Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (19/288)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

My radiant grandsire Muʿāwiyah—an exalted root whose very clay gave shape to the Prophet—
I have bequeathed to him(1) a nobility whose beacon I myself set high; hence the sons of Umayyah pride themselves both in him and in me.(2)

ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad the ḥāfiẓ recited to me; Jaʿfar ibn ʿAlī related to us; al-Silafī transmitted that al-Abīwardī had composed for his own hand:
Whoever has seen those shapes of burnished gold, the bee’s honeycomb packed full of them,(3)
we gathered them into full moons and then cut them into slender crescents.

Al-Abīwardī died—poisoned—in Isfahān, in Rabīʿ al-Awwal of the year 507 AH, still in the strength of his prime.

The Chief Judge ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Aḥmad al-Thaqafī said: Al-Abīwardī recited to us:
Love has left of me nothing save a faint ember
to complain of longing—so take away the rest.
Shall the doctor who brought the sickness ever bring a cure?
Can one bewitched by the enchanter’s eye regain his senses?
If your glance has tasted the sweetness of your lips,
then what I have drunk is only the cupbearer’s doing.
May my life be your ransom from a tyrant endowed
with dominion over hearts and the submission of eyes.(4)

(1) The Diwan, Muʿjam al-Udabaʾ, and al-Subki’s Tabaqat read: “wa-warithtuhu” (and his heirs). (2) Diwan, 2:152; Muʿjam al-Udabaʾ, 17:262; Tabaqat al-Subki, 6:83. (3) Not found in the Diwan. (4) Muʿjam al-Udabaʾ, 17:241; absent from the Diwan. Abu al-Muzaffar has another remarkable ode in which he depicts the slaughter, captivity, displacement, humiliation, and degradation that befell the Muslims at the hands of the Crusaders, who had seized Jerusalem and other parts of greater Syria. He stirs the princes who had grown content with disgrace and negligent in defending their subjects, confronting the enemy, and reclaiming their usurped lands. He says: We mingled our blood with the flowing tears, so none of us was left a target for mercy. A man’s weapon is the tears he pours forth when war ignites its flames with flashing blades.

جَدِّي مُعَاوِيَةُ الأَغَرُّ سَمَتْ بِهِ ... جُرْثُوْمَةٌ مِنْ طِيْنِهَا خُلِقَ النَّبِي وَرّثتُه (١) شرفاً رَفَعْتُ مَنَارَه ... فَبَنُو أُمَيَّةَ يَفخرُوْنَ بِهِ وَبِي (٢) أَنشدنِي عَلِيُّ بنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الحَافِظُ، أَخْبَرَنَا جَعْفَرُ بنُ عَلِيٍّ، أَخْبَرَنَا السِّلَفِيُّ، أَنشدنَا الأَبِيوَرْدِيُّ لِنَفْسِهِ: مَنْ رَأَى أَشْبَاحَ تِبْرٍ ... حُشِيَتْ رِيقَةَ نَحْلَهْ (٣) فَجَمَعْنَاهَا بُدُوراً ... وَقَطَعْنَاهَا أَهِلَّهْ تُوُفِّيَ الأَبِيوَرْدِي: بِأَصْبَهَانَ مَسْمُوْماً، فِي رَبِيْعٍ الأَوَّلِ، سَنَةَ سَبْعٍ وَخَمْس مائَة كَهْلاً. قَالَ قَاضِي القُضَاة عبد الوَاحِد بن أَحْمَدَ الثَّقَفِيّ: أَنشدنَا الأَبِيوَرْدِي: لَمْ يُبْقِ مِنِّي الحُبُّ غَيْرَ حُشَاشَةٍ ... تَشْكُو الصَّبَابَةَ فَاذْهَبِي بِالبَاقِي أَيَبِلُّ مَنْ جَلَبَ السَّقَامَ طَبِيْبُهُ ... وَيَفِيْقُ مَنْ سَحَرَتْهُ عَيْنُ الرَّاقِي إِنْ كَانَ طَرْفُكِ ذَاقَ رِيْقَكَ فَالَّذِي ... أَلْقَى مِنَ المَسْقِيِّ فِعْلُ السَّاقِي نَفْسِي فِدَاؤُكَ مِنْ ظَلُوْمٍ أُعْطِيَتْ ... رِقَّ القُلُوبِ وَطَاعَةَ الأَحْدَاقِ (٤)

(١) في الديوان ومعجم الأدباء وطبقات السبكي: وورثته. (٢) ديوانه: ٢ / ١٥٢، ومعجم الأدباء: ١٧ / ٢٦٢، وطبقات السبكي: ٦ / ٨٣. (٣) لم ترد في ديوانه. (٤) معجم الأدباء: ١٧ / ٢٤١، ولم ترد في ديوانه. ولأبي المظفر قصيدة رائعة يصف فيها ما حل بالمسلمين من قتل وأسر وتشريد وذل وهوان على أيدي الصليبيين الذين احتلوا من بلاد لشام القدس وغيرها، ويستنهض همم الامراء الذين رضوا بالهوان، وتوانوا عن نصرة رعاياهم، ومنابذة عدوهم، واسترداد ما سلب من ديارهم يقول فيها: مزجنا دماء بالدموع السواجم * فلم يبق منا عرضة للمراحم وشرح سلاح المرء دمع يفيضه * إذا الحرب شبت نارها بالصوارم =