Should the deity wish for Himself sustenance,
Then the whole of existence is food for Him.
Should the deity wish sustenance for us,
Then He may be food for us, as He wishes.
His Will is His Wish, so say,
Of it that He has willed it, so it is what is willed.
He wishes increase and He wishes decrease,
But what He wills is naught but what is willed.
There is this difference between them, so realize,
Although from another view they are essentially the same.
God has said, We brought Luqmān the Wisdom, and whosoever is brought the Wisdom is granted a great boon. Luqmān, therefore, was the possessor of a great boon, according to the Qur’an and God’s own witness. Now Wisdom may be expressed [in words] or may be unexpressed, as when Luqmān said to his son, O my son, consider this tiny mustard seed, which God would bring forth were it to be [hidden] in a rock, whether in heaven or earth. This is an expressed wisdom, namely that the bringing forth is God’s doing, which is confirmed by God in His Book, the saying not being attributed to the one who uttered it. As for the unexpressed wisdom, it is known by the circumstantial indications, the one for whom the seed is brought forth not being mentioned, since he did not say to his son, “God will bring it forth for you or for someone else.” He made the bringing forth general and situated what was brought forth in the heavens or in the earth, to draw the attention of the hearer to His saying, He is God in the heavens and the earth. By what was expressed and what was unexpressed, Luqmān realized that God is the essence of everything known, “the known” being a more general term than “the thing,” being as indefinite as possible. Then he completes the wisdom and fulfills it, so that its meaning may be perfected, by saying, Surely, God is Gracious. It is also of His grace and kindness that He is the essence of the thing, however named or defined, so that it is referred to by its name only by collusion and usage. Thus one speaks of the heaven, the earth, the rock, the tree, the animal, the angel, sustenance or food, the Essence of everything and in everything being One.
The Ash’arites maintain that the Cosmos is substantially homogeneous, being one substance, which is the same as our saying that the Essence is one. They go on to say that its accidents are different, which is the same as our saying that it is various and multiple in its forms and attributions, so that [its parts] might be distinguished (one from another]. One says of this that it is not that, whether in form, accidental nature, or makeup. One may also say that this is the same as that, with respect to substance, so that the same substance is implicit in defining every form and makeup. We say that it is nothing other than God, while the Ash’arites consider that what is called a substance, even if it is a reality, is not the Reality, which is what is meant by those who understand divine revelation and manifestation. This then is the wisdom of His being Gracious.
Then he [Luqmān] describes Him as being “Experienced”, which means knowing by experience, as in His saying, We will surely test you until We know, indicating knowledge by immediate experience. God, despite His knowledge of things as they are, speaks [here] of Himself as gaining knowledge, and we cannot deny what God has stipulated of Himself. Here God is distinguishing between knowledge acquired by direct [sensory] experience and absolute knowledge, direct experience being restricted to the faculties. He has said of Himself that He is the very powers of his servant in His saying, “I am his hearing”, which is one of the servant’s faculties, as also “his sight”, and his tongue, foot, and hand, which are his members. It is not merely the faculties that are involved, but also the limbs, which together constitute the servant. Thus the essence of that which is called servant is God, which is not to say that the servant himself is [the same as] the master. That is because the attributions of the essence are differentiated, which is not true of that to which they refer. In fact there is nothing but His Essence in all attributions, for He is the One Essence endowed with relationships, ascriptions, and attributes.
It is of the Wisdom of Luqmān instructing his son that he used the two names the Gracious, the Experienced to describe God. This wisdom would have been more perfect had he used the word “is” to denote its being in existence. God relates Luqmān’s saying notionally, in the sense that he meant that nothing can add increase to Him. His saying, God, the Gracious, the Experienced is God’s own saying, since God knew of Luqmān [in eternity] that he would have completed the Wisdom, had he uttered it in a more complete way.
As for His saying, Even if it be the weight of a mustard seed, it concerns the one whose food it is, being the same as the “speck” mentioned in His saying, Whoever does a speck’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does a speck’s weight of evil, will see it also. [That which feeds on it] is the smallest feeder, and the mustard seed is the smallest item of food. Were there anything smaller, He would have brought that forth, as in His saying, God is not shy of coining a similitude, be it a gnat, there being nothing more so. Because He knows that there is nothing smaller than a gnat, He says, there being nothing more so, meaning any smaller. This, as also the verse in the Chapter of the Earthquake [concerning the speck], is the speech of God, so understand. We know that God would not have restricted Himself to the weight of a speck, had there been anything smaller, but would have used it for hyperbole; but God knows best.
