Читать книгу Leg over Leg - Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq - Страница 6

الفصل الثانى

ڡي وداع

Chapter Two

A Farewell

4.2.1

لما حان سفر الفارياق اخذ يودع زوجته بعد ان اوعى القاموس والاشمونى فى صندوقه ويقول * اذكرى يازوجتى انّا عشنا معا برهة طويلة من الدهر * قالت ما اذكر الا هذا * قال فقلت اَذِكْرُ ناكرٍ ام شاكرٍ * قالت نصف من هذا ونصف من ذاك * قلت يرجعنا النحت الى الاول * قالت او يرجع الاول الى النحت * قلت اىّ اوّل اضمرتِ * قالت ما لك ولتاويل المضمر * قلت حسبى ان تُبيّنى لى حقيقة ذلك * قالت اذا فكرت فى انك لى ولغيرى كنت من الناكرين والا فمن الشاكرين *

When the time for the Fāriyāq to travel was close, and as soon as he had put his copies of the Qāmūs and al-Ashmūnī into his trunk, he set about bidding his wife farewell.⁶ He said, “Just think, wife—we’ve lived together a goodly span of time.” “That’s all I think of,” she replied. The Fāriyāq resumed his narrative. “I asked her, ‘Hatefully or gratefully?’ and she replied, ‘Half the latter and half the former.’⁷ ‘Application of naḥt brings us back to the first,’⁸ I said, to which she responded, ‘or the first brings us back to another meaning of naḥt.’⁹ ‘Which first did you have in mind?’ I asked.¹⁰ ‘You have no business interpreting my intentions,’ she responded. I replied, ‘I’d be content if you’d just explain to me what you did mean,’ and to this she responded, ‘If you think you can belong to both me and others, then it’s “hatefully,” if not, it’s “gratefully.”’

4.2.2

قلت انك كنت نهيتِنى عن المعاملة بالقَسْم وها انت الآن تاتينه * قالت بل هو ياتينى * قلت اَما فى فيك لفظة لا * قالت ان لفظتها كانت نَعَم * قلت ان لا من المراة اِلًى * قالت وان نعم نعم * قلت اجعلت هذا دابك * قالت ودابت فى هذا الجَعل * قلت هذا لا يليق بذات ولد * قالت ولا تلد من لا تليق * قلت من مادة واحدة * قالت ان كانت المادة غير زيادة متصلة احوجت الى اختلاف الصور * قلت وكيف تبقى متصلة على اختلاف الاشكال * قالت لا اشكال فى كيفية الاشكال فان واحدا منها يغنى عن الجميع * وانما الكلام على رسم الكمية * قلت ما الحدّ * قالت فى الجد الهزل وفى الهزل الجد *

“‘You forbade me before to deal with you on the basis of suspicion,’¹¹ I said, ‘but now you’re the sinner in that regard.’ ‘On the contrary,’ she replied, ‘I’m the one sinned against.’¹² I asked her, ‘Does the word “no” have no place in your mouth?’¹³ She said, ‘It used to be pronounced “yes.”’¹⁴ I said, ‘A no from a woman is a boon,’¹⁵ to which she replied, ‘And a yes means pleasure.’ I asked, ‘Have you made the latter your habit?’ to which she replied, ‘Indeed—and become habituated to the rewards.’ I said, ‘That’s not fitting for a woman with children,’ to which she countered, ‘If a woman doesn’t fit properly, she’ll never give birth.’¹⁶ I said, ‘It’s the same Matter,’ to which she responded, ‘If the Matter isn’t “copious and inseparable,” it must necessarily take different Forms.’¹⁷ I said, ‘And how can it remain inseparable if the Forms are different?’ ‘The individual nature of the Forms is not a problem,’ she replied, ‘for one may stand for all. What we are discussing here is how to define “quantity.”’ ‘And what are the terms of the argument?’ I asked. She said, ‘That in seriousness is humor and in humor seriousness.’

4.2.3

قلت ارايتك لو اقمت نائبا عنى فى ذاك مدة غيابى * فضحكت وقالت على ما احبّ انا ام على ما تحب انت * قلت بل على ما تحبين انت * قالت لا يرضى الرجل بذلك الا اذا كان غير ذى غيرة ولا يكون غير ذى غيرة الا اذا كره امراته وكلف بغيرها فانت اذًا كَلِف بغيرى * قلت ما انا بالكَلِف ولا بالطَرِف * لكن الرجل اذا كان شديد الحبّ لامراته ودّ لو انه يرضيها فى كل شى * على ان الغيرة لا تكون دائما عن المحبة كما نصّوا عليه * فان بعض النسآ يغرن على ازواجهن عن كراهية لهم واعنات * مثال ذلك اذا منعت المراة زوجها عن الخروج الى بستان او ملهى او حمّام مع عدة رجال متزوجين * هى تعلم انهم فى هذه المواضع لا يمكنهم الاجتماع بالنسآ فهى انما تفعل ذلك تحكما عليه ومنعا له من ذكر النسآ مع اصحابه والتلذذ بما لا يضيرها * وكذا اذا خظرته عن النظر من شباكه الى شارع او روضة حيث يكثر تردّد النسآ * وكذا الحكم على الرجل لو فعل ذلك بامراته * فهذا عند الناس يعدّ غيرة لكنه فى الواقع بغضة * او ربما كان آخر الغيرة اول البغض كما ان افراط الضحك هو اول البكآء * وكيف كان فان الرجل لا يمكن ان يحب زوجته الا اذا اباح لها التلذذ بما شآت وبمن احبّت * قالت ايفعل ذلك احد فى الدنيا * قلت نعم يفعله كثير فى بلاد غير بعيدة عنا * قالت بابى هم ولكن ما شان النسآ ايفعلن ذلك ايضا لازواجهن * قلت لا بدّ حتى يعتدل الميزان * قالت اما انا فلا ارضى بهذا الاعتدال فالميل عندى احسن * قلت وكذا هو عندى فى بعض الاحوال * قالت ولاحوال البعض *

