Читать книгу Leg over Leg - Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq - Страница 5

الفصل الاول

ڡي اطلاق بحر

Chapter One

Unleashing a Sea

4.1.1

من لم يسافر فى البحار ويقاسِ فيه الانوآ والامواج فلا يقدر ترفه المعيشة فى البر حق قدرها * فينبغى لك ايها القارى البرّىّ ان تتصور فى بالك كلما اعوزك المآ القراح واللحم الغضيض والفاكهة الطريئة والبقول الخَضِلة والخبز الليّن ان اخوانك ركاب البحر محرومون من هذا كله * وان سفينتهم لا تزال تميد بهم وتتقلب وتصعد وتهبط * فدون كل لقمة يسترطونها غصة * وفى كل رقدة يرقدونها مغصة *

Only one who has traveled the seas and experienced the misery of their tempests and swells can properly appreciate the ease of life on land. Whenever, then, my dear landlubber of a reader, you feel a need for clean water, tender meat, fresh fruit, succulent greens, or soft bread, you must bear in mind that your seafaring brethren are deprived of all such things, that their vessel never stops moving beneath their feet, tossing them, turning them, and throwing them up and down, that before every mouthful of food they swallow they must first choke, and that before lying down to sleep they must first suffer a bellyache.

4.1.2

وانه متى وضع بين يديك لون واحد من الطعام فلا تفكر الّا فيه * واعتقد ان غيرك يغتذى بمثله فى تلك الساعة بل باقلّ منه * فبذلك يحصل لك التاسّى والتسلى * فاما اذا نظرت الى قصور الملوك والامرآ وصروح الوزراء وفكرت فيما ياكلون ويشربون فانك لا ريب تتعب نفسك وتعنّيها لغير فائدة * ولكن اتحسب أن المعتّقة التى يشربها الامير الذّ من المآ الذى تشربه انت * حالة كونك عارفا بامور المعاش والمعاد * مضطلعا بادارة مصلحة لك تكفيك واهلك الموٓنة * وحالة كون زوجتك تجلس قبالتك او عن يمينك وشمالك * وولدك الصغير على ركبتك * تارة يغنى لك * وتارة يناولك بيده اللطيفة ما سالت عنه امه * واذا خرجت شيعاك الى الباب واذا قدمت صعدا معك واجلساك على انظف متّكا فى الدار *

Likewise, when food of just one kind is placed before you, think only of that and know well that others too are dining at this hour, and perhaps on something more meager still. If you do so, you will find solace and distraction. If, however, you lift your eyes to the palaces of kings and princes and the mansions of ministers and wonder what they are eating and drinking, you will certainly tire and torment yourself to no avail. Do you really imagine that the aged wine drunk by the prince is more delicious than the water you are drinking, so long as you are informed as to the affairs of this world and the next and are proficient in the management of some business of yours that provides for yourself and your family, so long as your wife sits before you or on your right or left while your small child sits on your knee, singing to you one moment, passing you with his sweet hand anything you may have asked your wife to give you the next, and so long as on your departure, they accompany you to the door and on your arrival, take you upstairs and seat you on the best cushion in the house?

4.1.3

فاما انت ياسيدى الغنى فالاولى لك ان تسافر من مدينتك العامرة حتى ترى بعينيك ما لم تره فى بلدك * وتسمع باذنيك ما لم تسمعه * وتختبر احوال غير قومك وعاداتهم واطوارهم وتدرى اخلاقهم ومذاهبم وسياستهم * ثم تقابل بعد ذلك بين الحسن عندهم وغير الحسن عندنا * ومتى دخلت بلادهم وكنت جاهلا بلغتهم فلا تحرص بحقك على تعلم كلام الخَنَى منهم اوّلا * او تستحلى الاسمآ من اجل المسمّيات * فان كل لغة فى الكون فيها الطيب والخبيث * اذ اللغة انما هى عبارة عن حركات الانسان وافعاله وافكاره * ومعلوم ان فى هذه ما يُحمَد وما يذمّ * فاُجلّك عن ان تكون كبعض المسافرين الذين لا يتعلمون من لغات غيرهم الا اسمآ بعض الاعضآ وعبارات اخرى سخيفة * لا بل ينبغى لك حين تدخل بلادهم سالما ان تقصد قبل كل شى المدارس والمطابع وخزائن الكتب والمستشفيات والمخاطب * اى الاماكن التى يخطب فيها العلمآ فى كل الفنون والعلوم * فمنها ما هو معدّ للخطابة فقط ومنها ما يشتمل على جميع الالات والادوات اللازمة لذلك العلم *

