Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (10/198)

He was about to hand her over to him, but she became distraught, begged to be excused, and said, “Will you give me to a commoner, ugly to look at?” So he compensated him with gold (1).

Abu al-ʿAtahiyah also said of ʿUmar ibn al-ʿAlāʾ:

I have felt secure from Time and all its fickle turns (2)
since I fastened myself to the cords of the Emir’s favour.
If people could, out of reverence for him,
they would make their very cheeks his sandals (3).
The mounts complain of you, for they have crossed
trackless wastes and rolling sands to reach you;
When they arrive with us, they come lightly laden,
but when they depart with us, they go away weighed down (4).

Thereupon the Emir clothed him in a robe of honour and gave him seventy thousand.

Indeed, the life of Abu al-ʿAtahiyah is worthy of being gathered into separate volumes.

(1) For the complete account, see al-Kamil by al-Mubarrad, 2/302; Wafayat al-Ayan, 1/219-220; the two verses are reproduced in his Diwan, p. 668; his encounter with Utbah is recorded in Tarikh Baghdad, 6/254. (2) The Diwan reads: “wa-raybah” (and doubt). (3) Variant in the Diwan: “If people could, out of reverence for him, they would make the very scorch of their faces his sandals.” (4) Variant in the Diwan: “When they come with us, they arrive swift and light; when they return with us, they go back heavy and slow.” See also the qasidah in praise of Umar ibn al-Ala, Diwan, pp. 603-606.

فَهَمَّ بِدَفْعِهَا إِلَيْهِ، فَجَزِعَتْ، وَاسْتَعْفَتْ، وَقَالَتْ: أَتَدْفَعُنِي إِلَى سُوْقَةٍ، قَبِيْحِ المَنْظَرِ؟ فَعَوَّضَهُ بِذَهَبٍ (١) . وَلهُ فِي عُمَرَ بنِ العَلاَءِ: إِنِّيْ أَمِنْتُ مِنَ الزَّمَانِ وَصَرْفِهِ (٢) ... لَمَّا عَلِقْتُ مِنَ الأَمِيْرِ حِبَالاَ لَوْ يَسْتَطيعُ النَّاسُ مِنْ إِجْلاَلِهِ ... تَخِذُوا لَهُ حُرَّ الخُدُوْدِ نِعَالاَ (٣) إِنَّ المطَايَا تَشْتَكِيكَ لأَنَّهَا ... قَطَعَتْ إِلَيْكَ سَبَاسِباً وَرِمَالاَ فَإِذَا وَرَدْنَ بِنَا، وَرَدْنَ خَفَائِفاً ... وَإِذَا صَدَرْنَ بِنَا، صَدَرْنَ ثِقَالاَ (٤) فَخَلَعَ عَلَيْهِ، وَأَعْطَاهُ سَبْعِيْنَ أَلْفاً. وَتَحْتَمِلُ سِيْرَةُ أَبِي العتَاهيَةِ أَنْ تُعْمَلَ فِي كَرَارِيْسَ.

(١) انظر الخبر مفصلا في " الكامل " للمبرد ٢ / ٣٠٢، و" وفيات الأعيان " ١ / ٢١٩ - ٢٢٠، والبيتان في " ديوانه " ص ٦٦٨، وقصته مع عتبة في " تاريخ بغداد " ٦ / ٢٥٤. (٢) في الديوان: " وريبه ". (٣) رواية البيت في " الديوان ": لو يستطيع الناس من إجلاله * لحذوا له حر الوجوه نعالا (٤) رواية البيت في " الديوان ": فإذا أتين بنا أتين مخفة * وإذا رجعن بنا رجعن ثقالا وانظر قصيدته التي يمدح بها عمر بن العلاء في " ديوانه ": ٦٠٣ - ٦٠٦.