُبّان العرب وشُطّار البوادي * لمطارقتهم لهنّ في جلابيب الليالي وقبائها * ومسارقتهم إلى أقمار وجوههنّ من تحت خبائها * كما أفصح عنه فصيحهم بقوله شعر [خفيف]

وَعَدَ الْبَدْرُ بِٱلزِّيَارَةِ لَيْلًا	فَإِذا مَا وَفَى١ قَضَيْتُ نُذُوري
قُلْتُ يَا سَيِّدِي ولِمَ تُؤْثِرِ ٱللَّيْـ	ـلَ عَلَى طَلْعَةِ ٱلنَّهَارِ الْمُنِيري
قَالَ لِي لا أُحِبُّ تَغْيير رَسْمِي	هٰكَذا ٱلرَّسْمُ فِي طُلُوعِ الْبُدُوري

١ الأصل: وفا.

“Also, the likening of the face of Mayy or Rabāb or Zaynab or Suʿād or Shabāb¹⁶⁶ to the clearly visible effulgent full moon is a custom on which the minds of the young Arabs of yore and the gallants of the deserts were firmly bent, given their habit of serenading them while wearing the robes of night and under its mantle and their stealing glances at the ‘moons’ of their faces under its tent, as their eloquent poet¹⁶⁷ eloquently expressed when he said:

The full moon promised to visit by night,

and, when he made good, I made good on my vows.¹⁶⁸

I said, ‘My Lord!’ and ‘Why prefer you the night

to the effulgent face of day?’

He answered, ‘I do not like to change my rite—

and such is the rite of full moons at their rising.’

١١،٤4.11

مَهْ مَهْ * كم اطّلع نجومَه في كلّ مَهْمَهْ * مُطالع دواوين الأدباء * المنطوية على أغراض العرب العرباء * وكم أسفر عنه الأسفار البالية الحاليه * بأشعار النفوس العاليه * بل التشبيه بالشمس نظرًا إلى إلْفِهم * ومواطئ ظِلْفِهم * مظنّة ضنّ وملام * لم يقع عليه الاطّلاع إلّا بعد طلوع شمس الإسلام * فلا ينبغي أن يُدّعى فيه الأمدحيّه * والنشاط والأرْيَحيّه * والمتنبّي لا يزال مولعًا بنسج القريض على منوال المتلفِّعين ببرانس البداوه * المترفِّعين عن حضيض حظوظ المولَّدين كذي العداوه * وإن وقعت منه فلتات في أوقات افتلاته * واصطياده غزلان الغَزَل في فَلاته * إسعافًا لشهوات أبناء عصره * وإعلاءً لصهوات بنائه وقصره *

“Fie on thee! How many a peruser of collections of poetry holding within their boards the endeavors of pure-blooded, chaste-tongued Arabs has observed its stars¹⁶⁹ over barren deserts everywhere! How many a tome well-thumbed, full of plums, in the form of the verses of sublime souls, its virtues declare! In contrast, the comparison with the sun, from the perspective of what such souls do not find odd and of the paths their camels’ hooves have already trod, is a supposition lame and worthy of blame; such a simile was not heard until after the rise of the sun of Islam,¹⁷⁰ so that it cannot be claimed to be appropriate to a eulogy, or to have vim or liberality. Al-Mutanabbī, on the other hand, was ever hell-bent on weaving his verses on the loom of those who wrapped themselves in the burnooses of desert tradition, too proud to descend to the low point reached by the limited talents allotted to the moderns as though in hostile opposition, though he may have committed slips in the heat of improvisation or while hunting the gazelles of amorous verse over its plateau in an attempt to relieve the lusts of the people of his age and to raise high the upper chambers of his own house and chateau.¹⁷¹