As for you, my dear rich gentleman, you would do better to leave your prosperous city to see with your own eyes what you cannot see in your own country and hear with your own ears what you cannot hear there, to experience how other people live and their customs and ways, to discover their morals and modes of thought and how they govern themselves. After that, you may compare the good things in their land with the bad things in ours. And when you enter their country and are ignorant of their language, don’t insist on learning the dirty words from them first or delight in words for the sake of the things they denote, for every language in the universe has fair and foul given that language gives expression to the actions, deeds, and thoughts of men, which encompass, as all will agree, both the praiseworthy and the blameworthy. I hold you in too high esteem to imagine that you will be like those travelers who learn of other people’s languages only the names of certain parts of the body and other despicable terms. On the contrary, when you arrive safe and sound in a country you must, before anything else, make for the schools, printing presses, libraries, hospitals, and lecture rooms (by which I mean those places where scholars speak on every art and science; some of these are equipped only for public addresses while others contain every instrument and device required for the science in question).

4.1.4

واذا رجعت بحمده تعالى الى بلدك فاجتهد فى ان تولف رحلة تشهرها بين اهل بلادك لينتفعوا بها ولكن من دون قصد التكسّب ببيعها * وياليتك تشارك بعض اصحابك من الاغنيآ فى انشآ مطبعة تطبع فيها غير ذلك من الكتب المفيدة للرجال والنسآ والاولاد ولكل صنف من الناس على حدته * حتى يعرفوا ما لهم وما عليهم من الحقوق * سوآ كانت تلك الكتب عربية او معرّبة * ولكن احذر من ان تخلط فى نقلك عن العجم الطيب بالخبيث والصحيح بالمعتل * فان المدن الغنّآ تكثر فيها الرذائل كما تكثر الفضائل *

And when you return, by God’s grace, to your own town, exert yourself to write a book about your travels and publicize it among your countrymen so that they may benefit—but without any intention to make money from the sale of it. Would that you might partner too with some of your fellow rich in establishing a printing press on which to print further books that may be useful to men, women, and children and to each category of person so that they may learn what their rights and duties are, whether those books be written originally in Arabic or translated into it. Be careful, though, that in copying from the non-Arabs, you do not confuse the fair with the foul, the sound with the defective. Great cities are as full of vices as they are of virtues.

4.1.5

نعم ان من هولآ الناس لَمن يابى ان يرى احدا وهو على الطعام * واذا اضطر الى رؤيته وهو على تلك الحالة فلا يدعوه للَوْس شى مما بين يديه * لكن منهم من يدعوك الى صرحه فى الريف فتقيم فيه الاسبوع والاسبوعين وانت الآمر الناهى * وان منهم لمن يبخل عليك برد التحية * واذا دخلت دار صديق منهم وكان فى الملجس جماعة من اصدقائه لم يعرفوك من قبل فما احد منهم يتحلحل لك فى القيام ولا يعبا بك ولا يلتفت اليك * لكن منهم من اذا عرفك اهتم بامرك فى حضورك وغيابك على حد سوى * واذا ائتمنته على سرّ كتمه لك طول حياته * وان منهم لمن ينبزك بالالقاب اول ما يقع نظره على شاربيك ولحيتك او على عمامتك او يجذبك من ذيلك من ورآ * ولكن منهم من يتهافت على معرفة الغريب ويتراح الى الرفق به والاحسان اليه ويرى اجارته وحمايته فرضا عليه متحتما * وان منهم لمن يسخر منك اذا راك تلحن فى لغته * ولكن منهم من يحرص على ان يعلمك اياها مجانا اما بنفسه او بواسطة زوجته وبناته * وعلى ان يعيرك ما يفيدك من كتب وغيرها ويرشدك الى ما فيه صلاح امرك وتوفيقك *

True, among those people there are some who will refuse to see anyone when they are at table and, if compelled to do so, will not invite him to taste any of what is before them. Others, though, will invite you to their mansions in the countryside, where you may stay for a week, or two weeks, with everyone at your beck and call. True, some will begrudge a response to your greeting, and if you enter the house of one such who is your friend and his salon is full of friends of his who do not already know you, not one of them will bestir himself to stand and greet you or pay you the slightest attention or even turn toward you. On the other hand, there are those who, once they have gotten to know you, will be as solicitous of your welfare when you are absent as they are when you are present, and if you confide a secret to them, will keep it as long as they live. True, there are those who will call you names as soon as they set eyes on your mustaches, beard, or turban and will tug on the skirt of your robe from behind, but there are also those who have a passionate desire to become acquainted with strangers, are happy to be in their company and to do good to them, and think it a duty to aid and protect them. True, there are those who will mock you when they see you making mistakes in their language, but there are also those who will be intent on teaching it to you without charge, either themselves or via their wives or daughters, and on lending you books and other things that may be of use to you and guide you to whatever may serve your interests and success.