“‘What would you think,’ I asked her, ‘if I got someone to deputize for me in that matter while I’m away?’ She laughed and said, ‘According to my taste or yours?’ ‘To yours, naturally,’ I replied. She said, ‘No man would agree to such a thing unless he was devoid of jealousy, and a man can be devoid of jealousy only if he hates his wife and is enamored of someone else, so you must be enamored of someone else.’ I said, ‘I am neither enamored nor inconstant, but when a man is deeply in love with his wife he hopes to please her in everything, though we must not overlook the fact that jealousy is not always, as people would have it, a product of love: some women’s jealousy regarding their husbands comes from hatred of them and a desire to hurt them. An example would be if a woman were to prevent her husband from going out to a park, a place of entertainment, or a bathhouse along with a number of other married men; she knows that they cannot meet up with women in such places and she only does this to exercise control over him and to stop him from talking about women with his friends and enjoying himself in ways that can do her no harm. It’s the same if she forbids him to look out of his window at a street or a garden frequented by many women, and the same judgment applies to a man if he behaves the same way with his wife. People call such things “jealousy” but in reality they are a form of hatred, or it may be that hatred begins where jealousy leaves off, just as excessive laughter is the first stage of tears. However that may be, a man cannot truly love his wife if he doesn’t allow her to enjoy herself in the way she wants and with whom she wants.’ ‘Does anyone in the world behave that way?’ she asked. ‘Indeed,’ I responded. ‘Many behave so in countries not far from us.’ ‘Good for them,’ she replied, ‘but what about their women? Do they behave the same way with their husbands?’ ‘They have to,’ I answered, ‘to keep things in balance.’ ‘Personally,’ she said, ‘I wouldn’t put up with such evenhandedness. As far as I’m concerned, a tilt is better.’ ‘That’s my opinion too, in certain circumstances,’ I said. ‘And where the circumstances of certain people are concerned,’ she riposted.¹⁸

4.2.4

قلت فلنعد الى السفر انى اسافر اليوم * قالت نعم الى بلاد فيها البيض الحسان * قلت اتعنيهم ام تعنيهنّ * قالت اعنى نوعا ويعنينى آخر * قلت ولمَ يعنيك وانتن المطلوبات فى كل حال ولذلك يقال للمراة غانية * قال فى القاموس الغانية المراة التى تطلَب ولا تطلب * قالت ما احسن كلامه هنا لولا انه قال قبل ذلك العوانى النسآ لانهن يُظلَمن فلا ينتصرن * غير ان هذه النقطة شفعت فى تلك * قلت حبكن التنقيط داب قديم * قالت مثل داب الرجال فى التحريف * وكيف كان فان مطلوبيّتنا هى اصل العنآ * فان المطلوبة لا تكون الا ذات العرض والاحصان * فويل لها ان خانت محصنها * وويل لها ان حرمت طالبها وباتت تلك الليلة مشغولة البال بحرمانه وخيبته وبكونها صارت سببا فى ارقه وجزعه وحسرته * والطالبة تعود غير مطلوبة * قلت ليست اخلاق الرجال فى ذلك سوآ * قالت انما اعنى الرجال الذين يطلبون ويكلفون بمن يطلبونه لا اولئك الطَرِفين الشنقين المسافحين الذين دابهم التذوّق والتنقل من مطلوب الى آخر ونفع انفسهم فقط دون مراعاة نفع سواهم * ولكن هيهات هل فى الرجال من يقيم على الوداد ولا يميل عنه كل يوم * لعمرى لو كانت النسآ تطلب الرجال طلب الرجال للنسآ لما رايت فيهم غير مفتون *

“‘Let’s get back to traveling,’ I said. ‘I leave today.’ ‘Indeed,’ she said, ‘—for the lands of the white-skinned beauties.’ ‘Do you talk of men or women?’ I enquired. ‘I talk of one sex,’ she replied, ‘but what worries me is the other.’ ‘And why should that sex be a concern,’ I asked, ‘when it’s you women who, in any circumstances, are the ones pursued, which is why they call a beautiful woman a ghāniyah¹⁹?; as the author of the Qāmūs says, “the ghāniyah is a woman who is pursued and does not herself need to pursue.”’ She said, ‘Excellent words, but earlier he says, “ʿawānī²⁰ is a word for women, because they are mistreated and no one takes their side,” though the dot on the one ought to put in a good word for the other.’²¹ ‘Love of “dotting,”’ I said, ‘is an ancient habit among you women.’²² ‘As “scripting” is among men,’²³ she retorted, ‘but be that as it may; our being desired is the root of our worries, for the woman who is desired is by definition a woman whose honor is valued and guarded. Woe betide her then if she betrays her guardian and woe betide her if she denies the one who desires her, for then she will spend the night worrying over having denied him and over his disappointment and the fact that she has become a cause of his sleeplessness, anguish, and sorrow, and the woman who chases men ends up unchased.’²⁴ I said, ‘Men’s morals are not all the same where that’s concerned,’ to which she returned, ‘I mean the men who desire, and fall in love with the ones they desire, not those fornicating omnivorous fickle-hearted ones whose custom is to take a nibble here and a nibble there and move from one object of desire to another, taking only what is of use to them without caring about what may be of use to others. How few, though, are the former! Is there a single man who can maintain an affection and not deviate from it every day? I swear, were women to desire men as much as men desire women, you wouldn’t find a single man unbewitched.’

