{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/mhm/mhm23.htm","path":"isl/mhm/mhm23.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/mhm/mhm23.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 and a few friends were excited at receiving an invitation to a banquet. 3 I accepted it in accordance with the well-known Tradition of the\n[paragraph continues] Apostle 1 of God, upon whom be the blessings of God and peace--'If I were asked to share the shin-bone of a sheep, I would not refuse, and were I presented with a leg of beef I would accept it.' So we proceeded and reached a house,\nwhose carpets were spread and whose coverings were unfolded and whose table was laid, and we found ourselves among a company who were passing their time amid bunches of myrtle twigs, and bouquets of roses, broached wine vats and the sound of the flute and the lute. We approached them and they advanced to receive us. Then we clave 3 to a table 4 whose vessels 5 were filled, whose gardens were in flower, and whose dishes were arranged in rows with viands of various hues, opposite a dish of something intensely black was something exceedingly white, and against something very red was arranged something very yellow.\nNow with us at the feast was a man whose hand wandered over the table playing the r\u00f4le of an ambassador between the viands of various hues, seizing the choicest of the cakes and plucking out the centres of the dishes, pasturing on his neighbour's territory, 6 traversing the bowls, as the castle traverses the chessboard, stuffing his mouth with morsel after morsel and chasing mouthful with mouthful. And withal he was silent and spoke not a word. We were conversing the while, until we got as far as the subject of J\u00e1\u1e25iz and his oratory and a description of\n[paragraph continues] Ibn al-Maqaffa\u2019 1 and his eloquence. Now the commencement of this discussion coincided with the termination of the meal. We then adjourned from that room and the man said to us: 'Where are ye in the discussion which ye were engaged in?' So we began to praise what we knew of J\u00e1\u1e25iz and his language, of the elegance of his style and quality of his rhetoric. Then he said: 'O people, every work hath its men, every situation its saying, 2 every house its occupants and every age its J\u00e1\u1e25iz. If ye were to examine critically, your belief would be falsified.' At this every one curled his lip 3 in disapproval and turned up his nose in contempt. But I smiled encouragingly upon him in order that I might draw him out, and said: 'Inform us and tell us more.' He said: 'Verily J\u00e1\u1e25iz limps in one department of rhetoric and halts in the other. Now the eloquent man is he whose poetry does not detract from his prose and whose prose is not ashamed of his verse: Tell me, do you know of a single fine poem of J\u00e1\u1e25iz?' We said: 'No!' He said: 'Come, let us consider his prose. It consists of far-fetched allusions, a paucity of metaphors and simple expressions. He is tied down to the simple language he uses, and avoids and shirks difficult words. Have you ever heard of a rhetorical expression of his or of any recondite 4 words?' We answered: 'No!' He then said to me: 'Wouldst thou like a sample of speech which would lighten\nthy shoulders 1 and disclose what thou hast in thy hands?' I answered: 'By Heavens! Yes.' He said: 'Then open thy little finger 2 for me by means of that which will help in procuring thee thanks.' So I gave him my mantle and he indited:--\nSaid \u2018\u00cds\u00e1 ibn Hish\u00e1m: Then the company became expansive towards him and gifts poured upon him. When we became mutually friendly, I enquired, 'Where is the orient of this full moon?' He answered:--\n70:2 Ab\u00fa \u2018Uthm\u00e1n ibn Bahr ibn Ma\u1e25b\u00e1b al-Kin\u00e1n\u00ed al-Laith\u00ed, generally known by the surname of