4.1.6

وان منهم لمن يحسبك قد وافيت بلاده تسابقه على رزقه فيكلح فى وجهك وينظر اليك شزرا * لكن منهم من ينزلك فى بلده منزلة ضيف يجب اكرامه واحترامه والذبّ عنه بحيث لا تفصل عنه وفى قلبك ادنى اَلَم من اهله * وان منهم لمن يسخّرك ان تترجم له او تعلمه ثم لا يقول لك احسنت يامترجم او يامعلم * لكن منهم من لا يستحلّ ان يكلمك من دون ان يودّى اليك اجرة فتح فمك وضم شفتيك * وان منهم لمن اذا اضطر الى ان يدعوك الى طعامه ثم راك قد سعلت سعلة او مخطت مخطة او فنخرت فنخرة قال لزوجته اَلَا انّ ضيفنا مريض * فلا ينبغى ان تكثرى له من الطعام * فتقوم عن المائدة متضورا ويمتنّ هو عليك بين معارفه بانه صنع لك وليمة فى عام كذا وشهر كذا ويوم كذا فيجعل تلك الليلة تاريخا * لكن منهم من اذا عرف انك مقيم فى احدى قرى بلاده حيث لا بيع ولا شرآ ولا شى ينال من البقول والاثمار بعث اليك من مباقله وحدائقه ما سدّ فاك عن الشكوى * كما كان مستر دراموند يبعث الى الفارياق حين قدر الله عليه بالسكنى فى بعض تلك القرى فكانت شكواه منها تسمع مع دوى الريح *

True, there are those who will reckon that you have turned up in their country to compete with them for their livelihoods and therefore scowl in your face and look at you askance, but there are also those who will regard you as a guest in their country to be honored, respected, and defended so that you depart without harboring the slightest hard feeling against their countrymen. True, there are those who will use you as forced labor, to translate for them or teach them, and never say, “Thank you, translator!” or “Thank you, teacher!” but there are also those who will regard it as sinful to speak to you without sending you payment for opening your mouth and closing your lips. True, there are those who, if they are compelled to invite you to eat with them and then notice you coughing, blowing your nose, or flaring your nostrils, will tell their wives, “He must be sick; you don’t have to give him a lot of food” so that you rise from the table starving while they make a great show of you among their guests, claiming that in the year so-and-so and month so-and-so, on such and such a day, they held a great banquet for you, treating that night as though it marked the start of some new historical era. On the other hand, there are also those who, on discovering that you are staying in some village in their country where there is no trade and nothing to be obtained by way of green vegetables or fruit, will send you, from their own gardens and orchards, enough to stop your mouth against any complaint. Thus it was with Mr. Drummond,¹ when the Fāriyāq found himself fated to reside in one such village and his complaints were carried on the wind to people’s ears.

4.1.7

ليت شعرى اليس وجود مئة كتاب بدارك فى الاقل خيرا من وجود كذا وكذا قصبة للتبغ وكذا وكذا اركيلة * مع ان ثمن المئة كتاب لا يوازى ثمن ثلث قطع من الكهربا * اليس وجود مطبعة فى بلادك اولى من هذه الطيالس الكشميرية وتلك الفرآ السمورية وهذه الآنية النفيسة والحلى الفاخر * فان الغنسان اذا نظر الى الحلى لا يستفيد منه شيا لا لبدنه ولا لراسه * وغاية فرحه به انما هو الشهر الذى اشتراه فيه فاذا مضت عليه اشهر استوى عنده وسقط المتاع فلم يبق منه ما يسرّه من وجوده سوى بيعه * فاما الكتاب فانه كلما مرت عليه السنون زادت قيمته وكثرت منافعه * او ليس اطلاعك على التاريخ والجغرافية واداب الناس زينة لك بين اخوانك ومعارفك تفوق على زينة الجواهر * اليس تعليم اهلك وذويك شيا من ذلك ومن قواعد لازمة لحفظ الصحة من كتب الطب يكسبك عند الله اجرا ويومنك من مضار كثيرة تتطرق اليهم لجهلهم بها *

How I wish the presence in your home of a hundred books did not count as less of a witness to good fortune than that of a hundred tobacco pipes or a hundred water pipes, even though the cost of a hundred books is less than that of three pieces of amber!² Isn’t the presence of a printing press in your country more important than all these cashmere shawls, sables, precious vessels, and expensive pieces of jewelry? If a person looks at a piece of jewelry, he derives no benefit from it either for his body or his brain; his pleasure in it lasts no longer than the month in which he bought it, and after a few months have passed it’s no more to him than scrap metal, the only pleasure to be derived from it being that of selling it. A book, on the other hand, grows more valuable with each passing year, and its benefits multiply. Are not your readings in history, geography, and the literatures of the world an adornment to you among your brethren and acquaintances that surpasses gemstones? If you teach your family and dependents a portion of such things and, from books of medicine, of the principles necessary for the preservation of their health, will you not win reward from God and protection from many an injury that might befall them as a result of their ignorance?

