The Interpreter of Desires

1. Poem I

   ¶ 1⋯
   لَيْتَwould thatشِعْرِىmy knowing (idiom)هَلْwhether (interrogative)دَرَوْاthey know, are aware

   أَىَّwhich, what kind ofقَلْبٍheartمَلَكُواthey possessed, took
   الرَّمَلal-ramal (shortened, majzūʾ)›–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ

   Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

   وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

   It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

   Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

   Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

   Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

   Would that I knew — do they know what heart it is they have made their own?

   ✦AI

   Would that I were aware whether they knew what heart they possessed!

   Commentary: ‘They,’ i.e. the Divine Ideas (المناظر العُلَى), of which the hearts (of gnostics) are passionately enamoured, and by which the spirits are distraught, and for whose sake the godly workers (العمّال الالاهيون) perform their works of devotion. ‘What heart’: he refers to the perfect Muḥammadan heart, because it is not limited by stations (المقامات). Nevertheless, it is possessed by the Divine Ideas, for they seek it and it seeks them. They cannot know that they possess it, for they belong to its essence, inasmuch as it beholds in them nothing except its own nature.

   R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 48

   Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 1 differ✦AI
2. ¶ 2⋯
   وَفُؤَادِىand my heart (fuʾād)لَوْif only / would thatدَرَىit knew

   أَىَّwhichشِعْبٍmountain pass, ravineسَلَكُواthey took, traveled
   الرَّمَلal-ramal (shortened, majzūʾ)›∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ

   Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

   وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

   It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

   Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

   Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

   Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

   And my heart — would that it knew which mountain pass they have taken!

   ✦AI

   And would that my heart knew what mountain-pass they threaded!

   Commentary: ‘What mountain-pass they threaded,’ i.e. what gnostic’s heart they entered when they vanished from mine. ‘Mountain-pass’ signifies a ‘station’ (مقام), which is fixed, in contrast to a ‘state’ (حال), which is fleeting.

   R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 48

   Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
3. ¶ 3⋯
   أَتَرَاهُمْdo you suppose themسَلِمُواthey came through safe

   أَمْor (in the alternative)تَرَاهُمْdo you suppose themهَلَكُواthey perished
   الرَّمَلal-ramal (shortened, majzūʾ)›∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ

   Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

   وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

   It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

   Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

   Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

   Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

   Do you suppose they have come through safe, or do you suppose they have perished?

   ✦AI

   Dost thou deem them safe or dost thou deem them dead?

   Commentary: The Divine Ideas, quâ Ideas, exist only in the existence of the seer; they are ‘dead’ in so far as the seer is non-existent.

   R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 48

   Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
4. ¶ 4⋯
   حَارَwere bewildered, perplexedأَرْبَابُmasters, adepts (of)ٱلْهَوَىlove-desire

   فِىinٱلْهَوَىlove-desire (itself)وَٱرْتَبَكُواand became entangled, confused
   الرَّمَلal-ramal (shortened, majzūʾ)›–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ

   Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

   وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

   It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

   Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

   Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

   Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

   The masters of love-desire are bewildered in love-desire, and they are thrown into confusion.

   ✦AI

   Lovers lose their way in love and become entangled.

   Commentary: Lovers are perplexed between two opposite things, for the lover wishes to be in accord with the Beloved and also wishes to be united with Him, so that if the Beloved wishes to be separated from the lover, the lover is in a dilemma.

   R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 48

   Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI

5. Poem II

   ¶ 5⋯
   مَاnot (negation)رَحَّلُواthey saddled for departureيَوْمَon the dayبَانُواthey parted, departedٱلْبُزَّلَfull-grown camelsٱلْعِيسَاwhite riding-camels

   إِلَّاexcept, withoutوَقَدْalready, havingحَمَلُواthey carried, loadedفِيهَاupon themٱلطَّوَاوِيسَاthe peacocks (the maidens)
   البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

   Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

   وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

   It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

   Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

   Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

   Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

   On the day they parted, they did not saddle the full-grown white camels for the journey without having set peacocks upon them.

   ✦AI

   On the day of parting they did not saddle the full-grown reddish-white camels until they had mounted the peacocks upon them,

   Commentary: ‘The full-grown camels,’ i.e. the actions inward and outward, for they exalt the good word to Him who is throned on high, as He hath said: ‘And the good deed exalts it’ (Kor. xxxv, 11). ‘The peacocks’ mounted on them are his loved ones: he likens them to peacocks because of their beauty. The peacocks are the spirits of those actions, for no action is acceptable or good or fair until it hath a spirit consisting in the intention or desire of its doer. He compares them to birds inasmuch as they are spiritual and also for the variety of their beauty.

   R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

   Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 3 differ✦AI
6. ¶ 6⋯
   مِنْfrom amongكُلِّeveryفَاتِكَةِslaying, deadlyٱلْأَلْحَاظِglances, sidelong looksمَالِكَةٍsovereign, possessing (hearts)

   تَخَالُهَاyou would imagine herفَوْقَupon, aboveعَرْشِthroneٱلدُّرِّof pearlبِلْقِيسَاBilqīs (queen of Sheba)
   البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

   Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

   وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

   It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

   Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

   Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

   Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

   Alludes to the Quran 27:23

   …from among every maiden whose glances slay, a sovereign lady whom you would take for Bilqīs upon her throne of pearl.

   ✦AI

   Peacocks with murderous glances and sovereign power: thou wouldst fancy that each of them was a Bilqís on her throne of pearls.

   Commentary: ‘With murderous glances and sovereign power’: he refers to the Divine wisdom (حكمة الاهية) which accrues to a man in his hours of solitude, and which assaults him with such violence that he is unable to behold his personality (فتكَتْه عن مشاهدة ذاته), and which exercises dominion over him. ‘A Bilqís on her throne of pearls’: he refers to that which was manifested to Gabriel and to the Prophet during his night journey upon the bed (رَفْرَف) of pearl and jacinth in the terrestrial heaven, when Gabriel alone swooned by reason of his knowledge of Him who manifested Himself on that occasion. The author calls the Divine wisdom ‘Bilqís’ on account of its being the child of theory, which is subtle, and practice, which is gross, just as Bilqís was both spirit and woman, since her father was of the Jinn and her mother was of mankind.

   R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

   Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 3 differ✦AI
7. ¶ 7⋯
   إِذَاwhen, wheneverتَمَشَّتْshe walks, strollsعَلَىuponصَرْحِpalace, lofty pavilionٱلزُّجَاجِof glassتَرَىyou see

   شَمْسًاa sunعَلَىuponفَلَكٍcelestial sphere, orbitفِىinحِجْرِlap, bosom, keepingإِدْرِيسَاIdrīs (Enoch)
   البَسِيطal-basīṭ›∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

   Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

   وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

   It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

   Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

   Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

   Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

   Alludes to the Quran 27:44

   Alludes to the Quran 19:57

   When she walks upon the palace of glass, you see a sun upon a celestial sphere, in the lap of Idrīs.

   ✦AI

   When she walks on the glass pavement[1] thou seest a sun on a celestial sphere in the bosom of Idrís.

