دام صاحبه يتعهّده بالسقي والإصلاح وتنظيف الغَلَت عنه دام في نضارة زائدة وملاحة زاهية ومتى تركه اعترته الآفات وتغيّرت عليه الأحوال وأمّا رقّة الجسد ورشاقته من غير مرض فهو ممدوح في النساء والرجال ويقال لصاحبه أهيف قال الشاعر [رجز]
| وأَهْيَفانِ لعبا | بالنَّرْدِ أُنثى وذَكَرْ |
| قالَتْ أنا قُمْرِيَّةٌ | قلتُ اسْكُتي أنتِ قَمَرْ |
وأبلغ من هذا قول بعضهم [بسيط]
| هَيفاءُ لَو خَطَرَت في جَفْنِ ذي رَمَدٍ | لما أَحَسَّ له مِن وطئِها أَلَما |
| خَفيفَةُ الرُّوحِ لَوْ رامَت لِخِفَّتِهَا | رَقْصًا على الماءِ ما بلّت لها قَدَما |
naḥīf (“thin”): of the measure of raghīf (“loaf”); it is properly naḥīfan, with an alif of prolongation, the latter having been dropped for the meter.84 The meaning is that his body became weak and thin from the succession of cares that afflicted it, and the injury and hardship that it had to put up with in the course of making a living and so on—for care weakens and sickens the body, unlike ease and abundance of comforts, from which it will be evident that the bodies of the rich and affluent are in general vigorous, attractive, and graceful, because of the excellence of their food and drink and the cleanliness and fineness of their clothes, and they do not, as a result, suffer any of the ill effects of care. Imam al-Shāfiʿī, may the Almighty be pleased with him, said, “He whose garments are clean has few worries,” and it says in the Tradition, “One’s garments should give glory to God”; if they get dirty, this glorification is brought to a halt. The body, in fact, is like a crop of plants: so long as its owner is careful to water it and tend it and clean out the weeds, it remains full of vigor and glows with good looks, but when he ceases to attend to it, diseases attack it and things take a turn for the worse. In the absence of sickness, on the other hand, slenderness and trimness of the body are desirable characteristics in both women and men, and one possessed of such characteristics is referred to as ahyaf (“slender waisted”). As the poet85 says:
Two slender-waisted creatures,
One girl, one boy,
At backgammon played.
Said she, “I am a turtledove!”
“Hush!” said I. “You are the moon above!”
—and even more expressive are the words of the poet who said:
A slender-waisted lass—should she tread on the lids of one with eyes inflamed,
No pain from her footfall would he feel.
Light-spirited—should she, of her levity, desire
To dance on water, not a drop would wet her heel.
٢٢،١،١١
(مسألة هباليّة) لأيّ شيء قال الناظم نحيف ولم يقل سقيم لكونه أنسب في المعنى وأفصح في العبارة وقد وردت في القرآن العظيم في قوله تعالى {فَنَظَرَ نَظْرَةً فِي ٱلنُّجُومِ فَقَالَ إِنِّي سَقِيمٌ} أي من عبادتكم الأصنام (قلنا الجواب الفشرويّ) أنّ الناظم عدَل عن هذه اللفطة لتضمّنها معنى اللفظة الّتي على وزنها وهي قطيم والقطيم بلغة الريّافة هو صاحب الأبنة وبلغة أخرى هو الخالي من الزواج فلو فرض أنّه أتى بها في النظم لربّما نسبوه أنّه كان به أبنة فيحصل من ذلك الضرر أو يقال إنّه راعى في ذلك قوافي الشعر فلا إشكال * فاتّضح المقول عن وجه هذا الهبال *
A Silly Topic for Debate: “Why did the poet say naḥīf rather than saqīm (‘sick’), though the latter is more appropriate in meaning and more elegant in expression and is found in the Mighty Qurʾan, in the words of the Almighty, «And he cast a glance at the stars, then said, ‘Lo! I feel sick (saqīm)!’»86 that is, ‘I feel sick at your worship of idols’?” We declare, the fatuous response is that the poet avoided the latter word because it includes the meaning of the word that rhymes with it, namely, qaṭīm, and qaṭīm is, in the language of the country people, a passive sodomite, and, in another dialect, an unmarried man;87 if he had used the word in the verse, they might have attributed passive sodomy to him, with harmful consequences. Or it may be said that, in this, he was following the rules of rhyme for poetry, so there is no problem. Our words are now clear, the silliness made to appear.
٢٣،١،١١
ثمّ إنّ الناظم أراد الإخبار عن بليّة ابتلى بها أيضًا نشأت من القلّ والعترة وعدم ما في اليد كما تقدّم فقال
Next the poet sought to tell of a further misfortune by which he was smitten and which was a product of the aforementioned want, abasement, and lack of wherewithal. He says:
ص
TEXT
٢،١١
| أَنَا ٱلْقَمْلُ وَٱلصِّيبَانُ فِي طَوْقِ جُبَّتِي | شَبِيهُ ٱلنُّخَالَهْ يَجْرُفُوهُ جَرِيفْ |
anā l-qamlu wa-l-ṣībānu fī ṭawqi jubbatī
shabīhu l-nukhālah yajrufūhū jarīf
Me, the lice and nits in the yoke of my gown
are