As for his use of the diminutive of the word “son”, it is a diminutive of mercy, seeing that he counsels him concerning things that will bring him felicity, provided he acts on them. As for the wisdom of his counsel prohibiting him from associating anything with God, for such association is a terrible wrong, it is that the divine object of this wrong, which the polytheist describes as divided, is but One Essence. He is, in fact, associating with Him what is nothing other than His Essence, which is the height of ignorance. The reason for this is that one who has no spiritual insight into things as they are, or of the true reality of something when its forms appear various in the one essence, and does not realize that this variety occurs in one Essence, associates one form with the other in that state [of oneness] and apportions to each form a part of it. Now, concerning an associate, it is well known that that which distinguishes it from that with which it is associated is not the same as that with which it is associated, since the latter is [similarly] distinguished [in some way]. There is then no associate in reality, since each of them has something of its own, from which it is said that an association exists between them. The reason [for such an assertion] is general association. However, if it is truly general, then the independent activity of any particular part annuls that generality. Say: Call upon God, or call upon the Merciful. This is the spirit of the matter.
Translated by R. W. J. Austin56
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, and Him we ask for aid: Praise be to God before whose oneness there was not a before, unless the Before were He, and after whose singleness there is not an after, except the After be He. He is, and there is with Him no after nor before, nor above nor below, nor far nor near, nor union nor division, nor how nor where nor when, nor times nor moment nor age, nor being nor place. And He is now as He was. He is the One without oneness, and the Single without singleness. He is not composed of name and named, for His name is He and His named is He. So there is no name other than He, nor named. And so He is the Name and the Named. He is the First without firstness, and the Last without lastness. He is the Outward without outwardness, and the Inward without inwardness. I mean that He is the very existence of the First and the very existence of the Last, and the very existence of the Outward and the very existence or the Inward. So that there is no first nor last, nor outward nor inward, except Him, without these becoming Him or His becoming them.
Understand, therefore, in order that thou mayest not fall into the error of the Hululis:—He is not in a thing nor a thing in Him, whether entering in or proceeding forth. It is necessary that thou know Him after this fashion, not by knowledge (‘ilm), nor by intellect, nor by understanding, nor by imagination, nor by sense, nor by the outward eye, nor by the inward eye, nor by perception. There does not see Him, save Himself; nor perceive Him, save Himself By Himself He sees Himself, and by Himself He knows Himself. None sees Him other than He, and none perceives Him other than He. His Veil is [only a part of] His oneness; nothing veils other than He. His veil is [only] the concealment of His existence in His oneness, without any quality. None sees Him other than He—no sent prophet, nor saint made perfect, nor angel brought nigh knows Him. His Prophet is He, and His sending is He, and His word is He. He sent Himself with Himself to Himself. There was no mediator nor any means other than He. There is no difference between the Sender and the thing sent, and the person sent and the person to whom he is sent. The very existence of the prophetic message is His existence. There is no other, and there is no existence to other, than He, nor to its ceasing to be (fana’), nor to its name, nor to its named.
And for this the Prophet (upon whom be peace) said: “Whoso knoweth himself knoweth his Lord.” And he said (upon him be peace): “I know my Lord by my Lord.” The Prophet (upon whom be peace) points out by that, that thou art not thou: thou art He, without thou; not He entering into thee, nor thou entering into Him, nor He proceeding forth from thee, nor thou proceeding forth from Him. And it is not meant by that, that thou art aught that exists or thine attributes aught that exists, but it is meant by it that thou never wast nor wilt be, whether by thyself or through Him or in Him or along with Him. Thou art neither ceasing to be nor still existing. Thou art He, without one of these limitations. Then if thou know thine existence thus, then thou knowest God; and if not, then not.
And most of “those who know God” (al ‘urraf) make a ceasing of existence and the ceasing of that ceasing a condition of attaining the knowledge of God, and that is an error and a clear oversight. For the knowledge of God does not presuppose the ceasing of existence nor the ceasing of that ceasing. For things have no existence, and what does not exist cannot cease to exist. For the ceasing to be implies the positing of existence, and that is polytheism. Then if thou know thyself without existence or ceasing to be, then thou knowest God; and if not, then not.