4.1.8

فان قلت انه ليس عندنا كتب فى العربية تصلح للنسآ * قلت هب ما قلته حقا ولكن اليس عند الافرنج كتب مختصة بالنسآ والاولاد يولّفها الرجال الفاضلون المهذّبون * فلمَ تشترى من الافرنج الخزّ والمتاع ولا تشترى منهم العلم والحكمة والاداب * ثم انك مهما بالغت فى ان تبرقع زوجتك عن روية الدنيا فلن تستطيع ان تخفيها عن قلبها * فان المراة حيثما كانت وكيفما كانت هى بنت الدنيا وامّها واختها وضرّتها * لا تقل لى ان المراة اذا كانت شريرة لا يصلحها الكتاب بل يزيدها شرّة * واذا كانت صالحة فما بها من حاجة اليه * فانى اقول ان المراة كانت اولا بنتا قبل ان صارت امراة * وان الرجل كان من قبل ولدًا * ولا ينكر احد ان التعليم على صغر * كالنقر فى الحجر * وانك اذا ربّيت ولدك فى العلم والمعارف والفضائل والمحامد يربون على ما ربّيتهم عليه * وتكون قد ادّيت ما فرضه الله عليك من تاديبهم * فتفارقهم بعد العمر الطويل وخاطرك مجبور وبالك رخى مطمئن *

If you say, “We have no books in Arabic suitable for women,” I reply, “Supposing you are right, do not the Franks have books written by refined and virtuous men specially for women and children? Why do you buy fabrics and furnishings from the Franks and not knowledge, wisdom, or literature? Then again, no matter what lengths you may go to in order to shield your wife from seeing the world, you will never be able to hide it from her heart. A woman, wherever and however she be, is this world’s daughter and its mother, sister, and co-wife. Do not say to me, ‘A book won’t set an evil woman to rights but will make her yet more wicked, and if she’s righteous, she doesn’t need one,’ for I will reply that a woman was a girl before she became a woman and a man was once a boy. No one can deny that educating the young is like carving on rock and that if you raise your offspring with knowledge, general education, virtue, and praiseworthy qualities, they will grow up as you have raised them and you will have performed the duty that God has imposed upon you of making them into decent people, in which case you will leave them (after a long life, God willing) with a clear conscience and a mind at ease and serene.”

4.1.9

فلم يبق لك الا ان تقول ان ابى لم يعلمنى وكذا جدى لم يعلم ابى وانى بهما اقتدى * فاقول لك ان الدنيا فى عهد المرحومين جدك وابيك لم تكن كما هى الآن * اذ لم يكن فى عصرهما سفن النار ودروب الحديد التى تقرب البعيد * وتجدد العهيد * وتصل المقطوع * وتبذل الممنوع * ولم يكن يلزم الانسان فى ذلك الوقت ان يتعلم لغات كثيرة * فكان كل من يقول خوش كلدى صفا كلدى يقال فيه انه يصلح لان يكون ترجمانا فى باب همايون * وكل من كان يكتب خطا دون خطى هذا الذى سودت به هذا الكتاب * لا الذى تقراه الآن فانى برٓى من هذه الحروف * كان يقال عنه انه كاتب ماهر يصلح لان يكون منشى ديوان * فاما الآن فهيهات *

The only argument left to you is to say, “My father gave me no education, just as my grandfather gave my father none, and I have followed in their footsteps,” but I tell you, the world in your late grandfather’s and father’s day was not as it is now. In their day, there were no steamboats or railway tracks to bring close far-off tracts and create new pacts, to connect the disconnected, and make accessible what was once protected. Then, one didn’t have to learn many languages. It could be said of anyone who knew a few words of Turkish—Welcome, my lord! How nice to see you, my lord!—that he’d make a fine interpreter at the imperial court, and of any who could write a hand worse than the hand with which I have penned this book (not the one you’re actually reading now, for whose typeface I take no responsibility³) that he was a skilled calligrapher who would make a fine secretary to a king’s council. Not now!

