The Shape of His Beard
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(وأمّا صفة لحيته) فقال بعضهم كانت طويلة جدًّا وقال آخر كانت معتدلة في الطول والقصر وقد يجمع بين القولين فيقال إنّه لمّا كان في ابتداء عمره في سعادة كاملة ونعمة وافرة كما سيأتي كانت طويلة لكثرة ما كان يتعهّدها بدهن الفراخ والزيت الحارّ والتمشّط وإصلاح الشعر ونحو ذلك فلمّا كبر وتغيّر عليه الزمان واعتراه الهمّ والأحزان قَلَّ طُولُهَا من أكل الطبوع والصئبان ونحو ذلك أي إنّها نشأت في الأوّل طويلة ثمّ إنّها عَرُضَتْ فعرضُها ضَرَّ طُولهَاَ فلا تعارض بين الروايتين كما قال الشاعر [خفيف]
| ذَقَنٌ طالَتْ فأَفسَدَت | عِندَما ضَرَّ طولُها |
| قَصَّروها فأصلَحَت | عِندَما قَلَّ طولُها |
As for the shape of his beard, some say it was very long, while others say it was moderate in both length and shortness. The two accounts may be reconciled by saying that, at the beginning of his life—when, as we shall see, he enjoyed perfect good fortune and abundant blessings—his beard was long because he groomed it frequently with chicken fat and linseed oil and combed it and tended its hairs and so on; however, when he grew old and his fortunes changed and care and sorrows overtook him, it became less commode-ious6 because of his eating dirt and nits and so on. In other words, it grew long at first and then later it grew wide, with the result that its width rendered its length odious, and, as such, there is no contradiction between the two versions. As the poet says:
A beard grew long and got quite nasty,
So that its length became quite odious.
They cut it short and it got much nicer,
When its length was less commode-ious.
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(وقيل) من الدليل على قلّة عقل الرجل صِغَرُ رأسه وطول لحيته وإن كان اسمه يحيى فقد فقد العقل بالكليّة وفي المثل طويل ذقن قليل عقل (كما اتّفق أنّ بعضهم كان له صاحب طويل اللحية يؤدّب الأطفال) ففقده أيّامًا فسأل عنه فقيل هو منقطع في بيته حزين قال فظنّ صديقه أنّه مات له ولد أو أحد من أقاربه فذهب إليه فرآه في حالة الحزن وهو يبكي وينوح فقال له يا أخي عظّم الله أجرك وأحسن عزاك ورحم ميّتك كلّ نفس ذائقة الموت فقال له أتظنّ أنّه مات لي أحد فقال له فما الخبر فقال له الشيخ اعلم أنّي كنت جالسًا ذات يوم فسمعت رجلًا ينشد ويقول [بسيط]
| يا أُمَّ عمروٍ جزاك الله مَكْرُمَةً | رُدّي عَليَّ فُؤادي أَينَما كانا |
| لا تُأخُذينَ فؤادي تَلعْبينَ بِهِ | فَكَيفَ يَلعَبُ بالإِنسانِ إِنسانا |
فقلت في نفسي لولا أنّ أمّ عمرو هذه من أحسن الناس وأجملهم ما قيل فيها هذا الشعر فشغفت بها أيّامًا وانقطعت بحبّها ثمّ إنّي جلست يومًا من الأيّام زمانًا فسمعت قائلًا يقول [وافر]
| إِذا ذَهَبَ الحِمارُ بِأُمِّ عَمروٍ | فلا رَجَعَتْ ولا رَجَعَ الحِمارُ |
فقلت لولا أنّ أمّ عمرو ماتت ما قيل فيها هذا البيت فداخلني الحزن واعتراني الأسف قال فتحقّق صاحبه قلّة عقله وتركه ومضى
Some say that it is sign of a lack of brains when a man’s head is small and his beard long, and if his name is Yaḥyā as well, he hasn’t a hope of brains at all; and the proverb says, “Long beard, little brain.” Thus it came about that a man had a friend with a long beard who was a teacher of young children.7 On one occasion, after he had failed to see him for some days, the man asked after his friend and was told, “He has shut himself up in his house to grieve.” The man thought that he must have lost a child or one of his relatives, so he went to see him and found him grief-stricken and weeping and wailing. “My brother,” said the first, “may God make great your recompense and make good your consolation and have mercy on the departed! Every soul must taste death!” “Think you that one of mine has died?” said the other. “What then?” said the first. “Know,” said the shaykh, “that I was sitting one day when I heard a man recite the following verses:
O Umm ʿAmr, God reward you well,
Give me back my heart, wherever it may be!8
Don’t take my heart to make of it your toy—
How can a girl with a young man’s heart make free?
“—so I said to myself, ‘Were not this Umm ʿAmr one of the best and most beautiful of people, these verses would not have been said of her!’ and I fell madly in love with her and shut myself away with her love. Then one day I sat for a while and I heard someone say:
When the donkey went off with Umm ʿAmr,
She never came back, and neither did the donkey
“—so I thought, ‘If Umm ʿAmr were not dead, they would not have made up this verse about her’ and I was overcome with grief and afflicted by sorrow.” This made his friend realize how stupid the man was and he left him and went his way.
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(وقيل مرّ بعضهم في يوم شديد البرد) فرأى رجلًا صغير الرأس طويل اللحية وعليه قميص واحد وهو يرتعد من شدّة البرد
