{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/mhm/mhm12.htm","path":"isl/mhm/mhm12.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/mhm/mhm12.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: A pressing need impelled me to go to Sijist\u00e1n. 2 So I put my resolution into effect 3 and mounted the necessary camel. I sought God's blessing upon my determination which I set before me, while I made prudence my guide until it directed me thither. Now I arrived at the gates of the city after sunset and was, therefore, obliged to pass the night on the spot. 4\nNow, when the blade of dawn was drawn, and the host of the sun sallied forth, I went to the business quarter to select a lodging. And when I had gone from the circumference 5 of the city to its centre, and walked along the circle of shops\ntill I reached the chief one, 1 a loud-toned 2 voice penetrated my ear. I went towards the speaker until I stood near him, and behold it was a man mounted on his horse and panting for breath. 3 He had turned the back of his head towards me and was saying: He . who knows me, knows me well, and he, who does not know me, I will make myself known to him. I am the first-fruits of Yemen, 4 the much-talked-of of the age, the enigma of men and the puzzle of the ladies of the harem. 5 Ask of me concerning countries and their fortresses, mountains and their heights, valleys and their watercourses, seas and their springs, horses and their backs. Who has captured their walls, discovered the mysteries of their heights, explored their paths and penetrated into their lava hills? Ask of kings and their treasures, precious stones and their mines, 6 affairs and their inwardness, 7 sciences and their centres, weighty matters and their obscurities, wars and their difficult situations. Who has seized their hoards without paying the price? Who has got possessions of their keys 8 and known the way to victory? By Heavens! it is I who have achieved all that. I have made\npeace between powerful kings 1 and disclosed the mysteries of dark difficulties. By Heavens! I have been even in the place where lovers are overthrown. I have even been afflicted with sickness, even the sickness caused by the languishing eye. 2 I have embraced supple forms, 3 and plucked the rose from the crimson cheeks. Yet, with all this, I have fled from the world as a generous nature flees from the faces of the base. I have recoiled from despicable things as a noble ear recoils from obscene language. But, now that the morn of hoariness has dawned, and the dignity of old age has come upon me, I have resolved to make wise provision for my journey to the next world and I have not perceived any way better to right guidance, than that which I am treading. One of you will observe me riding a horse and speaking at random 4 and say, 'this is the Father of Wonder', 5 nay, but I am indeed the Father of Wonders, which I have both seen and experienced, and the Mother of Enormities which I have estimated and endured. I have with difficulty obtained the keys of treasures 6 and then have lightly cast them aside. I have bought dear and sold cheap. I have, by Heavens! joined their pageants and jostled against shoulders. I have watched the stars 7 and ridden the flesh off my mounts, I have been obliged to engage in dangerous enterprises vowing not to withhold from the Muslims the benefits accruing therefrom. Now I must transfer the cord of this trust from my neck to yours and offer for sale in your streets this medicine of mine. Let him buy from me who shrinks not from the place\nwhere God's servants stand, nor from the formula of unity. And let him who is of proud pedigree 1 and good breeding 2 preserve the remedy. Said \u2018\u00cds\u00e1 ibn Hish\u00e1m: I went round in front of him that I might learn who he was, and by Heavens! it was our Shaikh Ab\u00fa\u2019l-Fat\u1e25 al-Iskander\u00ed. So I waited for the crowd to disperse 3 from before him, and then addressing him\nI asked: 'How big an opening will this nostrum of thine want?' He answered, 'Thy purse will open as much as thou desirest.' I then left him and departed. 