4.1.10

هذا الفارياق حين نوى السفر من الجزيرة الى بلاد الانكليز كان بعض الناس يقول له انك سائر الى بلاد لا تطلع عليها الشمس * وبعضهم يقول الى ارض لا ينبت فيه القمح ولا البقول * ولا يوجد فيها من الماكول الا اللحم والقلقاس * وبعضهم يقول انى اخاف عليك ان تفقد فيها رئتك لعدم الهوآ * وبعضهم يقول امعاك لعدم الاكل * وبعضهم صدرك او عضوا آخر غيره * فلما سار اليها وجد الشمس شمسا والهوآ هوآ * والمآ مآ * والرجال رجالا والنسآ نسآ * والديار ماهولة والمدن معمورة * والارض محروثة اريضة * كثيرة الصُوَى والاعلام * خضلة الغياض والرُبُض والاجام * ناضرة المروج * زاهية الحقول * غضة البقول * فلو انه سمع لاولئك الناس لفاته رؤية ذلك اجمع * فان خشيت ان تفوتك هناك لذة الاركيلة ولذة تكبيس الرجلين قبل الرقاد * فاعلم ان ما ترى هناك من العجائب ينسيك هذا النعيم * ويلهيك عمّا الفته فى مقامك الكريم *

When our friend the Fāriyāq made his decision to leave the island for England, someone told him, “You are going to a land over which the sun never rises”; another, “ . . . to a land where no wheat or green vegetables grow and the only foods to be had are meat and turnips”⁴; another, “I fear that you may lose your lungs there for lack of air”; another, “or your intestines for lack of food”; and another, “or your chest or some other part of your body.” When he got there, though, he found that the sun was the sun, the air air, water water, men men, and women women, that the land was populated and the cities well inhabited, the earth plowed and pleasing to the eye, well signposted and marked, resplendent with woods, mighty trees, and forests, green with meadows, proud in its fields, succulent in the green vegetables its soil yields; had he listened to those people, he would have missed seeing all of that. Thus, if you’re afraid that you would hanker for the pleasures of the water pipe or of having your legs massaged before going to sleep, know that the marvels you will see there will make you forget all such luxuries and distract you from everything to which, in your noble position in society, you have become accustomed.

4.1.11

كيف ترضى لنفسك ان تفارق هذه الدنيا ولم ترها وانت قادر على ذلك * وقد قال ابو الطيب المتنبى

ولم ارَ فى عيوب الناس شيا

كنقص القادرين على التمام

ام كيف تقتصر على معرفة ربع لغة ولا تتشوق الى علم ما يفكر فيه غيرك * فلعل تحت قبعته افكارا ومعانى لم تخطر بما تحت طربوشك * بحيث انك اذا استوعبتها تودّ لو انك عاصرت صاحبها وتشرفت بمعرفته وصنعت له مادبة فاخرة زينتها بصحاف الرز والبرغل * وكيف تبلغ من عمرك ثلثين سنة ولم تولّف شيا يفيد اهل بلادك * فما ارى بين يديك الا دفاتر بيع وشرآ وفناديق دخل وخرج * ورسائل فاسدة المعانى ركيكة الالفاظ تنظر فيها فى كل صباح ومسآ *

How can you allow yourself to leave this world without ever having seen it when you have the means to do so? Abū l-Ṭayyib al-Mutanabbī has said

And no failing have I seen among men

To equal the falling short of those who have means.

How can you limit yourself to knowing a quarter of a language⁵ and not yearn to know what others think? Under their hats may be ideas and thoughts that have never occurred to what’s under your tarbush—so much so that, did you but comprehend them, you’d wish you could have been their thinker’s contemporary, had the honor of his acquaintance, and held a splendid feast for him, decorated with sheaves of rice and wheat. How can you have reached the thirtieth year of your life without composing something of benefit to the people of your country? All I see before you are ledgers of sale and purchase, pages of outgoings and incomings, and letters full of corrupt phrases and lame expressions over which you pore morning and evening.

