Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded. Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī

11.5.5

      وفي هذين البيتين الطباق اللفظيّ كما لا يخفى والشيب مذموم عند النساء قال هارون الرشيد لزوجته ما تحبّون من الرجال فقالت من خدّه كخدّي * وأيره كزندي * قال فإذا التحا قالت يُطْرِق الحَدَقَة * ويَعْجَل بالنَفَقَة * قال فإذا شاب قالت يصبر على الخناق * أو يبادر بالطلاق * فهو عندهم مذموم * وصاحبه من أنس الغانيات محروم * خصوصًا إذا قل ماله * وساء حاله * قال بعضهم [طويل]

سَلُوني عَن ٱحوالِ النِّساءِ فَإِنَّني	خَبْيرٌ بِأَحْوالِ النِّساءِ طَبْيبُ
إِذا ابْيَضَّ شَعْرُ المَرْءِ أَو قَلَّ مالُهُ	فَلَيْسَ لَهُ في وُدِّهِنَّ نَصِيبُ

      The lines contain “antithesis” in the wording,²²⁰ as you will have noticed. Women, however, dislike white hair. Hārūn al-Rashīd asked his wife, “What kind of men do you women find attractive?” She replied, “One whose cheek is like my cheek and whose member is like my forearm.” “And if his beard grows?” he asked. “He should keep his eyes to himself, and be ready with his wealth!” she said. “And if his hair turns white?” he said. “He must either put up with strife, or offer to divorce his wife!” she said—for this is something they condemn and the company of pretty women is denied to such men, especially if their money’s tight, in which case their outlook’s not bright. As the poet²²¹ said:

      Ask me how women are, for I’m

      Well versed in women’s ways, a physician.

      When a man’s hair turns white or his money runs out,

      Let him abandon all hope of their affection.

      ٦،٥،١١

11.5.6

      فكيف بمن فيه النوعين الشيب والفقر فهو عندهنّ وجوده كالعدم وقال القاضي الفاضل رحمه الله [بسيط]

تَعَجَّبَتْ حينَ راحَ سَعْدي	مِن بَعْدِ نَضْوِ الخِضابِ حالي
قالَتْ أَهذا الَّذي أَراهُ	غُبارُ طاحُونَةٍ بَدا لي
فَقُلْتُ لا تُعْجِبي فَهذا	غُبارُ طاحُونَةِ اللَّيالي

      أي إنّها تكدّرت لمّا رأت هذا الشيب المشبّه بغبار الطاحونة قد لاح على وجهه وغيّر لحيته وتعجّبت من حدوثه بسرعة وتعجّبها منه يقتضي تكدّر صدرها وطيّ بساط أنسها فأجابها بقوله لا تعجّبي من إسراع ظهوره فإنّ عجائب الليالي واستنتاجها المصائب المشبّهة عند دورانها بالطاحون أظهرت هذا الغبار الّذي ترينه فلا تلومي واصبري على ما بُلِيتي به وبعضهم شبّه حدوث الشيب في لحيته بالطائر المعروف بالنَسْر لبياضه وشبّه بقيّتها في السواد بابن داية وهو الغراب الأسود فقال [طويل]

وَلَمَّا رَأَيْتُ النَّسْرَ حَدَّ ابنِ دايةٍ

وعَشَّشَ في وَكْرَيْه١ ضاقَ لَهُ صَدْري

      ١ بي: وكرها.

      How much worse, then, for the man who has both—white hair and poverty! Such a one might as well not exist, as far as they are concerned. Al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil,²²² God have mercy on him, said:

      She wondered, when my wealth took off

      Right when my hair had lost its hue—

      “This thing I see,” she said, “what is’t?

      Is it dust from some mill that I have in view?”

      Said I, “Be not amazed! This is

      The powder that from time’s mill does accrue.”

      —that is, her mood darkened when she saw that white hair resembling mill dust had appeared upon his face and altered his beard, and she wondered at its sudden onset, a wonderment that necessarily plunged her into gloom and “rolled up the carpet of her conviviality.” Then he answered her by saying, “Be not amazed” at how fast it has appeared—for the wondrous events that the passing of time brings and the disasters that result from these, which may be likened in their turning to a mill, have caused the appearance of these flecks that you see; so do not blame me, and patiently endure this misfortune that has befallen you. A poet²²³ has compared the onset of white hair in the beard to the bird called the vulture because of the latter’s whiteness²²⁴ and compared the remaining part, in its blackness, to the “Ibn Dāyah” (“Son of a Midwife”), which is the black crow. He says:

      When I saw the vulture mourn Ibn Dāyah

      And roost in its two nests,²²⁵ my heart felt pain at his loss.

      ٧،٥،١١

11.5.7

      (ومنهم) من شبّه حدوثه بظهور الصبح واشتعاله في السواد كاشتعال النار في الحطب الغليظ اليابس قال ابن دُرَيْد رحمه الله تعالى في أوّل مقصورته [رجز]

يا ظَبْيةً أشْبَهَ شَيْءٍ بِالمَهَا	راتِعَةً بَيْنَ العَقِيقِ واللِّوا
أما تَرَى رَأسِي حَاكَى لَوْنُهُ	طُرَّةَ صُبْحٍ تَحْتَ أَذْيالِ الدُّجا
وَاِشْتَعَلَ المُبْيَضُّ في مُسْوَدِّهِ	مِثْلَ اشْتِعالِ النَّارِ في جَزْلِ الغَضا
فَكانَ كَاللَّيْلِ البَهِيمِ حَلَّ في	أَرْجائِهِ ضَوْءُ صَباحٍ فَانْجَلَى

      Others have likened its onset to the appearance of the light of morning and have said that the way it