4.2.5

قلت هل فى النسآ من تقيم على الوداد ولا تجنح عنه كل يوم الف مرة * هذه الكتب كلها تشهد للرحيال بالوفآ وعلى النسآ بالخيدعية * قالت مَن كتب هذه الكتب اليس الرجال هم الذين لفّقوها * قلت ولكن من بعد التحرّى والتجربة * قالت مَن يات الحَكَم وحده يفلج * قلت بل اوردوا على ذلك شواهد وكفى بما ورد عن سيدنا سليمن برهانا ودليلا * فانه قال قد وجدت بين الف من الرجال صالحا فاما بين النسآ فلم اجد صالحة * قالت ان سيدنا سليمن وان يكن قد اوتى من الحكمة ما لم يوتَه غيره غير ان افراطه فى النسآ شوش عليه الصالحة منهن من غير الصالحة * اَلَا ترى ان بائع المسك لطول ائتلافه بالرائحة القوية تضعف منه حاسة الشم بحيث لا يعود يشم الرائحة اللطيفة * واما ايراد الادلة من الرجال على النسآ دون ايراد ادلة النسآ على الرجال فمحض ظلم وبطر *

“‘Is there a single woman who can maintain affection and not deviate from it each day a thousand times?’ I asked her. ‘All books bear witness to the trustworthiness of men and the treachery of women.’ ‘Weren’t the ones who wrote those books men?’ she countered. ‘They’re the ones who made up those stories.’ ‘But only after investigation and experience,’ I answered. ‘If you go to the arbitrator alone, you win,’ she said. ‘Quite the reverse,’ I said. ‘They have provided testimonies. The words of Our Master Sulaymān, who said, “I have found one righteous man among a thousand but I have not found a single righteous woman” may serve as sufficient proof and evidence.’ ‘Even if Our Master Sulaymān was granted wisdom given to none other,’ she said, ‘his excessive indulgence in women rendered him incapable of distinguishing the righteous among them from the unrighteous. Have you not observed how the musk-seller’s sense of smell weakens from length of exposure to its strong odor until he can no longer distinguish any more delicate scent? As far as providing the testimony of men against women without providing that of women against men is concerned, it is patent injustice and high-handedness.’

4.2.6

قلت نعم كان الاَوْلَى مناصفة هذا الايراد ولكن سبحان الله انتن تتهمن الرجال فى كل شى ثم تتهافتن عليهم * قالت لولا اضطرار الاحوال * لما شغلن بذلك الابوال * قال فضحكت وقلت اىّ جمع هذا * قالت قسته على غيره * قلت وهل استوى المقيس بالمقيس عليه * قالت لا فرق * قلت بل كله فرق فان اللغة لا توخذ بالقياس * ولو صح ذلك لم تكن مناسبة بين الذكر والانثى ولا بين الاثنى والذكر * ولا بين تذكير حقيقة التانيث وتانيث ما هو غير مقابل بمثله * قالت وهذا ايضا من بطر الرجال وتشويشهم فلا يكادون ياتون امرا مستقيما * قلت قد رجعت الى لومهم *

“‘Indeed,’ I said, ‘evenhandedness in such citations would be preferable but, glory be, you women level every possible charge against men and then fall over one another to make a fuss over them!’ She responded, ‘Were it not that society works to make them martyrs, women wouldn’t allow such ideas anywhere near their medulla oblongarters.’”²⁵ “I laughed,” continued the Fāriyāq, “and said, ‘What kind of a plural is that?’ to which she replied, ‘I made it by analogy.’ ‘Are the original word and that formed by analogy to it equal?’ I asked. ‘There’s no difference,’ she replied. ‘On the contrary,’ I said, ‘they’re entirely different, because lexicon cannot be derived by analogy. If it could, there’d be no conformity between male and female or between female and male,²⁶ or between the masculinization of the true feminine²⁷ and the feminization of words that have no equivalent.’²⁸ ‘Another example of men’s high-handedness and confusion of the issue!’ she said. ‘They are virtually incapable of dealing with anything straightforwardly.’ ‘And there you go again!’ I retorted.

4.2.7

قالت والله لقد حرت فى الرجال * قلت والله لقد حرتُ فى النسآ * ولكن فلنعد الى الوداع انى اعاهدك على ان لا اخونك * قالت بل تخونني على عهد * قلت ما يحملك على سوء الظن بى * قالت انى ارى الرجال اذا كانوا فى بلاد لم يُعرفوا بها افحشوا غاية الافحاش * اَلَا ترى الى هولآ الغربآ الذين ياتون الى هذه الجزيرة كيف يتهتكون فى العهر والفجور * فاول ما يضع احدهم قدمه على الارض يسال عن الماخور * ولا سيما هولآ الشاميين ولا سيما النصارى منهم ولا سيما الذين المّوا بعلم شى من احوال الافرنج ولغاتهم فانهم يخرجون من المراكب كالزنابير اللاسعة من هنا وهناك * قلت لعلهم كانوا فى بلادهم كذلك * قالت ليس عندهم اسباب الفحش هناك * قلت او كانوا فاسدين بالطبع * قالت نعم هو عرق فساد كامن فيهم فاول ما يستنشقون رائحة بلاد الافرنج ينبض فيهم * ولذلك تراهم ابدا يتلمظون بذكر بلاد الافرنج وعاداتهم واحوالهم * مع انك اذا سالت احدا منهم عن طعامهم قال لا يستطيبه * او عن الحانهم قال لا تطربه * او عن كرمائهم قال لم تادبه * او عن حمّاماتهم قال لم تعجبه * او عن هوائهم قال لم يلائمه * او عن مائهم قال لم يسغ له * فيكون لهجهم بذكر بلادهم وتنويههم بمحاسنها انما سببه الفحش *

“She said, ‘I swear I don’t know what to do about men’ and I said, ‘And I swear I don’t know what to do about women, but let’s get back to saying farewell. I give you my word that I will never be unfaithful to you.’ ‘On the contrary, you will ever be unfaithful to me,’ she said. I said, ‘What reason do you have to be suspicious of me?’ She replied, ‘I observe that men who are in a country where they’re unknown perform the worst abominations. Just look at how the foreigners who come to this island give themselves over to whoring and depravity. The moment one of them sets foot on land, he asks where the brothel is, especially the Syrians,²⁹ and amongst them especially the Christians, and amongst those especially the ones who have acquired a little knowledge of the ways of the Franks and their languages; they come off the ships like hornets, plunging their stingers here, there, and everywhere.’ ‘Perhaps they were like that in their home countries,’ I said. ‘They don’t have the means to behave abominably there,’ she returned. ‘Or perhaps they’re corrupt by nature,’ I said. ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘They have a latent disposition to corruption and the moment they smell the Frankish air, it comes to life, which is why you will find that they always drool as they talk of the lands of the Franks and their customs and conditions. If you were to ask one of them about their food, though, he’d say he didn’t like it, or about their music, that it didn’t move him, or about their nobility, that they didn’t invite him to their banquets, or about their bathhouses, that they didn’t appeal to him, or about their weather, that it hadn’t suited him, or about their water, that he’d found it hard to swallow. The sole reason for their constant praise of those lands and for their lauding of the good things in them is abomination.