   Commentary: The mention of Idrís alludes to her lofty and exalted rank. ‘In the bosom of Idrís,’ i.e. under his control, in respect of his turning her wheresoever he will, as the Prophet said: ‘Do not bestow wisdom on those who are unworthy of it, lest ye do it a wrong.’ The opposite case is that of one who speaks because he is dominated by his feeling (حال), and who is therefore under the control of an influence (وارد). In this verse the author calls attention to his puissance in virtue of a prophetic heritage (على تمكّنه ميراثًا نبويًّا), for the prophets are masters of their spiritual feelings (احوال), whereas most of the saints are mastered by them. The sun is joined to Idrís because the sun is his sphere, and the Divine wisdom is described as ‘walking’ (instead of ‘running’, etc.) because of her pride and haughtiness, and because she moves in the feelings of this heart and changes from one feeling to another with a sort of absolute power (بضربٍ من التمكّن).

   R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

   Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
8. ¶ 8⋯
   يُحْيِىrestores to lifeإِذَاwhen, wheneverقَتَلَتْshe slaysبِٱللَّحْظِwith the glanceمَنْطِقُهَاher speech

   كَأَنَّهَاas though sheعِنْدَat (the moment)مَاthat (when)تُحْيِىshe revivesبِهِby it (speech)عِيسَىJesus
   البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

   Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

   وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

   It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

   Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

   Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

   Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

   Alludes to the Quran 3:49

   When she slays with her glance, her speech restores to life, so that, in the moment she revives by it, she is like ʿĪsā (Jesus).

   ✦AI

   When she kills with her glances, her speech restores to life, as tho’ she, in giving life thereby, were Jesus.

   Commentary: ‘She kills with her glances’: referring to the station of passing away in contemplation (الفنآء فى المشاهدة). ‘Her speech restores to life’: referring to the completion of the moulding of man when the spirit was breathed into him. She is compared to Jesus in reference to Kor. xxxviii, 72, ‘And I breathed into him of My spirit,’ or Kor. xvi, 42, ‘That We say to it “Be”, and it is.’

   R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

   Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 1 differ✦AI
9. ¶ 9⋯
   تَوْرَاتُهَاher Torah (revealed law)لَوْحُtablet (of revelation)سَاقَيْهَاher two shinsسَنًاin radiance, gleamingوَأَنَاand I

   أَتْلُوrecite (scripture)وَأَدْرُسُهَاand study itكَأَنَّنِىas though I wereمُوسَىMoses
   البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

   Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

   وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

   It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

   Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

   Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

   Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

   Alludes to the Quran 27:44

   Alludes to the Quran 7:145

   Her Torah is the tablet of her two shins, in radiance, and I recite it and study it as though I were Moses.

   ✦AI

   The smooth surface of her legs is (like) the Tora in brightness, and I follow it and tread in its footsteps as tho’ I were Moses.

   Commentary: ‘Her legs’: referring to Bilqís and the glass pavement (Kor. xxvii, 44). ‘Is like the Tora in brightness,’ because the Tora (التوراة) is derived from the phrase وَرَى الزَّنْد, ‘the stick produced fire.’ The four faces (اوجه) of the Tora, namely, the four Books (the Koran, the Psalms, the Pentateuch, and the Gospel), correspond to the fourfold light mentioned in Kor. xxiv, 35 (المشكاة والمصباح والزجاجة والزيت).

   R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

   Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 3 differ✦AI
10. ¶ 10⋯
    أُسْقُفَّةٌbishopess, female prelateمِنْfrom, amongبَنَاتِdaughtersٱلرُّومِthe Rūm (Byzantines, Greeks)عَاطِلَةٌunadorned, without jewelry

    تَرَىyou seeعَلَيْهَاupon herمِنَof, consisting ofٱلْأَنْوَارِthe lightsنَامُوسَاlaw, revelation (nāmūs)
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    A bishopess from among the daughters of the Rūm (Byzantium), unadorned: you see upon her, made of lights, a nāmūs (a luminous law, a sign of revelation).

    ✦AI

    She is a bishopess, one of the daughters of Rome, unadorned: thou seest in her a radiant Goodness.[2]

    Commentary: ‘One of the daughters of Rome’: this wisdom, being of the race of Jesus (عيسويّة المَحْتِد), is described as belonging to the Roman Empire. ‘Unadorned,’ i.e. she is of the essence of unification (التوحيد) and without any vestige of adornment from the Divine Names, yet there shines from her the ‘radiance’ of Absolute Goodness, viz. the burning splendours (السُّبُحات المُحْرِقة) which, if God were to remove the veils of light and darkness, would consume the glories of His face (سُبُحات وجهه).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
11. ¶ 11⋯
    وَحْشِيَّةٌshy, wild (untamed)مَاnot (negation)بِهَاin herأُنْسٌfamiliarity, companionable easeقَدِindeed (perfective particle)ٱتَّخَذَتْshe has taken, adopted

    فِىinبَيْتِhouse, chamberخَلْوَتِهَاher solitary retreatلِلذِّكْرِfor remembrance (dhikr)نَاوُوسَاcell, sepulchre (Christian)
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Shy and wild, with no companionable ease in her, she has taken, in the house of her retreat, a cell (nāwūs) for remembrance.

    ✦AI

    Wild is she, none can make her his friend; she has gotten in her solitary chamber a mausoleum for remembrance.

    Commentary: ‘Wild is she, none can make her his friend,’ because contemplation of the Essence is a passing away (فنآء), in which, as as-Sayyárí[1] said, there is no pleasure. She is ‘wild’, inasmuch as noble souls desire to seize her, but she does not show friendship to them, because no relation exists between them and her. ‘In her solitary chamber,’ i.e. in the heart. Her solitude is her looking on herself, for God says, ‘Neither My earth nor My heaven contains Me, but I am contained by the heart of My servant who is a believer’; and since the heart which contains this essential wisdom of the race of Jesus is bare and empty of all attributes (فى مقام التجريد والتنزيه), it is like a desert and she is like a wild animal. Then he mentions the marble tomb of the Roman emperors, that such a mausoleum may remind her of death, which is the severance of union, and make her shun familiarity with the created world on account of this severance.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 3 differ✦AI
12. ¶ 12⋯
    قَدْindeed (emphatic perfect)أَعْجَزَتْhas baffled, left helplessكُلَّeveryعَلَّامٍmost-learned scholarبِمِلَّتِناof our religious community

    وَداوُدِيًّاand a follower of Davidوَحَبْرًاand a rabbiثُمَّand then, besidesقِسِّيسَاa (Christian) priest
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    She has left helpless every most-learned scholar of our faith, every follower of David, every rabbi, and every priest besides.

    ✦AI

    She has baffled everyone who is learned in our religion, every student of the Psalms of David, every Jewish doctor, and every Christian priest.

    Commentary: The four Books (the Koran, the Psalms, the Tora, and the Gospel) are here indicated by the mention of those who study and expound them. All the sciences comprised in the four Books point only to the Divine Names and are incapable of solving a question that concerns the Divine Essence.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
13. ¶ 13⋯
    إِنْif, wheneverأَوْمَأَتْshe beckons, signalsتَطْلُبُasking for, seekingٱلْإِنْجِيلَthe Gospel (Injīl)تَحْسَبُنَاyou would reckon us

    أَقِسَّةًpriests (pl. of qissīs)أَوْorبَطَارِيقًاpatricians (pl. of biṭrīq)شَمَامِيسَاdeacons (pl. of shammās)
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    If she beckons, asking for the Gospel, you would take us for priests, or patricians, or deacons.

    ✦AI

    If with a gesture she demands the Gospel, thou wouldst deem us to be priests and patriarchs and deacons.

