The seven poems suspended in the Temple at Mecca

270 Pages·2010·13.02 MB·English

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THE 'skven Poems,
SUSPENDED IN
THE TEMPLE AT MECCA.
TRANSLATED .FROM THE ARABIC
BY
CAPT. F.^E. JOHNSON, Royal Artillery,
WITH AN INTRODUCTION,
BX
SHAIKH FAIZULLABHAI,
B.A.,
Fellow ofthe University ofBoinhay,
Head Master, Anjuman-i-Isldm Schools,
Authorof"TheZloslcin Present."
All Rights reserved.
JSombay
PRINTED AT THE
EDUCATION SOCIETY'S STEAM PRESS, BYCULLA.
18D3.
Price Rupees Seven Annas Eight.
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PREFACE.
A^-
liiE accompanying translation is intended to be
notliing more than an aid to the student, and for this
reason it has been made as literal as possible. Notes
and explanations have been added in all cases where
the sense is obscure, and it is hoped that by their aid
beginners even will experience little or no difficulty in
reading the original.
All different readings, anddifferentinterpretations
which have good authority and have come to hand,
have been included in the notes. Lines which have
been found in some copies and not in others are
marked with asterisks for the sake ofdistinction.
My best thanks are due to Shaik FaizuUahbliai,
Esq., B.A., of Bombay, a really first-class Arabic
scholar, for the trouble he took in revising the proof
sheets. During revision he considerably enlarged the
notes, &c., so as to bring the work within thegrasp
ofall.
F. E. J.
Kirkee, 29th January 1893.
•^Q -r>

NTRODUCTION.
Amongsttlio aucient nations,asHistoryshows,there are few
who have so large a treasure of sublime poetry and so abun-
dant astock ofuseful literaturetoboastof, as the old nation of
Arabia. The Arabs have always beep remarkable for the
great pride theyhave taken intheexcellenceoftheirlanguage,
the perfection oftheir literature, thesublimity oftheir poetry,
thepurity oftheir race, andthe integrity of theirmoralcharac-
ter. Pure justice, free from bias or prejudice, fully admits
that they have reason to feel this pride, and accords them a
very high placeamong the civilized andliterarynationsofthe
ancient world. These facts are well borne out by evidence
derived from thehistory ofthe progress ofliterature, especially
during the 4th, 5th and Cth centuries ofthe Christian era.
During the period alluded to, the literary genius was almost
entirely monopolised by the Aryans, represented then by the
Indians andthe Persiansinthe East, and bytheRomans in the
West. The Indianliterature was, however, confined only to a
limited number ofShastris and Brahmins, and was inaccessible
totheother castes, or the numerically much stronger public.
The Persians had long cultivated and enriched their literature
with a good deal of learning, borrowed from the Greeks and
the Indians. Among the Semi'tics, the Syrians possessed a
Hebrew literatureofasuperior character,whichwasnot, how-
ever, cultivated to a very vastextent,and wasconfined onlyto
afew Rabbis. Theseliteraieurs, moreover, had risen to their
greatestheight and were now only hanging on the verge of
decline, and were more or less givingway to theRomans,who,
atthetimewespeakof,held theirownagainstallthenationsof
the world, both in thepolitical as wellas in the literary realm.
VI INTllODUCnON.
Their literary supremacywas, however, the resultof aloug
working ofthe schools,establishedbyCicero^ Virgil,andLivy,
onthe linesofthelearningthey hadinheritedfromthatdefunct
Grecian world which had Jong given way to the sway of the
triumphant Roman arms. The Roman Poetry, Oratory and
Rhetoric weremerelyoffshoots engrafted on those of Homer,
Demonsthenes and Aristotle. Muchcreditis certainly due to
the Romans for the great iuaproveraent they made on the
teachings of their mother-school, whichelevatedthemtoa high
pitchofliteraryfame,audplacedthematthetopofthecategory
of the civilized aud refined nations of thetime. But their
achievements, though very noble andexcellentin themselves,
were mei^ely parasitic, aud had little originality to boast of.
About thistimewefind a new nationrushing uponthescene,
and steadily progressing withlong strides to the front ofthe
literary world, neither by means of any learning, borrowed
from other nations, nor by any setexamples to guide them,
but solely by dint ofthe growth of their own natural faculties.
This was the Arabian nation, which, living obscurely in a
solitary peninsula, was cut offfrom the chiefseats oflearning
and debarred by its own seclusion from all the advantages of
a close contact with the civilized nations of the day, who
regai'ded it merely as a degraded and barbarous nation. Not-
withstanding its startingwith such local and social disadvan-
tages, this nation, which was destined by God to rise to a
great importance later on, and to succeed the Romans in
presidingoverthedestiniesofagreat partoftheworld, bravely
stemming the tideofadverse circumstances, deserves all pi-aise
for the high state of culture, civilization and advancement
which its people attained by means of self-development of
those superior literary faculties with which ithad pleased God
to endow them.
Although the Arabic language was as old as any of the
noble languages ofthe world, yet its literary fame was kept