4.2.8

وانت من يضمن لى طبعك عن الفساد وقد اسمعك كل يوم تُهَيْنم بذكر الرجارجة والرضراضة والبضباضة والفضفاضة والرِبَحلة والرعبوب والعطبول * وهى لعمرى الفاظ تسيل لعاب الحصور وتشهّى الناسك * قلت ان هو الا كلام * قالت اول الحرب كلام * قلت اترين اعدّى عن هذه الصنعة الشائقة * والحرفة العائقة * قالت ان لم تتصور ذاتا بعينها عند الوصف فلا باس * قلت ان لم اتصور ذاتا لم يخطر ببالى شى * قالت اذن هو حرام * قلت ما كفّارته * قالت تصورك اياى لا غير * قلت ولكن انت خالية عن بعض الصفات التى لا بدّ من ذكرها * قالت اذا كان الرجل يحب امراته راى فيها الحسن كله ونظر من كل شعرة منها امراة جميلة * كما انه اذا احب امراة غيرها احبّ لاجلها بلادها وهوآها ومآها ولسان قومها وعاداتهم واطوارهم * قلت اوَ كذلك المراة اذا احبت رجلا * قالت هو فى النسآ اكثر لانهن اوفر حبا ووجدا * قلت ما سبب ذلك * قالت لان الرجال يتشاغلون بما ليس يعنيهم * فترى واحدا منهم يطلب الولاية وآخر السيادة وآخر البحث فى الاديان وفى ما غمض من السفليات والعلويات * والنسآ لا شى يشغلهن من ذلك * قلت ليتك تشاغلت مثلهم * قالت ليت لى قلبين فى شغلنا * قلت افتنظرين فىّ الحسن كله كما زعمت * قالت اُحْسِن فيك النظر * قلت فلنعد الى الوداع لا بل فلنعد الى التشاغل * فانى اريد ان انهى هذه المسالة قبل ان افصل من هنا والّا فتكون لى شاغل الطريق وربما افسدت شغلى عند القوم فارجع باللوم عليك وعلى سائر النسآء *

“‘And you—who can guarantee me that your nature is not corrupt, when every day I hear you muttering about women with quivering flesh, women with firm and swelling flesh, women with fleshy flesh, women with masses of plump flesh, women with pretty white flesh, and tall, full-fleshed women with long necks, all of them phrases that would, I swear, make the Baptist salivate and excite a hermit?’ I said, ‘They’re just words,’ to which she replied, ‘Every war begins with words.’ ‘Would you have me abandon this craft and its obsession, this all-consuming profession?’ I asked. ‘So long as you don’t visualize, while describing, a specific person, I have no objection,’ she answered. I responded, ‘If I don’t visualize a person, my mind will remain a blank.’ ‘In that case,’ she said, ‘it’s a sin.’ ‘And how,’ I asked, ‘may I expiate it?’ ‘By visualizing only me and no one else,’ she replied. ‘But you,’ I responded, ‘are devoid of some of the characteristics that have to be mentioned,’ to which she responded, ‘If a man truly loves his wife, he will find in her everything that is fair and see in each hair of hers a beautiful woman. By the same token, if he loves some other woman, he will, for her sake, love her country, its weather, its water, and the language, customs, and manners of its people.’ ‘Aren’t women the same,’ I asked, ‘when they love a man?’ ‘They’re worse,’ she answered, ‘because they have larger reserves of love and passion.’ ‘And why is that?’ I asked. ‘Because,’ she said, ‘men spend time on things that do not concern them. Thus you’ll find this one seeking position, that one power, and a third delving into religions and all that is obscure, be it profane or divine. Women pay no attention to any of that.’ ‘Would that you might busy yourself with the same concerns as men!’ I said. ‘Would that I had,’ she rejoined, ‘two hearts to devote to these concerns of ours.’³⁰ ‘Do you, then,’ I asked, ‘see in me everything that is good, as you claim?’ ‘I hold you in high regard,’ she said. ‘In that case,’ said I, ‘let’s get back to saying good-bye—or maybe not: let us, in fact, get back to the matter at hand, for I’d like to settle it before I depart; otherwise, it will preoccupy me throughout my journey and may spoil my work for those I go to serve. If that happens, I shall pin the blame on you and on women in general.’

4.2.9

قالت اعلم ان المراة تعلم من نفسها انها زينة هذا الكون * كما ان جميع ما فيه انما خلق لزينتها لا لزينة الرجل * لا لكونه مستغنيا عنها بذاته او لكونها هى مفتقرة اليها لتحلو بها فى عين الناظر واذن السامع * بل لعدم جدارة الرجل بها * فان الزينة نوع من الاخذ والتلقّى والاستيعاب والزيادة وهى احوال انسبُ بامراة منها بالرجل * وبنآء على هذا اى على ان جميع ما فى الكون خُلِق لها بعضه بالتخصيص وبعضه بالتفضيل والايثار * كان من بعض اعتقادها ان نوع الرجل ايضا مخلوق لها * لا بمعنى انها تكون زوجة لجميع الرجال فان ذلك محال من وجهين * احدهما انها لا تطيق ذلك لان سرّية ذلك اليهودى (على ما ذكر فى الفصل التاسع عشر من سفر القضاة) لم تطق اهل قرية واحدة (هى جبعة) على قلتهم ليلة واحدة * بل ماتت فى الصباح وسيدها يحسبها نائمة * وهذه الحكاية ذُكِرت رَدْعًا للنسآ * والثانى انه اذا ثبت لامراة حق فى حكر الرجال والاستدباد بهم ثبت الحق الباقى * ولكن بمعنى انها اهل لان تعاشر جميع الرجال وتتعرف ما عندهم * فتتلهَّى من واحد بتمليقة ومن آخر باطرآءة ومن غيره بمغازلة ومن آخر بمطارحة وما اشبه ذلك * مما لا يمنعها من محبة زوجها والكلف به * لا بل –

