* والطبلة والزُمّاره * والحِدْوة خلف قفاه * ومزراقه وهزّ رِداه * وحزامه الليف * والتبن والشليف * وخَلَقَته المشرمطة وصورته المخلبطه * وقاووقه الدَنِس * وكَرّه الغَلِس * وطرده للغارات * والدواهي والبليّات * ومشيه حافي * في الحرّ والحلافي * وعياطه في الظلام * بالصوت يالْحَرام * فتجتمع عليه اللموم * ويهجموا بلاد القوم * وهم سعد وحرام * ويخرجوا إليهم بالتمام * فيقع بينهم الحرب والعناد * وتَخْرُبُ بسببهم البلاد * ويقطعوا الطريق * على العدوّ والصديق * ويترتّب من ذلك المفاسد * وتمتنع عن بلادهم الفوائد *
Indeed, they never escape their condition of uncouthness, because they spend all their time with the plow and the shovel-sledge and shaking their caps around the threshing floors, or rushing about in the swamps12 and the fields, or bustling around after the crops, or jumping about harvesting and reaping, or plunging into dung and mud, while devoting little time to prayer or religion. For the only things a countryman knows are belts and cudgels, cows and plow-shaft pins, waterwheels and drover’s whips, hauling mud and dung, shouting and screaming, drums and pipes, his leather sandals slung behind his neck, his lance and the shaking of his robe, his palm-fiber belt, straw and net sacks, his tattered garment and tatterdemalion form, his grubby cap and filthy turban, rushing off on raids, disasters and calamities, walking barefoot in the heat and through the esparto grass, and crying out loud in the dark, “Clan of Ḥarām!” At this the war bands gather around him and attack the villages of their enemies, be they Saʿd13 or Ḥarām, and turn out against them to the last man. Thus war and stubborn confrontation arise among them, and villages are ruined at their hands. They block the roads against friend and foe, leading to evil consequences and depriving their villages of benefits.
٤،٢
وكلّ هذا من قلّة عقلهم * وكثرة جهلهم * وسوء أخلاقهم * وعدم اتّفاقهم * إذ كلّهم في الظاهر مسلمون * والقتل عندهم حُكْمَ الديون * وأيضًا عندهم قلّة الوفاء * وعدم الأنس والصفاء * لا يؤدّوا القرض * ولا يعرفوا السُنّة والفرض * إن عاملتهم أكلوك * وإن نصحتهم بغضوك * وإن أقمت لهم الشرع رفضوك * وإن ألنت لهم الجانب مقتوك * العالم عندهم حقير * والظالم عندهم كبير * أمورهم معانده * وليس عندهم فائده * عندهم قابض المال * أعزّ من العمّ والخال * سود الوجوه * إذا رأوا معروفًا أنكروه * قال الشاعر [بسيط]
| أَهْلُ الفِلاحةِ لا تُكْرِمْهُمُ١ أَبَداً | فَإِنَّ٢ إِكْرامَهُمُ في عَقْبِهِ نَدَمُ |
| يُبْدوا الصِّياحَ بِلا ضَرْبٍ وَلا أَلَمٍ | سُودُ الوُجوهِ إِذا لَمْ يُظْلَمُوا ظَلَمُوا |
١ بي: تُكْرِمَنَّهُمْ. ٢ بي وجميع النسخ: كان.
All this is due to their lack of intelligence and overwhelming ignorance, the baseness of their morals and their contentiousness—for while all of them in outward show are Muslims, murder to them is no different from debt. Furthermore, they cannot be trusted to keep their word and have no sociability and good cheer. They will not repay a loan and cannot tell what the Law demands from what one is free to decide on his own.14 If you do business with them, they devour you. If you offer them advice, they hate you. If you try to enforce the Divine Law with them, they will have nothing to do with you, and if you show them kindness, they repay you with malice. To them a scholar is nothing, while a tyrant is a hero. Their ways are contrary, and they are of use to none. To them the tax collector is dearer than an uncle.15 Their faces are black; if done a good turn they don’t pay it back. As the poet states:
Be not generous to the peasant, ever,
For that brings repentance in its wake!
They yell when neither beaten nor hurt;
Black of face, if not oppressed, others their victims they make!
٥،٢
إذا أقاموا أفراح * لا تكون إلّا بالعياط والصياح * والطرد والكرب * وربّما وقع فيها البطح والضرب * وقد شاهدنا كثيرًا من أفراحهم * وما يقع فيها من عدم نجاحهم * وسيأتي كيفيّة أفراحهم وأعراسهم * وعدم ذوقهم مع جلاسهم * وأمّا إكرامهم للضيوف * فهو هزّ الأردية و القحوف * والجلوس على المصاطب * ونفش اللحى والشوارب * وإن حصل منهم الكَرَم بإضرار * يكون العدس والبيسار * أو الكِشْك الحامض بالفول * أو نوع من المدمَّس والبقول *
When they put on a wedding, it has to be with shouting and screaming, with commotion and calamity, and often enough with breaking of pates and brawling. We have observed many of their weddings and all the futile nonsense that goes on at them, and a description of their nuptials and of their unseemly behavior towards their guests will follow. As for the entertainment they show their guests, it consists of shaking their robes and hats and sitting on benches while preening their beards and moustaches. If they are compelled to provide a meal, it is of lentils and bīsār and sour wheat groats with fava beans, or other kinds of stewed beans and herbs.
٦،٢
ولو مكث الشخص منهم مدّة في مصر ودمياط * لا يكتسب من اللطافة قيراط * وبعض أكابرهم المشار إليه * والمعوَّل في الأمور إليه * إذا طلع مصر لمقابلة الأمير * أو قضاء حاجة من الوزير * ترى عليه لبس محبوب * ومع ذلك يمشي حافي بلا مركوب * وأمورهم ليس لها انضباط * وأحوالهم خُباط وعِياط * ووِرْدهم عند الأسحار * التفكّر في الغنم