    Commentary: If this spiritual being, forasmuch as she is of the race of Jesus, appeals to the Gospel by way of justifying it in anything which men’s thoughts have falsely imputed to it, we humble ourselves before her and serve her no less devotedly than do the heads of the Church, because of her majesty and sovereign might.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 3 differ✦AI
14. ¶ 14⋯
    عَبَّيْتُI marshalled, arrayedأَجْنَادَtroops, armiesصَبْرِىof my patienceيَوْمَon the dayبَيْنِهِمُof their parting

    عَلَىalong, uponٱلطَّرِيقِthe roadكَرَادِيسًاin squadrons (karādīs)كَرَادِيسَاsquadron upon squadron
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    On the day of their parting I marshalled the troops of my patience along the road, squadron upon squadron.

    ✦AI

    The day when they departed on the road, I prepared for war the armies of my patience, host after host.

    Commentary: ‘Upon the road,’ i.e. the spiritual ascension (المعراج الروحانى).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
15. ¶ 15⋯
    سَأَلْتُI asked, beggedإِذْwhen, at the momentبَلَغَتْhad reached, risen toنَفْسِىmy soul, my life-breathتَرَاقِيَهَاits collarbones (death-throes)

    ذَاكَthatٱلْجَمَالَbeauty (the beloved's)وَذَاكَand thatٱللُّطْفَgentleness, subtle kindnessتَنْفِيسًاrelief, a breathing-space
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Alludes to the Quran 75:26

    When my soul had risen to its collarbones, I asked that beauty and that gentleness for relief, for room to breathe.

    ✦AI

    When my soul reached the throat (i.e. when I was at the point of death), I besought that Beauty and that Grace to grant me relief,

    Commentary: ‘To grant me relief’: he means what the Prophet meant by his saying, ‘Lo, the breath of the Merciful comes to me from the quarter of al-Yaman.’ The writer begs that the world of breaths (عالم الانفاس) may continually be wafted from her to him along with the spiritual feelings (احوال). The Arabs refer to this in their poetry, for they speak of giving greetings and news to be delivered by the winds when they blow.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 1 differ✦AI
16. ¶ 16⋯
    فَأَسْلَمَتْshe submitted (to God)وَوَقَانَاand He shielded usٱللَّهُGodشِرَّتَهَاher fierceness, malice

    وَزَحْزَحَand thrust awayٱلْمَلِكُthe Kingٱلْمَنْصُورُthe victorious, divinely aidedإِبْلِيسَاIblīs (the devil)
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Alludes to the Quran 27:44

    Alludes to the Quran 3:185

    Then she submitted, and God shielded us from her fierceness, and the King, the one granted victory, thrust Iblīs far away.

    ✦AI

    And she yielded—may God preserve us from her evil, and may the victorious king repel Iblís!

    Commentary: ‘May God preserve us from her evil!’ He refers to the Tradition ‘I take refuge with Thee from Thyself’. ‘The victorious king,’ i.e. thoughts of knowledge and Divine guidance. ‘Iblís,’ i.e. the thought of becoming one with God (اتّحاد), for this is a hard station, and few who attain to it escape from the doctrines of اتّحاد and incarnation (حُلول). It is the station indicated in the Tradition ‘I am his ear and his eye’, etc.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 4 differ✦AI
17. ¶ 17⋯
    نَادَيْتُI called outإِذْwhen, at the momentرَحَلَتْset off, departedلِلْبَيْنِfor the partingنَاقَتُهَاher she-camel

    يَاO (vocative)حَادِىَdriver (singing camel-driver)ٱلْعِيسِof the white camelsلَاdo notتَحْدُوurge on with songبِهَاwith her, bearing herالْعِيسَاthe white camels
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    I called out, when her she-camel set off for the parting: 'O driver of the white camels, do not urge the white camels on with her!'

    ✦AI

    I exclaimed, when her she-camel set out to depart, ‘O driver of the reddish-white camels, do not drive them away with her!’

    Commentary: He says, ‘When this spiritual essence desired to quit this noble heart on account of its (the heart’s) return from the station denoted by the words, “I have an hour which I share with none save my Lord,” to the task imposed upon it of presiding over the phenomenal worlds, for which purpose its gaze is directed towards the Divine Names, the lofty aspiration (همّة) on which this spiritual essence was borne to the heart, took its departure.’ He calls this aspiration ‘her she-camel’, and the drivers of such aspirations are the angels who approach nearest to God (المقرّبون).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 49

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI

18. Poem III

    ¶ 18⋯
    خَلِيلَىَّmy two companions (dual)عُوجَاturn aside, halt (dual)بِالْكَثِيبِat al-Kathīb (the sand-dune)وَعَرِّجَاand bend your way (dual)

    عَلَىtoward, uponلَعْلَعٍLaʿlaʿ (place-name)وَٱطْلُبْand seek (singular)مِيَاهَthe waters ofيَلَمْلَمِYalamlam (mīqāt, place-name)
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    My two companions, turn aside at al-Kathīb, and wind your way up to Laʿlaʿ, and seek the waters of Yalamlam.

    ✦AI

    O my two friends, pass by al-Kathíb and turn towards La‘la‘ and seek the waters of Yalamlam,

    Commentary: ‘O my two friends,’ i.e. his reason and his faith. ‘Al-Kathíb,’ the place of contemplation. ‘La‘la‘,’ the place of bewilderment and amazement, that he may no more be conscious of love and longing. ‘The waters of Yalamlam,’ i.e. the fountain of life, since water is the source of every living thing.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 53

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 3 differ✦AI
19. ¶ 19⋯
    فَاِنَّfor indeedبِهَاin it (that place)مَنْthe one whoقَدْ(emphatic particle) alreadyعَلِمْتَyou have knownوَمَنْand those whoلَهُمْfor them, for their sake

    صِيَامِىmy fastingوَحَجِّىand my pilgrimage (ḥajj)وَٱعْتِمَارِىand my lesser pilgrimage (ʿumra)وَمَوْسِمِىand my festival season
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    For there dwells the one you know, and those for whose sake are my fasting, my pilgrimage, my lesser pilgrimage, and my festival season.

    ✦AI

    For there dwell those whom thou knowest and those to whom belong my fasting and my pilgrimage and my visit to the holy places and my festival.

    Commentary: ‘Thou knowest’: he addresses Faith, not Reason, for knowledge of the Essence and of its attributes is gained solely by means of Faith. ‘And those to whom belong,’ etc., i.e. the Divine attributes. ‘My fasting’: he means the quality of being independent of food (الصفة الصَّمَدانيّة), as God said, ‘Fasting belongs to Me,’ i.e. that quality cannot truly be predicated of a man; yet a man has some part in fasting, since it entails abstinence from food and nourishment. ‘My pilgrimage,’ i.e. a repeated turning towards this pure Essence for the sake of gaining a blessing at every moment from the Divine Names. This pilgrimage and visitation (اعتمار) is incessant, though a man is momently going from one Name to another. ‘My festival,’ referring to the concentration (جَمْع) of the mind when all mystical stations and Divine verities are united therein, just as all sorts and conditions of men assemble at Mecca for one purpose.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 53

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 4 differ✦AI
20. ¶ 20⋯
    فَلَاthen never (may I)أَنْسَshall I forgetيَوْمًاa dayبِٱلْمُحَصَّبِat al-Muḥaṣṣabمِنْof, belonging toمِنًىMinā (pilgrimage valley)

    وَبِٱلْمَنْحَرِand at al-Manḥarٱلْأَعْلَىthe upper, highestأُمُورًاmatters, eventsوَزَمْزَمِand Zamzam (well)
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Never shall I forget a day at al-Muḥaṣṣab (the pebble-strewn valley) of Minā, nor the things that passed at the upper al-Manḥar (the place of sacrifice) and at Zamzam (the sacred well).

