Literary text: T-S Misc.28.145

Description

Palimpsest. Original text: Leaf from an Arabic diwan on vellum in elegant calligraphy. Poets named include Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. [...] and Ibrāhīm al-Shāmī (neither seems readily identifiable, unless someone can decipher the poems or the name of Muḥammad's father). The text is faded and damaged but merits further examination. The most legible (but unattributed) poem includes two lines that continue to circulate in anthologies of zuhdiyyāt (sometimes credited to the mourners of ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAmr al-ʿĀṣ): لِلْمَوْتِ فَاعْمَلْ بِجِدٍ أَيُّهَا الرَّجُلُ ... واعْلَمْ بِأنَّكَ مِنْ دُنْيَاكَ مُرْتَحِلُكَأَنَّنِي بِكَ يَاذَا الشَّيْبِ فِي كُرَبٍ ... بَيْنَ الأحِبَّةِ قَدْ أوْدَى بِكَ الأَجَلُ