١٢،٤4.12

ولو تنزّلنا عن سلّم المنع والتسليم * في أمدحيّة التشبيه بالشمس بقلب سليم * نقول لم يتعلّق القصدُ إليه في هذا السِمْط النظيم * لأنّ القصد إليه هٰهنا يمنع عمّا صرف إليه الهمّ * وارتاح نحوه رياح الشوق والنهم * وهو تجريد التشبيه عن مباذل الابتذال * وتبعيده عن معاذل العُذّال * وذا لا يحصل إلّا أن يكسوه بلباس جديد جَزْل * كادّعاء منسوج من خَزّ غريب الغَزْل * فكلّ ما هو أغرب غريب في الأذهان * أبعد عن الإمتهان * وأقرب لأن يبذل له تبليغ الرهوان^١ * فالأغرب تعدّد الفرد المجزوم بانحصاره في نوعه في نظر كلّ أحد لاجتماعه مع فرد آخر على ذلك الحدّ ولا لبس في أنّ اجتماع قمر مع قمر آخر في الرؤية أغرب من اجتماع قمر مع شمس فيها بل وقوعه في الآفاق بالاتّفاق * يكسر سوم غرابته عند أهل الإشراق * {فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِٱلشَّفَقِ} * {وَٱلْقَمَرِ‌ إِذَا ٱتَّسَقَ} * رؤية الشمس والقمر على هذا النسق * لا ينبغي أن يكون غرضًا على نهج ذكر الغريب * لمثل ذلك المُفْلِق الأريب *

١ الأصل: الرهان.

“If we were to descend, in all sincerity, from the ladder of critique regarding the laudatory nature of the comparison with the sun, we would still say that such an intent could never from such a well-ordered string be hung, because here any such would block that to which interest should naturally go and toward which the winds of longing and avidity briskly blow, namely, stripping the comparison of all elements of banality and distancing it from the censure of those critics who lack charity. This can happen only if the poet clothes it in new and eloquent clothing, such as a conceit woven out of a silk strangely spun, for what is most strange is what is novel to the mind, furthest from what is hackneyed, the closest thing to which a smoothly pacing steed, if given its head, might run¹⁷²—and the strangest thing that may be is the multiplication of an individual entity that is, in the view of all, circumscribed by being limited to a single exemplar within its own class, so as to bring it together with another similarly circumscribed entity,¹⁷³ and there can be no doubt that the visible coming together of one moon with another is stranger than the visible coming together of a moon with a sun. Indeed, the fact that the latter does occur coincidentally at the horizon weakens the impact of its strangeness in the eyes of the people of illumination.¹⁷⁴ «I swear by the glow of sunset» . . . «and the moon when it grows full»,¹⁷⁵ the sight of the sun and the moon in such a configuration ought not to be a goal that the likes of such a resourceful man of eloquence should strive to reach when seeking a way of imparting, to the strange, articulation.

١٣،٤4.13

نعم لو اشتمل إجتماعهما على معنى جديد رقيق * أرقّ من العتيق * كالشَرَطيّة للساعة مع الاقتباس * كما سحر به ساحر بَراعةً أعين الناس * حيث صبغ رِداء آدابه بقوله البديع في غايته وابتدائه [خفيف]

أَرْسَلَتْ عَزَّةٌ ذَوَائِبَهَا	عَلَّهَا طُولَ لَيْلِهَا رَامَتْ
جُمِعَ ٱلشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرْ لَمَّا	طَلَعَ الْبَدْرُ حَيْثُمَا نَامَتْ
بَعْدَ مَا بَانَ بَانُ قَامَتِهَا	قَالَ كُلٌّ قِيَامَةٌ قَامَتْ

ينقذ هذا التشبيه من مسحبة المطامح * ومسهبة القرائح *

“True, should their conjunction encompass some meaning exquisite and new, finer than all that déja vu—as when, like a sorcerer who deftly enchants people’s eyes,¹⁷⁶ he¹⁷⁷ made to the Signs of the Last Hour allusion, accompanied by quotation, and dyed the garment of his literary works with the following verses, so brilliant at both their beginning and conclusion:

ʿAzzah let down her tresses.

Mayhap she desired to make the night last long.

‘Sun and moon were brought together,’¹⁷⁸ when

the full moon rose wherever she slept.

After the ben tree of her figure appeared,

all said, ‘A day of doom!’

