{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/mhm/mhm10.htm","path":"isl/mhm/mhm10.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/mhm/mhm10.htm","text":"The Maq\u00e1m\u00e1t of Bad\u00ed\u2018 al-Zam\u00e1n al-Hamadh\u00e1n\u00ed, tr. W.J. Prendergast [1915]\n\u2018\u00cdS\u00c1 IBN HISH\u00c1M related to us and said: I was in Baghdad at the time of the azaz date harvest, so I went out to select and buy some of the different kinds of it. I proceeded a short distance to a man who had got a stock of various sorts of fruit which he had arranged in order. He had collected and placed in rows a variety of fresh dates and I took some of the best of everything and picked 1 some of the finest of every species. Now just as I had gathered up my skirts and placed my load in them, my eyes fell upon a man who had modestly covered his face with a veil 2 and was standing still with outstretched hand. He had his little ones by his side and bore his babes on his hip, while he recited in a voice so loud that it weakened his chest and produced feebleness in his spine:--\n\u2018\u00cds\u00e1 ibn Hish\u00e1m said: I took from my purse a handful and gave it to him. Then he said:--\n\u2018\u00cds\u00e1 ibn Hish\u00e1m said: So I said to him, 'There is something left in the purse, therefore disclose thy hidden condition and I will give thee all.' Then he removed his veil, 2 and to by Heavens! it was our Shaikh, Ab\u00fa\u2019l-Fat\u1e25 al-Isk\u00e1nder\u00ed! So I exclaimed: 'Mercy on thee, how astute thou art!' Then he recited:--\n31:1 \u2026 I picked: Literally, I bit, or gnawed.\n31:2 \u2026 a veil: a thing with which a woman veils her face, having in it two holes for the eyes, but here used as synonymous with lith\u00e1m (\u2026)\n31:3 Alas! I have neither two handfuls: Saw\u00edq is a kind of gruel made mostly of parched barley. Metre, rejez.\n31:4 Khird\u00edq: a kind of broth in which bread is crumbled.\n31:5 To soothe our palate: Literally, to check the onslaughts of saliva.\n31:6 O the one who hath bestowed: Metre, rejez.\n32:1 Then God my Lord will surely recompense: Literally, God my Lord is behind his reward.\n32:2 Lith\u00e1m (\u2026) a veil: a kind of muffler for covering the lower part of the face. Cf. the term mulaththamun applied to the Berber tribes of the \u1e62a\u1e25ar\u00e1.\n32:3 Spend thy life in deceiving: \u2026 in deceiving: Literally, gilding copper or silver to palm it off for gold. The Constantinople edition has these additional lines:--\nFrom the saying attributed to al-Nabigah:--\nMetre, hezej.","title":"The Maqamat of al-Hamadhani: The Maq\u00e1m\u00e1t: II. The Maq\u00e1ma of the Date","type":"page"}