The Epistle of Forgiveness

Volume One: A Vision of Heaven and Hell

Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī, Geert Jan Van Gelder, Gregor Schoeler, Geert Jan van Gelder, Gregor Schoeler

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780814763780
• eBook ISBN: 9780814771976
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: History

One of the most unusual books in classical Arabic literature, The Epistle of Forgiveness is the lengthy reply by the prolific Syrian poet and prose writer Abu l-'Ala' al-Ma'arri (d. 449/1057), to a letter written by an obscure grammarian, Ibn al-Qarih. With biting irony, The Epistle of Forgiveness mocks Ibn al-Qarih's hypocrisy and sycophancy by imagining he has died and arrived with some difficulty in Heaven, where he meets famous poets and philologists from the past. He also glimpses Hell, and converses with the Devil and various heretics. Al-Ma'arri—a maverick, a vegan, and often branded a heretic himself—seems to mock popular ideas about the Hereafter. This book, the first of two volumes, includes Ibn al-Qarih's initial letter to al-Ma'arri, as well as the first half of The Epistle of Forgiveness. This translation is the first complete translation in any language and retains the many digressions, difficult passages, and convoluted grammatical discussions of the original typically omitted in other translations. It is accompanied by a comprehensive introduction and detailed annotation. Replete with erudite commentary, amusing anecdotes, and sardonic wit, The Epistle of Forgiveness is an imaginative tour-de-force by one of the most pre-eminent figures in classical Arabic literature.A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

رسالة الغفران

The Epistle of Forgiveness

Volume One

Preamble

1.1

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

اللهم يسّر وأعن

قد عَلِم الجَبْرُ الذي نُسب إليه جبرئيل، وهو في كلّ الخيْرات سبيل، أن في مَسْكَني حَماطةٌ ما كانت قطّ أفانِيَة، ولا الناكزةُ بها غانِيَة، تُثْمر من موَدّة مولاي الشيخ الجليل، كبت الله عَدُوَّه، وأدام رَواحَه إلى الفضل وغُدوَّه، ما لو حملتْه العاليةُ من الشجر، لدَنَتْ إلى الأرض غصونُها، وأُذيلَ من تلك الثمرة مَصونُها.

والحَماطة ضربٌ من الشجر يقال لها إذا كانت رطْبة: أفانية، فإذا يبِست فهي حماطة. قال الشاعر:

إذا أمّ الوُليّد لم تطِعْني	حنوتُ لها يدي بعَصا حَماطِ
وقلتُ لها عليكِ بني أُقيْشٍ	فإنّكِ غيرُ مُعجِبة الشَّطاطِ

وتوصَف الحماطةُ بإلفِ الحيّات لها، قال الشاعر:

أُتيحَ لها وكان أخا عِيالٍ

شُجاعٌ في الحماطة مستكِنُّ

وأن الحماطة التي في مَقَرّي لَتجِد من الشوق حماطةً، ليست بالمصادَفة إماطة. والحماطة حُرقة القلب، قال الشاعر:

وهَمٍّ تُمْلأُ الأحشاءُ منه

فأما الحماطة المبدوء بها فهي حَبّة القلب، قال الشاعر:

رمتْ حماطةَ قلبٍ غير منصرفٍ

عنها بأسْهُمِ لحْظٍ لم تكن غَرَبا

وأنّ في طِمِرّي لحِضْبًا وُكّل بأذاتي، لو نطق لَذكر شَذاتي، ما هو بساكن في الشِّقاب، ولا بمتشرف على النِّقاب، ما ظهر في شتاء ولا صيْف، ولا مرّ بجبل ولا خيْف، يُضْمِر من محبّة مولاي الشيخ الجليل، ثبت الله أركان العلم بحياته، ما لا تُضمِره للولد أُمّ، أكان سمُّها يُدّكر أم فُقد عندها السُّم. وليس هذا الحضب مجانسًا للذي عناه الراجز في قوله:

وقد تطوّيتُ انطواءَ الحِضْبِ

In name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

O God, give ease and help

The Mighty One (al-Jabr), from whom comes the name of Gabriel—He is the Way to all good things—knows that there is a tree (ḥamāṭah)156 within me, one that never was an afāniyah tree, and on which there lived no stinging snake,157 one that produces fruit for the love of my lord the venerable Sheikh158—may God subdue his enemy, and always, evening and morning, lead him to superiority!159 If a lofty tree were to bear these fruits its branches would sink to earth and all this fruit, once well-protected, would be trampled underfoot.

