نصوص أدبيّة: MIAC 23973.47

recto

1. Any achievement of mine is due to God’s help alone.
2. People say that in journeys there is ignominy, difficulty, humiliation and homesickness.
3. Not me, for on my journey pleasures and good living were made possible for me.
4. I won the friendship of a brother, a leader of distinction and generous character,
5. One raised by esteemed and noble leaders of men, whose status towered above the peaks of excellence.
6. His magnanimity led him to treat me as a brother; distance from home made us kin.
7. He invited me to travel to a land of safety and comfort.
8. I mounted a superb steed which bore us along as a cloud scuds along.
9. Its sails were spread in splendour as it moved, like an eagle spreads its wings.
10. On board were a company of good men, all brimming over with generosity.
11. Their natures were created for every kind of liberality, their deeds by which difficulties were made insignificant,
12. ʿUbayd and ʿĀbid al-Raḥmān, neither of them secluded from excellence.
13. The benefits of their kindness overwhelmed me; even old friends could not have given as much.
14. If I could, I would have made my cheek the dust of the ground they trod.
15. The ship’s captain was astute and skilled; his wise decisions guided good judgment itself.
16. We admired his conduct, and imagined him a descendant of Noah.
17. His men were tough and strong; when summoned (to help) with a problem, they instantly obeyed,

recto, margin

1. Jumping to work like lions, gaping (to consume) their prey.
2. Muḥammad among them was a sun that continued to shine. Sayyid was for the wearied traveller an ever-present star.
3. Badr was their full moon, ʾAbū Ḥabīb their sky and Maḥbūb a bright meteor.
4. The mild Bū al-ʿĪd was their heaven and the ornament of Ismāʿīl was youth.