4.1.12

فاما اذا قصدت السفر لمجرد التفاخر فقط بان تقول مثلا فى مجلس زارك فيه اصحابك الكرمآ * واقرانك العظما * قد رايت مدينة كذا وشاهدت شوارعها النظيفة الواسعة وديارها الرحيبة ومراكبها الحسنة واسواقها البهيجة وخيلها المطهمة ونساها الرائعة وعساكرها الجرارة * واكلت فيها فى اليوم الاول كذا وشربت فى اليوم الثانى كذا * ثم ذهبنا بعد ذلك الى بعض الملاهى ثم الى احدى الملهيات * وبت معها على فراش وطى * وكان قبالة السرير مرآة كبيرة فى طول الفراش وعرضه فكنت ارى نفسى فيها كما كنت فى الفراش * ثم قمت فى الصباح وجاتنا خادمة صبيحة بصبوح او فطور * ثم عدت الى محلى فوجدت فيه فلانا ينتظرنى وكان ذلك نحو الساعة الحادية عشرة اى قبل الظهر بساعة * فتوجهنا معا الى البستان المسمى بالبتسان السلطانى * وبينما نحن نمشى فيه وننظر الى الشجر الباسقة والزهور المدبجة اذا بالفتاة التى بت عندها تماشى رجلا يغازلها * فلما راتنى تبسمت وسلمت علىّ * وكانّ سلامها لم يسؤ الرجل فانه نزع لى قبّعته فعجبت جدا من عدم غيرته * اذ لو كانت الفتاة عندى لحجبتها عن النور * فذلك كله يسمى فى العربية هَذَرا وهُرآء وهَفْتا وهرْجا وهَلْجا وسَقَطا وهَيْشا ووَتَغا وخَطَلا واِخلآ ولَخى وطَفانين وهَذَيانا وثرثرة وفرفرة وحذرمة وهبرمة وهثرمة وخزربة وخطلبة وغيذرة وشمرجة ونفرجة وهمرجة وثغثغة وفقفقة ولقلقلة ووقوقة وهتمنة وفى المتعارف عند العامة فشارا وعلكا * اذ لا فائدة فيه لاحد من الناس *

If, on the other hand, your intention in traveling is simply to be able to boast and say, for example, during some gathering when your noble friends and mighty peers are visiting, “I saw such and such a city and beheld its wide clean streets, spacious homes, fine ships, magnificent markets, beautiful horses, wonderful women, and hosts of soldiers, and ate such and such there on the first day and drank such and such on the second, after which we went to a place of entertainment and from there to a lady who entertains and I spent the night with her on a soft bed, and in front of the bed there was a large mirror as long and wide as the bed itself, so I could see myself in it just as I was in the bed, and then I got up in the morning and a bonny maid brought us breakfast (liquid or otherwise) and then I went back to my lodgings and found so-and-so waiting for me, the time being then eleven o’clock, or about an hour before noon, and we set off together for the park known as the Royal Park and while we were walking there, looking at the towering trees and ornamental flowers, I suddenly caught sight of the girl I’d spent the night with walking with a man who was paying court to her and when she saw me, she smiled and said hello, and her greeting didn’t seem to upset the man, for he doffed his hat to me, and I was very much surprised at his lack of jealousy, as, had the girl been mine, I’d have hidden her from the light,” then it all amounts to nothing but what’s called in chaste Arabic hadhar (“prating”), hurāʾ (“prattling”), haft (“nonsense”), harj (“confusion”), halj (“making incredible claims”), saqaṭ (“false reporting”), haysh (“talking too much”), watagh (“mindless verbiage”), khaṭal (“excessive nonsense”), ikhlāʾ (“vacancy”), lakhā (“much ado about nothing”), ṭafānīn (“idle talk”), hadhayān (“senseless jabber”), thartharah (“chattering”), farfarah (“chittering”), ḥadhramah (“loquacity”), habramah (“garrulousness”), hathramah (“garrulity”), khazrabah (“rambling”), khaṭlabah (“ranting”), ghaydharah (“raving”), shamrajah (“blathering”), nafrajah (“blethering”), hamrajah (“blabbering”), thaghthaghah (“gabbling”), faqfaqah (“burbling”), laqlaqah (“clattering”), waqwaqah (“barking”), and hatmanah (“bombast”)—and in the ordinary speech of the common people, since it’s of no use to anyone, fashār (“bragging”) and ʿalk (“yakkety-yak”).

4.1.13

بخلاف ما اذا قلت لهم ان الغيسانى من الرجال هناك اذا حضر مجلسا فيه نسآ لا يغمز احداهن بعينه ولا يتبظرم ولا يبتهر(١)(١) تبظرم اذا كان احمق وعليه خاتم فيتكلم ويشير به فى وجوه الناس وابتهر ادعى كذبا وقال فجرت ولم يفجر * * ولا يقول لها انه يزور النسآ المحصنات بعلم بعولتهن وبغير علمهم وياكل عندهن ويشرب * ثم يخلو بهن فى مضاجعهن ويرجع الى منزله مسرورا * وكاىٍّ من مرة وضع يده فى جيبه فوجد فيه كيسا ملان من الدنانير او كاغد حوالة على بعض الصيارفة * وانه اذا مرّ فى الاسواق تتهافت على رويته البنات من الرواشن والشبابيك والكُوَى والسِهآء والاَجْلآ * فمنهن من تشير اليه بيدها او براسها * ومنهن من تهجله بعينها ثم تضع يدها على قلبها * ومنهن من ترميه بوردة * واخرى بباقة من المنثور او برقعة فيها شعر * او انه يقول بحضرتهن قد انحلّت تكّتى او حكّنى رفغى لكون حشو سراويلى غليظا * او يحك استه او يرطل عياره * او يتمطى ويتمتّى ويتمطّط ويتمدّد ويتمطّل ويتمتأ ويتمتّت ويتمأّى ويتنَطّط ويتمعط ويتمغط ويتبسط ويتبأّط * بل انما يكلمهن متادبا محتشما غاضّ الطرف خافض الصوت * ويسال كبيرتهن عما طالعت يومها ذاك من الاخبار والحكايات والنوادر الادبية * وانه شرع فى تاليف كتاب مفيد يشتمل على ذكر اثار الاقدمين واخبارهم * ثم يلقى على صغيرتهن احجية ادبية ليلهيها بها وبمثل ذلك يدخل مكرما ويخرج محمودا *

