Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded. Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī
يكون مع زمانه بحسب حاله * ويداري وقته بما يناسب لأحواله * ويكون حذرًا من دهره وصَوْلته * ويرقص للقِرْد في دَوْلته * ويعاشر الناس على قدر أحوالهم * ويدور معهم بحسب أدوارهم * ويندرج فى مدراج خلاعاتهم * ويظهر في مظاهر براعاتهم * قال بعضهم [سريع]
| ودارِهِمْ ما دُمْتَ في دارِهِمْ | وحَيِّهِمْ ما دُمْتَ في حَيِّهِمْ |
| وأَحْسِنِ العِشْرة مَعْ بَعْضِهِمْ | يُعِينُكَ البَعْضُ عَلى كُلِّهِمْ |
وفي الحديث أُمِرْتُ بمداراة الناس
It follows that one should stay in tune with one’s days, humor the age by acting in keeping with its ways, be on guard against whatever assaults Fate may bring, and “dance for the ape when he is king.” One should get along with people as best he may, perform any role he may be asked to play, implicate himself in men’s excesses, and number himself among them in their successes. As a poet has said:
Humor them in their homes,
Greet them courteously while their guest.
Make friends with some
That those may help you against the rest.
And in a Tradition it says, “I have been commanded to deal circumspectly with others.”
٦،١
(وقيل إنّ بعض الملوك مات إمامه) فقال لوزرائه وخواصّ دولته انظروا لنا إمامًا يكون ورعًا زاهدًا فيه لِين الجانب وهداوة النفس فاجتمع رأيهم على رجل بالمدينة فيه هذه الأوصاف إلّا أنّه فقير الحال فقال الملك عليّ به فلمّا حضر بين يديه أكرمه وعظّمه وأعلى منـزلته وصيّره أرقى من وزرائه وأجرى عليه النعم فلمّا رأى نفسه فى هذه الحالة تعاظم على أبناء جنسه واحتقرهم وترك مداراة الناس ولم يعتبرهم واحتقر أرباب الدولة فاتّفق رأيهم على مكيدة يهلكونه بها فلمّا كان يوم الجمعة وأراد الملك أن يصلّي فى بعض المساجد أرسل السَجّادة ففُرِشَتْ له في ذلك المسجد ودخل وجلس عليها هو وذلك الإمام وكان اتّفاقهم في ذلك على أنّهم صنعوا صورة صليب صغير من الذهب والجوهر وأعطوه لرجل من خواصّ الملك ممّن يكتم السرّ وجعلوا له جعلًا وقالوا له تضعه تحت السجّادة تحت جبهة الإمام بحيث أنّه لا يشعر بك أحد ففعل ذلك فلمّا فرغ الناس من صلاة الجمعة وأراد الملك الانصراف أخذ الفرّاش السجّادة فرأى الصليب فأعرضه على الملك فأنكره وقال لأرباب دولته ما هذا الأمر فإنّه قد رؤي هذا الصليب تحت جبهة الإمام فقالوا له هذا كافر ومستتر علينا فغضب الملك وأمر بقتله فلمّا مرّت جنازته أنشد بعضهم يقول [رمل]
| كانَ واللهِ تَقِيًّا صَالِحا | مُنْصِفًا عَدْلاً وَما قَطُّ اتُّهِمْ |
فأجابه آخر يقول [رمل]
| كانَ لا يَدري مُداراةَ الوَرَى | وَمُداراةُ الوَرَى أمرٌ مُهِمْ |
فالسلامة في مداراة الناس * وحسن الانطباع معهم بلطف الإيناس * وأن يكون الشخص متنقّلًا في أطوارهم * دائرًا تحت فَلَك أدوارهم * كما صرّحت بذلك في بعض المقامات بهذه الأبيات [طويل]
| فطَوْرًا تَراني عالِمًا ومُدَرِّسا | وطَوْرًا تَراني فاسِقًا فَلَفوسا |
| وطَوْرًا تَراني ع المَزامِرِ١ عاكِفا | وطَوْرًا تَراني سيِّدًا ورَئيسا |
| مَظاهرُ أُنسٍ إنْ تحقَّقْتَ سِرَّها | تُرِيكَ بُدُورًا أقبَلتْ وشُموسا |
١ بي: على المزامر.
The tale is told that a certain king’s imam died. The king said to his ministers and the privy councilors of the realm, “Find me an imam who is God-fearing and ascetic, gentle in nature and unassuming.” Their choice fell on a man of the city who answered to that description but was poor. “Bring him to me,” said the king. When the man appeared, the king honored and made much of him, raising him in rank till he was more exalted than his ministers and showering him with favors. Finding himself in this state, the man started to lord it over his own kind and to treat them with contempt; he ceased to humor people or pay them due respect, and he treated the great men of the realm with contempt. These then agreed to set a trap to destroy him. Now, it was the king’s custom, when it was Friday and he wished to pray in a certain mosque, to send his prayer rug on ahead. There it would be spread out for him, and he would enter and sit on it with this imam beside him. What they agreed to do was to have a small cross of gold and jewels made and to give it, with a gift, to a certain intimate of the king’s who could be trusted to keep a secret, telling him, “Place this under the prayer rug where the imam’s forehead touches it, in such a fashion that no one sees you.” This he did. When the people dispersed following the prayer and the king was about to depart, the mosque attendant picked up the rug and saw the cross. He presented it to the king, who denied all knowledge of it and said to the great men of the realm, “What’s this? This cross has been found under the place where the imam’s forehead touches the rug!” “He must be an infidel,” they replied, “who has been hiding his true nature from us!” At this the king grew angry and ordered the man killed. As his funeral procession passed by, a poet declaimed:
Pious he was, God knows—righteous,
Fair and just, and ne’er before accused.
To which another replied:
He had no sense of how to humor men,
And that’s a sin too great to be excused.
Thus safety lies in humoring others, and using winning ways to get along with one’s brothers. One should adapt himself