The Maqamat of al-Hamadhani: The Maqámát: XLIII. The Maqáma of the Dinar
XLIII. THE MAQAMA OF THE DINAR
‘ÍSÁ IBN HISHÁM related to us and said: I happened to have made a vow to give a dinar in charity to the greatest mendicant in Baghdad. I enquired for him and I was directed to Abú’l Fatḥ al-Iskanderí. So I went to him to bestow it upon him, and I found him amongst some companions who had gathered in a circle around him. So I said: 'O sons of Sásán, which of you knows his stock-in-trade best and is the sharpest in his art so that I may give him this dinar?' Said al-Iskanderí: 'I am.' Another of the company said: 'Nay, but I am.' Then they wrangled and disputed till I said: 'Let each of you revile his fellow, then whoever gains the mastery carries off the booty, and whoever overcomes takes the spoil.' 2 So al-Iskanderí said: 'O cold of the old woman! 3 O sultriness of Tammuz! 4 O
(till) in various constructions! O worm of the privy! O furred garment in the summer-quarters! O coughing of the host, when the bread is broken! O belch of the intoxicated! O fetid breath of the hawks! O peg of the tent! 6 O prop 7 of the pot! O non-recurring Wednesday! 8 O avarice of the vanquished at dice! O grumbling of the tongue! O lotium spadonis! O eating of the blind! O intercession of the naked! 9 O Saturday of the children! 10 O letter of condolence! 11 O pool of impurities! O
Then said the other: 'O trainer of monkeys! O felt of the Jews! O fetid breath of the lions! O non-entity in existence! O dog in strife! O monkey on the carpet! O pumpkin with pulse! 5 O less than nothing! O fumes of naphtha! 6 O stench of the armpit! O decline of power! O halo of death! O viler than one to whom clings the disgrace of divorce and refuses to return the marriage dowry! O mud of the road! O water taken in the state of fasting! 7 O shaker of the bone! 8 O accelerator of digestion! O tartar of the teeth! O filth of the ears! O tougher than the rope of cocoanut fibre! O less than a fals! 9 O more traitorous than a tear! O more rebellious than a needle! O direction of the boot! O landing-place of the palms! O the word 'would that'! O leaking of the house! O such and
Said ‘Ísá ibn Hishám: 'By Heavens! I did not know which of the two I should prefer, for nought proceeded 'from them save marvellous language, wonderful aptness, and intense enmity. So I left the dinar before them undivided and I know not what Time did with them.'
Footnotes
164:2 Whoever overcomes takes the spoil: Freytag, Arab Proverbs, i, 677, Cf. Hebrew בָן spoil.
164:3 Cold of the old woman: That is, the four last days of February and three first days of March, thus called because they are the latter part () of winter.
164:4 Tammuz: The Syrian month sacred in ancient times to the god of that name, corresponding to July. This god is mentioned in Ezekiel, viii, 14.
165:1 Al-Kúz: A water-bottle, a goglet, arabicized from the Persian .
165:2 Conversation of the singers: Obviously it is the singing of the singers and not their conversation that people want to hear.
165:3 Oppression of the nightmare: Some think this is not an Arabic word and that the proper word is (Lane, p. 2588). I see no difficulty, however, in evolving this meaning from the root he pressed or squeezed.
165:4 Ummu Ḥubein: A species of stinking lizard.
165:5 Zaqqum: A certain kind of tree having small leaves, evil-smelling and bitter, found in Tehameh, also the name of the infernal tree whose fruit is the food of the people of hell. See Baiḍáwí, ii, 172.
165:6 O peg of the tent: Cf. more dishevelled than a tent peg. Freytag, Arab Proverbs, i, 706.
165:7 Prop: Literally, the handle of the upper millstone,
165:8 Non-recurring Wednesday: The unlucky Wednesdays of the month, to which this is an allusion, are those which have the number four, e.g. the fourth or the fourteenth of the month; the fourteenth or twenty-fourth, or the fourth before the end of the month. Mas‘údí, Les Prairies D’or, iii, 422. Freytag, Arab Proverbs, i, 276 and Meidaní (Bulak edition), i, 139, when it comes at the end of the month.
165:9 O intercession of the naked: That is, one who is so utterly destitute that he needs to ask for himself, not for others. For the opposite sentiment, see Aghání, viii, 182.
165:10 O Saturday of the children: Succeeding the holiday on Friday, Cf. English school slang, Black Monday.
165:11 O letter of condolence! Because it is supposed to be a very difficult thing
166:2 Garrulousness of the man of Rayy: The word also means meddlesomeness, or immoderation of any kind, but I have not been able to find any evidence that the people of Rayy were notorious for any of these things.
166:3 Arwand: or Elwand, the Orontes of the ancients, at the foot of which lies the town of Hamadhán.
166:4 Demawand: A mountain north of Teheran. His feet would thus be more than two hundred miles apart!
166:5 Pulse: Arabicized from the Persian Sanskrit másha, peas.
166:6 O fumes of naphtha!: Apparently a genuine Arabic word from . It (water) welled or issued forth, and what oozes or exudes from a mountain as though it were sweat from the sides of the rock. (Lane's Lexicon art. p. 2759) Cf. Greek ναφθα which is probably a loan word from Arabic.
166:7 In a state of fasting: Anything eaten or drunk in a state of fasting. The text is wrongly vocalized, for read .
166:8 Shaker of the bone: That is, ague.
166:9 A fals: A small copper coin, the forty-eighth part of a dirhem, i.e. about half a farthing. A loan word from Aramaic.
167:1 O such and such: Or 'so and so', referring to something too gross to mention. Cf. Ḥarírí, p. 235, line 3., and see Wright's Grammar, i, 268.
167:2 A weaver: The vocation of the weaver appears to have been regarded by the Arabs as a degrading one. Cf. Letters, p. 273, 'Verily shaving is learnt on the heads of the weavers ', also Yaqút, Geographical Dictionary, iv, 1036. Cf. Ḥarírí, p. 31, on the subject of the dinar, and p. 628 for an example of similar mutual abuse; also see Horace, Satires, Book I, Satire 7.
This maqáma contains no poetry.