    ✦AI

    Never let me forget at al-Muḥaṣṣab of Miná and at al-Manḥar al-A‘lá and Zamzam certain grave matters.

    Commentary: ‘Never let me forget’: he alludes to an occasion when he became invested with Divine qualities (تخلّقًا الاهيًّا) in the sense of the Tradition ‘I am his ear and his eye’, and he also calls attention to his having attained by Divine investiture the station which is described in the words ‘And thy Lord is not forgetful’ (Kor. xix, 65). ‘At al-Muḥaṣṣab,’ the place where the pebbles are cast. He refers to the verse ‘And remember God even as ye remember your fathers, or more reverently’ (Kor. ii, 196), i.e. in this place cast the memory of your fathers out of your hearts and mouths. ‘At al-Manḥar al-A‘lá,’ the place of (spiritual) sacrifice, as the poet says: ‘Thou offerest victims, but I offer my life-blood.’ ‘Zamzam’: he means the station of everlasting life.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 53

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
21. ¶ 21⋯
    مُحَصَّبُهُمْtheir Muḥaṣṣab (pebble-valley)قَلْبِىmy heartلِرَمْىِfor the castingجِمَارِهِمْtheir pebbles / Jamarāt

    وَمَنْحَرُهُمْand their place of sacrificeنَفْسِىmy soulوَمَشْرَبُهُمْand their watering-placeدَمِىmy blood
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    My heart is their Muḥaṣṣab, for the casting of their pebbles at the Jamarāt; my soul is their place of sacrifice (Manḥar), and my blood is their drinking-place.

    ✦AI

    Their Muḥaṣṣab is my heart, because of their casting the pebbles, and their place of sacrifice is my soul, and their well is my blood.

    Commentary: ‘Their Muḥaṣṣab’: ‘their’ refers to the Divine verities which descend upon the heart and cast out sensual and devilish thoughts. ‘Their place of sacrifice’: the story is well known of the youth who mentally offered himself at Miná when he saw the people offering sacrifice, and died on the spot.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 53

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
22. ¶ 22⋯
    فَيَاso, O (vocative)حَادِىَcamel-driver (who sings)ٱلْأَجْمَالِthe camelsإِنْifجِئْتَyou come toحَاجِرًاḤājir (place-name)

    فَقِفْthen haltبِٱلْمَطَايَاwith the mountsسَاعَةًa while, an hourثُمَّthenسَلِّمِgive greeting (salām)
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    O driver of the camels, if you come to Ḥājir, halt the mounts there a while, then give the greeting.

    ✦AI

    O camel-driver, if thou comest to Ḥájir, stop the beasts a little while and give a greeting,

    Commentary: ‘O camel-driver’: he addresses the Desire which drives his thoughts to the abode of those whom he loves. ‘Ḥájir’: ḥijr is the understanding, and the way (to God) is only through faith and contemplation, not through the understanding in respect of its power of reflection but in virtue of its cognition and belief. ‘Stop the beasts a little while,’ because when the lover first approaches the dwelling-place of his beloved he is dazed and dumbfounded and often swoons; consequently he is apt to break the rules of good manners in greeting her.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 53

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
23. ¶ 23⋯
    وَنادِand call out toٱلْقِبابَthe domed tentsٱلْحُمْرَthe red (ones)مِنْfrom, onجانِبِside, quarterٱلْحِمَىthe guarded ground

    تَحِيَّةَgreeting, salutationمُشْتاقٍone who yearnsإِلَيْكُمْtoward you (pl.)مُتَيَّمِlove-enslaved
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    And call out to the red domed tents on the side of the guarded ground (al-ḥimā) the greeting of one who yearns for you, love-enslaved.

    ✦AI

    And address to the red tents on the side of the guarded pasture the salutation of one who longs for you and is distraught.

    Commentary: ‘The red tents’: the Arabs deem red the most beautiful of all colours, and red tents are reserved for brides. ‘On the side of the guarded pasture,’ i.e. the tents are inaccessible except to those who have the right to approach them. He calls the tents qibáb (round tents or domes) because roundness is the first and best of shapes, and he says that the Divine Realities which he loves are in their original home, which is beside God, not beside any phenomenal object, for they belong to ‘the world of command’ (عالم الأَمْر).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 54

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 3 differ✦AI
24. ¶ 24⋯
    فَإِنْso ifسَلَّمُواthey return greetingفَٱهْدِthen convey, sendٱلسَّلَامَthe greeting (of peace)مَعَalong withٱلصَّبَاthe east wind

    وَإِنْand ifسَكَتُواthey stay silentفَٱرْحَلْthen set offبِهَاwith her (the mount)وَتَقَدَّمِand press on ahead
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    If they return the greeting, then send your greeting on with the east wind; and if they keep silent, then set off with her [your mount] and press on ahead.

    ✦AI

    And if they return thy greeting, once more let the East wind bring thy salaam to them; and if they are silent, journey on with thy camels and advance

    Commentary: ‘Let the East wind,’ etc.: he mentions the East wind particularly, because ṣabá signifies ‘inclination’ (mayl).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 54

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 1 differ✦AI
25. ¶ 25⋯
    إِلَىto, towardنَهْرِriver, canal (in Nahr ʿĪsā)عِيسَىʿĪsā (in place-name Nahr ʿĪsā)حَيْثُwhereحَلَّhalted, alighted, made campرِكَابُهُمْtheir riding-camels

    وَحَيْثُand whereٱلْخِيَامُthe tentsٱلْبِيضُwhiteمِنْon, fromجَانِبِside, flankٱلْفَمِal-Fam (place-name; lit. 'mouth')
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    …to Nahr ʿĪsā, where their riding-camels halted, and where the white tents stand on the side of al-Fam.

    ✦AI

    To the river of Jesus, where their riding-camels halted and where the white tents lie beside the river-mouth,

    Commentary: ‘To the river of Jesus,’ i.e. to the ample knowledge manifested in Jesus (العلم المتّسع العيسوىّ المَشْهَد). ‘The white tents’: white, because Jesus was born of a virgin. ‘Beside the river-mouth,’ i.e. this knowledge is approached by the way of Divine allocution and manifestation (من حيث اللسن والفهوانية).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 54

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
26. ¶ 26⋯
    وَنَادِand call out (to)بِدَعْدٍDaʿd (beloved's name)وَٱلرَّبَابِand al-Rabāb (woman's name)وَزَيْنَبٍand Zaynab (woman's name)

    وَهِنْدٍand Hind (woman's name)وَسَلْمَىand Salmā (woman's name)ثُمَّthen, nextلُبْنَىLubnā (woman's name)وَزَمْزَمِand Zamzam (the Meccan well)
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    And call out the names of Daʿd, al-Rabāb and Zaynab, of Hind and Salmā, then of Lubnā and Zamzam.

    ✦AI

    And call Da‘d and ar-Rabáb and Zaynab and Hind and Salmá and Lubná, and listen,

    Commentary: He says, ‘Call the names of these Divine Realities according to their difference, in order that whichever is yours may respond to you and that thus you may know what is your position in regard to them.’

