The Epistle of Forgiveness. Abu l-'Ala al-Ma'arri
بادروا إليه، وإن توضَّأَ أقتسموا وضوءه، وإن تَنَخَّمَ دَلكوا بالنُخامة وجوهَهم ولِحاهم وجلودهم. وكانوا له بعد موته أطوع منهم في حياته، حتى لقد قال بعض أصحابه: لا تَسُبّوا أصحاب محمد فإنهم أسلموا من خوف الله، وأسلم الناس من خوف أسيافهم.
Then—blessing and peace be upon him—he carried out the raid of Tabūk with thirty thousand men.99 This was due to God, who makes everything from nothing, and who makes everything into nothing; He solidifies liquids and liquefies solids, He causes the sea to solidify and then He cleaves rocks. All this is as if someone said, “With this thin, insignificant piece of glass I shall scratch these hard, lofty mountains and they will be crushed and broken thereby; and this weak, tiny ant will rout many well-equipped armies.”
This is how it really was with the Prophet—blessing and peace be upon him. ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī said to Quraysh, being their emissary to the Prophet—God bless and preserve him—at al-Ḥudaybiyah: “I have visited the Negus, Chosroes, and Caesar; I have seen their troops and their followers. But I have never seen people more obedient, more dignified, and more awe-inspiring than Muḥammad’s companions when it comes to their Muḥammad! They stand around him ‘as if birds were perched upon their heads.’100 At the mere gesture of a command from him they hasten to act. When he performs the ritual ablution they divide the water among themselves. When he expectorates they rub their faces, their beards, and their skins with his sputum!” They were even more obedient after his death than they were during his lifetime, to the point that one of his companions said, “Do not revile the companions of Muḥammad, for they became Muslims for fear of God, whereas other people became Muslims for fear of their swords.”
5.4
فتأمَّلْ، كيف استفتَحَ دعوتَه – وهو ضعيفٌ وحده – بأن هذا سيكون، فرآه العدوّ والوليّ. وما كان مَثَله في ذلك إلا مَثل من قال: هذه الهباءةُ تعظم وتصير جبلًا يُغَطِّي الأرض كلّها، ثم أنذر الناس بها في حال ضعفها.
وجاء صلّى الله عليه وسلّم يومًا ليدخل الكعبة، فدفعه عثمان بن طَلْحة العبْدَريّ فقال: لا تفعل يا عثمان، فكأنك بمفتاحها بيدي أضعه حيث شئتُ. فقال: لقد ذَلَّت يومئذ قريشٌ وقَلَّتْ. قال: بل كثرَت وعزَّت.
Consider, therefore, how he began his mission, when he was weak and alone, claiming that all this would happen. Friend and foe saw him, while his situation could only be likened to someone saying, “This speck of dust will grow and become a mountain that will cover all the earth!” Then he warned people about this, while as weak as the speck of dust. One day he—God bless and preserve him—wanted to enter the Kaaba, but ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah al-ʿAbdarī stopped him. “Don’t do that, ʿUthmān,” he said, “soon you will see me holding the key in my hand, which I shall put where I please!” Then ʿUthmān said, “Quraysh will be humbled that day, and few in number.” But the Prophet said, “On the contrary, they will be many and mighty!”
Ibn al-Qāriḥ’s Weaknesses and Self-Reproach
6.1
وأنا أستعين بعصمة الله وتوفيقه، وأجعلهما مُعِينَيَّ على دفع شهواتي، واشكو إليه عكوفي على الأماني، وأسأله فهمًا لمواعظ عِبَرِ الدنيا، فقد عميتُ عن كلوم غِيَرها، بما جَثَمَ على خواطري من الشعف بها. ولست أجد مُنْصفًا لي منها، ولا حاجزًا لرغبتي فيها عنها، وأين ودائعُ العقول وخزائن الأفهام يا أولي الأبصار؟ صفَحنا عن مساوئ الدنيا إغماضًا لعاجل مُوبقِ١ التنغيص، وتومئ إليه يد الزوال، وتكمُن له الآفات. قال كُثيّر:
| كأَنّي أُنادي صخرةً حين أَعرضَتْ | من الصُّمِّ لو تمشي بها العُصْمُ زلَّتِ |
١ ب٤، إف: (مُونقِ). ب: (مونقٍ). ق: (مونق). ورجحنا أن الصحيح ما أثبتناه.
I ask protection and success from God, making them my helpers in subduing my passions; I complain to Him about my indulging in my desires; and I ask Him to make me understand the admonishing lessons of the world. For I have become blind to the wounds inflicted by its vicissitudes, by the burning desire for it that has perched on my thoughts. I find nobody who will give me justice against it, no one who can restrain my longing for it. Where are the storerooms of reason and the treasuries of understanding, O ye with insight? We have condoned the evils of this world, shutting our eyes because of fleeting, obnoxious101 troubles, to which the hand of extinction already points, and for which evils lie in hiding. Kuthayyir said:
It is as if I’m calling to a rock when she averts herself,
hard rock, where mountain goats, if walking there, would lose their footing.
6.2
وأقول على مذهب كُثيّر: يا دنيا، في كل لحظة لطرْفي منك عبرة، وفي كل فكرة لي منك حسرة! يا مُرنِّقَةَ الصفا ويا ناقضة عهد الوفا؛ ما وُفق لحظة من عرَجَ نَحوَك، ولا سعِد من آثر المُقام على حسن الظن بك، هيهات يا معشر أبناء الدنيا، لكم في الظاهر اسم الغِنى، وفي الباطن أهل التقلُّل لهم نفس هذا المعنى. كم من يوم لي أَغرّ كثير الأهلّة، قد صحَتْ سماؤه وامتدّ عليَّ ظلّه، تمدّني ساعاته بالمُنى، ويضحك لي عن كل ما أهوى، حتى إذا اتّصل بكلّ أسبابي١ نَفِسَت عليّ به الدنيا فسعت بالتشتيت إلى أُلفَتِه، والنقص إلى مُدّته، فكسفت بَهْجتَه كسوفًا، وأرهقت نضرتَه وحشيةُ الفراق، وقطّعتنا فرقًا في الآفاق، بعد أن كنّا كالأعضاء المؤتلفة، والأغصان اللدنة المنعطفة:
| واحسرتي في يوم يجـ | ـمعُ شِرَّتي كفنٌ ولَحْدُ |
| ضيَّعتُ ما لا بُدَّ منـ |
ـه بالذي |