The Luzumiyat · Chapter
Endnotes explained
The endnotes provide scholarly references, biographical details, and critical commentary on Abu al-ʻAlaʼ al-Maʻarri, including his physical blindness, his three prisons (loss of sight, confinement, and the body), his ascetic lifestyle, his
What happens
The endnotes provide scholarly references, biographical details, and critical commentary on Abu al-ʻAlaʼ al-Maʻarri, including his physical blindness, his three prisons (loss of sight, confinement, and the body), his ascetic lifestyle, his interactions with scholars and governors, and comparisons with Omar Khayyam. They also cite translations and analyses by Professors Nicholson, Margoliouth, and others, and discuss the poet's unorthodox views and the literary tradition of his time.
Themes in this chapter
Mortality and Transience
The endnotes quote Abu al-ʻAlaʼ's 'three prisons' and compare his ideas with Omar Khayyam's reflections on the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death.
Doubt and Skepticism
Abu al-ʻAlaʼ's unorthodox religious views and his questioning of dogma are highlighted, along with Margoliouth's criticism and the poet's own ruminations on the afterlife.
Suffering and Resilience
The poet's blindness, confinement, and ascetic lifestyle are detailed, showing his endurance and moral strength despite physical and social limitations.
Critique of Power and Hypocrisy
Nicholson's description of the poet's works as exposing 'tyrannous rulers, venal judges, hypocritical theologians' is cited, and the anecdote of Abu al-ʻAlaʼ interceding for prisoners illustrates his moral authority.
Characters to notice
- Abu al-ʻAlaʼ al-Maʻarri
Central figure of the endnotes; his blindness, three prisons, ascetic life, and unorthodox views are discussed, along with his works Luzumiyat, Letters, Saqt az-Zand, and Epistle of Forgiveness.
- Professor D. S. Margoliouth
Translated the Letters of Abu'l-Ala; criticized for being captious and biased against the poet's unorthodoxy, yet provides valuable biographical details.
- Professor Reynold A. Nicholson
Translated poems from the Luzumiyat, including the 'three prisons' quatrain; author of A Literary History of the Arabs, which discusses Abu al-ʻAlaʼ at length.
- Omar Khayyam
Compared to Abu al-ʻAlaʼ; a quatrain from Heron-Allen's translation is quoted, and Fitzgerald's version is referenced; also noted to have written Arabic poetry.
- Von Kremer
Published translations of many poems from the Luzumiyat in a German Asiatic Review; considered Abu al-ʻAlaʼ one of the greatest moralists.
- Adh-Dhahabi
Biographer of Abu al-ʻAlaʼ; provides details on the poet's works, lifestyle, and a conversation about the afterlife.
- Edward Fitzgerald
His translation of Omar Khayyam is quoted and compared to Abu al-ʻAlaʼ's poetry.
- Heron-Allen
Literal translation of Omar Khayyam's quatrains is cited, providing parallels to Abu al-ʻAlaʼ's themes.
Key passages
“Methink I am thrice-imprisoned—ask not me Of news that need no telling— By loss of sight, confinement in my house, And this vile body for my spirit’s dwelling.”
I consider myself imprisoned in three ways: my blindness, my house arrest, and my physical body which traps my soul.
Professor Nicholson's translation of Abu al-ʻAlaʼ's poem about his three prisons.
“Like many of those who have failed to secure material prosperity, he found comfort in a system which flatters the vanity of those who have not succeeded by teaching that success is not worth attaining.”
Margoliouth suggests that Abu al-ʻAlaʼ's philosophy was a consolation for his lack of worldly success, devaluing what he could not achieve.
Margoliouth's critical assessment of the poet's motives.
“For though other roads towards obtaining the means of supporting himself at Baghdad have been open to him, that which he refused to follow (the profession of an encomiast, i.e. a sycophant, a toady) was the most certain.”
Although he could have earned a living in Baghdad by flattering patrons, he chose not to take that sure but degrading path.
Margoliouth's observation on Abu al-ʻAlaʼ's integrity.
“Everywhere that there has been a rose or tulip bed There has been spilled the crimson blood of a king; Every violet shoot that grows from the earth Is a mole that was once upon the cheek of beauty.”
The beauty of flowers and plants comes from the blood of kings and the moles of beautiful women, suggesting that life springs from death.
Heron-Allen's translation of Omar Khayyam, paralleling Abu al-ʻAlaʼ's theme of transience.
“O Soul, if thou canst purify thyself from the dust of the clay, Thou, naked spirit, canst soar in the heav'ns, The Empyrian is thy sphere—let it be thy shame That thou comest and art a dweller within the confines of earth.”
If the soul can free itself from the body, it can ascend to heaven; it is shameful that it remains trapped on earth.
Heron-Allen's translation of Omar Khayyam, echoing Abu al-ʻAlaʼ's view of the body as a prison.