“—it would rescue this simile from any overambition or glib facility.

١٤،٤4.14

فالحقّ أنّ المتنبّي لم يحاول في هذا البديع الأسمى إلّا الاستعارة التصريحيّة بجعل وجه المحبوبة قمر الأرض في مقابلة قمر السماء وجعل استقبالها إيّاه وسيلة إلى رؤية القمرين الحقيقيّين في سماء خياله كما أنّ الأمر كذلك في البيت السابق

أَرْخَتْ ثَلاثَ ذَوَائِبٍ مِنْ شَعْرِها

فِي لَيْلَةٍ أَرَتْ لَيالِيَ أَرْبَعا

“The fact of the matter is that all that al-Mutanabbī is attempting in this sublime bit of word play is the declarative metaphor of making the face of the beloved the ‘moon of the earth’ in contrast to the ‘moon of the heavens’ and making her turning of her face toward the latter the means by which two real moons became visible in the heavens of his imagination, and it’s the same in the line of verse that comes earlier:

She loosened three tresses of her hair on a night that made four nights visible.¹⁷⁹

١٥،٤4.15

ولم يقل فيما نحن فيه في ليل ولا في آن مع استقامة الوزن بكلّ منهما وملائمة السباق للسابق والسياق للاحق وهو لفظ معا لعدم مَداريّة الليل في الغرابة وعدم مَداريّة الآن في المعيّة فالعموم غفلة العلّامة المحشّي في هذا البيت تبع لمن فسّر الوقت بآن واحد ولخصوص ذلك فسّره العلّامة التبريزيّ بليلة

“Likewise, to return to the case before us, the poet says neither fī layl (‘at night’) nor fī ān (‘at a determined time’), despite the fact that either would fit the meter and that both the preceding word is in harmony with the former and the following (namely maʿā (‘together’)) with the latter,¹⁸⁰ the reason being that ‘night’ does not fall within the orbit of strangeness nor ‘a determined time’ within that of keeping company. Thus the Learned Scholar¹⁸¹ who provided the marginal commentary on this line was led by his general foolishness to follow the lead of those who interpret waqt (‘time’) as meaning ‘at one time,’ while, because of his specific foolishness, the Learned Scholar al-Tibrīzī interpreted it as ‘on a night.’

١٦،٤4.16

خليلَيْ أدب ووفا قِفا قِفا * دام بكما الكتفاء والاقتفا * إيّاكما وفِراسة المؤمن * والألمعيّ الّذي برحيق الأدب نشوان ومدمن * فأنّى بالشعلة الجواله * بمشكوٰة الفِطانه *

“You two good friends of literature and loyalty,¹⁸² halt, halt,¹⁸³ may you ever be possessed of fulfillment and a following! ‘Beware the insight of the believer’¹⁸⁴ and of the true ‘man of brilliance,’¹⁸⁵ who with the nectar of literature is intoxicated and on it fixated! Where am I to find the flame that accompanies the lantern of sagacity in its roaming!

١٧،٤4.17

والّذي {لَهُ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَ‌ٰتِ} {وَمَا تَحْتَ ٱلثَّرَ‌ىٰ} * و{يَعْلَمُ ٱلسِّرَّ‌ وَأَخْفَى} * وجدتُ في سريرتي من تلك الخدشة أثَرا * روحي بروحك ممزوج ومتّصل فكلّ قارصة تؤذيك تؤذيني كأنّكما تقولان * بيدك مُهنّدان من اللسان والقلم سللتَهما مصقولان * ما ذاك إلّا تعدٍّ عن حدّ الأدب * تحدٍ مع الجدّ والأب * أين حُرمة السلف * بين حُزمة الخلف * هم أرواح ونحن جسوم * هم حقائق ونحن رسوم * هم شموس ونحن بدور * هم بطون ونحن ظهور * أليسوا هُداتنا إلى سبيلٍ أَمَم * أليسوا حُداتنا في قوافل الهِمَم بين الأُمَم * وأنا أقول بَلَى * وأنا عَلَى * ولكن الحقّ يقال * كما قيل وأحسن من قال * [منسرح]

