(CALLED "OF SAN'A")[15]
Al Harith, son of Hammam, related: When I mounted the hump of exile,
and misery removed me from my fellows, the shocks of the time cast me
to San'a of Yemen. And I entered it with wallets empty, manifest in my
need; I had not a meal; I found not in my sack a mouthful. Then began
I to traverse its ways like one crazed, and to roam in its depths as
roams the thirsting bird. And wherever ranged my glances, wherever
ran my goings at morn or even, I sought some generous man before whom
I might fray the tissue of my countenance, to whom I might be open
concerning my need; or one well bred, whose aspect might dispel my
pain, whose anecdote might relieve my thirsting. Until the close of my
circuit brought me, and the overture of courtesy guided me, to a wide
place of concourse, in which was a throng and a wailing. Then I entered
the thicket of the crowd to explore what was drawing forth tears. And
I saw in the middle of the ring a person slender of make; upon him was
the equipment of pilgrimage, and he had the voice of lamentation. And
he was studding cadences with the jewels of his wording, and striking
hearings with the reproofs of his admonition. And now the medley of
the crowds had surrounded him, as the halo surrounds the moon, or the
shell the fruit. So I crept toward him, that I might catch of his
profitable sayings, and gather up of his gems. And I heard him say, as
he coursed along in his career, and the throat of his improvisation
made utterance:
O thou reckless in petulance, trailing the garment of vanity! O thou
headstrong in follies, turning aside to idle tales! How long wilt thou
persevere in thine error, and eat sweetly of the pasture of thy wrong?
How far wilt thou be extreme in thy pride, and not abstain from thy
wantonness? Thou provokest by thy rebellion the Master of thy forelock;
in the foulness of thy behaving thou goest boldly against the Knower
of thy secret. Thou hidest thyself from thy neighbor, but thou art
in the sight of thy Watcher; thou concealest from thy slave, but no
hidden thing is hidden from thy Ruler. Thinkest thou that thy state
will profit thee when thy departure draweth near? or that thy wealth
will deliver thee when thy deeds destroy thee? or that thy repentance
will suffice for thee when thy foot slippeth? or that thy kindred will
lean to thee in the day that thy judgment-place gathereth thee? How is
it thou hast not walked in the high-road of guidance, and hastened the
treatment of thy disease, and blunted the edge of thine iniquity, and
restrained thyself—thy chief enemy? Is not death thy doom? What then is
thy preparation? Is not gray hair thy warning? What then is thy excuse?
And in the grave's niche thy sleeping-place? What dost thou say? And
to God thy going? and who shall be thy defender? Oft hath the time
awakened thee, but thou hast set thyself to slumber; and admonition
hath drawn thee, but thou hast strained against it; and warnings have
been manifest to thee, but thou hast made thyself blind; and truth hath
been established to thee, but thou hast disputed it; and death hath bid
thee remember, but thou hast sought to forget; and it hath been in thy
power to impart of good, but thou hast not imparted. Thou preferrest
money which thou mayest hoard before piety which thou mayest keep in
mind: thou choosest a castle thou mayest rear rather than bounty thou
mayest confer. Thou inclinest from the guide from whom thou mightest
get guidance, to the pelf thou mayest gain as a gift; thou lettest
the love of the raiment thou covetest overcome the recompense thou
mightest earn. The rubies of gifts cling to thy heart more than the
seasons of prayer; and the heightening of dowries is preferred with
thee to continuance in almsgivings. The dishes of many meats are more
desired to thee than the leaves of doctrines; the jesting of comrades
is more cheerful to thee than the reading of the Koran. Thou commandest
to righteousness, but violatest its sanctuary; thou forbiddest from
deceit, but refrainest not thyself: thou turnest men from oppression,
and then thou drawest near to it; thou fearest mankind, but God is more
worthy that thou shouldest fear him. Then he recited:
Woe to him who seeks the world, and turns to it his careering:
And recovers not from his greediness for it, and the excess of his
love.
Oh, if he were wise, but a drop of what he seeks would content him.
Then he laid his dust, and let his spittle subside; and put his bottle
on his arm, and his staff under his armpit. And when the company gazed
on his uprising, and saw that he equipped himself to move away from
the midst, each of them put his hand into his bosom, and filled for
him a bucket from his stream: and said, "Use this for thy spending,
or divide it among thy friends." And he received it with half-closed
eyes, and turned away from them, giving thanks; and began to take
leave of whoever would escort him, that his road might be hidden from
them; and to dismiss whoever would follow him, that his dwelling might
be unknown. Said Al Harith, son of Hammam: Now I went after him,
concealing from him my person; and followed on his track from where
he could not see me; until he came to a cave, and slipped into it
suddenly. So I waited for him till he put off his sandals and washed
his feet, and then I ran in upon him; and found him sitting opposite an
attendant, at some white bread and a roast kid, and over against them
was a jar of date-wine. And I said to him, "Sirrah, was that thy story,
and is this thy reality? "But he puffed the puff of heat and went near
to burst with rage; and ceased not to stare at me till I thought he
would leap upon me. But when his fire was allayed, and his flame hid
itself, he recited:
I don the black robe to seek my meal, and I fix my hook in the hardest
prey:
And of my preaching I make a noose, and steal with it against the
chaser and the chased.
Fortune has forced me to make way even to the lion of the thicket by
the subtlety of my beguiling.
Yet do I not fear its change, nor does my loin quiver at it:
Nor does a covetous mind lead me to water at any well that will soil
my honor.
Now if Fortune were just in its decree it would not empower the
worthless with authority.
Then he said to me, "Come and eat; or, if thou wilt, rise and tell."
But I turned to his attendant, and said, "I conjure thee, by him
through whom harm is deprecated, that thou tell me who is this." He
said, "This is Abu Zayd, of Seruj, the light of foreigners, the crown
of the learned." Then I turned back to whence I came, and was extreme
in wonder at what I saw.