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(ذكر وقائعهم)

An Account of Their Escapades

Anecdotes Showing that a Man Cannot Escape His Inborn Nature

١،٣3.1

(حُكِيَ أنّ بعض الملوك خرج هو ووزيره قاصدًا لتنَزُّه) فمرّ على رجل فلاح يحرث وعلى رأسه لبدة مشرمطة ولابس خلقة مقطّعة ترى عورته منها وقد حصره البول فبال عليها حتّى غرقها ولم يبال بالنجاسة وقد اسودّ قفاه من الحرّ وتشقّقت قدماه من الحفا وشدّة البرد وهو في حالة مُكْرِبة فقال الملك لوزيره ما حال هذا الرجل فقال له يا ملك هذا من فلّاحين الريف ينشأ الشخص منهم على التعب والنصب والهمّ والغمّ والطرد والجري وقلّة الدين والجهل ولا يجد من يرشده للعبادة والصلاة فيصير في هذه الحالة كما ترى فهم هَمَج الهَمَج لا يعرفون غير الثور والمحراث فحُكْمهم حُكْم البهائم والكلاب قال الشاعر [طويل]

مَنْ فَاتَهُ العِلْمُ وأَخْطاهُ الغِنَى

فَذاكَ وَالكَلْبُ عَلَى حَدٍّ سَوَا

فقال الملك لوزيره ألا ترى إذا أخذناه وعلّمناه القرآن وأشغلناه بالعلم وألبسناه ملابس النُعْم يتغيّر طبعه ويرقّ قلبه وتخفّ ذاته وينتقل من طَوْر الكثافة إلى طَوْر اللطافة فقال الوزير أيّد الله الملك وأدام بقاه أما سمعت قول الشاعر [سريع]

لا يَخْرُجُ الإِنْسانُ مِنْ طَبْعِهِ	حَتَّى يَعُودَ الدَرُّ في ضَرْعِهِ
مَنْ كان مِنْ جُمَّيْزةٍ أَصلُهُ	لا يَنْبُتُ التُفّاحُ في فَرْعِهِ

وقال آخر [بسيط]

الطَّبْعُ وَالرُّوحُ مَخْلوقانِ١ في جَسَدٍ

لا يَنْفَدُ الطَّبْعُ حَتَّى تَنْفَدُ الرُّوحُ

وقال بعضهم يحول عن وَكْره ولا يحول عن طبعه وفي الحديث إذا حُدِّثْتُمْ أنّ جبلًا زال عن مكانه فصدّقوا وإذا حُدِّثْتُمْ أنّ رجلًا زال عن طبعه فلا تصدّقوا

١ بي: قد خُلِقا في جسد؛ ب: في جسم قد خلقا؛ ك: قد خلقات (كذا) في جسد؛ ب وم: قد خلقان (كذا) في جسد.

The story is told that a certain king went out with his minister to take the air and came upon a peasant plowing. On his head was a tattered cap, and he wore a single torn garment through which his privates could be seen. He had been overtaken by a sudden need to relieve himself and had urinated on this garment till it was soaked but paid no heed to this defilement. The back of his neck had turned black from the heat, his feet were chapped from walking barefoot and from the cold, and he was altogether in a pitiful state. “What ails the man?” the king asked his minister, who replied, “King, this is a peasant of the countryside, one of those who are raised to hardship and sickness, woe and worry, hurry and scurry, ignorance and neglect of religion, and who find no one to direct them towards worship and prayer. Thus, they turn out as you see, the most savage of savages, ignorant of everything but the ox and the plow, and indistinguishable from beasts and dogs. As the poet⁷⁵ says:

Whom knowledge has passed by and riches shunned,

He and the dogs are on a par.”

The king said to the minister, “Don’t you think that, if we took him and taught him the Qurʾan and set him to studying and dressed him in fine clothes, his nature would change, his heart soften, and his personal appearance become more agreeable, so that he would be translated from the domain of coarseness to that of refinement?” “God save the king,” the minister responded, “and send him long life! Have you not heard the words of the poet:

Man will not escape his nature

Till the milk returns to the udder.

Apples will never sprout from the twig

Of one whose roots are a sycamore fig?

“And another has said:

Man’s nature and spirit in one body were made;

As long as the soul lasts, his nature won’t fade.

“And another has said, ‘The bird will abandon its nest before it abandons its nature’ and a Tradition has it, ‘If you are told that a mountain has moved from its place believe it, but if you are told that a man has changed his nature, do not believe it!’