And in making the knowledge of God conditional upon the ceasing of existence and the ceasing of that ceasing, there is involved all assertion of polytheism. For the Prophet (upon whom be peace) said, “Whoso knoweth himself,” and did not say, “Whoso maketh himself to cease to be.” For the affirmation of the other makes its extinction impossible, and [on the other hand] that of which the affirmation is not allowable its extinction is not allowable. Thine existence is nothing, and nothing cannot be added to something, whether it be perishing or unperishing, or existent or non-existent. The Prophet points to the fact that thou art non-existent now as thou was non-existent before the Creation. For now is past eternity and now is future eternity, and now is past time. And God (whose name be exalted) is the existence of past eternity and the existence of future eternity and the existence of past time, yet without past eternity or future eternity or past time ever existing. For if it were not so He would not be by Himself without any partner, and it is indispensable that He should be by Himself without any partner. For His “partner” would be he whose existence was in his own essence, not in the existence of God, and whoever should be in that position would not be dependent upon Him. Then, in that case, there would be a second Lord, which is absurd: God (whose name be exalted) can have no partner nor like nor equal. And whoever looks upon anything as being alone with God or apart from God or in God, but subject to Him in respect of His divinity, makes this thing also a partner, [only] subject to God in respect of divinity. And whoever allows that anything exists side by side with God, whether self-subsisting or subsisting in Him or capable of ceasing to exist or of ceasing to cease to exist, he is far from what smells of a breath of the knowledge of the soul. Because, whoever allows that he is existent beside God, subsisting in Him, then in Him becoming extinct, and his extinction becoming extinct, then one extinction is linked to another, and that is polytheism upon polytheism. So he is a polytheist, not one who knows God and himself.
Then if one say: How lies the way to the knowledge of the soul and the knowledge of God (whose name be exalted)?—
Then the Answer is: The way of the knowledge of these two is, that thou understand that God is, and that there is not with Him a thing. He is now as He was.
Then if one say: I see myself to be other than God and I do not see God to be myself.
Then the Answer is: The Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) meant by the soul thine existence and thy reality, not the “soul” which is named “commanding,” “upbraiding,” and “pacified”; but in the “soul” he pointed to all that is beside God (whose name be exalted), as the Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) said: “O my God, show me things as they are clearly”, meaning by “things” whatever is beside God (whose name be exalted), that is, “Make me to know what is beside Thee in order that I may understand and know things, which they are—whether they are Thou or other than Thou, and whether they are of old, abiding, or recent and perishing.” Then God showed him what was beside Himself, without the existence of what is beside Himself. So he saw things as they are: I mean, he saw things to be the essence of God (whose name be exalted) without how or where. And the name “things” includes the soul and other than it of things. For the existence of the soul and the existence of other things are both equal in point of being “things,” that is, are nothing; for, in reality, the thing is God and God is named a thing.
Then when thou knowest the things thou knowest the soul, and when thou knowest the soul thou knowest the Lord. Because he whom thou thinkest to be beside God, he is not beside God; but thou dost not know Him, and thou seest Him and dost not understand that thou seest Him. And when this secret is revealed to thee thou understandest that thou art not what is beside God, and that thou art thine own end and thine own object in thy search after thy Lord, and that thou dost not require to cease to be, and that thou hast continued and wilt continue without when and without times, as we mentioned above. And thou seest all thine actions to be His actions, and all His attributes to be thine attributes. Thou seest thine outward to be His outward and thine inward to be His inward, and thy first to be His first and thy last to be His last, without doubting and without wavering. And thou seest thine attributes to be His attributes and thine essence to be His essence, without thy becoming Him or His becoming thee, either in the greatest or least degree. “Everything is perishing except His Face”, that is there is no existent but He, nor existence to other than He, so that it should require to perish and His Face remain; that is, there is nothing except His Face: “then, whithersoever ye turn, there is the Face of God”.
