The Epistle of Forgiveness

Volumes One and Two

Abu l-'Ala al-Ma'arri, Gregor Schoeler, Geert Jan Van Gelder

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781479865512
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

Known as “one of the most complex and unusual texts in Arabic literature” ( Banipal Magazine ), The Epistle of Forgiveness is the lengthy reply by the prolific Syrian poet and prose writer, Abu l-'Ala' al-Ma'arri (d. 449 H/1057 AD), to a letter by an obscure grammarian, Ibn al-Qari. With biting irony, The Epistle of Forgiveness mocks Ibn al-Qari’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. In al-Maarri’s imaginative telling, Ibn al-Qari 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. Among other things, he introduces us to hypocrites, poets, princes, rebels, mystics, and apostates, with asides on piety, superstition, wine-drinking, old age, and other topics. This remarkable book is the first complete translation of this masterpiece into any language, all the more impressive because of Al-Ma'arri's highly ornate and difficult style, his use of rhymed prose, and his numerous obscure words and expressions. 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.

THE EPISTLE OF FORGIVENESS

PREAMBLE

In name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

O God, give ease and help

1.1

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

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 fond of mentioning the Sheikh as Suḥaym, be he in town or desert, was fond of his ʿUmayrah, or as Suʿdā was loved by Nuṣayb, the client of Umayyah.

1.3

Just such a thing¹⁷¹ was found with al-Aswad ibn Zamʿah, al-Aswad ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth, the two men called al-Aswad mentioned in al-Yashkurī’s¹⁷² verse:

He guided them with the two Aswads;¹⁷³ God’s command

strikes home: with it the wretched are made wretched

and with Aswadān, viz. Nabhān ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Ghawth ibn Ṭayyiʾ, and with Abū l-Aswad, mentioned by Imruʾ al-Qays¹⁷⁴ in his verse:

And that is because of what I have heard,

something that I was told about Abū l-Aswad.

Abū l-Aswad al-Duʾalī never parted from it in his lifetime for one second, whether during easy relaxation or tiring occupation. With Suwayd ibn Abī Kāhil it enjoyed a close link whenever he went to wells to drink. With Ibn al-Ṣāmit, another Suwayd, it was always closely allied, be he rejoicing gladly or gloating badly. It helped Suwayd ibn Ṣumayʿ as an ally, in days of poverty and prosperity. He was the one who said:¹⁷⁵

When they demand from me an oath, I’ll swear for them

an oath that’s like a torn and tattered robe with yellow stripes!

And if they make me swear upon my wife’s divorce, I’ll come to her

as happily as ever, and we shall not part.

And if they make me swear upon the freeing of my slave,

ʿUbayd, my slave, knows well he won’t be freed!

1.4

It was familiar with Sawdah bint Zamʿah ibn Qays’s bed, when to the Prophet (God bless and preserve him) she was wed. God’s messenger knew its force, and in good grace did not resort to divorce.¹⁷⁶ It entered the grave with Sawādah ibn ʿAdī, which is not a strange oddity. It is found in any congregation where the “two black things” are found, viz. water and dates, or maybe they are darkness and dusty volcanic ground. It flees from the “two things white” when these are exposed to a dustcloud raised by a fight—the “two things white” from which it flees are either two swords, or a sword and a spearhead. Yet it will bear with them both when it finds them,¹⁷⁷ as the rajaz poet says,

The “two white things” have cooled my bones:

Water and millet bread, no added condiments.¹⁷⁸

And it will delight in two other “white things,” as in the following verse:¹⁷⁹

But a whole year has passed for me

without a drink of anything except the two white things.

As for the two white things that are youthfulness and fat, these are the things that al-Rabāb rejoices at,¹⁸⁰ and what perhaps other people are delighted to see. But they despair of getting anything out of me! It is the same with “the three, or two, red things”¹⁸¹ that g...