Ḥamāṭah is a kind of tree, which is called afāniyah when tender and ḥamāṭah when dry. A poet says:

When Umm al-Wulayyid160 does not obey me,

I bend my hand around a stick of ḥamāṭ wood for her

And I say to her, “Get the Banū Uqaysh!161

For you haven’t got a nice figure!”

A characteristic of the ḥamāṭah is that it is a familiar haunt of snakes. A poet says:

Destined for her was—one from a numerous brood—

a bold male snake that hid in the ḥamāṭah tree.

He knows that the tree (ḥamāṭah) found in me feels a burning (ḥamāṭah) of great yearning which, as it happens, is not to be removed (imāṭah).162

Ḥamāṭah also means “heartburn.” A poet says: “Many a worry that fills one’s inside . . ..”163 At the beginning of the Preamble, ḥamāṭah means “core of the heart.” A poet says:

She shot at the core (ḥamāṭah) of my heart, unswervingly,

with arrows from her glance, the shooter unknown.

And God knows that in my two ragged robes164 there is a “male snake (ḥiḍb)”165 charged with harming me; if it could speak it would mention my misery. It does not live in a rocky crack or nook; down on to narrow mountain passes it does not look. It appears neither in winter nor in summer time; it passes neither by mountain nor by incline. It harbors for my lord, the venerable Sheikh—may God make the cornerstones of scholarship firm by giving him long life!—such a love as a mother cannot harbor for her son, no matter whether she is considered venomous or not.166 This “snake” is no kin of the one meant by the rajaz poet167 who said,

I curled up like a ḥiḍb.

1.2

وقد علم، أدام الله جمالَ البَراعة بسلامته، أن الحِضْب ضرب من الحيات، وأنه يقال لحبّة القلب حضب. وأنّ في منزلي لأسْود، هو أعزُّ عليّ من عَنْتَرة على زَبيبة، وأكرم عندي من السُّليْك عند السُّلَكة، وأحقُّ بإيثاري من خُفاف السُّلَميّ بخبايا نَدْبةَ وهو أبدًا محجوب، لا تُجاب عنه الأغْطِيةُ ولا يجوب، لو قدر لسافر إلى أن يلقاه، ولم يَحِدْ عن ذلك لشقاءٍ يَشْقاه.

وإنه إذ يُذْكَر، ليؤنَّث في المنطق ويذكَّر، وما يُعلم أنه حقيقيُّ التذكير، ولا تأنيثُه المعتمد بنكير.

لا أفتأُ دائبًا فيما رَضي، على أنه لا مدفع لما قُضي. أُعظِمه أكثرَ من إعظام لَخْمٍ الأسْودَ بن المُنْذِر وكِنْدةَ الأسْودَ بن مَعْدِ يكَرِب، وبني نَهْشَل بن دارم الأسْود بن يَعْفُر ذا المقال المُطْرِب. ولا يَبْرَح مُولَعًا بذكره كإيلاع سُحيْم بعُميْرةَ في مَحْضَره ومَبْداه، ونُصيْب موْلى أُميّةَ بسُعْداه.

The Sheikh—may God perpetuate beautiful performance by keeping him well!— knows that a ḥiḍb is a kind of snake, and that it is also used for the “bottom of the heart.” He knows that this “black thing,”168 which is dearer to me than ʿAntarah was to Zabībah, more precious to me than al-Sulayk was to al-Sulakah, and more entitled to my affection than Khufāf al-Sulamī was entitled to the innermost feelings of Nadbah, is always concealed, its coverings never removed and it never moves far afield. If it could travel it would, so that the Sheikh and it could meet; no mishap befalling it could make it retreat.

When mentioned in speech, it can be feminine and also masculine.169 It is not known if it is really masculine; using it as a feminine is not rejected.

To please it, incessantly I take pains, although one cannot avert what God ordains. I esteem it more than Lakhm esteemed al-Aswad (“Black”)170 ibn al-Mundhir, more than Kindah esteemed al-Aswad ibn Maʿdīkarib, and more than the Banū Nahshal ibn Dārim esteemed al-Aswad ibn Yaʿfur, who composed such ravishing poetry. At the same time it never ceases to be as ...

Table of contents

• Letter from the General Editor
• The Epistle of Ibn al-Qāriḥ
• The Epistle of Forgiveness
• Notes