It is as if one did not know a thing and afterwards knows it. His existence does not cease, but his ignorance ceases, and his existence continues as it was, without his existence being exchanged for another existence, or the existence of the not knowing person being compounded with the existence of the knowing, or intermixing, but [merely] a taking away of ignorance. Therefore, think not that thou requirest to cease to be. For if thou requirest to cease to be, then thou wouldest in that case be His veil, and the veil other than God (whose name be exalted); which requires that another than He should have overcome Him in preventing His being seen; and this is an error and an oversight. And we have mentioned above that His veil is [only a part of] His oneness, and His singleness is not other than it. And. thus it is permitted to him who is united to Reality to say, “I am the Truth,” and to say, “Praise be to me.” But none attains to union except he see his own attributes to be the attributes of God (whose name be exalted), and his own essence to be the essence of God (whose name be exalted), without his attributes or essence entering into God or proceeding forth from Him at all, or ceasing from God or remaining in Him. And he sees himself as never having been, not as having been and then having ceased to be. For there is no soul save His soul, and there is no existence save His existence.
And to this the Prophet (upon whom be peace) pointed when he said: “Revile not the world, for God—He is the world,” pointing to the fact that the existence of the world is God’s existence without partner or like or equal. And it is related from the Prophet (upon whom be peace) that he said that God (whose name be exalted) said:
“O my servant, I was sick and thou visitedst Me not, I begged of thee and thou gavest not to Me,” with other like expressions; pointing to the fact that the existence of the beggar is His existence, and that the existence of the sick is His existence. And when it is allowed that the existence of the beggar and the existence of the sick are His existence, it is allowed that thy existence is His existence, and that the existence of all created things, both accidents and substances, is His existence. And when the secret of an atom or the atoms is clear, the secret of all created things, both external and internal, is clear, and thou dost not see in this world or the next aught beside God, but the existence of these two Abodes, and their name and their named, all of them, are He, without doubt and without wavering. And thou dost not see God as having ever created anything, but thou seest “every day He is in a business”, in the way of revealing His existence or concealing it, without any quality, because He is the First and the Last and the Outward and the Inward. He is outward in His oneness and inward in His singleness: He is the first in His essence and His immutability, and the last in His everlastingness. The very existence of the first is He, and the very existence of the last is He, and the very existence of the outward is He, and the very existence of the inward is He. He is His name and He is His named. And as His existence is “necessary,” so the non-existence of all beside Him is necessary. For that which thou thinkest to be beside Him is not beside Him. For He will not have aught to be other than He. Nay, the other is He, and there is no otherness. The other is with His existence and in His existence, outwardly and inwardly.
The person to whom this description is applicable is endowed with many qualities without limit or end.
Translated by T. H. Weir57
I
Would that I were aware they knew what heart they possessed!
And would that my heart knew what mountain-pass they threaded!
Dost thou deem them safe or dost thou deem them dead?
Lovers lose their way in love and become entangled
II
On the day of parting they did not saddle the full-grown reddish-white camels until they had mounted the peacocks upon them,
Peacocks with murderous glances and sovereign power: thou wouldst fancy that each of them was a Bilqis on her throne of pearls
When she walks on the glass pavement thou seest a sun on a celestial sphere in the bosom of Idris.
When she kills with her glances, her speech restores to life, as tho’ she, in giving life thereby, were Jesus.
The smooth surface of her legs is (like) the Tora in brightness, and I follow it and tread in its footsteps as tho’ I were Moses.
She is a bishopess, one of the daughters of Rome, unadorned: thou seest in her a radiant Goodness.
Wild is she, none can make her his friend she has gotten in her solitary chamber a mausoleum for remembrance.
She has baffled everyone who is learned in our religion, every student of the Psalms of David, every Jewish doctor, and every Christian priest.
If with a gesture she demands the Gospel, thou wouldst deem us to be priests and patriarchs and deacons.
The day when they departed on the road, I prepared for war the armies of my patience, host after host.
When my soul reached the throat (i.e. when I was at the point of death), I besought that Beauty and that Grace to grant me relief,
And she yielded—may God preserve us from her evil, and may the victorious king repel Iblis!
I exclaimed, when her she-camel set out to depart, “O driver of the reddish-white camels, do not drive them away with her!”
XI
O doves that haunt the arak and ban trees, have pity! Do not double my woes by your lamentation!
Have pity! Do not reveal, by wailing and weeping, my hidden desires and my secret sorrows!
