Arabic Authors Part 14

Avoid such a man as you would an ill-natured camel.

'When you meet a hypocrite, who is different from what he appears to be, compare him to the Yarbu, _i.e._ the mouse of the desert, which has two apertures to its lair, the one for an entrance, and the other for an exit, so that it always cheats the hunter who digs for it.'

Yet another story-book may be quoted, viz., the 'Ilam en Nas,' or Warnings for Men, containing historical tales and anecdotes of the time of the early Khalifates. Some of these were translated by Mrs.

G.o.dfrey Clerk in 1873 (King and Co.), and her little volume also contains a very good genealogical table of the families of the Prophet, and of the Ras.h.i.+din (or 'rightly directed,' _i.e._ Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali), the Omaiyide, and the Abbaside Khalifs.

Among the many works of Arabic literature one of the most interesting and the most amusing is Ibn Khallikan's celebrated Biographical Dictionary. The author must have been a very intelligent and a very industrious man, for his volumes contain an enormous amount of information about many hundred Arabs. This work is rendered all the more readable and all the more amusing by the many anecdotes related in connection with their lives, and a few of these stories are now given below.

I.

Ibn Abbas, son of Abbas, uncle of Muhammad, was one of the ablest interpreters of the Koran. It was owing to his efforts that the study of the poems, composed before the introduction of Islamism, became of such importance to the Muslims, for he frequently quoted verses of the ancient poets in proof of the explanation he gave of different pa.s.sages of the Koran, and he used to say: 'When you meet with a difficulty in the Koran look for its solution in the poems of the Arabs, for these are the registers of the Arabic nation.' On being asked how he had acquired his extensive knowledge, he replied: 'By means of an inquiring tongue and an intelligent heart.'

It may here perhaps be stated that the Koran, composed avowedly in the purest Arabic, offered many difficulties to those who were not acquainted with the idiom of the desert Arabs, a race who alone spoke the language in its perfection. The study of the ancient poets was therefore considered as necessary for the intelligence of the Koran, and their poems, often obscure from the intricacy of their construction and their obsolete terms, required the a.s.sistance of grammatical a.n.a.lysis and philology to render them comprehensible.

II.

Ibn Faris Ar-Razi, the Philologist, is the author of these verses:

'Well, some things succeed and some fail: when my heart is filled with cares I say: "One day perhaps they may be dispelled." A cat is my companion; books the friends of my heart; and a lamp my beloved consort.'

III.

Badi Az-Zaman al-Hamadani, the author of some beautiful epistles and excellent essays, which last Hariri took as a model in the composition of his, wrote as follows about death: 'Death is awful till it comes, and then it is found light; its touch seems grating till felt, and then it is smooth; the world is so hostile and its injustice so great that death is the lightest of its inflictions, the least of its wrongs. Look, then, to the right; do you see aught but affliction?

Look to the left; do you see aught but woe?'

IV.

Abu Wathila Iyas Al-Kadi was renowned for his excessive acuteness of mind, observation, and penetration. Many stories are told about him in connection with these qualities, which are really astonis.h.i.+ng. It is related of him that he said: 'I was never worsted in penetration but by one man: I had taken my seat in the court of judgment at Busra, when a person came before me and gave testimony that a certain garden, of which he mentioned the boundaries, belonged to a man whom he named.

As I had some doubts of his veracity, I asked him how many trees were in that garden, and he said to me, after a short silence: "How long is it since our lord the Kadi has been giving judgment in this hall?" I told him the time. "How many beams," said he, "are there in the roof?"

On which I acknowledged that he was in the right, and I received his testimony.'

V.

It is a curious circ.u.mstance that Homer the Greek poet, Radaki the Persian poet, and Bashshar bin Burd the Arabian poet, were all blind.

Here is a specimen of one of the verses of the last-named:

'Yes, my friends! my ear is charmed by a person in that tribe; for the ear is sometimes enamoured sooner than the eye. You say that I am led by one whom I never saw; know that the ear as well as the eye can inform the mind of facts.'

He composed also the following verse, which is the most gallant of any made by the poets of that epoch:

'Yes, by Allah! I love the magic of your eyes, and yet I dread the weapons by which so many lovers fell.'

VI.

