The Epistle of Forgiveness: Volume One: A Vision of Heaven and Hell

Paradise (II)

١٩٧ 197 Paradise (II) “So which one of you” (continues the Sheikh, addressing the five one-eyed poets) “is the Camel-herd?” “This is he,” they answer. The Sheikh greets him and says, “I hope I shall not find you like your friends, without any recollection or having lost your knowledge of the Arabic language!” The Camel-herd replies, “I hope so too. Ask me, but be brief!” The Sheikh asks him, “Is it true, as Sībawayh433 says about you, that in your poem rhyming in -lā, in which you praise the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, you put the word ‘people’ in the accusative, in the verse: In the days when my tribe and the people were like one sitting firmly in the saddle, not letting it slip aside.”434 “It is true,” he answers. The Sheikh turns from him straight to Ḥumayd ibn Thawr. “I say, Ḥumayd,” he says, “you composed some good poetry with your verses: I see that my eyes, once healthy, are troubling me; being healthy and sound is sufficient disease!435 Before long the two times, day and night, will have reached what they want and set out to achieve. “How is your eyesight now?” Ḥumayd replies, “I could be in the western regions of the Garden and yet notice one of my friends in the eastern parts, with a traveling distance of thousands of solar years between us—you know how fast the sun moved in the Fleeting World! God, the Exalted One, is able to create any wonderful thing.” The Sheikh continues: “You also said well in your poem rhyming in -dū, that begins: A noisy, clumsy female, who castrates her donkey436— if one expects some good from her, one bites on stones! She works, provides a living; girdle always tightly bound; some youthful strength is left to her, but she is past childbearing. 12.1 12.2.1 The conversation with “the Camelherd ” and Ḥumayd ibn Thawr 12.2.2 ١٩٨ 198  È      U [ 456j k123 L @?@  # | ‚ @ª LŒ Þ   L é› ô J K89‰ Š‹  9cd† 3 ) 123 /M  0   Þ| L  Y á $Ÿ M  f&89 L‰ ô J K12≠)  L " L (/é› :Š•12Q  d† 3 .Š•456L  j k i 12 [ ê²  c L ì‰ ! "qrÑ [´&89 M [‚123 ،Š•P123 i J S æŽ~ Š£Ṏ Å @ˆ‰ [´&89MŸ  P 46M? : ô 46cŽÎÏ Ð Š•12Q  d† 3 :M  è  d† 3123  @µ˜ L ¬† 3Þ  [ A cTF5G   46MŸ [Š‹ ނ 9cLŽ~ )  [ 46# $Ÿ j k l ;®n#œ„ èTa %  P NO M “ iŠ•123123 ô L  46 L ‚ 123 ô  $ L  ?O /Mg k  *† 3 ô - áOr L s¦„ 0 QL‰ [ 46#) Ç# *† 3  @M  f| )  % ‚¯øWrÑ   [ J S æ~/Mg— ô  T U c  ɲ x  j k L P# Þ €² L)  89‰P }~   P )  [ 46 L‰ 12õz{| L ¾ [ ?¤ f )* + , - . NO #&89‰ Þ´ L‚ p )  i " L»89 Þ Õ¶©· [Ž~ M(á‚ z{|  ن 312Ô# $ rÑ x  l ;  9† 3 89 Ã] Ä©¸ )* + , - . ä89M  vw  È12‘ Ê f ˸  È )   12  ê ;š 46† 3123 ،ä89 cŽ~ MŸ  456 j k )  L % & ¢¦—˜ [¬? ´ «G c ƒ—˜ % ¯A  MQƒ„“ M  è  d† 3123 :ä8912’† 3 ä89  P123 ،456j k123 i Ӝ„ ï‰ % &  '† 3 [ P  NO [Š‹9#&89123 ‚ @?@/ l ; ނ®nª L€ ;   12‘Ç )  % & '£9#&89 j k i L   L á *† 3123 i @ª ހ ; Lš LŠ‹9| F  G 3 M  f Ç L 123 ) NO [ 46‰  c#³~ #  «Gc T› ôŠ£Õ¶©· L‚ Ì ‫؟‬P , F \89‰ % &  '( F6NO [ á Ç ´|M  *† 3 M   ÇPcƒ„“Ç J K# $ 1† 3 [ P123  - áO    M  èž89‰ ފ‹ [ 9#  :²F6NO Î' L# *† 3 Þ B   A  Þ ]€ ; 123A i  #œ—˜ z ~ [ J K $ [ (  )  M  L‰ B   '† 3 L´€²‚ U " ±²‚ U )* + , - .  %  /‰ iŠ‹ [  9j k L   @}~123 i  j k# [³~ L‚ x * + , - . L P  @}~  iNO12 Ô [  ɲ ´ L V [ M  :²123 % ¯) Aë̈ Å B L F \89‰ Þ  L u‰ Þ 46-  Ç ! "  *† 3 ä89cT )    ñ=† 3 NO123 %  12 [‘¤ f [´é› L  † 3 46† 3123 Š•12?O ٣،٢،١٢ ١٩٩ 199 Paradise (II) Years upon years went by, emaciating her; then came one year of plenty that reinvigorated people.” ButḤumaydsays,“Ihavebecomequiteobliviousofanyrhymeletter,whether d or m. I am too busy dallying with the black-eyed plump-legged damsels!” “Can one then renounce,” says the Sheikh, “this poem, in which you also say: An ill-tempered woman, who has still some strength; her master is a man of diligence and good advice. Whenever he calls: ‘O noble creatures!’ milk-rich camels come without a driver leading them. And then she brought a vessel to a filthy ‘watering place,’ and her hands made the udder’s milk ducts sprinkle into it.437 “In this poem there is a scene that al-Quṭāmī, I think, has taken over from you; or possibly he got to it before you, because you and he were contemporaries .438 It is where you...