I respond to her, at eve and morn, with the plaintive cry of a longing man and the moan of an impassioned lover.
The spirits faced one another in the thicket of ghada trees and bent their branches towards me, and it (the bending) annihilated me;
And they brought me diverse sorts of storming desire and passion and untried affliction.
Who will give me sure promise of Jam’ and al-Muhassab of Mina? Who of Dhat al-Athl? Who of Na’man?
They encompass my heart moment after moment, for the sake of love and anguish, and kiss my pillars,
Even as the best of mankind encompassed the Ka’ba, which the evidence of Reason proclaims to be imperfect,
And kissed the stones therein, although he was a Natiq (prophet). And what is the rank of the Temple in comparison with the dignity of Man?
How often did they vow and swear that they would not change, but one dyed with henna does not keep oaths.
And one of the most wonderful things is a veiled gazelle, who points with red finger-tip and winks with eyelids,
A gazelle whose pasture is between the breast-bones and the bowels. O marvel! A garden amidst fires!
My heart has become capable of every form: it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
And a temple for idols and the Pilgrim’s Ka’ba and the tables of the Tora and the book of the Qur’an.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love’s camels take, that is my religion and my faith.
We have a pattern in Bishr, the lover of Hind and her sister, and in Qays and Lubna and in Mayya and Ghaylan.
XIV
He saw the lightning in the east and he longed for the east, but if it had flashed in the west he would have longed for the west.
My desire is for the lightning and its gleam, not for the places and the earth.
The east wind related to me from them a tradition handed down successively from distracted thoughts, from my passion, from anguish, from my tribulation,
From rapture, from my reason, from yearning, from ardour, from tears, from my eyelid, from fire, from my heart,
That “He whom thou lovest is between thy ribs; the breaths toss him from side to side”.
I said to the east wind, “Bring a message to him and say that he is the enkindler of the fire within my heart.
If it shall be quenched, then everlasting union, and if it shall burn, then no blame to the lover!”
XXXVII
O my two comrades, approach the guarded pasture and seek Najd and yonder sign that marks the way,
And come down to a well at the tents of the curving sand and beg shade of it dal and salam trees.
And whenever ye come to the valley of Mina—for them ye have come to that in which my heart’s being—
Deliver to all who dwell there the greetings of love from me, or only say, “Peace be with you!”
And hearken what they will reply, and tell how one who is heartsick
Complains of the ardours of love, while he is hiding nothing, seeking information, and asking questions.
Translated by R. A. Nicholson58
A summer’s night I met my girl on the path
That leads straight to her dwelling and straight to my tent.
We were alone, we two, without watchers or informers,
Far from the tribe, far from jealous eyes and spying cars and harming tongues.
I laid my face on the ground, my brow a footstool for my girl. She said: “Open your heart with joy, we are without watchers; Come press your lips to my veil.”
But my lips would not consent to it.
I felt that I had two honours to guard,
My girl’s and mine.
And, as was my desire, we were all night together,
Near to each other, far from the tribe and spying eyes.
And it seemed that I was master
Of all the kingdoms of the world, and that the elements
Obeyed me as slaves.
Translated by Powys Mathers59
Where eyes encounter souls in the battle-fray
I am the murdered man whom ’twas no crime to slay.
At the first look, ere love in me arose,
To that all-glorious beauty I was vowed,
God bless a racked heart crying,
And lids that passion will not let me close,
And ribs worn thin,
Their crookedness well nigh to straightness shaped
By the glow within,
And seas of tears whence I had never escaped
But for the fire of sighing!
How sweet are maladies which hide
Me from myself, my loyal proofs to Love!
Though after woeful eve came woeful dawn,
It could not move
Once to despair my spirit: I never cried
To Agony, “Begone”
I yearn to every heart that passion shook,
And every tongue that love made voluble,
And every deaf ear stopped against rebuke,
And every lid not dropped in slumbers dull.
Out on a love that hath no melting eyes!
Out on a flame from which no rapture flies!
Lo, from behind the veil mysterious
The forms of things are shown in every guise
Of manifold appearance; and in them
An all-wise providence hath joined what stands
Opposed in nature: mute they utter speech,
Inert they move and void of splendour shine,
And so it comes that now thou laugh’st in glee,
Then weep’st anon, like mother o’er dead child,
And mournest, if they sigh, for pleasure lost,
And tremblest, if they sing, with music’s joy,
Birds warbling on the boughs delight thine ear,
The while their sweet notes sadden thee within;
Thou wonderest their voices and their words
Expressive unintelligible tongues!
