Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded. Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī
nuptials and of their unseemly behavior towards their guests will follow. As for the entertainment they show their guests, it consists of shaking their robes and hats and sitting on benches while preening their beards and moustaches. If they are compelled to provide a meal, it is of lentils and bīsār and sour wheat groats with fava beans, or other kinds of stewed beans and herbs.
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ولو مكث الشخص منهم مدّة في مصر ودمياط * لا يكتسب من اللطافة قيراط * وبعض أكابرهم المشار إليه * والمعوَّل في الأمور إليه * إذا طلع مصر لمقابلة الأمير * أو قضاء حاجة من الوزير * ترى عليه لبس محبوب * ومع ذلك يمشي حافي بلا مركوب * وأمورهم ليس لها انضباط * وأحوالهم خُباط وعِياط * ووِرْدهم عند الأسحار * التفكّر في الغنم والأبقار * وتسبيحهم في الظلام * هات النَبُّوت والحزام * وحُطّ العَلَف * وهات الكَلَف * قال الشاعر [كامل]
| لا تَسْكُنِ الأَرْيافَ إِنْ رُمْتَ العُلا | إِنَّ المَذَلَّةَ في القُرَى مِيراثُ |
| تَسْبيحُهم هاتِ العَلَفْ حُطِّ الكَلَفْ | عَلِّقْ لِثَوْرِكَ جاءَكَ المِحْراثُ |
Even were one of them to reside a while in Cairo and Dimyāṭ, he would not acquire an ounce of refinement, and should one of their great men, the cynosure and patron of all, go to Cairo to meet with the emir or to settle some business with the vizier, he will be seen wearing fine clothes but, for all that, walking barefoot, innocent of shoes; there is no order to their affairs, and they exist in a state of hubbub and hullabaloo. Their devotion before dawn is to meditate on the cattle and sheep, and their magnificat in the dark is “Fetch me my belt and staff!” and “Put out the fodder and bring in the feed!” As the poet says:
Don’t live in the country if you seek higher things,
For abjection in the villages is something bequeathed.
Their Gloria is “Fetch the fodder, put out the feed!
Hitch up your ox, the plow’s arrived!”
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لا يرحموا صغيرا * ولا يوقّروا كبيرا * عورتهم عند الاستنجاء على الفساقي مكشوفه * وثيابهم بالنجاسة محفوفه * يجتمعوا لحساب المال في المساجد * وليس فيهم راكع ولا ساجد * أولادهم دائمًا عريانين * وتراهم في صورة المجانين * الرحمة فيهم قليله * والرأفة منهم ذليله * كما أنّه يُكْتَب لطرد النمل بلا مِرا * ارحل أيّها النمل كما رحلت الرحمة من قلوب شيوخ القرى *
They have no compassion for the young and no respect for the old. They expose their privates when they wash at the waterspouts after defecating, and their garments are rimmed with filth. They gather in the mosques to calculate their taxes, but not one of them makes a prostration or says a prayer. Their children go naked; if you saw them, you’d think them lunatics. Mercy among them is scarcely to be found and any kindness they show is paltry—as it is written in charms for the efficacious expulsion of ants, “Be gone, ye ants, as mercy is gone from the hearts of the village shaykhs!”16
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ومن وصايا الإمام مالك للإمام الشافعيّ رضي الله عنهما لا تسكن الأرياف فيضيع علمُك وجاهُك * وقال سيّدنا عبد الوهّاب الشَعْرانيّ نفعنا الله به لبعض تلامذته عليك بسُكْنى المدن فإنّ المقت إذا نزل في بلاد الريف طوفان يكون في المدينة كخُلْخال الرِجْل قلت وإذا صحّفْتَ لفظة ريف مع قلب حروفها كانت قبر فالساكن في الريف معدوم اللذّات لأنّه دائمًا في انقباض وطرّ * وجَرْي وكرّ وفرّ * وحبس وضرب * ولعن وسبّ * وهَوان وسَخْر * وشيل أبيار وحَفْر * وسروح للعَوْنه * وتعب من جهة المُونه * وإن كان ذو فضل ضاع فضله * أو ذو عقل ذهب عقله * أو ذو مال أغْرَوْا عليه الحُكّام * أو ذو تجارة نهبوه في الظلام * فالحقّ عندهم مضاع * والباطل عندهم مذاع * وحُكْم الله ليس له اندفاع
The Imam Mālik advised the Imam al-Shāfiʿī, may the Almighty have mercy on them both, as follows: “Do not dwell in the villages, for if you do, you will lose both your learning and your dignity!” And My Master ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī, may the Almighty have mercy on him, said to one of his pupils, “You should live in the city, for, while hatred descends like a deluge in a village, in the city it is no more than the shaking of anklets!”17 I might add that, if one changes the dots in the word ريف (rīf; “countryside”) and reverses the order of the letters, it becomes قبر (qabr; “grave”)18—and certainly the country-dweller is deprived of all joys, as he is always dejected and harried, scurrying hither and hurrying thither, imprisoned and beaten, cursed and abused, degraded and upbraided, clearing wells and digging, setting off to work on the corvée, and exhausted by the search for provisions. If he be a man of virtue, his virtue is destroyed, if a man of intelligence, his intelligence will vanish, if a man of wealth, the others will incite the authorities against him, and if he be engaged in trade, they will rob him in the dark; for they are lost to the Truth, and falsehood is everywhere amongst them—but God’s law cannot be denied!
(ذكر طرف يسير من أسمائهم وألقابهم وما يُكَنَّوا به)
An Account of a Few of Their Names, Nicknames, and Kunyahs19
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(أمّا أسماؤهم) فإنّها كأسماء العفاريت * أو رُقَع الشلاتيت * فيُسَمَّوْا جُنَيْجِل وجُلَيْجِل * وعَفْر ودعموم وزُعَيْط ومُعَيْط وقُسَيْط * وشلاطه ولهاطه * وشقليط ومقليط * وصفّار وبهوار وجعمار * وعِمْران وشعوان * وشمضوت وبرغوت * والعفش