“‘You should know,’ she said, ‘that women are aware without having to be told that they are the adornment of this universe, and similarly that everything in it was created to be an adornment for women, not men; not because men are innately in no need of such adornment or because women are in need of it in order to look and sound attractive to the eyes of the beholder and the ears of the listener, but because men are not suited to it. Adornment is something one takes, receives, and assimilates and which then becomes an embellishment—modes more appropriate to women than to men. Based on this—which is to say, on the fact that everything in the universe was created for women, in part by design and in part through preference and predilection³¹—one of her beliefs is that the male sex too was created for her, albeit not in the sense that she should be wife to all men, for that would be an impossibility, from two perspectives. One is that no woman could survive such a thing, for the concubine of that certain Jew mentioned in Judges, chapter 19³² could not survive the men of a single village (Gibeah), few though they were, for a single night; on the contrary, she died the next morning and her master believed she was asleep; the story is mentioned there as a caution to women. The other is that, if women’s right to the exclusive possession and arbitrary disposal of men is admitted, then their right to everything else must be admitted too—though only in the sense that they’re qualified to keep company with all men and be acquainted with what they are up to. Thus they may entertain from one a word of flattery, from another a word of praise, from some other courtship, from yet another conversation, and so on, none of which need stand in the way of her feeling love and affection for her husband. Nay, on the contrary . . .’”

4.2.10

قال فقلت اتمّى هذه اللابليّة فانى اراها ترجمة لداهية من دواهى النسآ وعنوانا على مكيدة من مكايدهن * فضحكت وقالت ربّما دلّك على الراى الظنون * غير انى اخشى من ان تاخذك لبيانها شفشفة ورعدة فتتاخر عن السفر * او ان تظن ان هذا دابى معك * معاذ الله * انى لم اخُنْك بضِمْد^١ ولا بغيره * وانما علمت ما علمت من النسآ لان النسآ لا يكتم بعضهن عن بعض شيا من امور العشق واحوال الرجال * قلت اَوْجِزى فقد قلقت وفرقت وعرقت *

١ ١٨٥٥: بضَمْد.

The Fāriyāq continued, “At this I said, ‘Go straight to the end of this “nay-on-the-contrary”—as far as I can see it’s just the preface to another example of the cunning ways of women and the introduction to another of their wiles.’ She laughed and said, ‘Likely your misgivings about women make you say so. Nevertheless, I’m afraid that fear and trembling will overtake you as you try to understand it and you’ll find yourself unable to leave on time, or will suppose that that’s how I conduct myself where you are concerned. God forbid! Never have I betrayed you, with friend or with foe. Everything I know I have learned from other women, for women hide nothing from one another where love and the ways of men are concerned.’ ‘Be brief, then,’ said I, ‘for I’m disquieted and frightened, and my perspiration level’s heightened.’

4.2.11

قالت اعلم ان بعض النسآ لا يتحرّجن من وصال غير بعولتهن لسببين * الاول لعدم اكتفائهن بالقدر المرتب لهن منهم * فانهم يعودونهن اوّلا على ما يعجزون عن ادائه اليهن آخرا * ولا يخفى ان من النسآ المُدقِم وهى التى تلتهم كل شى * ومنهن الشفيرة وهى القانعة من البعال بايسره * ومنهن الضامد وهى التى تتخذ خليلين * ومنهن المِطْماع وهى التى تُطمع ولا تمكّن * ومنهن المَرْيَم وهى التى تحب حديث الرجال ولا تفجر وهو خُلقى * قال فقلت اللهم امين * قالت واللاعة وهى التى تغازلك ولا تمكنك *

“‘Know then,’ she said, ‘that there are two reasons why some women feel no qualms about making love to men other than their husbands. The first is their failure to get from the latter their established due, for men accustom them at the beginning to what they are incapable of giving them at the end, and it’s no secret that there are, among women,³³ the nymphomaniac, who “devours everything,” the sworn virgin, who “abstains completely from intercourse,”³⁴ the two-timer, who “takes two lovers,” the prick teaser, who “incites without making herself available,” and the bluestocking, who “loves the conversation of men but does not fornicate” (which is the way I am) . . .’” The Fāriyāq continued, saying, “‘Thank God for that!’ said I, and she said, ‘ . . . and the ball-breaker, “who flirts with you but doesn’t avail you of herself.”

4.2.12

والسبب الثانى لاستطلاع احوال الرجال واختبار الابتع منهم وغير الابتع لمجرد العلم كيلا يفوتهن حال من احوالهم * ومنهن مَن تعتقد ان زوجها يخونها عند كل فرصة تسنح له * لما تقرر فى عقول النسآ ان الرجال لا شغل لهم الا مغازلتهن ومباغمتهن * فهى على هذا لا تجد سبيلا للشطح الا وتزفّ فيه * اعتقاد انها اخذت بثارها جَزْما اى قبل وقته الموقوت * ومع ذلك فلا يحلن عن محبة بعولتهن * بل ربما كان ذلك الشطح ادعى لزيادة حبّهن لهم *

“‘The second reason is her desire to find out what men are about and to put them all, sturdy and weak alike, to the test, simply in order to know, so that nothing about them may escape her. There are those too who suppose, given women’s firmly established belief that men have no interest in anything but flirting with and sweet-talking women, that their husbands will betray them at the first opportunity. Thinking so, any time she finds a means of leaving the strait and narrow, she hurries to seize it, imagining that she is taking revenge preemptively, which is to say before the time otherwise allotted for it—despite which women never lose their love for their husbands. On the contrary, any such straying may be conducive to an increase in love for them on their part.’