٢،٣3.2

وحكي أنّ رجلًا أعرابيًّا مرّ بقارعة الطريق فرأى جَرْو ذئب صغيرًا فرحمه وأخذه إلى منـزله وكان عنده شاة تُرْضِع فربّاه عليها إلى أن كبر فعدا يومًا على الشاة فبَقَرَ بطنها ووَلَغَ في لحمها ودمها فلمّا رجع الأعرابيّ ورأى ما فعل أنشد يقول [وافر]

غُذِيتَ بِدَرِّها وَنَشَأْتَ فِينا	فَمَنْ أَنْبَاكَ أَنَّ أَباكَ ذِيبُ
إِذا كانَ الطِّباعُ طِباعَ سُوءٍ	فَلا أَدَبٌ يُفيدُ وَلا أَدِيبُ

“The story is told that a Bedouin was travelling down the road when he found a small wolf cub and took pity on it and brought it home, where he had a ewe in milk, which he used to raise the cub till it was grown. One day the wolf attacked the ewe, ripped open her belly, and gorged itself on her flesh and blood. When the Bedouin came back and saw what it had done, he spoke the following verses:

You were fed with her milk and raised among us,

So who told you that your father was a wolf?

When an inborn nature’s disposed to evil,

No teaching and no teacher is of use!

٣،٣3.3

ومن ذلك ما حكي أنّ جماعة قصدوا صيد ضبعة فالتجأت إلى أعرابيّ ودخلت منـزله فخرج الأعرابيّ إليهم وبيده السيف مصلَّتًا وقال لهم لا تتعرّضوا لضيفي فإنّه قد استجار بي فقالوا يا هذا لا تَحُلْ بيننا وبين صيدنا فقال هذا لا يكون أبدًا ولا أسلّمها لكم أبدًا وجعل يغذّيها اللبن فتجرّد الأعرابيّ يومًا ليغتسل فلمّا بصرته عريانًا عَدَتْ عليه فشقّت بطنه وولغت في لحمه ودمه فقيل لابن الأعرابيّ فأنشد [طويل]

وَمَنْ يَفْعَلِ المَعْرُوفَ مَعْ غَيْرِ أَهْلِهِ	يُجازَى كَما جُوزِيَ مُجِيرُ ٱمِّ عامِرِ
أَعَدَّ لَها لَمّا اِسْتَجارَتْ بِقُرْبِهِ	مِنَ الدَّرِّ أَلْبانَ اللِّقاحِ الدَّواسِرِ
وَأَشْبَعَها حَتَّى إِذا مَا تَمَكَّنَتْ	فَرَتْهُ بِأَنْيابٍ لَها وَأَظافِرِ
فَقُلْ لِذَوي المَعْروفِ هٰذا جَزاءُ مَنْ	يُوَجِّهُ مَعْروفًا إِلى غَيْرِ شاكِرِ

“Similarly, it is related that a company set forth to hunt a hyena, which took refuge with a Bedouin in his tent. The Bedouin went out towards the hunters, sword in hand, and told them, ‘Do not meddle with my guest, for it has sought my protection!’ ‘Fellow,’ they replied, ‘do not come between us and our quarry!’ to which the Bedouin responded, ‘That cannot be, and never will I hand it over to you!’ and thereafter he nourished it with milk. One day the Bedouin stripped himself to wash. When the hyena saw him naked, it leapt on him, rent his belly, and gorged itself on his flesh and blood. When his son was told, he declared:

He who does kindness to one not of his kind

The hyena’s protector’s reward will find:

He prepared for it, when it sought to use him as a shield,

Milk from the balky milch-camels’ yield.

He fed it well, till, when its chance it saw,

It ripped him apart with fang and with claw.

So say to do-gooders, ‘Such is the reward

Of those who to the ingrate would be kind!’

٤،٣3.4

ومن كلام الإمام عليّ رضي الله عنه لا تعلِّموا أولاد السَفَلة العلم فإنّهم إذا تعلّموا طلبوا معالي الأمور فإذا نالوها اعتنوا بمذلّة الأشراف وقال الإمام الشافعيّ رضي الله عنه [طويل]

فَمَنْ مَنَحَ الجُهّالَ عِلْمًا أَضاعَهُ

وَمَنْ كَتَمَ الْمُسْتَوْجِبِينَ فَقَدْ ظَلَمْ

وهذا الرجل لو علّمت^١ فيه الحكمة وقيّدت له من يعلّمه العلم والقرآن لا يخرج عن طبعه ويرجع إلى عادته الأولى خصوصًا طباع جَهَلة الريف وعوامّهم فإنّهم أجلاف قحوف كأنّهم خُلِقُوا من صخر قال الشاعر [كامل]

إِنّ اللَّطافَةَ لَمْ تَزَلْ	بَيْنَ الأَكابِرِ فاشِيَهْ
فَهَلْ رَأَيْتُمُ فِي الْوَرَى	قَحْفًا رَقيقَ الْحاشِيَهْ

