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٣٢٥ 325 Notes 1 The English-language synopses have been supplied by the editor-translators and are not part of the original Arabic text. 2 Reading (with Kurd ʿAlī and Dechico) qibalahu instead of Bint al-Shāṭiʾ’s qablahu. 3 The author uses, in what seems a rather unscientific fashion, four technical terms: ustuquṣṣāt (derived from Greek στοιχεῖα), ʿanāṣir, arkān, and jawāhir. Professor HansHinrich Biesterfeld (Bochum), in a private communication to the translators, characterized this passage as “terminologisches Geklingel” (“terminological jingling”). 4 Reading aḥmada (with Kurd ʿAlī and Dechico) instead of Bint al-Shāṭiʾ’s uḥmida. 5 A play on words: ṭabʿ means both “imprint, seal” and “natural talent.” 6 This and the following two poetic quotations are printed as prose in all editions and translations; it is a hemistich (minus the first word) by al-Mutanabbī; see Dīwān, p. 253. 7 Another hemistich by al-Mutanabbī; Dīwān, p. 494. 8 A verse by al-Ṣanawbarī (d. 334/945); Dīwān, p. 414. 9 Literally, “from his (own) skull, or brain.” 10 The sense is not wholly clear and the translation uncertain. 11 Q Qamar 54:29, on the man from the people of ʿĀd who killed the God-sent camel. 12 Or “who wallows in the dust.” 13 From a famous poem by the pre-Islamic poet al-Aʿshā. 14 Ample hips and buttocks are regularly compared to a sand dune. The syntax is not wholly clear. 15 Reading murratan (Dechico), “bitter,” instead of marratan, is less likely, despite the parallel with taṭību. 16 There is a lacuna in the text here, found in all manuscripts, and al-Maʿarrī received the epistle with the same lacuna, for in the second part of Risālat al-Ghufrān he notes that “in the section where he mentions al-Khalīl the name of the extolled person—me— ٣٢٦ 326 Notes is lacking.” Apparently, Ibn al-Qāriḥ arrives at a gathering where someone speaks; the subject of “and [someone] said” is unknown. 17 Taṣḥīf, a common kind of mistake in Arabic, is to err in assigning the proper dots that distinguish different consonants (such as r/z, ḥ/j/kh, b/n/t/th/y); for two examples, see below, Ibn al-Qāriḥ §3.6.1. 18 Bint al-Shāṭiʾ thinks that something may be missing here, because the connection with the following is somewhat tenuous. Ibn al-Qāriḥ picks up the theme of “belittling” (taṣghīr) again, a term also used for the diminutive. 19 For the hemistich see his Dīwān, p. 298. 20 Echoing the saying of the pious ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh (d. 97/716), when blamed for making verse: “He who suffers from phthisis must needs expectorate” (see, e.g., al-Jāḥiẓ, Bayān, i, 357, ii, 97, iv, 46; see also below, IQ §3.13). 21 Q Nisāʾ 4:143. The odd phrase «between this» is explained as “between belief and unbelief.” 22 Identified by Bint al-Shāṭiʾ as Abū l-Ḥasan Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Quṭrabbulī, mentioned in Ibn al-Nadīm, al-Fihrist, which was composed in 377/987–88. 23 Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Ibn Abī l-Azhar (d. after 313/925), also mentioned in al-Fihrist. Nothing is known about a book written by him and al-Quṭrabbulī. 24 The sources do not confirm the historicity of the following encounter. See Heinrichs, “The Meaning of Mutanabbī.” 25 Since the names Aḥmad and Muḥammad are similar in sense (“most praiseworthy”), and the Prophet Muḥammad is sometimes called Aḥmad, al-Mutanabbī, saying this, seems to identify himself with the Prophet. 26 The Prophet Muḥammad is said to have had a mark (called “the seal of prophethood”) between his shoulder blades. 27 i.e., the reproachful reminder of gifts. 28 The poet complains to Sayf al-Dawlah, reproaching him for being angry after his former generosity. 29 Zanādiqah, pl. of zindīq: someone professing Islam but having heretical (often Manichaean ) beliefs. 30 Mulḥidīn, a somewhat vague term for heretics, atheists, and all those who deviate from orthodoxy (the technical term for an apostate from Islam is murtadd). 31 A hemistich by Abū Nuwās, see Abū Nuwās, Dīwān, i, 210 and v, 463. 32 He is Bashshār’s rival, the...

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