4.2.13

قلت لا متّعنى الله بحبٍ ناشى عن مدقميّة ولا ضمد * ولكن كيف يكون هذا التخليط ادعى الى زيادة الحبّ والمراة اذا ذاقت البكبك والعُجارم والقازح والكُباس لم تقتنع بعد ذلك بزوجها حالة كونه لا يحول عن الصفة التى فُطر عليها * وكذا الرجل ايضا اذا ذاق الرشوف والرصوف والحزنبل والعَضُوض والاكبس فانه يرى زوجته بعد ذلك ناقصة * فضحكت وقالت لو كانت هذه الصفات لازمة للمراة وكان عدم وجودها فيها نقصا لما كنت تراها فى افراد قليلة من النسآء * فان معظمهن على خلاف ذلك * فاما سبب زيادة المحبة فيما زعمن مع التخليط فهو ان الزوج لطول الفته بزوجته وضراوته عليها وحالة كون مسّ احدهما الاخر لا يحدث فى جسم الماسّ والممسوس هزة ولا رعشة ولا ربوخيّة * يمكن له معها المماتنة والامعان والوقوف * بخلاف الغريب فانه لشدة نهمه ودهشته او لفرط مراوحة المراة اياه على العمل * او لكون الحرام لا يسوغ دائما مساغ الحلال تفوته الصفتان المذكورتان *

“‘May God not send me a love that springs from nymphomania or infidelity!’ I said. ‘How, though, can this promiscuity be conducive to an increase in love³⁵ when the woman, once she has sampled the thrusting prick, the strong prick, the hard prick, and the huge, mighty-headed prick, will never thereafter be able to limit herself to her husband, given that he can never escape the particular attribute with which he was created? And the man likewise, having once sampled women who are sweet-mouthed and dry-cunted, narrow-quimmed, high-twatted, tight-tunneled, and bulgy-beavered will find his wife ever after diminished.’ She laughed and said, ‘Were these attributes essential in order for a woman to be a woman and their diminution a defect, they wouldn’t be found only in a small number of individuals, for most women are not like that. The reason why affection increases, as women claim, with promiscuity is that the husband, given his long familiarity with and lascivious interest in his wife, and the fact that the touching of one of them by the other no longer produces in the body of either the toucher or the touched any shaking, trembling, or tendency to faint, is able to keep going longer, penetrate more deeply, and maintain a harder erection than the stranger. The two last characteristic abilities³⁶ will elude the latter, either because of his voracity and discombobulation, or because the woman keeps going back to him after short breaks for more, or because what is forbidden is not always as appealing as what is permitted.

4.2.14

فاللذة معه جلّها ناشى عن التصور * اى عن تصور كونه غير زوجها * كما ان نغصها مع زوجها جلّه ناشى عن تصور كونه غير غريب * والّا فالواقع ان اللذة فى الحلال اقوى * غير ان التصور له موقع يقرب من الفعل * وبيانه لو اعتقد رجل مثلا ان امراة غير امراته تبيت معه ثم باتت معه امراته بعينها وهو لا يعلم ذلك كما جرى لسيدنا يعقوب عمٓ * لوجد امراته تلك الليلة متصفة بجميع الصفات التى تصورها فى غيرها * وكذا شان المراة * فبنآ على ما تقدم من اعتقاد المراة بان جميع ما فى الكون من الحسن والزينة والبهجه يناسبها كان تصورها صفات الحسن وتشاغلها به مطلقا عاما * غير انه اذا كان لها خاصّ قريبا منها تناولت ذلك الخاصّ متناول العام * حتى انه كثيرا ما يخطى فكرُها واحدا منهم بخصوصه * فيتجاذبه اثنان او ثلثة حتى تذهل عن الشاغل والاشغل * وهو فى الواقع تحوّف من اللذة كمن يريد ان يشرب من ثلث قلل يضعها على فيه فى وقت واحد * وقلت كلامك هذا ينظر الى قول الشاعر

اذا بتّ مشغول الفواد بما ترى	من الغيد عينى والجمال مفرّق
اركّب فى وهمى محيّا يشوقنى	على قامة اولى به ثم اشبق

ولكن قد نهيتنى آنفا فى التغزل عن تصوّر ذات بخصوصها وقلت انه حرام فهلّا قلت بحرميّة هذا ايضا * قالت انما حرميّة ذاك لكونه ذاهبا فى الكلام سدى وسرفا * على ان الغزل كله كيفما كان لا خير فيه ولا جدوى *

“‘The pleasure she gets from him derives largely from her conceptualization³⁷ (meaning her conceptualization of him as other than her husband) just as her boredom with her husband derives largely from her conceptualization of him as something familiar. This aside, it is a fact that licit pleasure is more powerful. Conceptualization, however, is almost as important as performance. The proof of this is that if a man believes that a woman other than his wife is going to spend the night with him and then his own wife does so without his knowing, as happened with Our Master Yaʿqūb,³⁸ peace be upon him, he’ll find that his wife, that night, possesses all the characteristics that he conceives of as being possessed by other women, and the same is true for a woman. Based then on what has been said above about the woman believing that every kind of beauty, adornment, and delight in the universe is most appropriately hers, she will conceptualize, and preoccupy herself with, the attributes of beauty as though they were a universal absolute. Should there, therefore, be a particular example close by, she will deal with it as she would with the universal, to the degree that her thoughts will often go on beyond any one man in his particularity, two or three men pulling them this way and that until she is reduced to a tizzy in her attempts to decide between the beguiling and the yet more beguiling, which amounts in reality to her being surrounded on all sides by sensual pleasure, like someone who wants to drink from three water pitchers and puts them all to his mouth at the same time.’ ‘Your words,’ I said, ‘put one in mind of the lines of the poet that go

If my heart’s distracted by the young ladies

My eye beholds, and whose beauty’s divided, a little to each,

I mount in my fancy a face that attracts me

On a body that suits it and then feel the itch.

