Abu al-Fahm ibn Ahmad al-Sulami recited to us; Ibn Qudamah recited to us; Ibn al-Baṭṭī recited to us; Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥumaydī recited to us; and Abu Muhammad ʿAlī ibn Ahmad—his own composition—recited (1):
“Do not gloat over me, O you who envy me, should a calamity befall; for Time never leaves anyone in a single state (2).
The man of virtue is like refined gold: at one moment lying hidden beneath the ashes (3), at another set atop the diadem of a king (4).”
His verse, as you can see, is masterful, and he used to compose extemporaneously. Among his poetry are these lines:
“I am the sun that illumines the firmament of the sciences (5), yet my flaw is that my rising-place is the West.
Had I appeared from the East, those who plunder fame would have hastened to reclaim what was lost of my renown (6).
For the regions of Iraq I feel a deep longing (7); it is no wonder that a passionate lover should feel estranged.
If the All-Merciful causes me to pitch my tent among them, then regret and grief will at once become manifest (8).”
(1) The two lines are also recorded in: Ibn Hazm, Jadwat al-Muqtabis, p. 310; Ibn Juzayy, Matmah al-Anfus, part 2, p. 357 (al-Mawrid review edition); Ibn Bassam, al-Dhakhira, vol. 1/1, p. 174; Yaqut, Muʿjam al-Udaba, 12/245; and al-Maqarri, Nafh al-Tib, 2/82.
(2) Matmah al-Anfus, al-Dhakhira and Nafh al-Tib read: la yashmatan (let him not gloat).
(3) al-Mayfaʿa means “a rise of land.” The base manuscript vocalises the first consonant with a kasra, which is incorrect. In Jadwat al-Muqtabis and al-Dhakhira it is further corrupted to ma…qaʿa, and in Matmah al-Anfus to mubqaʿa.
(4) Matmah al-Anfus gives the line as: “The man of merit is sometimes found beneath a barren plot, / and sometimes appears as a crown upon a king.” Muʿjam al-Udaba agrees in the second hemistich. In Nafh al-Tib the verse reads: “Merit is like pure gold that may lie beneath a heap of dust at one time, and at another be seen as a crown upon a king.”
(5) Muʿjam al-Udaba 12/254 has al-samaʾ (the sky) instead of al-ʿulum (the sciences).
(6) Al-Maghrib (lexicon) records the wording: “I lament whatever of my knowledge has been plundered.”
(7) Nafh al-Tib has afaq (horizons); in Jadwat al-Muqtabis the word aknaf (regions) is misprinted as aktaf.
(8) After this verse, Jadwat al-Muqtabis, al-Dhakhira, al-Bughya, Nafh al-Tib and Muʿjam al-Udaba 12/255 add: “How many a speaker I ignored while he was present, and I went searching for what the books would later bring me.”