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 54

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
27. ¶ 27⋯
    وَسَلْهُنَّand ask them (fem.)هَلْwhetherبِٱلْحَلْبَةِat al-Ḥalba (place-name)ٱلْغَادَةُthe supple young womanٱلَّتِىwho

    تُرِيكَshows youسَنَاthe gleam, radianceٱلْبَيْضَاءِthe white one (teeth/flash)عِنْدَat, uponٱلتَّبَسُّمِsmiling
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    And ask them whether at al-Ḥalba is the supple young woman who, when she smiles, shows you the gleam of the white one.

    ✦AI

    And ask them whether at al-Ḥalba is She, the limber one who shows thee the radiance of the sun when she smiles.

    Commentary: ‘Al-Ḥalba,’ a quarter of Baghdád. Ḥalba means ‘race-course’. The Divine Realities strive to outstrip one another in haste to reach the phenomena which display their traces and manifest their power. Hence he speaks of ‘the limber one’, i.e. inclining towards the phenomenal world. ‘The radiance of the sun’: formerly thou wert in a station of Jesus, but now thou art asking of a station of Idrís, lofty and polar (علوىّ قُطْبىّ), for to him belongs the fourth heaven. ‘When she smiles’: he indicates that this is the station of Expansion (مقام البَسْط) and that she is with him in joy and beauty (not in awe and majesty).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 54

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 3 differ✦AI

28. Poem IV

    ¶ 28⋯
    سَلَامٌ عَلَى سَلْمَى وَمَنْ حَلَّ بِٱلْحِمَى

    وَحَقَّ لِمِثْلِى رِقَّةً أَنْ يُسَلِّمَا
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Greeting to Salmá and to those who dwell in the preserve, for it behoves one who loves tenderly like me to give greeting.

    Commentary: ‘Salmá’: he alludes to a Solomonic ecstasy (حالة سليمانيّة), which descended upon him from the station of Solomon in virtue of a prophetic heritage. ‘In the preserve,’ i.e. an unattainable station, viz. prophecy, whereof the gate was closed by Muḥammad, the last of the prophets. Solomon’s experience of this Divine wisdom (حكمة) in so far as he was a prophet is different from his experience of it in so far as he was a saint, and we share it with him only in the latter case, since our experience of it is derived from the saintship which is the greatest circle (الدائرة العُظْمَى).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 56

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
29. ¶ 29⋯
    وَمَا ذَا عَلَيْهَا لَوْ تَرُدُّ تَحِيَّةً

    عَلَيْنَا وَلٰكِنْ لَا ٱحْتِكَامٌ عَلَى الدُّمَى
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    And what harm to her if she gave me a greeting in return? But fair women are subject to no authority.

    Commentary: God does nothing of necessity: whatever comes to us from Him is by His favour. The author indicates this Divine Solomonic apparition (nukta) by the term ‘marble statues’ (i.e. women fair as marble statues). He means that she does not answer by speech, for if she did so her speech would be other than her essence, whereas her essence is single, so that her advent is identical with her speech and with her visible presence and with her hearing; and in this respect all the Divine Realities and Attributes resemble her.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 57

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
30. ¶ 30⋯
    سَرَوْا وَظَلَامُ ٱللَّيْلِ أَرْخَى سُدُولَهُ

    فَقُلْتُ لَهَا صَبًّا غَرِيبًا مُتَيَّمًا
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Quotes a poetry: Imruʾ al-Qays, Muʿallaqa

    They journeyed when the darkness of night had let down its curtains, and I said to her, ‘Pity a passionate lover, outcast and distraught,

    Commentary: ‘They journeyed,’ etc.: the ascension of the prophets always took place during the night, because night is the time of mystery and concealment. ‘The darkness of night,’ i.e. the veil of the Unseen let down the curtains of gross corporeal existence, which is the night of this animal organism, throwing a shroud over the spiritual subtleties and noble sciences which it enshrines. These, however, are not to be reached except by journeying through bodily actions and sensual thoughts, and whilst a man is thus occupied the Divine wisdom goes away from his heart, so that on his return he finds her gone and follows her with his aspiration.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 57

    Synthesis of the readings · 5 agree · 3 differ✦AI
31. ¶ 31⋯
    أَحاطَتْ بِهِ ٱلْأَشْواقُ شَوْقًا وَأُرْصِدَتْ

    لَهُ راشِقاتُ ٱلنَّبْلِ أَيّانَ يَمَّما
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Whom desires eagerly encompass and at whom speeding arrows are aimed wheresoever he bends his course.’

    Commentary: ‘Speeding arrows’: he describes this celestial form as shooting his heart, wherever it turns, with the arrows of her glances, as God said, ‘Wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah’ (Kor. ii, 109).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 57

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
32. ¶ 32⋯
    فَأَبْدَتْ ثَنايَاهَا وَأَوْمَضَ بَارِقٌ

    فَلَمْ أَدْرِ مَنْ شَقَّ ٱلْحَنَادِسَ مِنْهُمَا
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    She displayed her front-teeth and a levin flashed, and I knew not which of the twain rent the gloom,

    Commentary: ‘She displayed her front-teeth,’ etc., i.e. this lover found his whole being illuminated, for ‘God is the light of the heavens and the earth’ (Kor. xxiv, 35), and the Prophet also said in his prayer, ‘O God, put a light into my ear and into my eye,’ and after mentioning the different members of his body he concluded, ‘and make the whole of me one light,’ viz. by the manifestation of Thy essence. Such a manifestation is compared to a flash of lightning on account of its not continuing. The author says that he did not know whether his being was illuminated by the manifestation proceeding from this Divine wisdom, which smiled upon him, or by a simultaneous manifestation of the Divine Essence.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 57

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
33. ¶ 33⋯
    وَقالَتْ أَمَا يَكْفِيهِ أَنِّى بِقَلْبِهِ

    يُشاهِدُنِى فِى كُلِّ وَقْتٍ أَمَا أَمَا
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    And she said, ‘Is it not enough for him that I am in his heart and that he beholds me at every moment? Is it not enough?’

    Commentary: ‘She said,’ etc., i.e. let him not seek me from without and let it satisfy him that I have descended into his heart, so that he beholds me in his essence and through his essence at every moment.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 57

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 1 differ✦AI

34. Poem V

    ¶ 34⋯
    أَنْجَدَ ٱلشَّوْقُ وَأَتْهَمَ ٱلْغُرَامْ

    فَأَنَا مَا بَيْنَ نَجْدٍ وَتِهَامْ
    الرَّمَلal-ramal›–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–∪فَعِلَاتُ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

    It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    My longing sought the Upland and my affliction the Lowland, so that I was between Najd and Tiháma.

    Commentary: ‘The Upland,’ referring to God on His throne.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 58

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 1 differ✦AI
35. ¶ 35⋯
    وَهُما ضِدّانِ لَنْ يَجْتَمِعا

    فَشَتاتِى ما لَهُ ٱلدَّهْرَ نِظامْ
    الرَّمَلal-ramal›∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

    It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    They are two contraries which cannot meet: hence my disunion will never be repaired.

    Commentary: ‘They are two contraries,’ etc.: he says, ‘Inasmuch as the spiritual element in man is always governing the body, it can never contemplate that which is uncomposed apart from its body and independently, as some Ṣúfís and philosophers and ignorant persons declare.’ Hence the writer says, ‘my disunion will never be repaired,’ i.e., ‘I cannot become united with Him who is pure and simple, and who resembles my essence and reality. Therefore longing is folly, for this station is unattainable, but longing is a necessary attribute of love, and accordingly I cease not from longing.’

