Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (4/5)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

VOLUME FOUR

1 – The Mad Lover, Qays ibn al-Mulawwah al-ʿĀmirī*

Others say: he was the son of Muʿādh.
Still others claim his given name was Bakhtari ibn al-Jaʿd, and there are yet more opinions.
He is said to have belonged to the clan of Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa; another view makes him of Banū Kaʿb ibn Saʿd. Love for Laylā bint Mahdī al-ʿĀmiriyya was the death of him.

We have received his tales through the compilation of Ibn al-Marzubān (1).

Some deny both Laylā and the Mad Lover altogether; this is a mere knee-jerk dismissal. One who lacks knowledge is no proof against the one who possesses it, and an affirmative report is not automatically equal to a negative one. Yet if the affirming side is recounting what borders on a legend, and the negator’s purpose is not to repel the truth, then here the negator is to be preferred. In such cases obstinate wrangling arises and tears are shed.

It is said that the Mad Lover became attached to Laylā in childhood; the two of them used to pasture the lambs together (2).

Do you not hear his words—and how powerful his poetry is:

(*) His biography is recorded in: al-Shiʿr wa-l-Shuʿarāʾ, p. 467; al-Aghānī, 2/1; al-Muʾtalif wa-l-Mukhtalif, p. 188; Nashwār al-Muḥāḍara, 5/102; Simṭ al-Laʾālī, p. 350; Tārīkh al-Islām, 3/64; Fawāt al-Wafayāt, 2/136; Sarḥ al-ʿUyūn, p. 195; Sharḥ al-Shawāhid, p. 238; al-Nujūm al-Zāhira, 1/170; Tazyīn al-Aswāq, 1/97; Shadharāt al-Dhahab, 1/277; Khizānat al-Adab (al-Baghdādī), 2/170. (1) Tārīkh al-Islām reports: “We heard his accounts in a treatise compiled by Ibn al-Marzubān.” Ibn al-Marzubān was a historian and man of letters; among his many works are al-Shuʿarāʾ (The Poets), al-Nisāʾ (Women), and al-Ghazal (Love Poetry). (2) al-Buhum is the plural of bahma and denotes a lamb, whether male or female alike.

الْجُزْءُ الْرَّابِعُ ١ - المَجْنُوْنُ قَيْسُ بنُ المُلَوِّحِ العَامِرِيُّ * وَقِيْلَ: ابْنُ مُعَاذٍ. وَقِيْلَ: اسْمُهُ: بَخْتَرِيُّ بنُ الجَعْدِ، وَقِيْلَ غَيْرُ ذَلِكَ. مِنْ بَنِي عَامِرِ بنِ صَعْصَعَةَ. وَقِيْلَ: مِنْ بَنِي كَعْبِ بنِ سَعْدٍ؛ الَّذِي قَتَلَهُ الحُبُّ فِي لَيْلَى بِنْتِ مَهْدِيٍّ العَامِرِيَّةِ. سَمِعْنَا أَخْبَارَهُ تَأْلِيْفَ ابْنِ المَرْزُبَانِ (١) . وَقَدْ أَنْكَرَ بَعْضُهُمْ لَيْلَى وَالمَجْنُوْنَ، وَهَذَا دَفْعٌ بِالصَّدْرِ، فَمَا مَنْ لَمْ يَعْلَمْ حُجَّةٌ عَلَى مَنْ عِنْدَهُ عِلْمٌ، وَلاَ المُثْبِتُ كَالنَّافِي، لَكِنْ إِذَا كَانَ المُثْبِتُ لِشَيْءٍ شِبْهَ خُرَافَةٍ، وَالنَّافِي لَيْسَ غَرَضُهُ دَفْعُ الحَقِّ، فَهُنَا النَّافِي مُقَدَّمٌ، وَهُنَا تَقَعُ المُكَابَرَةُ وَتُسْكَبُ العَبْرَةُ. فَقِيْلَ: إِنَّ المَجْنُوْنَ عَلِقَ لَيْلَى عَلاَقَةَ الصِّبَا، وَكَانَا يَرْعَيَانِ البَهْمَ (٢) . أَلاَ تَسْمَعُ قَوْلَهُ، وَمَا أَفْحَلَ شِعْرَهُ:

(*) ترجمته في: الشعر والشعراء ٤٦٧، الاغاني ٢ / ١، المؤتلف والمختلف ١٨٨، نشوار المحاضرة ٥ / ١٠٢، سمط اللآلي ٣٥٠، تاريخ الإسلام ٣ / ٦٤، فوات الوفيات ٢ / ١٣٦، سرح العيون ١٩٥، شرح الشواهد ٢٣٨، النجوم الزاهرة ١ / ١٧٠، تزيين الاسواق ١ / ٩٧، شذرات الذهب ١ / ٢٧٧، خزانة الأدب للبغدادي ٢ / ١٧٠. (١) في تاريخ الإسلام للمؤلف: " سمعنا أخباره في جزء ألفه ابن المرزبان " وابن المرزبان مؤرخ، عالم بالادب، له تصانيف كثيرة منها: الشعراء، النساء والغزل. (٢) البهم: جمع بهمة، وهو الصغير من الضأن، الذكر والانثى في ذلك سواء.