‘ÍSÁ IBN HISHÁM related to us and said: When I was in my young days, I rode my mount into every species of blind folly and urged my courser into every kind of error until I had drunk of life a delicious draft and had donned the flowing robes of fortune. But when the day brightened 5 my night and I gathered up my skirts 6 and prepared for the final judgement, I mounted a tame steed 7 in order to discharge a bounden duty. 8 There accompanied me on the road a friend in whom I saw nothing wrong to make me repudiate him. Now, when we had exchanged confessions and confidences, the story revealed that he was a Kúfan by principle and a Ṣúfí by persuasion, 9 and so we travelled on.
Now, when we alighted at Kúfa, 10 we went to his house and
38:5 Day brightened: Fig. for had turned grey.
38:6 I gathered up my skirts: Fig. for preparing to do something. Cf. Eng. to take off one's coat, or to tuck up one's sleeves.
38:7 A tame steed: Literally, broken in.
38:8 A bounden duty: i.e. the Pilgrimage. See Qur’án, iii, 91.
38:9 A Ṣúfí by persuasion: A Ṣúfí is naturally known by his dress.
38:10 Kúfa: Founded by the Arabs in A.H. 17 or 18 in the Khalífate of ‘Umar. It was one of the chief seats of Arabian learning and was long the rival of the great grammatical school of Baṣra.
39:2 Darkened: Literally became green, both of these and the succeeding expressions are figures for the growing of a beard and here, metaphorically, signify it became dark.
39:3 There was a knock at the door: Cf. De Sacy, Ḥarírí, i. 50.
39:4 Whose tread is light: i.e. one who will cause little inconvenience.
39:5 whose stray: Literally, a stray camel.
39:6 The fire of banishment: () (Cf. Hamadhání's Letters, No. 128, p. 352), or the fire of departure was a solemn cursing of a man by his enemy when he set out on a journey, The fire was lighted, and the ill-wisher exclaimed 'Away! begone!' For the names of the various fires of the Arabs, see Jáḥiz, Haywán Part v.
39:7 And the areas were swept: As is done after a death has occurred.
39:8 The lion's share: Literally, the grasp of the lion.
39:9 Generosity will not pass unrewarded, etc. This is a quotation from the lines of Ḥuṭai‘ah who was a contemporary of the Prophet:
Cf. the rabbinical maxim:
'Whoever has money (silver) in his hand, his hand is supreme. See note on in the maqáma of the Yellow', Text p. 230.
40:2 I am in a state of affluence: Metre, khafif.
40:3 Ceilings of gold: A boast rather inconsistent with his actual condition. The Constantinople edition has this additional line. 'Sometimes I am a Nabatean at other times an Arab.'
This maqámá is identical in name and theme with Hariri v, 49.