Welcome to Litsy!

I persevered and made it through, but it was hard work. I think there's a good reason why this book had previously been translated into English only in an abridged form: in order to fully appreciate al-Ma'arrī's grammatical and etymological musings, you would need to read Arabic, so there's little to be gained (and, presumably, much to be lost) in the translation. Even the section that most interested me, 👇🏼👇🏼

I stalled with this one, getting bogged down in al-Ma'arrī's arcane and convoluted grammatical explorations about a language I don't speak. However, being only 50 pages (plus notes) from the end, I couldn't bring myself to bail. Picking it up, I'm feeling engaged with it again, as al-Ma'arrī is writing of his beliefs, rather than etymology. Fingers crossed he stays on this tack 🤞🏻

70 pages of text and 40 pages of notes to go - I'm gonna finish this b@stard if it kills me! 😠

"Truth was to him like pebbles, to be trodden underfoot by the feet of rebels."

So, obviously, I'm showing my own bias in choice of photo, but it does seem an appropriate one, all things considered.

Reading this book is work! I'm not sure why I'm persevering, as even the occasional nuggets seem scant reward for the effort involved. Something's keeping me at it, though. Just a hundred or so pages to go!

The world is formed with a natural disposition toward lying and hypocrisy. It is possible for a man to proclaim something openly, showing his religiousness, while he does this merely in order to adorn himself with a fine appearance, wishing to gain praise or some other intention of the deceptive world, "mother of extinction".
(Insert own image of lying hypocrite)
I don't subscribe to al-Ma'arrī's too cynical view of the world's disposition, though

"It does not harm the sea, when it is full to overflowing, if a boy casts a stone into it."

The devil asks, "Who is this man?"

"I am 'Ali ibn Mansūr ibn al-Qārih, from Aleppo," replies the Sheikh. "I was a man of letters by profession, by which I tried to win the favour of rulers."

"A bad profession indeed!" says Satan. "You'll live on a minimum income, hardly enough to keep your family. It's a slippery business; many like you have gone to perdition because of it."

Working my way through this is never far from interesting, if not entirely engaging. The 54 page introduction held my attention, though Ibn al-Qārih's 30-ish page letter was largely incomprehensible, or at least much of his point was lost on me. The first 100 or so pages of al-Ma'arrī's reply are similarly recondite, classical Arabic grammar not being my forté, though they weren't totally devoid of intriguing passages, however,... 👇🏼

"May God subdue the noses of those that snub him"
?

al-Ma'arrī pours increasingly sarcastic 'blessings' on Ibn al-Qārih each time he refers to him in his letter. This is one of my favourites so far ?

I came across a short radio programme about al-Ma'arrī. The B+W photo shows the sculptor who made a bust of al-Ma'arrī in the '40s, commemorating him as a freethinking, early enlightenment figure. The colour photo shows the shot-up, decapitated bust in 2013, a victim of religious fundamentalists in Syria's awful conflict. How sad that the world was more tolerant than it is today of a blind, atheistic vegan not just 80 years ago, but 1000 years ago

“My tongue speaks but I do not act;
My heart desires but I do naught.
I am aware of the right path but do not let myself be guided;
I know, but act in ignorance.”

- An anonymous poet quoted in the epistle of Ibn al-Qārih

Some time around 1053CE, a pedantic man of letters, Ibn al-Qārih, insulted a friend of the poet al-Ma'arrī, then wrote a grovellingly ingratiating letter of apology, compounding the original insult by trying to justify himself. al-Ma'arrī's response was to write an open letter in which he imagines Ibn al-Qārih dead and travelling through heaven and hell, à la Dante's Virgil, repeatedly making an ass of himself.
I have high hopes for this one. 😊📖