“‘Earlier, however, you forbade me to visualize any particular woman when celebrating women’s bodies in verse and said it was a sin, so wouldn’t you agree that what you’re suggesting is sinful too?’ ‘The former,’ she replied, ‘is sinful because it constitutes a pointless and excessive use of language. Words of dalliance have, in fact, no value and are worthless however used.

4.2.15

فاما فى الفعل من قبل النسآ فانه ينشا عنه صباحة الاولاد * ولذلك ترى انف بعضهم كانف زيد وفمه كفم عمرو وعينيه كعينى بكر * وهو ايضا جواب لمن قال ان فى رؤية الرجل نسآ كثيرة مصلحة تعود على امراته لاكتسابه منهن التمشير عند الاياب * بخلاف خروج المراة فان التمشير ملازم لها * فاما هولآ الحمقى الزاعمون ان تصوّر الرجل موثر فى توزيغ الولد فيلزمهم ان لا يروا امراة اصلا غير نسآئهم * لئلا تاتى ذريتهم كلها اناثا او فى الاقل خِناثا * وذلك لمناعفة التصوّرين من قبل الاب والام * اَلَا وانّ امراة لا تستبدل زوجها الا بالفكر والتخيّل لجديرة بان تكون قِبْلة كل مطرئ * وان لا يفكر زوجها الا فيها * قلت مقتضى كلامك ان النسآ المقصورات عن رؤية العموم لا لذة لهن مع الخصوص * قالت اما بالنسبة الى ناظرة العموم فلا * واما بالنسبة الى العدم فنعم * فان المآء مهما يكن سخنا يطفى النار * قلت وبالعكس اى ان النار مهما كانت باردة تسخن المآ * قالت يصح العكس لكن الطرد اولى *

“‘As far as the act, on the other hand, is concerned, women view it as determining the comeliness of their children and this explains why you will find a child with a nose like Zayd’s, a mouth like ʿAmr’s, and eyes like Bakr’s;³⁹ this is also a riposte to those who claim that it is in the wife’s interest for her husband to see lots of other women because on his return his libido will have been increased by his contact with them.⁴⁰ It is different, however, when the woman goes out, for her libido is contained within her. Those idiots who claim that what a man visualizes has an effect on the shaping of the fetus in the womb should look at no women whatsoever other than their wives, lest their offspring turn out to be all females, or at least hermaphrodites, the reason being the discrepancy in the different ways in which the father and the mother visualize.⁴¹ Indeed, a woman who exchanges her husband for another in thought and visualization should be nothing less than all men’s object of praise and her husband should think of none but her.’ I said, ‘The necessary implication of your words is that women who are shielded from seeing the generality of men will find no pleasure in one particular man.’ She replied, ‘As for the woman who sees the generality of men, that is so. However, it is not so in the case of the woman who sees none at all, for water, no matter how hot, puts out fire.’ ‘That is true,’ I said, ‘and so it is if read backward, meaning that fire, no matter how cool, heats water.’ ‘It is true,’ she replied, ‘if read backward, but frontward is better.’⁴²

4.2.16

قلت الى كم قسم تقسم اللذة * قالت الى خمسة اقسام * الاول تصورها قبل الوقوع * الثانى ذكرها قبله * الثالث حصولها فعلا بالركنين المذكورين * الرابع تصورها بعد الوقوع * الخامس ذكرها بعده * وكون لذة التصور قبل الوقوع اقوى او بعده اقوالٌ * فذهب بعض الى ان الاولى اقوى * لان الفعل لمّا كان غير حاصل كان الفكر فيه اجول وامعن فلا يقف على حدّ * وزعم آخرون ان الحصول يهيّئ للفكر هيئة معلومة وصورة معينة يعتمد عليها فى قياس ما يترقب من الاعادة والتكرير * وكما حصل الخلاف فى وقتى التصور حصل ايضا فيه وفى الذكر * والعبرة بحدّة التصوّر وذرب اللسان * فاما اصلح الازمنة لها فالصيف عند النسآ والشتآ عند الرجال * فاما الكمية فمن الناس الموحدون ومنهم المثنوية ومنهم اهل التثليث * قلت ومنهم المعتزلة والمعطِّلون * قالت هولآ لا خير فيهم * وما هم جديرون بان يعدّوا مع الناس *

“‘Into how many divisions may pleasure be divided?’ I asked. ‘Into five,’ she responded. ‘The first is visualization of it before its occurrence. The second is discussion of it before the same. The third is its actual realization accompanied by these two essential elements. The fourth is the visualization of it after the act. The fifth is discussion of it afterward. Whether the pleasure of visualizing it is greater before it takes place or afterward is a matter of debate. Some believe the first is greater because when it hasn’t yet happened one’s thoughts about it roam more widely, delve more deeply, and do not stop at any limit. Others claim that the actual occurrence provides one’s thoughts with a known shape and a specific form as a benchmark against which to measure any replay or repetition. Similarly, there is disagreement over the times of its visualization, as also of its discussion, though the crucial point is the clearness of the visualization and the foulness of the tongue. The best time for it is the summer in women’s opinion and the winter in men’s. As to the number of times, some people are Unitarians, some Dualists, and some Trinitarians.’ ‘And some,’ I said, ‘Muʿtazilites and some Muʿaṭṭilites.’⁴³ ‘The last,’ she said, ‘are without redeeming qualities and are unworthy to be counted among mankind.’⁴⁴

