Al-Mutanabbi

Al-Mutanabbi (915–965 CE) was an Arab poet of the Abbassid era. He is considered as one of the greatest poets of the Arabic language.

The desert knows me well, the night, the mounted men
The battle and the sword, the paper and the pen!

Quotes

One does not attain everything he wishes for. Winds blow counter to what the ships desire.

• إذا رَأيْتَ نُيُوبَ اللّيْثِ بارِزَةً     فَلا تَظُنّنّ أنّ اللّيْثَ يَبْتَسِمُ
  • Ah, when the lion bares his teeth, suspect his guile,
    Nor fancy that the lion shows to thee a smile!
    (Translation of R. A. Nicholson)
  • When you see the fangs of lions exposed, do not suppose that the lion is smiling. (Translation of A.J. Arberry)

• الخَيْلُ وَاللّيْلُ وَالبَيْداءُ تَعرِفُني     وَالسّيفُ وَالرّمحُ والقرْطاسُ وَالقَلَمُ
  • The desert knows me well, the night, the mounted men
    The battle and the sword, the paper and the pen!

• إِذَا أَنْتَ أَكْرَمْتَ الْكَرِيمَ مَلَكْتَهُ     وَإِنْ أَنْتَ أَكْرَمْتَ اللَّئِيمَ تَمَرَّدَا
  • When you honour a noble man, you own him, but if you honour an ignoble man, he rebels.

• ما كُلُّ ما يَتَمَنّى المَرءُ يُدرِكُهُ     تَجري الرِياحُ بِما لا تَشتَهي السُفُنُ
  • A man does not attain everything that he desires; the winds convey whither the ships do not list.

• أعَزُّ مَكانٍ في الدُّنَى سَرْجُ سابحٍ     وَخَيرُ جَليسٍ في الزّمانٍ كِتابُ
  • A charger's saddle is an exalted throne
    The best companions are books alone.

• أنا الذي نظر الأعمى إلى أدبي     وأسمعت كلماتي من به صمم
  • I am the one whose writing even the blind see
    and the one whose poems have brought hearing to the deaf
    • Al-Mutanabbi - Voice of the 'Abbasid Poetic Ideal, by Margaret Larkin
  • Variant translation from Three Great Abbasid Poets: Abu Nuwas, al-Mutanabbi & al-Ma'arri, Lives & Poems, Paul Smith:
    My deep poetic art the blind have eyes to see,
    My verses ring in ears as deaf as deaf can be.

• وَلَوْ كَانَ النِّسَاءُ كَمَنْ فَقَدْنَا     لَفُضِّلَتِ النِّسَاءُ عَلَى الرِّجَالِ
  وَمَا التَّأْنِيثُ لِاسْمِ الشَّمْسِ عَيْبٌ     وَلَا التَّذْكِيرُ فَخْرٌ لِلْهِلَالِ
  • If all women were like as the one we have lost,
    Then women would be preferred to men.
    For the feminine gender is no shame for the sun,
    Nor is the masculine gender an honor for the crescent moon.
    • From the poem Nuʿiddu al-Mashrafiyyata wa-l-ʿAwālī [1]

• ذُو الْعَقْلِ يَشْقَى فِي النَّعِيم بِعَقْلِهِ     وَأَخُو الْجَهَالَةِ فِي الشَّقَاوَةِ يَنْعَمُ
  • Those with intellect suffer in bliss with their intellect, and the ignorant live blissfully in misery.
  • From the poem Li-Hawā An-Nufūsi, Line 8

• لَكَ الحَمدُ في الدُرِّ الَّذي لِيَ لَفظُهُ     فَإِنَّكَ مُعطيهِ وَإِنِّيَ ناظِمُ
  • To you belongs the praise for these pearls I pronounce; you are the giver, I the arranger.
    • From the poem "To Sayf Al-Dawla", Arabic: [2]

• إِذا غامَرتَ في شَرَفٍ مَرومٍ     فَلا تَقنَع بِما دونَ النُجومِ [3]
  • If you venture in pursuit of glory,
    don’t be satisfied with less than the stars.
    • Translation of Kevin Blankinship [4]

• وَتَأتي عَلى قَدرِ الكِرامِ المَكارِمُ     عَلى قَدرِ أَهلِ العَزْمِ تَأتي العَزائِمُ
  • Man’s resolutions are in measure with his will; his noble deeds in measure with his noble heart.
    • Ode on the Reconquest of Al-Hadath, translation of M. Al-Mallah

• وَتَصغُرُ في عَينِ العَظيمِ العَظائِمُ     وَتَعظُمُ في عَينِ الصَغيرِ صِغارُها
  • Petty affairs appear grave in the eyes of the petty, while grave matters appear petty in the eyes of the great.
    • Ode on the Reconquest of Al-Hadath, translation of M. Al-Mallah

• وَما ضَرَّها خَلقٌ بِغَيرِ مَخالِبٍ *** وَقَد خُلِقَت أَسيافُهُ وَالقَوائِمُ
  • Had these birds been created without claws, it would not have harmed them, for the blades and hilts of his swords [provide carrion] for them.
    • Ode on the Reconquest of Al-Hadath, translation of M. Al-Mallah

• All sorts of men carry weapons; but not all who have claws are lions.

• وَيَطلِبُ عِندَ الناسِ ما عِندَ نَفسِهِ *** وَذَلِكَ ما لا تَدَّعيهِ الضَراغِمُ
  • He asks from men all that he has in himself, though even lions would not claim to match that.
    • From the poem "To Sayf Al-Dawla" [5]

• أَنَامُ مِلْءَ جُفُونِي عَنْ شَوَارِدِهَا *** وَيَسْهَرُ الْخَلْقُ جَرَّاهَا وَيَخْتَصِمُ
  • I sleep soundly unconcerned with fugitive verses
    while men keep vigil for them and struggle to extract them
    • Al-Mutanabbi - Voice of the 'Abbasid Poetic Ideal, by Margaret Larkin.

A Young Soul

[6]

• A young soul in my ageing body [...]
  Hard biter in a toothless mouth is she.

• Without hardship everyone would prevail.

• Glory in hardship, sloth in comfort lies.

• Defiantly live, or in honour die, Midst slashing blades and banners flying high.

• A charger's saddle is an exalted throne, the best companions are books alone.

• Beautiful women, as experienced men know,
  Are but darkness wrapped in dazzling light aglow.
  A life of friv'lous youth and worried age,
  Its futile course to futile death will flow.

Misattributed

• قَوْمٌ إذا مس النعال وجوههم     شكت النعال بأي ذنب تُصْفَعُ
  • A people, when the shoes touch their faces, / The shoes complain: “By what sin are we struck?”
    • Commonly attributed to Al-Mutanabbi, but does not occur in Al-Mutanabbi’s diwan.

Quotes about Al-Mutanabbi

• I am embarrassed that I have a translator for my works, and Mutanabbi, the poet of the Arabs, has no one.
  • Rasha al-Ameer, In other words: Why is Mutanabbi so rarely translated into English?^{[dead link]}, Egypt Independent (May 22, 2012)

• Poetry has sunk into the earth, and the lush tree of letters, once watered, has gone dry.
  • Written about Mutanabbi's death by his student Ibn Jinni.[7]

See also

• Al-Ma'arri
• Abu Nuwas