It would be different were you to tell them that if a handsome young man there attends a gathering where there are women, he doesn’t wink at one of them or flash his costly ring about foolishly in her face as he talks or make false boast of his conquests.(1)(1) One says of a man that he tabaẓrama [“flashed his ring about foolishly”] “if he is stupid and is wearing a signet ring and he talks and waves it about in people’s faces” and that he ibtahara [“made false boast of his conquests”] if he “makes false claims and says ‘I committed adultery’ when he did not.” He doesn’t tell her that he visits women of unblemished reputation with and without the permission of their husbands and eats and drinks in their homes, then stays alone with them in their bedchambers and returns home in good cheer, and that many a time he has put his hand into his pocket and found there a purse full of gold coins or a draft drawn on a moneylender, or that when he walks through the markets, the girls crowd the casements, windows, apertures, peepholes, and skylights to catch sight of him, some making signs to him with their hands or their heads, others making sheep’s eyes and putting their hands on their hearts, one throwing him a flower and another a posy of stocks or a scrap of paper bearing a verse. He doesn’t say in their presence “My drawstring came undone” or “I’ve got jock itch because my package is so big” or scratch his anus or weigh his “yardarm” in his hand, or stretch, loll, sprawl, extend his body, lie at full length, elongate himself, protract himself, lounge, drape himself, lie flat on his face, extend his arms to their full length, spread himself out, or flop vacantly around. On the contrary, he speaks to them politely and respectfully, averting his gaze and lowering his voice, and he asks the eldest among them what news, stories, and edifying anecdotes have come her way that day, or he mentions that he has commenced that very day the composition of a beneficial book that will make comprehensive mention of the antiquities left by the ancients and their histories, and then puts some literary puzzle to the youngest of them to keep her entertained. Such things ensure that he is honored on his arrival and praised on his departure.

4.1.14

وبخلاف ما اذا قلت لهم ايضا ان التاجر المثرى هناك لا يتختم بخواتم الماس والزمرّذ * ولا يتحلى بسلاسل الذهب * ولا يقتنى النادر من الاثاث والماعون والفرش * بل انما ينفق امواله فى سبيل البر واغاثة الملهوفين وامداد الارامل واليتامى * وفى انشآ المدارس والمستشفيات * وفى تصليح الطرق وتحسين المدينة وازالة الاوساخ والعفونات منها * وفى ان يربى ولده بالادب والعلم والفضائل * فترى منهم من سنّه اثنتا عشرة سنة يكلّمك بما يكلّمك به من سنّه منا اثنتا عشرة سنة بعد العشرين * وبخلاف ما اذا تفضلت بذكره فقلت ان لكل انسان عندهم ممن لا يعدّ من الاغنيآ والفقرآ خزانة كتب نفيسة فى كل فن وعلم * وما من بيت الا وفيه اضبارة من صحف * وان الرجل منهم اخبر بالبلاد الاجنبية من اهلها * وان اكثر فلاحيهم يقراون ويكتبون ويطالعون الوقائع اليومية ويعرفون الحقوق الرابطة بين المالك والممولك والحاكم والمحكوم وبين الرجل وامراته * وان من هذه الوقائع المطبوعة ما تبلغ عدة نسخه اربعة عشر مليونا فى العام * وما يدفع عليها لخزنة الدولة على طبع اجازتها يبلغ اكثر من خمسين الف ليرة * وانها لو عرّبت نسخة واحدة منها لجات اكثر من مائتى صفحة * وان صاحب العائلة منهم اذا جلس صباحا على المائدة مع زوجته واولاده يقبّل كلّا منهم ويسالهم عن صحتهم * ويفيدهم بعض نصائح وتنبيهات تكون لهم اِماما فى ذلك اليوم * وانهم يكلمونه وهم مبتهجون فرحون ويرون حضوره فيهم سلوانا * وانهم لا يخالفون له امرا ولا يستثقلون منه تكليفا * وهم مع ذلك يُدلّون عليه بالبنوّة ويهابونه للابوّة *