On land the camels cross the wilderness,
At sea the ships run swiftly through the deep;
And thou behold’st two armies—one on land,
On sea another—multitudes of men,
Clad, for their bravery, in iron mail
And fenced about with points of sword and spear.
The land-troops march on horseback or on foot,
Bold cavaliers and stubborn infantry;
The warriors of the sea some mount on deck,
Some climb the masts like lances straight and tall.
Here in assault they smite with gleaming swords,
There thrust with tough brown shafts of quivering spears;
Part drowned with fire of arrows shot in showers,
Part burned with floods of steel that pierce like flames;
These rushing onward, offering their lives,
Those reeling broken ’neath the shame of rout;
And catapults thou seest hurling stones
Against strong fortresses and citadels,
To ruin them. And apparitions strange
Of naked viewless spirits thou mayst espy,
That wear no friendly shape of humankind,
For genies love not men.
And in the stream
The fisher casts his net and draws forth fish;
And craftily the fowler sets a snare
That hungry birds may fall in it for corn.
And ravening monsters wreck the ships at sea,
And lions in the jungle rend their prey,
And in the air some birds, and in the wilds
Some animals, hunt others. And thou seest
Many a form besides, whose names I pass,
Putting my trust in samples choice, tho’ few.
Regard now what is this that lingers not
Before thine eye and in a moment fades.
All thou beholdest is the act of one
In solitude, but closely veiled is he.
Let him but lift the screen, no doubt remains:
The forms are vanished, he alone is all;
And thou, illumined, knowest that by his light
Thou find’st his actions in the senses’ night.
Translated by R. A. Nicholson60
Sincere in his religious belief and virtuous his conducts Abú Bakr al-Súlí merited the confidence which was always placed in his word. As a chess-player he was without an equal, and, even to the present day, it is said as a proverb of a player, whose skill one wishes to extol, that his game is like that of al-Súlí. I have met many people who believe al-Súlí to have been the inventor of chess, but this is an erroneous opinion, that game having been imagined by Sissa the son of Dáhir, an Indian, for the amusement of King Shihrám.
Ardeshír the son of Bábek, the ancestor of the last royal house of Persia, invented the game of nard or backgammon. … He designed it as an image of the world and its inhabitants, and therefore divided the board into twelve squares to represent the months of the year; the thirty pieces (or men) represented the days of the month, and the dice were emblems of Fate and the vicissitudes thereof with which it conducts the people of the world. But to expatiate on these points would lead us too far and cause us to digress from the subject in which we are now engaged. But as for the game of nard the Persians count it as one of the inventions which does honour to their nation.
It is said that, when Sissa invented the game of chess and presented it to Shihrám, the King was struck with admiration and filled with joy; he had chess-boards placed in the temples, and he expressed the opinion that the game was the best thing man could study, inasmuch as it served as an introduction to the art of war, and that it was an honour to the Faith and the World, as well as the foundation of all justice.
The King also manifested his gratitude and satisfaction for the favour which Heaven had granted him in shedding lustre on his reign by such an invention, and, he said to Sissa; “Ask for whatever you desire.”—“I then demand,” replied Sissa, “that a grain of wheat be placed in the first square of the chess-board, two in the second, and that the number of grains be progressively doubled till the last square is reached: whatever this quantity of wheat may be, I ask you to bestow on me.” The King who intended to make him a worthy present exclaimed, that such a recompense would be too little, and he reproached Sissa for asking so inadequate a reward. Sissa declared that he desired no other gift and, heedless of the King’s remonstrances, he persisted in his request. The King, at last consented, and gave orders that the required quantity of grain be given to him. When the chiefs of the royal office received their orders they calculated the amount, and answered that they did not possess near as much wheat as was required. When these words were reported to the King, he was unable to credit them and had the chiefs brought before him; when questioned on the subject they declared that all the wheat in the world would be insufficient to make up that quantity. They were asked to prove the truth of their contention, and by a series of multiplications and reckonings they demonstrated that such was indeed the case. The King then said to Sissa, “Your ingenuity in imagining such a request is even more admirable than your talent in inventing the game of chess.”