فاللطافة لا تخرج عن طور الأكابر ولا تتعدّى لعوامّ الريف الأراذل خصوصًا دنىء الأصل إذا ادّعى العلم والفضل كمّا اتّفق أنّ امرأة ذات حسن وجمال * وقَدّ واعتدال * كانت متزوّجة بابن عمّ لها وهي متضجّرة منه وراغبة في فراقه فأرسلت للعلماء في تدبير حيلة للفراق فلم تتمكّن من ذلك حتّى وصلت إلى وضيع دنىء الأصل تعلّم العلم فدبّرها أنّها تُظْهِرُ أنّها تدّعي أنّها ارتدّت عن دين الإسلام والعياذ بالله تعالى وتختفي إلى أن تنقضي عِدّتها فتصل إلى الحاكم الشرعيّ وتعترف بصدور ذلك منها وأنّها تابت ورجعت إلى الإسلام وأخذ على ذلك جعلًا ففعلت ما أمرها به فاستغرب الناس ذلك وجزموا أن لا يصدر هذا التعليم إلّا من ذلك الشخص فتفقّدوه فلم يجدوه وفي هذا المعنى قول الإمام الشافعيّ رضي الله عنه فمن منح الجهّال إلى آخره

١ بي: عملت‏.

“And among the sayings of the Imam ʿAlī, God be pleased with him, we find, ‘Do not instruct the children of the rabble in knowledge, for if they learn, they will seek high office, and if they attain that, they will devote themselves to the humiliation of the noble.’ And the Imam al-Shāfiʿī,⁷⁶ God be pleased with him, has said:

To bestow knowledge on the ignorant is to waste it,

And to deny it to the deserving is unjust.

“So,” continued the minister, “even if you teach this man wisdom and engage someone to instruct him in the sciences and the Qurʾan, he will never escape his nature and will always revert to his former ways. This is especially true of the inborn nature of the ignorant people of the countryside and their common folk, for they are such louts and clods you would think they had been created out of rock. The poet⁷⁷ has said:

Refinement among the great ever spreads its rays,

But when did you last see a clod with polished ways?

“For refinement never spreads beyond the realm of great men, nor does it extend to the base commons of the countryside, and especially not to those persons of low birth who lay false claim to knowledge and virtue. For example, it happened that a woman of great beauty, endowed with a graceful and well-proportioned form, was married to a cousin of hers. However, becoming estranged from him and wanting to leave him, she sent to the scholars of religion to devise a stratagem by which she might do so.⁷⁸ She had no success, however, until she applied to a base wretch of low birth who had acquired learning. What he came up with was that she should pretend that she had abandoned the religion of Islam⁷⁹—we seek refuge with the Almighty!—and to hide herself until her waiting period⁸⁰ was over. Then she was to go to the legal authorities, confess what she had done, and claim that she had repented and returned to Islam. The man took money from her for this advice. When the woman did as he had advised, the people were amazed and asserted that such instructions could only have come from that individual, and they looked for him but they could not find him. This is the point that the Imam al-Shāfiʿī, may God be pleased with him, was making when he said, ‘To bestow knowledge . . .’ and so on.

٥،٣3.5

وعلى هذا يا ملك الحكاية المشهورة وهو أنّ رجلًا دنىء الأصل سافر إلى مدينة فاشتدّ به الجوع فرأى رجلًا يبيع الزَلابْيَة فوقف قبالة دُكّانه حائرًا فرقّ له صاحب الزلابية ورحمه وقال له ادخل أغدّيك صَدَقَةً عنّي فدخل فقدّم له ما يكفيه من الزلابية والعسل فأكل حتّى شبع وإذا بمحتسب المدينة مارًّا ينادي على السوقة ويوزن ويحذّرهم نقص الموازين وكذلك صناّع الزلابية أن يُنْضِجوها ولا يبيعوها طريّة فقام هذا الرجل وأخذ حلقة من الزلابية وعجنها بيده وقال للمحتسب نصرك الله في هذا الرجل بيّاع الزلابية انظر ما يفعله للناس من الغِشّ قال فأخذ المحتسب صانع الزلابية وضربه ضربًا مؤلمًا فالتفت إلى هذا الرجل وقال له ما ذنبي معك وأنا شفقت عليك وأطعمتك حتّى شبعت صدقة عنّي فسكت وقال له ما اسمك قال فلان قال وأبوك قال فلان قال وأمّك قال مرجانة جارية سوداء فقال صانع الزلابية لا ألومك أبدًا جاءك الطبع الخبيث من جهة أمّك ثمّ إنّه أخرجه من دكّانه ومضى إلى سبيله * وفي هذه الحكاية يا ملك مواعظ واعتبار