It would be different too if you were to tell them that the rich merchant there doesn’t wear diamond or emerald rings or adorn himself with gold chains or collect rare furniture, vessels, and carpets but spends his wealth instead on charity, assistance to the hard-pressed, and provision for widows and orphans, on building schools and hospitals, mending roads, and cleaning the city and clearing it of refuse and filth, as well as on educating his children in literature, science, and the virtues, as a result of which you find that from the age of twelve they can talk to you of matters that one of ours would not be able to talk to you about were he twelve plus twenty years of age. And it would be different too if you were to be so good as to mention that any person among them of a middling condition has a case of valuable books on every art and science and that there isn’t a house that doesn’t have a folder full of newspapers; that any man among them is better informed as to the conditions of foreign countries than are those countries’ own inhabitants; that most of their peasants can read and write and peruse the daily newspapers and are aware of the rights and obligations that govern the relationships between owner and owned, ruler and ruled, man and wife; that some of their printed newspapers run to fourteen million copies a year, that the sum paid to the state treasury for the printing of their licenses comes to more than fifty thousand lira, and that if a single issue of such a newspaper were translated into Arabic, it would come to two hundred pages; and that when a head of family there sits down to table in the morning with his wife and children, he kisses each, asks after his health, and provides him with profitable pieces of advice and caution to guide him through the coming day and they talk to him and are full of delight and joy, viewing his presence among them as a comfort, never disobeying his orders or thinking his demands upon them a burden yet acknowledging their status as his children and honoring him as children should a father.

4.1.15

فهذا وامثاله اصلحك الله ينبغى ان تشنّف به مسامع اصحابك الكرام * عسى ان ينشطوا الى انشآ مدرسة او ترجمة كتاب او لارسال ولدهم الى بلد يتادبون فيه بالاداب المحمودة والمناقب الكريمة * واياك ياسيدي من ان تميل قبل هذا كله الى ان تاخذ عن بعضهم الخصال الذميمة كالطيش والنزق والبخل والفسق والكبر ومد الرجلين فى وجه جليسك * فقد ذكرت لك آنفا ان البلاد التى تكثر فيها الفضائل تكثر فيها الرذائل ايضًا * وانه ليس من انسان الا وفيه عيب بل عيوب * غير انه ينبغى لكل منا ان لا يزال يجد ويسعى فى طريق الكمال وفى تهذيب اخلاقه وحواسه الباطنة بكل ما يبدو لحواسه الظاهرة * وكما ان لذة الحواس لا يشعر بها الانسان الا فى مقدَّم جسمه دون موخره كذلك ينبغى لكل ذى جسم من الحيوان الناطق ان يعتمد على التقدّم فى المعارف والدرايه * والمحامد الى الغايه * وكنت اود لو ان احدا من اهل بلادنا نقل فضيلة او ماثرة عن هولآ الناس الى اخوانه ومعارفه كما تنقل الاخبار والروايات * وبودى لو تستحيل اصناف الماس والزمرذ والياقوت والدهنج والثعثع والدر والعقيان والكهربا والمها وقلنسوة الراهب معها حالة كونها

معدودة من الجواهر والتحف الى كتب ومدارس ومكاتب ومطابع *

It is with this and its like that you, God set you to rights, should be beguiling the ears of your noble friends in the hope that they may bestir themselves to build a school, translate a book, or send their children to a country where they can learn praiseworthy manners and noble traits. But beware, my dear sir, before anything else, of taking over from some of them their ignoble qualities, such as frivolity, impetuosity, stinginess, depravity, and arrogance, or showing the soles of your feet to someone sitting with you, for, as I pointed out to you above, countries with many virtues also have many vices and everyone has some fault, or indeed faults. Each of us, however, must seriously strive to follow the path of perfection and to refine his morals and his inner senses by making the best use of everything that appears to his outer senses. Likewise, given that one experiences sensual pleasure through the front of the body rather than its rear, every rational animal that possesses a body should determine to move in a forward direction in pursuit of knowledge, understanding, and praiseworthy qualities till he can go no farther. I would also wish that even one of our countrymen might pass on to his brethren and acquaintances some virtue or memorable deed taken from those people in the same way that news or accounts of events are passed on, and I wish that all kinds of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, jasper, mother-of-pearl, pearls, gold, amber, and crystal (and monk’s hoods too, since they’re considered to belong to the category of jewels and treasures) might be turned into

books, upper schools, elementary schools, and printing presses.