Several sayings of Al-Hasan bin Sahl, the vizier to the Khalif Al-Mamun, have been preserved. Once he himself wrote at the end of a letter of recommendation, dictated to his secretary: 'I have been told that on the day of judgment a man will be questioned respecting the use he made of the influence given him by his rank in the world, in the same manner as he will be questioned respecting the use he made of the superfluity of his wealth.'

Again he said to his sons: 'My sons, learn the use of language; it is by it that man holds his preeminence over other animals; the higher the skill which you attain in the use of language, the nearer you approach to the ideal of human nature.'

VII.

It is related of Sari-as Sakati, the celebrated Sufi, that he said that for twenty years he never ceased imploring Divine pardon for having once exclaimed, 'Praise be to G.o.d!' and on being asked the reason he said: 'A fire broke out in Baghdad, and a person came up to me and told me that my shop had escaped, on which I uttered these words; and even to this moment I repent of having said so, because it showed that I wished better to myself than to others.'

VIII.

Al-Ahnaf bin Kais, whose prudence was proverbial among the Arabs, used to say: 'I have followed three rules of conduct, which I now mention merely that the man of reflection may profit by my example--I never interfered between two parties unless invited by them to do so; I never went to the door of these people (meaning princes) unless sent for by them; and I never rose from my place to obtain a thing when all men were anxious to possess it.'

IX.

Abu Yazid Taifur al-Bastaimi, the famous ascetic, being asked how he had acquired his knowledge of the spiritual world, answered that it was by means of a hungry belly and naked body. He used to say: 'When you see a man possessing miraculous powers, so as even to mount into the air, let not that deceive you, but see if he observes G.o.d's commands and prohibitions, if he keeps within the bounds imposed by religion, and if he performs the duties which it prescribes.'

X.

Abul Aswad ad-Duwali, the inventor of grammar, in intelligence one of the most perfect of men, and in reason one of the most sagacious, was notorious for his avarice, and he used to say: 'If we listened to the demands made by the poor for our money, we should soon be worse off than they.' He said also to his sons: 'Strive not to rival Almighty G.o.d in generosity, for He is the most bountiful and the most glorious; had He pleased He would have given ample wealth to all men, so strive not to be generous lest you die of starvation.' It is also related that Abul Aswad had an attack of the palsy, and that he used to go to the market himself, though scarcely able to draw his legs after him, and yet he was rich, and possessed both male and female slaves. A person who knew this accosted him one day, and said: 'G.o.d has dispensed you from the necessity of moving about on your own business, why do you not remain seated at home?' To which he replied: 'No; I go in and out, and the eunuch says "He is coming," and the boy says "He is coming," whereas, were I to continue sitting in the house, the sheep would urine upon me without any person's preventing them.'

XI.

It is related that on a dispute between the Sunnites and s.h.i.+tes of Baghdad about the relative merits of Abu Bakr and Ali, both parties agreed to abide by the opinion of the Shaikh Abul Faraj bin Al-Jauzi.

They consequently deputed a person, who questioned him on the subject when he was seated in the preacher's chair. The one reply which he made bears in Arabic two different meanings--the first, that the best of them was he whose daughter was married to the other man; and the second, that the best of them was he who had married the daughter of the other man. He then withdrew promptly, lest he should be questioned further, and the Sunnites said: 'He means Abu Bakr, because his daughter Ayesha was married to the Prophet,' 'Nay,' said the s.h.i.+tes, 'he means Ali, because Fatima, the Prophet's daughter, was married to him.' The answer was certainly very clever; had it even been the result of long reflection and deep consideration, it would have been admirable, but coming as it did without any previous preparation, it was still more so.

XII.

s.h.i.+bab Ad-Din (flambeau of the faith) as-Suhrawardi was a pious and holy Shaikh, most a.s.siduous in his spiritual exercises, and the practice of devotion, and successfully guided a great number of Sufis in their efforts to obtain perfection. Many persons wrote to him for his opinion on circ.u.mstances which concerned themselves, and one wrote as follows: 'My lord,--If I cease to work I shall remain in idleness, and if I work I am filled with self-satisfaction; which is best?' To this the Shaikh replied: 'Work, and ask Almighty G.o.d to pardon thy self-satisfaction.' The following is one of his verses:

'If I contemplate you, I am all eyes; and if I think of you I am all heart.'