The way in which the doubling of the grains of wheat is to be done consists in the calculator placing one grain in the first square, two in the second, four in the third, eight in the fourth, and so on, until he comes to the last square, placing in each square double the number contained in the preceding one. I was doubtful of the contention that the final amount could be as great as was said, but when I met one of the accountants employed at Alexandria, I received from him a demonstration which convinced me that their statement was true: he placed before me a sheet of paper, on which he had calculated the amount up to the sixteenth square, obtaining the result 32,768. “Now,” said he, “let us consider this number of grains to be the contents of a pint measure, and this I know by experiment to be true”—these are the accountant’s words, so let him bear the responsibility—“then let the pint be doubled in the seventeenth square, and so on progressively. In the twentieth square it will become a wayba, the waybas will then become an ardeb, and in the fortieth square we shall have 174,762 ardebs; let us consider this to be the contents of a corn-store, and no corn-store contains more than that; then, in the fiftieth square we shall have the contents of 1,024 stores; suppose these to be situated in one city—and no city can have more than that number of granaries or even so many—we shall then find that the number required for the sixty-fourth and last square corresponds to the contents of the granaries of 16,384 cities; but you know that there is not in the whole world a greater number of cities than that.” …
This demonstration is decisive and indubitable.
Translated by Macguckin de Slaine61
Ja’far was in al-Rashid’s closest confidence, influenced all his decisions, and acquired a status permitted to no other before or after him. Indeed, the Caliph ordered the tailoring of a special garment which was two suits in one, so that he and Ja’far could wear it together and become like one man.
Al-Rashid could scarcely bear to be separated from his Minister for a moment. But he was also deeply attached to his sister, el ‘Abbassa, daughter of el Mahdi. She was the dearest of women in his eyes, and like Ja’far she should never be absent a moment or all his happiness was imperfect. Therefore he married his two friends to one another, in order that it should be lawful for them to meet; but before the ceremony was undertaken he made Ja’far swear never to be with ‘Abbassa when he was not their third.
A day came when al-Rashid changed and brought disaster on his former favourite, executing him and imprisoning his brother and; his father, Yahya, and holding them in prison till they died. Historians have advanced conflicting explanations for this reversal of the Caliph’s behaviour, and some have connected it with the mariage de convenance. Ja’far, they say, kept the condition which al-Rashid had imposed, but after some time el ‘Abbassa fell in love with him and tried to seduce him. When her many and varied efforts at persuasion had broken on the barrier of his fear, she determined to approach her object circuitously, and went to Ja’far’s mother Itaba, and asked to be submitted to him as a virgin slave-girl such as she knew ‘Itaba sent every Friday evening when he was in his cups. The mother refused, but ‘Abbassa threatened to communicate certain secrets they shared to the Caliph; and, mixing inducements with threats, added, “If I bear a child to your son, it will bring you great honour. And even if my brother finds out about it, what will he do?” If Ja’far’s mother consented and began to work on her son by hinting, every time she met him, that she had a slave-girl in readiness whose looks and wit were equally commendable. At last he began to remind her of this promise, and to ask when it would be fulfilled, and she knew he desired the girl. She sent word to ‘Abbassa to arrange herself for that night; which she did, and was brought to Ja’far, who did not know her, for all their previous meetings had been in the presence of al-Rashid, and before the Caliph he did not dare to raise his eyes to her face. After he had slept with her that night, she asked him, “What do you think of the deceit of the daughter of kings?” and when he asked “Which king’s daughter are you?” she said, “I am your mistress, el ‘Abbassa.” Then the drunkenness flew from his head, and he went to his mother and said, “By God, you have sold me cheap.”
El ‘Abbasaa gave birth to a boy, which she at once entrusted to a nurse and servant; and when he grew older, and she was afraid the secret would become known, the three were sent away to Mecca.