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 58

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
36. ¶ 36⋯
    مَا صَنِيعِى مَا ٱحْتِيَالِى دُلَّنِى

    يَا عَذُولِى لَا تَرُعْنِى بِٱلْمَلَامْ
    الرَّمَلal-ramal›–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

    It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    What am I to do? What shall I devise? Guide me O my censor, do not affright me with blame!

    Commentary: ‘My censor,’ i.e. the blaming soul (النفس اللوّامة).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 58

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 1 differ✦AI
37. ¶ 37⋯
    زَفَراتٌ قَدْ تَعالَتْ صُعُدًا

    وَدُموعٌ فَوْقَ خَدَّىَّ سِجامْ
    الرَّمَلal-ramal›∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

    It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Sighs have risen aloft and tears are pouring over my cheeks.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 59

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 0 differ✦AI
38. ¶ 38⋯
    حَنَّتِ ٱلْعِيسُ إِلَى أَوْطَانِهَا

    مِنْ وَجَى ٱلسَّيْرِ حَنِينَ ٱلْمُسْتَهَامْ
    الرَّمَلal-ramal›–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

    It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    The camels, footsore from the journey, long for their homes and utter the plaintive cry of the frenzied lover.

    Commentary: ‘The camels,’ i.e. the actions or the lofty thoughts (الهِمَم)—since, in my opinion, such thoughts belong to the class of actions—on which the good words (الكَلِم الطيّب) mount to the throne of God. They ‘long for their homes’, i.e. for the Divine Names from which they proceeded and by which they are controlled.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 59

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 3 differ✦AI
39. ¶ 39⋯
    مَا حَيَاتِى بَعْدَهُمْ إِلَّا ٱلْفَنَا

    فَعَلَيْهَا وَعَلَى ٱلصَّبْرِ ٱلسَّلَامْ
    الرَّمَلal-ramal›–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ–∪––فَاعِلَاتُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ramal, “the trotting”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن فاعلاتن

    It has six feet: fāʿilātun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 937–938 (p. 106) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    After they have gone, my life is naught but annihilation. Farewell to it and to patience!

    Commentary: ‘My life is naught but annihilation’: he says, ‘When the lofty thoughts ascend to their goal I remain in the state of passing away from passing away (الفنآء عن الفنآء), for I have gained the life imperishable which is not followed by any opposite.’ Accordingly, he bids farewell to patience and to the mortal life, because he has quitted the sensible world.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 59

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 3 differ✦AI

40. Poem VI

    ¶ 40⋯
    بانَ ٱلْعَزَآءُ وَبانَ ٱلصَّبْرُ إِذْ بانُوا

    بانُوا وَهُمْ فِى سُوَيْدِ ٱلْقَلْبِ سُكَّانُ
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    When they departed, endurance and patience departed. They departed, although they were dwelling in the core of my heart.

    Commentary: ‘They departed,’ i.e. the Divine Ideas (المناظر الالاهيّة). ‘They were dwelling in the core of my heart’: the Divine Ideas have no relationship except with their object (المنظور اليه), which is God; and God dwells in the heart, according to the Tradition ‘Neither My earth nor My heaven contains Me, but I am contained in the heart of My servant who believes’. Since, however, no manifestation was vouchsafed to him at this moment, the Ideas, being objects of vision, disappeared, notwithstanding that God was in his heart.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 60

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
41. ¶ 41⋯
    سَأَلْتُهُمْ عَنْ مَقِيلِ ٱلرَّكْبِ قِيلَ لَنَا

    مَقِيلُهُمْ حَيْثُ فَاحَ ٱلشِّيحُ وَٱلْبَانُ
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    I asked them where the travellers rested at noon, and I was answered, ‘Their noonday resting-place is where the shíḥ and the bán trees diffuse a sweet scent.’

    Commentary: ‘I asked them,’ i.e. the gnostics and the real existences (حقايق) of the past Shaykhs who were my guides on the mystic Way. ‘Their noonday resting-place,’ etc., i.e. they reposed in every heart where the sighs (انفاس) of longing appeared, for shíḥ denotes inclination (mayl) and bán absence (bu‘d).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 60

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
42. ¶ 42⋯
    فَقُلْتُ لِلرِّيحِ سِيرِى وَٱلْحَقِى بِهِمِ

    فَإِنَّهُمْ عِنْدَ ظِلِّ ٱلْأَيْكِ قُطَّانُ
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Then I said to the wind, ‘Go and overtake them, for they are biding in the shade of the grove,

    Commentary: ‘I said to the wind,’ i.e. I sent a sigh of longing after them in the hope of causing them to return to me. ‘In the shade of the grove,’ i.e. amongst the arák trees, whereof the wood is used as a tooth-stick (سِواك). He refers to the Tradition ‘The use of the tooth-stick purifies the mouth and pleases the Lord’, i.e. the Divine Ideas are dwelling in the abode of purity.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 60

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
43. ¶ 43⋯
    وَبَلِّغِيهِمْ سَلامًا مِنْ أَخِى شَجَنٍ

    فِى قَلْبِهِ مِنْ فِراقِ ٱلْقَوْمِ أَشْجانُ
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    And bear to them a greeting from a sorrowful man in whose heart are sorrows because he is separated from his people.’

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 60

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 1 differ✦AI

44. Poem VII

    ¶ 44⋯
    وَزاحَمَنِى عِنْدَ ٱسْتِلامِى أَوانِسٌ

    أَتَيْنَ إِلى ٱلتَّطْوافِ مُعْتَجِراتِ
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪––فَعُولُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    As I kissed the Black Stone, friendly women thronged around me; they came to perform the circumambulation with veiled faces.

    Commentary: ‘As I kissed the Black Stone,’ i.e. when the Holy Hand (اليمين المقدّسة) was outstretched to me that I might take upon it the Divine oath of allegiance, referring to the verse ‘Those who swear fealty to thee swear fealty to God; the hand of God is over their hands’ (Kor. xlviii, 10). ‘Friendly women,’ i.e. the angels who go round the throne of God (Kor. xxxix, 75).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 61

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
45. ¶ 45⋯
    حَسَرْنَ عَنَ ٱنْوَارِ ٱلشُّمُوسِ وَقُلْنَ لِى

    تَوَرَّعْ فَمَوْتُ ٱلنَّفْسِ فِى ٱللَّحَظَاتِ
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪––فَعُولُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    They uncovered the (faces like) sunbeams and said to me, ‘Beware! for the death of the soul is in thy looking at us.

    Commentary: ‘The death of the soul,’ etc.: these spirits say, ‘Do not look at us, lest thou fall passionately in love with us. Thou wert created for God, not for us, and if thou wilt be veiled by us from Him, He will cause thee to pass away from thy existence through Him (افناك عن وجودك به), and thou wilt perish.’