4\n35:2 Sijist\u00e1n: originally Sagistan, the land of the Sakas, Arabicized to Sijistan, the ancient Sacastane and the modern Seistan, the name of a district of Persia and of its chief town. The capital was formerly called Zaranj. It formed a part of the empire of the Khal\u00edfa and was a great Kh\u00e1rijite centre. About A.D. 860, when it had undergone many changes of Government under lieutenants of the Baghdad Khal\u00edfa, or bold adventurers acting on their own account, Yaq\u00fat ibn Laith al-Saffar, made it the seat of his power. In A.D. 901, it fell under the power of the S\u00e1manids and towards the end of the century into that of the Ghaznavids. In Hamadh\u00e1n\u00ed's time Khalaf ibn A\u1e25mad was the Am\u00edr of Sijist\u00e1n (A.H. 354-93). Yaq\u00fat says that when the inhabitants submitted to their Arab conquerors they stipulated that no hedgehog was to be killed. The reason assigned for this being that the country was infested with snakes and that the hedgehogs kept the number down. Every house had its hedgehog! Yaq\u00fat, iii, 41. Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, xxiv, 592.\n35:3 I put my resolution into effect: Literally, I mounted the intention thereof. Cf. De Sacy, \u1e24ar\u00edr\u00ed, i, 14.\n35:4 I was obliged to pass the night on the spot: Literally, the passing of the night chanced where I reached.\n35:5 \u2026 circumference: Literally, a necklace.\n36:1 \u2026 The chief one: Literally, the jewel in the middle of a necklace and which is the best thereof.\n36:2 \u2026 Loud-toned: Literally, with something from every root, and therefore well nourished and strong.\n36:3 Panting for breath: Literally, choking himself.\n36:4 The first fruits of Yemen: Here Ab\u00fa\u2019l-Fat\u1e25 begins to enigmatically refer to his name. The fruit of the tree \u2026 nab\u2018a resembling that of the pistachia terebinthus, except that it is red, sweet and round, is called \u2026 Fat\u1e25. It is also an allusion to the early conversion to Isl\u00e1m of the people of Yemen. The name of the first envoy that came from Yemen to visit the Prophet is said to have been Ab\u00fa\u2019l-Fat\u1e25. Al-Fat\u1e25 means the opening, beginning, victory.\n36:5 \u2026 Ladies of the harem: \u2026 pl, of \u2026 a kind of curtained canopy, or tent, or chamber for a bride.\nFor courteous phrases for ladies, see J\u00e1\u1e25iz, \u1e24ayw\u00e1n, v. 103-110.\n36:6 Precious stones and their mines: I have read \u2026 instead of \u2026 as the former gives the required sense.\n36:7 \u2026 Inwardness: From \u2026 the abdomen. Hence the interior of anything. e. g., \u2026 To every verse thereof is an apparent \u2026 (lit. back) sense and a sense requiring development. (\u2026).\n36:8 Their keys: i.e. the keys of the positions.\n37:1 \u2026 Powerful kings: \u2026 pl. of \u2026 a man unable to look aside by reason of disease, probably a crick in the neck, and hence a king, who by reason of pride, does not turn his head to the right or left. But more probably \u2026 = greatest hunter = lion = strong. Cf. Arab Proverbs, i, 748. See also Bu\u1e25tur\u00ed, i. 224.\n37:2 \u2026 Eyes: pl. of \u2026 Literally, the black of the eye and then the eye absolutely.\n37:3 Supple forms: Literally, pliant branches; a very common figure for a flexible form.\n37:4 \u2026 Speaking at random \u2026 opposed to \u2026 in all senses.\n37:5 The Father of Wonder: Cf. H. De Sacy, \u1e24ar\u00edr\u00ed, ii, 571.\n37:6 For \u2026 again read \u2026 precious things, or treasures.\n37:7 I have watched the stars: waited for their disappearance at dawn.\n38:1 Of proud pedigree: Literally, whose grandfathers are noble.\n38:2 \u2026 Good breeding: Literally, whose wood has been irrigated with pure water.\n38:3 \u2026 The crowd to disperse: Literally, until the ostrich fled. The Paris MS. has &ale which yields a better sense. Cf. De Sacy, \u1e24ar\u00edr\u00ed, ii, \u2026 'He finished his work.'\n38:4 This maq\u00e1ma lacks the usual concluding lines of poetry and ends very abruptly.","title":"The Maqamat of al-Hamadhani: The Maq\u00e1m\u00e1t: IV. The Maq\u00e1ma of Sijist\u00e1n","type":"page"}