al-J\u00e1\u1e25iz, a native of Ba\u1e63ra, was celebrated for his learning. He was the author of numerous works, the three principal ones being Kit\u00e1b al-Haiw\u00e1n (the book of animals) Kit\u00e1b al-Baian wa\u2019l-Taby\u00edn (description and exposition) and Kit\u00e1b al-Bukhal\u00e1 (the book of misers), and he also composed a discourse on the fundamentals of religion. An offset of the Mu'tazilite sect was called al-J\u00e1\u1e25iz\u00edyya. It is said of the works of J\u00e1\u1e25iz 'that they teach us to reason first, and instruct us in literature next.' He was deformed in person, and the prominence of his eyes, which seemed to be starting out of his head, produced the surnames of al-J\u00e1\u1e25iz (the starer) and al-\u1e24adaq\u00ed (the goggle-eyed). He died at Ba\u1e63ra A.H. 255 (A.D. 868-9), at the extreme age of ninety years. Ibn Khallikan, ii, 405, Also Yaq\u00fat, Dictionary of Learned Men (ed. by Professor Margoliouth), vi, p. 56.\n70:3 Were excited at receiving an invitation to a banquet: Literally, a banquet excited me and a few friends. \u2026 a banquet, generally a marriage feast. For the names of the various feasts. See Khizanat al-Ad\u00e1b, iii, 212-13.\n71:1 According to the Tradition of the Prophet: This Tradition is cited by J\u00e1\u1e25iz himself. See Kit\u00e1b al-Bay\u00e1n wa\u2019l-Taby\u00edn, i, 163.\n71:2 Completed and left: Metre, k\u00e1mil.\n71:3 \u2026 We clave to a table: For the meaning of this verb, see Qur\u2019\u00e1n, vii, 134.\n71:4 \u2026 A table: Arabicized from the Persian \u2026 pronounced \u2026 a thing upon which one eats, said not to be so called except when food is upon it, but see Arabic Text, p. 143.\n71:5 Vessels: Literally, cisterns, because of their size.\n71:6 Pasturing on his neighbour's territory: Contrary to \u2026--A Tradition of the Prophet: 'Eat from what is near thee,'\n72:1 Ibn al-Maqaffa\u2019: A Persian convert to Isl\u00e1m renowned for the elegance of his style and penmanship. He made several translations from the Pahlawi into Arabic. The best specimen of his elegant and chaste Arabic is the Book of Kalila and Dimna ultimately derived from the Sanskrit Fables of Bidpai, brought over to Persia in the reign of al-Nushirwan. By command of the Khal\u00edfa Al-Man\u1e63\u00far, he was put to a horrible death on a charge of heresy in A.H. 142 (A.D. 759-60) by Sufy\u00e1n the governor of Ba\u1e63ra. Ibn Kallikan, i, 431.\n72:2 Every situation hath its saying: Arab Proverbs, ii, 456.\n72:3 \u2026 curled his lip in disapproval: Literally, showed him the tooth of denial.\n72:4 \u2026 Recondite: Literally, unheard of; rare; another reading \u2026 rhymed speech. J\u00e1\u1e25iz's merits were a subject of controversy. Ab\u00fa Hayyan Tan\u1e25\u00edd\u00ed wrote an encomium on him whereas the orthodox attacked him as a Mu'tazilite [See al-Farq bain al-Firaq, (A.H. 429), pp. 160 sqq]. Hamadh\u00e1n\u00ed evidently shared the orthodox opinion regarding this writer. In this Maq\u00e1ma we have an indication of Hamadh\u00e1n\u00ed's idea as to what constituted a good style. It is evident he preferred rhetorical conceits and the recondite to simple and straight-forward language. Of this the Maq\u00e1m\u00e1t affords many illustrations.\n73:1 Lighten thy shoulders: i.e. relieve thee of the responsibility thou hast assumed in thy defence of J\u00e1\u1e25iz.\n73:2 Open thy little finger: i.e. open thy hand and give something. The closing of the little finger indicates avarice, e.g. in counting up to ten, the little finger is the first to be closed and the last to be opened.\n73:3 By the life of hire: Metre, taw\u00edl.\n73:4 Alexandria is my home: Metre, mujtath.\n73:5 Nejd: is ten days journey from, or about two hundred miles east of Yem\u00e1ma.","title":"The Maqamat of al-Hamadhani: The Maq\u00e1m\u00e1t: XV. The Maq\u00e1ma of J\u00e1\u1e25iz","type":"page"}