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 61

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
46. ¶ 46⋯
    فَكَمْ قَدْ قَتَلْنا بِٱلْمُحَصَّبِ مِنْ مِنًى

    نُفُوسًا أَبِيّاتٍ لَدَى ٱلْجَمَراتِ
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪––فَعُولُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    How many aspiring souls have we killed already at al-Muḥaṣṣab of Miná, beside the pebble-heaps,

    Commentary: ‘Have we killed,’ i.e. spirits like unto us, for the above-mentioned angels who go round the Throne have no relationship except with pilgrims circumambulating the Ka‘ba.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 61

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
47. ¶ 47⋯
    وَفِى سَرْحَةِ ٱلْوَادِى وَأَعْلَامِ رَامَةٍ

    وَجَمْعٍ وَعِنْدَ ٱلنَّفْرِ مِنْ عَرَفَاتِ
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪––فَعُولُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    And in Sarḥat al-Wádí and the mountains of Ráma and Jam‘ and at the dispersion from ‘Arafát!

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 61

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
48. ¶ 48⋯
    أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱلْحُسْنَ يَسْلُبُ مَنْ لَهُ

    عَفَافٌ فَيُدْعَى سَالِبَ ٱلْحَسَنَاتِ
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪––فَعُولُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Quotes a quran formula: 22:18

    Dost not thou see that beauty robs him who hath modesty, and therefore it is called the robber of virtues?

    Commentary: ‘Beauty robs him who hath modesty,’ since the vision of Beauty enraptures whosoever beholds it. ‘The robber of virtues,’ i.e. it takes away all delight in the vision of beauty from him who acts at the bidding of the possessor of this beauty; and sometimes the beauteous one bids thee do that which stands between thee and glorious things, inasmuch as those things are gained by means of hateful actions: the Tradition declares that Paradise is encompassed by things which thou dislikest (مَكارِه).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 61

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
49. ¶ 49⋯
    فَمَوْعِدُنَا بَعْدَ ٱلطَّوَافِ بِزَمْزَمِ

    لَدَى ٱلْقُبَّةِ ٱلْوُسْطَى لَدَى ٱلصَّخَرَاتِ
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪––فَعُولُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Our trysting-place after the circumambulation is at Zamzam beside the midmost tent, beside the rocks.

    Commentary: ‘At Zamzam,’ i.e. in the station of the life which thou yearnest for. ‘Beside the midmost tent,’ i.e. the intermediate world (البَرْزَخ), which divides the spiritual from the corporeal world. ‘Beside the rocks,’ i.e. the sensible bodies in which the holy spiritual beings (المعانى القدسيّة) take their abode. He means that these spirits in these imaginary forms are metaphorical and transient, for they vanish from the dreamer as soon as he wakes and from the seer as soon as he returns to his senses. He warns thee not to be deceived by the manifestations of phenomenal beauty, inasmuch as all save God is unreal, i.e. not-being like unto thyself; therefore be His that He may be thine.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 61

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
50. ¶ 50⋯
    هُنَالِكَ مَنْ قَدْ شَفَّهُ ٱلْوَجْدُ يَشْتَفِى

    بِمَا شَاقَهُ مِنْ نِشْوَةٍ عَطِرَاتِ
    الطَّوِيلal-ṭawīl›∪–∪فَعُولُ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–––مَفَاعِيلُنْ∪–∪فَعُولُ∪––فَعُولُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    There everyone whom anguish hath emaciated is restored to health by the love-desire that perfumed women stir in him.

    Commentary: In the intermediate world (البَرْزَخ) whosoever loves these spiritual beings dwelling in sensible bodies derives refreshment from the world of breaths and scents (عالم الأَنفاس والروائح) because the spirit and the form are there united, so that the delight is double.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 61

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 3 differ✦AI
51. ¶ 51⋯
    إِذَا خِفْنَ أَسْدَلْنَ ٱلشُّعْورَ فَهُنَّ مِنْ

    غَدَايِرِهَا فِى أَلْحُفِ ٱلظُّلُمَاتِ
    Metre: not scanned›

    As vowelled here, this verse does not fit al-ṭawīl, the metre of the poem; it is left unscanned rather than forced. Fits al-ṭawīl if read al-shuʿūra (ٱلشُّعُورَ); the text has a sukūn on the ʿayn (ٱلشُّعْورَ). A likely slip in the transcription.

    Ibn Jinnī on al-ṭawīl, “the long”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعلن فعولن مفاعلين فعولن مفاعيلن

    It has eight feet: faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿilun, faʿūlun mafāʿīlun faʿūlun mafāʿīlun. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 75–76 (p. 59) ↗

    The digital text reads مفاعلين for مفاعيلن; quoted as it stands.

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    When they are afraid they let fall their hair, so that they are hidden by their tresses as it were by robes of darkness.’

    Commentary: When these phantoms are afraid that their absoluteness will be limited by their confinement in forms, they cause thee to perceive that they are a veil which hides something more subtle than what thou seest, and conceal themselves from thee and quit these forms and once more enjoy infinite freedom.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 61

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI

52. Poem VIII

    ¶ 52⋯
    دَرَسَتْ رُبُوعُهُمُ وَإِنَّ هَوَاهُمُ

    أَبَدًا جَدِيدٌ بِٱلْحَشَى لَا يَدْرُسُ
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Their abodes have become decayed, but desire of them is ever new in my heart and decayeth not.

    Commentary: ‘Their abodes have become decayed’: he says, ‘the places of austerities and mortifications, where the Divine Names made works (اعمال) their abode, have become decayed through age and loss of youthful strength.’ The word رُبُوع is used in reference to the springtide (رَبيع) of human life.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 63

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 1 differ✦AI
53. ¶ 53⋯
    هٰذِى طُلُولُهُمُ وَهٰذِى ٱلْأَدْمُعُ

    وَلِذِكْرِهِمْ أَبَدًا تَذُوبُ ٱلْأَنْفُسُ
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    These tears are shed over their ruined dwellings, but souls are ever melted at the memory of them.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 63

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 2 differ✦AI
54. ¶ 54⋯
    نَادَيْتُ خَلْفَ رِكَابِهِمْ مِنْ حُبِّهِمْ

    يَا مَنْ غِنَاهُ ٱلْحُسْنُ هَا أَنَا مُفْلِسُ
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Through love of them I called out behind their riding-camels, ‘O ye who are rich in beauty, here am I, a beggar!

    Commentary: ‘Behind their riding-camels,’ i.e. the powers of youth and the delights of the commencement (البداية).

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 63

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 3 differ✦AI
55. ¶ 55⋯
    مَرَّغْتُ خَدِّى رِقَّةً وَصَبَابَةً

    فَبِحَقِّ حَقِّ هَوَاكُمُ لَا تُؤْيِسُوا
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    I have rolled my cheek in the dust in tender and passionate affection: then, by the true love which I owe to you, do not make hopeless

    Commentary: ‘I have rolled my cheek in the dust,’ i.e. desiring to be united with you, for God says, ‘Seek access to Me by means of that which I have not,’ viz. abasement and indigence.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 63

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 1 differ✦AI
56. ¶ 56⋯
    مَنْ ظَلَّ فِى عَبَرَاتِهِ غَرِقًا وَفِى

    نَارِ ٱلْأَسَى حَرِقًا وَلَا مُتَنَفَّسُ
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    One who is drowned in his tears and burned in the fire of sorrow with no respite!’

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 63

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 1 differ✦AI
57. ¶ 57⋯
    يَا مُوقِدَ ٱلنَّارِ ٱلرُّوَيْدَا هٰذِهِ

    نَارُ ٱلصَّبَابَةِ شَأْنَكُمْ فَلْتَقْبِسُوا
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    O thou who wouldst kindle a fire, be not hasty! Here is the fire of passion. Go and take of it!