“There is another well-known story to the same effect, King, that tells how a man of low birth made a journey to a certain city. There, hard-pressed by hunger, he saw a man selling fritters and, at wit’s end, he stopped in front of his shop till the fritter maker felt sorry for him and took pity on him and said, ‘Come in and I will feed you, for charity’s sake.’ The man went in, and the fritter maker gave him as many fritters with honey as he could eat and he ate till he was full. At that moment, the city’s Inspector of Markets happened to pass by, summoning the merchants, testing their weights, and warning them against selling short; and summoning likewise the fritter makers, warning them to cook their fritters thoroughly and not sell them underdone. Now, this man stood up and, taking a fritter, kneaded it in his hand and said to the inspector, ‘God aid you against this fritter maker! See how he cheats the people!’ and the inspector took the fritter maker and gave him a painful beating. Afterwards, the fritter maker turned to the man and asked him, ‘What harm did I ever do you? Did I not take pity on you and feed you till you were satisfied, for charity’s sake?’ The man, however, said nothing. The fritter maker then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He answered, ‘So and so.’ ‘And your father’s?’ ‘So and so.’ ‘And your mother’s?’ ‘Murjānah, a black slave.’ ‘I no longer blame you at all then,’ said the fritter maker. ‘You got your despicable nature from your mother’s side.’ Then he expelled him from his shop, and the man went on his way. In this story, King, are words that are wise and lessons to prize.”

٦،٣3.6

فقال الملك لا بدّ من أخذه وتعليمه ولا أركن إلى ما تقول فقال له الوزير افعل ما بدا لك فأخذ الفلّاح وأنعم عليه وألبسه الثياب الحسنة الفاخرة وقيّد له من يعلّمه القرآن والعلم فحفظ القرآن وبرع في علم الرمل والحرف حتّى صار يُخْرِج الضمير ويبيّن الضائع قال فتذكّر الملك مقالة الوزير في حقّ الفلّاح ونصحه الملك في عدم أخذه وتعليمه فأرسل إليه فلمّا حضر قال له يا وزير خابت فراستك في الفلّاح فإنّه الآن بقي على غاية من العلوم وصار له براعة في علم الرمل والحرف ويخرج الضمير ويبيّن الضائع فقال الوزير يا ملك اختبره وانظر طبعه وخُلُقه فأرسل إليه فحضر فقال له الملك بلغني أنّه صار لك قوّة في إخراج الضمير وبيان الضائع فقال له نعم بسعادة الملك إن شاء الله فقال له مرادي أن أُضْمِرَ على شيء وتبيّنه لي فقال افعل فتوارى الملك وقلع خاتمه وأطبق عليه يده وقال له انظر ما في يدي قال فأقام الأشكال وقال في يدك شيء مدوَّر قال نعم قال وهو خالي الوَسَط قال صدّقت ولكن ما هو فسكت ساعة ثمّ قال أظنّ والله أعلم أنّه حجر طاحون قال فضحك الوزير وقال ردّ عليه طبعه الأوّل يا ملك قال فاغتاظ الملك منه وسلب نعمته وردّه إلى حالته الأولى

But the king said, “He must be taken and educated! I will not take what you say on trust!” “As you think best,” said the minister. So the king took the peasant and lavished gifts upon him and clothed him in luxurious, handsome garments and engaged someone to instruct him in the Qurʾan and the sciences, and the man memorized the Qurʾan and became a master of the sciences of divination by sand and by letters,⁸¹ to the point that he could read men’s minds and find things that were lost. Then the king, remembering what his minister had said to him against the peasant and how he had advised him against taking him and educating him, sent for him, saying to him when he appeared, “Minister, your reading of the peasant’s character has proven false. He has now become most learned in the sciences, is a master of divination by sand and by letters, and he reads men’s minds and finds what is lost.” To this the minister responded, “Test him, King, and observe his true nature and disposition.” So the king sent for the man and he came and the king said to him, “It has reached me that you have become skilled in reading men’s minds and finding what is lost.” The man replied, “Indeed it is so, Your Majesty, if God wills.” “I intend to hide something,” said the king, “and you must tell me what it is.” “By all means,” said the man. The king then hid himself and, having removed his ring and concealed it in his hand, said to him, “Look and see what is in my hand!” The peasant set up his figures and said, “In your hand is something round.” “Correct!” said the king. “And it has a hole in the middle.” “True,” said the king, “but what is it?” The peasant was silent for a while. Then he said, “I think (though God knows best!) it must be a millstone.” The minister laughed and said, “His first nature got the better of him in the end, King!” The king, however, was furious with the man and stripped him of the favors he had bestowed on him and returned him to his former state.