{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/mhm/mhm35.htm","path":"isl/mhm/mhm35.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/mhm/mhm35.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 suspected on account of some property I had gotten and so I fled, I knew not whither, until I came to a desert, and my wandering led me to the shade of a tent. I found near the pegs thereof a youth playing in the sand with those of his own age, and reciting a\npoem which was in keeping with his condition but did not accord with his powers of improvisation. 1\nAnd I felt it to be far from him to be able to weave its fabric, so I said: 'Young Arab, dost thou recite or compose this poem?' He said: 'Nay, but I compose it.' Then he recited saying:--\nI said: 'O young Arab, terror has brought me to thee. Is there, therefore, safety or hospitality with thee?' He replied: 'Thou hast descended in the very house of safety and alighted on the land of hospitality.' He said: 'Then he arose and seized me by the sleeve and I went with him to a tent whose curtains were lowered.' Then he shouted: 'O damsel of the tribe, here is a neighbour whose country has rejected him, and whose ruler has oppressed him. Fame, which he has heard, or a report, which has reached him, has driven him to us, so give him shelter.' The damsel said: 'Stay, O townsman.'\nThen the young man took me by the hand to the house which she had indicated. I beheld and lo! there were seven persons in it. But my eye fastened upon none among them except Ab\u00fa\u2019l-Fat\u1e25 al-Iskander\u00ed. So I said to him: 'Sirrah! in what land art thou?' He recited:--\nSaid \u2018\u00cds\u00e1 ibn Hish\u00e1m: I exclaimed: 'Good gracious! What way of mendicity 1 hast thou not trodden?'\nThen we lived together in that abode for a season until we were safe from danger, and then he fared eastwards and I westwards.\n110:7 Al-Aswad ibn Qin\u00e1n: A famous Bedaw\u00edn Shaikh. He belonged to the family \u2026 of whom an account is given by Ibn Duraid in his Kit\u00e1b al-Isht\u00edq\u00e1q, p. 240.\n111:1 Did not accord with his powers of improvisation: That is, his powers of improvisation were greater than could be expected of a youth of his age.\n111:2 And verily though I be young: Metre, rejez. This poem is quoted by J\u00e1\u1e25iz. See J\u00e1\u1e25iz, \u1e24ayw\u00e1n, i, 146, and Letters of Ab\u00fa\u2019l \u2018Ala al-Ma\u2018arr\u00ed, p. 66, line 22.\n111:3 My demon: (my muse). The ancient Arabs believed that the poet was in league with spirits (Jinn), or satans and that he derived his inspiration and supernatural powers from them. Cf. Qur\u2019\u00e1n, xxvi, 224-6 on the poets; also, Letters of Ab\u00fa\u2019l \u2018Al\u00e1 al-Ma\u2018arr\u00ed, pp. 66, 73-4.\n111:4 O townsman, stay: Metre, taw\u00edl.\n112:1 \u2026 Thou wilt make them the even number eight:--\n(2) \u2026 he made it an odd number.\nExample: \u2026\n'The people were an odd number and I made them an even number; and they were an even number and I made them an odd number.' Cf. Qur\u2019\u00e1n, lxxxix, 2. (\u2026) 'By that which is double and that which is single', and Agh\u00e1n\u00ed, iv, 176, line 20.\n112:2 I have alighted in the house: Metre, sari.\n112:3 \u2026 So take what is pure: Cf. Text p. 135.\n112:4 Nor permit any milk to remain in the udders: \u2026 A small quantity of milk in the udder. \u2026 plural of \u2026 milk remaining in the udder. \u2026 throwing cold water upon a camel's udder to make her return or increase her milk. Therefore the literal meaning is to wet the camel's udder with what should remain p. 113 therein. A figure for improvidence, or indifference to the needs of the future. There is a tradition of the Prophet: \u2026 'Leave in the udder what will induce the milk flow.'\n113:1 Mendicity: I have read \u2026 mendicity being more consistent with the context and the word other editions give preference to, instead of \u2026 disagreeable.","title":"The Maqamat of al-Hamadhani: The Maq\u00e1m\u00e1t: XXVII. The Maq\u00e1ma of Al-Aswad","type":"page"}