    Commentary: ‘Here is the fire of passion,’ i.e. in my heart.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 63

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 1 differ✦AI

58. Poem IX

    ¶ 58⋯
    لَمَعَتْ لَنا بِٱلْأَبْرَقَيْنِ بُرُوقُ

    قَصَفَتْ لَها بَيْنَ ٱلضُّلُوعِ رُعُودُ
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Flashes of lightning gleamed to us at al-Abraqán, and their peals of thunder crashed between the ribs.

    Commentary: ‘Al-Abraqán,’ i.e. two manifestations of the Essence, one in the unseen and one in the visible world. ‘Flashes of lightning,’ referring to the variety of forms in the latter manifestation. ‘Peals of thunder,’ i.e. the Divine converse (مُناجات) which followed the manifestation. This is a Mosaic ecstasy (حالة موسويّة), for Moses first saw the fire and afterwards heard God speak. The mention of thunder also signifies that God’s speech was a rebuke.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 63

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 4 differ✦AI
59. ¶ 59⋯
    وَهَمَتْ سَحَايِبُهَا بِكُلِّ خَمِيلَةٍ

    وَبِكُلِّ مَيَّادٍ عَلَيْكَ يَمِيدُ
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Their clouds poured rain on every meadow and on every quivering branch that bends towards thee.

    Commentary: ‘Their clouds,’ i.e. the ecstasies (احوال) which bring forth the Divine sciences. ‘On every meadow,’ i.e. the heart of man together with the Divine sciences which it holds. ‘On every quivering branch,’ i.e. the straight movement (الحركة المستقيمة) which is the growth of man (نشأة الانسان), as God says that He created Adam after His own image; and from this station it ‘bends’, i.e. inclines towards thee that it may instruct thee.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 63

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 3 differ✦AI
60. ¶ 60⋯
    فَجَرَتْ مَذَانِبُهَا وَفَاحَ نَسِيمُهَا

    وَهَفَتْ مُطَوَّقَةٌ وَأَوْرَقَ عُودُ
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    The watercourses were flooded and the breeze wafted perfume, and a ringdove flapped her wings and a twig put forth leaves.

    Commentary: He says, ‘The valleys of the Divine sciences were flooded, and the world of breaths (عالم الانفاس) diffused the sweet scents of the Divine sciences.’ ‘A ringdove,’ i.e. the Universal Soul together with the effect it produces upon the Partial Soul, which appears in the form of the Universal in so far as it possesses the two faculties of knowledge and action. ‘A twig,’ i.e. that with which the branches are clothed. He refers to the verse ‘Take your becoming vesture at every mosque’ (Kor. vii, 29), i.e. the everlasting vesture of God, which consists in the various kinds of Divine science and gnosis.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 63

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
61. ¶ 61⋯
    نَصَبُوا ٱلْقِبَابَ ٱلْحُمْرَ بَيْنَ جَدَاوِلٍ

    مِثْلِ ٱلْأَسَاوِدِ بَيْنَهُنَّ قُعُودُ
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    They pitched the red tents between rivulets (creeping) like serpents, amongst which were seated

    Commentary: ‘The red tents,’ i.e. the bride-like forms of Divine wisdom. ‘Rivulets,’ i.e. diverse sciences connected with the works which lead to union with these forms of Divine wisdom. ‘Like serpents’: cf. Kor. xxiv, 44, ‘And amongst them is one who walks on his belly.’ He refers to those devout persons who scrupulously examine their food, for by means of pure food which produces strength for the practice of devotion the heart is illuminated and becomes the abode of these forms of Divine wisdom.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 64

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI
62. ¶ 62⋯
    بِيضٌ أَوانِسُ كَٱلشُّمُوسِ طَوالِعٌ

    عِينٌ كَرِيماتٌ عَقايِلُ غِيدُ
    الكَامِلal-kāmil›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ∪∪–∪–مُتَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪––فَعِلَاتُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-kāmil, “the complete”

    وهو على ستة أجزاء متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن متفاعلن

    It has six feet: mutafāʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 596–597 (p. 86) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Friendly damsels, bright of countenance, rising like the suns, large-eyed, noble, of generous race, and limber.

    Commentary: ‘Bright of countenance,’ etc., i.e. there is no doubt concerning them, as the Prophet said, ‘Ye shall see your Lord as ye see the sun at noonday when no cloud comes between.’ ‘Noble,’ i.e. proceeding from the results of works prescribed by God, unlike the maxims of the philosophers which spring from their own minds. ‘Of generous race’: عَقيلة is derived from عَقْل. He means, therefore, that they understand what is imparted to them and perceive its value. ‘Limber’: although per se they are in the station of equilibrium and inflexibility, yet when they are invoked with longing and humility and love they incline towards the caller, because he is not able to ascend to them.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 64

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 4 differ✦AI

63. Poem X

    ¶ 63⋯
    قَالَتْ عَجِبْتُ لِصَبٍّ مِنْ مَحَاسِنِهِ

    يَخْتَالُ مَا بَيْنَ أَزْهَارٍ بِبُسْتَانِ
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    She said, ‘I wonder at a lover who in conceit of his merits walks proudly among flowers in a garden.’

    Commentary: ‘Flowers,’ i.e. created things. ‘A garden,’ the unitive station (المقام الجامع), i.e. his essence. ‘Utba al-Ghulám used to walk proudly and swagger in his gait. ‘How should not I do so,’ he said to one who found fault with him, ‘since He has become my Lord and I have become His slave?’ When a man realizes God in the sense of ‘I am His hearing and His sight’, this station justifies the attribution to him of whatever is attributed to God.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 65

    Synthesis of the readings · 3 agree · 3 differ✦AI
64. ¶ 64⋯
    فَقُلْتُ لَا تَعْجَبِى مِمَّا تَرَيْنَ فَقَدْ

    أَبْصَرْتِ نَفْسَكِ فِى مِرْآةِ إِنْسَانِ
    البَسِيطal-basīṭ›∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪–فَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪∪–فَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––فَعْلُنْ

    Ibn Jinnī on al-basīṭ, “the outspread”

    وهو على ثمانية أجزاء مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن مستفعلن فاعلن مستفعلن فعلن

    It has eight feet: mustafʿilun fāʿilun mustafʿilun faʿilun, twice. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 330–331 (p. 70) ↗

    Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: Nicholson 1911 (print, vowelled by the editor; the MSS are unvowelled) + AI only where the print leaves a word bare.

    Scanned by rule English: AI translation ✦AI

    Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.

    Quotes a hadith allusion: 'al-muʾmin mirʾāt al-muʾmin' (Abū Dāwūd, Adab)

    I replied, ‘Do not wonder at what thou seest, for thou hast beheld thyself in the mirror of a man.’

    Commentary: He says, ‘I am like a mirror to thee, and in those qualities with which I am invested thou beholdest thyself, not me, but thou beholdest them in my human nature which has received this investiture.’ This is the vision of God in created things, which in the opinion of some is more exalted than the vision of created things in God.

    R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq (London 1911), p. 65

    Synthesis of the readings · 4 agree · 2 differ✦AI

Translations, word glosses and term notes are AI-generated (Claude) and marked as such; the only published translation shown is Nicholson's translation and abridged commentary (1911), which is in the public domain.Word analysis is automatic (CAMeL Tools), guided by the text's vowelling. How this text was established.