Now the Caliph’s palace and the women’s apartments were administered by Ja’far’s father, Yahya, who used to lock the gates and put the keys in his pocket, and exercised a severity which annoyed the women. Zubeida, the favourite wife, complained to al-Rashid, who asked Yahya “My father” (that was the title he regularly used when addressing him) “Why is Zubeida complaining of you?” And he said, “Am I accused of a breach of your honour, Prince of Believers?” The Caliph told him he was not. “Then,” said Yahya, “do not accept the complaint.” And after this episode he was rougher than ever and strict to the point of violence. Zubeida again went to complain to Rashid, who replied, “Yahya stands before me guiltless of staining my honour.” “If that were so,” she cried, “he would have prevented his son doing what he did.” When he asked her to be clearer, she told him about el ‘Abbassa, and when he demanded proof he answered, “What proof could be more convincing than the child? There was a boy in this palace, till they were afraid he would be discovered, and he is now at Mecca.” He asked whether she was the only one who knew, and she replied, “There’s not a single slave-girl in the palace that doesn’t know.” And he was silent.
He expressed his wish to make a pilgrimage, and set out, Ja’far with him, for Mecca. ‘Abbassa wrote to the servant and the nurse to proceed to Yemen, so that when al-Rashid, on arrival in the city, sent his investigators out, they did not find the child. But they found that the story was true. Then the Caliph secreted evil for the Ja’far family.
Abu Nawwas has a couplet on the story:
“The king who would eliminate a twister
Buries the axe and weds him to his sister,”
Other writers explain Ja’far’s fall as follows. The Caliph handed over the rebel Yahya Ibn ‘Abdullah ‘Abdu Hassan to Ja’far under orders to hold him in prison. Yahya asked to see the Minister, and said, “Fear God, Ja’far. Don’t make my grandfather, the Prophet Mohammad, your enemy on the day of resurrection. For God knows I have done no wrong.” Ja’far had mercy on him, and told him he could depart where he wished, and when the rebel expressed the fear that he would only be recaptured and sent back again, assigned guards as his escort to a distant refuge. This action was reported to al-Rashid, who summoned Ja’far, and exchanged a quite ordinary conversation, but at the end asked, “How is Yahya now?” Ja’far turned the question with, “As he is, sire,” but the Caliph persisted, “Can you swear to his security by my life?” he asked. Then Ja’far’s face darkened and he was silent a moment, after which he said “No, by your life. I released him when I discovered he was innocent.” “You were right,” said the Caliph “You did nothing that I would not have done myself.” But when Ja’far rose and left, he followed him with his eyes till at last he was out of sight, and then he said, “Now God murder me if I do not murder you.”
It is on record that when Sayyid Ibn Salim was asked the reason of the Barmeki tragedy, he said, “God knows, parts of their downfall are utterly beyond explaining. But their days had lengthened, and everything that is long is tiresome. Men who were the best of men grew tired of the days of ‘Omar Ibn Khattab, which were of all days the most just and secure and rich in conquests, and even of the days of ‘Osman. And they killed both these good men. Moreover, al-Rashid heard the great praise paid to that family and saw what hopes men centred on it; and kings have been jealous for less than that. So he grew hard and looked, for matter to their discredit, and their enemies like at Fadl Ibn Rabiyya exaggerated anything that was brought to light against them.”
Another story refers to an anonymous poem left in al-Rashid’s way; which he opened, and read:
Tell God’s deputy
Whose hands untie and tie
That Yahya’s son is king too
And no distinction left for you
Your orders wait on his, his travel without halt
He has built a house which neither Persians nor Indians built
Its bricks are pearl and ruby, and amber and incense are its silt
And we tremble that if you leave him to thunder when you and death combine
Felicity will strain the slave’s gross stomach and he will stretch at the divine.
It is also told how ‘Aliyya, the daughter of al Mahdi, said to al-Rashid one day in the time after the assassination: “Sire, since the day you killed Ja’far, even your best happiness has been tainted. Why did you kill Ja’far, my lord?” He said, “My life, if I found that the shirt of my body knew the reason, I would tear it to pieces.”
Translated by Herbert Howarth and Ibrahim Shakrullah62
When he beckoned the trees advanced
Signing with a flourish of body
Their text and engraved tale
A cloud paced his movements
To be his awning at midday
Also the moon divided herself
His cave was light with winds
And concepts of truth and good,
Stoniness to the infidels
Who did not see the bows round him,
The weaving of the spiders
And the doves making circles,
From God, and better than citadels
Or the skins of multiple shields.
Translated by Herbert Howarth and Ibrahim Shakrullah63
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* Note: 17th-century spelling throughout