“By Him who owns «what is in the Heavens»¹⁸⁶ and «what below the Earth»,¹⁸⁷ who «knows both the secret and what is yet more dark»,¹⁸⁸ I found that this smear¹⁸⁹ had left on my innermost thoughts a mark. My soul and yours¹⁹⁰ are mixed and joined, so every biting comment that hurts you hurts me. Methinks I hear you saying,¹⁹¹ ‘In your hand are two Indian swords, those of tongue and pen, that you have unsheathed—well-polished swords. What but an overstepping of the bounds of good manners¹⁹² are your words, a challenge thrown down to grandfather and father? Where is respect for the sanctity of the forebears among the rabble of those who came after? They are spirits, and we are bodies. They are realities and we mere vestiges. They are suns, and we are full moons.¹⁹³ They are bellies, and we are backs.¹⁹⁴ Are they not our guides to an easy road? Are they not the leaders of the caravans of our high ambitions among the nations?’ ‘Indeed they are!’ say I, ‘and I am one of those!’¹⁹⁵ And yet the truth will out, as it is said (and how well he said who said!):

The telling of the truth—may all who speak it be held in high esteem—

Is something whose signs are implanted in men’s minds.

١٨،٤4.18

فالحقّ سبحانه وتعالى إذا هداك * فلا تُطِعْهما وإن جاهداك * وقد قدّمتُ إليك الأصول الرزان * فدع ما شان وخذ ما زان * وأمّا هفوة المشايخ * فَكَهَدَّةِ الطَّوْد الشامخ * {وَٱلشَّمْسِ وَضُحَىٰهَا * وَٱلْقَمَرِ‌ إِذَا تَلَىٰهَا} * إنّ ما أسلفتُه ليس قدحًا في الأسلاف * ولا اقتداحًا لزناد الخلاف * بل لأنّ دعوى الحقّ وإثباتها * وإنمائها وإنباتها * بين أظْهُر أبناء الأدب تستدعي شآبيب تفصيل هطلت من سماء الرَجْع^١ * وتَشيم برقًا يخفق من أفق الزجر والردع * {وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّىٰهَا} * ليس لنفسي هنا حظّ سِواها * واللهُ الغفور * {عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ‌} * ومتولٍّ خبايا الخدور * هدانا الهادي بنور قمرَيِ الشريعة والطريقه * وعدّانا عن قنطرة المجاز إلى حظيرة الحقيقه * وجعلنا أهلًا لكلمة التقوى * ونجّانا من ورطة الدعوى *

١ الأصل: الصدع.

“If then the Truth—glory and might be His!—be your guide, do not obey them, even should they strive to convince you:¹⁹⁶ I have presented you with firm rules, so take what’s good and leave what’s bad aside—the slips of shaykhs are like a mighty landslide. «By the sun and his morning brightness, and by the moon when she follows him»¹⁹⁷ my saying what I said above was not to offer our predecessors any slight, nor the flint of controversy strike; it was done because to promote the truth and establish it without doubt, to nurture it amongst literature’s sons and make it sprout, calls for the rain storms of a minute analysis such as might pour down from ‘the heaven of the returning rain’¹⁹⁸ and the keeping of a close watch on any flash of lightning that may flicker on the horizon of rebuke and disdain. «By the soul, and that which shaped it»,¹⁹⁹ I have here no stake other than this: God is the All-Forgiving, who «knows the thoughts in the breasts»²⁰⁰ and has power over the secrets of the closed chambers. May the Guide show us the way by the light of the two moons of the Law and the Path²⁰¹ and lead us over the bridge of figurative expression to the safe haven of the truth and make us worthy of ‘the word of self-restraint’²⁰² and save us from involvement in false complaint.”

١٩،٤4.19

وأنا أقول كما قال منشئ الرساله * المادح لجناب صاحب الرساله *

And I agree²⁰³ with the words of the epistle’s indicter,²⁰⁴ lauder of the Message and of its Honored Master.²⁰⁵