4.2.17

قلت ما شان من يتزوج اثنتين وثلاثا * قالت هو امر مغاير للطبع * قلت كيف وقد كانت سنّة الانبيآء * قالت هل نحن نبحث الان فى الاديان او نتكلم فى الطبيعيات * الا ترى ان الذكور من الحيوانات التى قُدِّر لها ان تعيش مع اناث كثيرة قُدِّر لها ايضا القدرة على كفايتهن كالديك والعصفور مثلا * وغيرها انما يعيش مع واحدة ويكتفى بها * ولما كان الرجل غير قادر على كفاية ثلث لم يكن اهلا لان يحوزهن * وبعدُ فلاىّ سبب حُظرت المراة عن ان تتزوج ثلثة رجال * قلت ان فى كثرة النسآ للرجل الواحد كثرة النسل التى يتوقف عليها عمران الدنيا * وذلك مفقود فى كثرة الرجال للمراة الواحدة * على انى قرات فى بعض الكتب ان هذه العادة لم تزل مستعملة عند بعض الهمج * قالت مه مه اهولآ هم الهمج وانتم المتمدنون الكيّسون * فاما دعواك بتكاثر النسل فى كثرة النسآ فهل سكان الارض الان قليلون * الم تضق بهم البسيطة وتثقل بهم بطونها ويمزَّق اديمها * فما الموجب الى هذا الاكثار سوى البطر والنهم *

“‘What are we to think of men who marry two, or three, wives?’ I asked. ‘It’s against nature,’ she replied. ‘How can that be,’ I asked, ‘when it was the custom of the prophets?’ ‘Is this a discussion about religion,’ she responded, ‘or about natural phenomena? Do you not observe that those animals, such as the rooster and the sparrow for example, that have been granted the capacity to live with a multiplicity of females have also been granted the capacity to satisfy them all? The others live with only one and are satisfied with her. Given that a man cannot satisfy three, he is not qualified to possess them. To return to the matter in hand—why is a woman forbidden to marry three men?’ I replied, ‘A multiplicity of women for a single man results in the multiplicity of offspring on which the world depends in order to thrive. This wouldn’t apply in the case of a multiplicity of men for a single woman, though I have read in some book that such a custom continues to be observed among certain savages.’ ‘Gently, gently!’ she said. ‘Are they really the savages while you’re the civilized and sagacious ones? As for your claim concerning the multiplication of offspring when there’s a multiplicity of wives, are the inhabitants of the earth now so few? Is not its surface already too confined to hold them? Do not its innards groan under their weight and is not its skin ripped open? What motive is there then for this increase other than hubris and greed?’

4.2.18

قلت قد عدت الى لوم الرجال فلنعد الى الوداع * انى مسافر عنك اليوم وتارك عندك فوادى حتى اذا زارك احد اُحِسّ به * قالت كيف تحسّ وما فوادك معك * والناس يخصّون القلب بالحسّ والشعور * والحزن والسرور * قلت ان حسى براسى * قالت من اى جهة * قلت من الجانب الاعلى من الراس * قالت نَعَم الشى الى جنسه اميل * ولكن اين تتركه * قلت على العتبة كيلا يخطوها احد * قالت فاذا طفر فوقها * قلت فى الفراش * قالت فان يكن فى غيره * قلت فيك * قالت ذلك احسن مقرّا * انى اعاهدك على ما كنا عليه من الحب والوداد من ايام السطح الى الان * ولكن حين احسّ واشعر من هنا بانك تبدلت السطح بالشطح اقابلك بفعل مثل فعلك والبادى اظلم * قلت انك كثيرة الوساوس شديدة الغيرة * فلعل شعورك يكون عن وسواس * قالت بل الاولى ان الوسواس يكون عن الشعور * قلت دار ما بيننا الدور * قالت حاوِلْ اذًا فكّه * قلت هو فرض فلا بدّ من قضائه * قالت وقضآ لا بدّ من فرضه * قلت ايعقَد به العهد * قالت اذا عُهد به العقد * قلت لا ارضى بهذه الصفة * قالت ومن لى بوصف هذا الرضى * قلت هل كان العقد فى الشرط * قالت وهل كان الشرط بلا عقد * قلت مَثَلنا مثل ذلك المجنون * قالت لولا الجنون ما جمعنا الزواج * قلت اكثر

الناس على هذا * قالت اكثر الناس مجانين * فقلت الحمد لله رب العالمين *

“‘You’ve reverted to heaping blame on men, so let us revert to saying farewell. I shall depart from you today and leave my heart in your keeping, so that if anyone visits you I shall sense his presence.’ ‘How will you sense anything when your heart’s not with you?’ she asked, ‘for people say it is the heart alone that has the capacity to feel and perceive, be joyous and grieve.’ ‘My sense of feeling,’ I said, ‘is in my head.’⁴⁵ ‘Where in your head?’ she asked. ‘At the tip-top of my head,’ I answered. ‘Naturally!’ she responded. ‘There is sympathy between things that resemble one another. But where will you leave it?’ ‘On the doorstep,’ I replied, ‘so that no one may set foot on the latter.’ ‘And what if he jump over it?’ she enquired. ‘In the bed, then,’ I said. ‘And what if he’s in some other bed?’ she went on. ‘In you, then,’ I said. ‘That,’ she responded, ‘is the best place for it. I promise that I will abide by the love and affection that we have shared from the time of “the roof” till now. The moment, however, that I sense and feel, from here, that you’ve switched your roofing feelings for a roving eye, I’ll match every deed of yours with one of mine, and “the initiator is the more unjust.”’ I said, ‘You’re much given to suspicion and very jealous; what’s to make sure that anything you sense isn’t generated by suspicion?’ ‘On the contrary,’ she said, ‘any suspicions I may have are more likely to be the result of what I sense.’ I said, ‘We’ve come full circle,’ to which she replied, ‘Try then to break it.’⁴⁶ ‘It is a duty,’ I said, ‘and must be performed,’ to which she replied, ‘And it is a performance that must be demanded as a duty.’ ‘Will it seal our covenant?’ I asked. ‘If such contracts can ever be sealed,’ she replied. ‘I reject such a characterization,’ ⁴⁷ I said. ‘I wish,’ she said, ‘that someone would tell me what such a characterization means.’ I said, ‘Was the contract over the condition?’⁴⁸ and she replied, ‘And was the condition without a contract?’⁴⁹ I said, ‘We’re as mad as that lunatic,’⁵⁰ to which she responded, ‘But for madness we would never have married.’ I said, ‘That is true of most people.’

‘Many a person’s

off his head,’

was her response to this, at which ‘Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds,’

I said.”