One thousand and one nig.., p.973
One Thousand and One Nights, page 973
‘Illah, the second way of modifying the primitive or normal feet, applies to both Sabab and Watad, but only in the ‘Aruz and Zarb of a couplet, being at the same time constant and obligatory. Besides the changes already mentioned, it consists in adding one or two letters to a Sabab or Watad, or curtailing them more or less, even to cutting them off altogether. We cannot here exhaust this matter any more than those touched upon until now, but must be satisfied with an example or two, to show the proceeding in general and indicate its object.
We have seen that the metre Basít consists of the two lines:
Mustaf.’ilun Fá.’ilun Mustaf’ilun Fá’ilun
Mustaf’ilun Fá’ilun Mustaf’ilun Fá’ilun.
This complete form, however, is not in use amongst Arab poets. If by the Zuháf Khabn, here acting as ‘Illah, the Alif in the final Fá’ilun is suppressed, changing it into Fa’ilun (U U -), it becomes the first ‘Aruz, called makhbúnah, of the Basít, the first Zarb of which is obtained by submitting the final Fá’ilun of the second line to the same process. A second Zarb results, if in Fá’ilun the final n of the ‘Watad ‘ilun is cut off and the preceding l made quiescent by the ‘Illah Kat’ thus giving Fá’il and by substitution Fa’lun (- -). Thus the formula becomes: —
Mustaf’ilun Fá’ilun Mustaf’ilun Fa’ilun
Mustaf’ilun Fá’ilun Mustaf’ilun{Fa’ilun
{Fa’lun
As in the Hashw, i.e. the first three feet of each line, the
Khabn can likewise be applied to the medial Fá’ilun, and for
Mustaf’ilun the poetical licences, explained above, may be
introduced, this first ‘Arúz or Class of the Basít with its two
Zarb or subdivisions will be represented by the scheme
U U | U | U U | - - U - | - U - | - - U U | U U -
U U | U { U U - - - U - | - U - { - -
that is to say in the first subdivision of this form of the Basít both lines of each couplet end with an Anapaest and every second line of the other subdivision terminates in a Spondee.
The Basít has four more A’áriz, three called majzúah, because each line is shortened by a Juz or foot, one called mashtúrah (halved), because the number of feet is reduced from four to two, and we may here notice that the former kind of lessening the number of feet is frequent with the hexametrical circles (B. C. D.), while the latter kind can naturally only occur in those circles whose couplet forms an octameter (A. E.). Besides being majzúah, the second ‘Aruz is sahíhah (perfect) consisting of the normal foot Mustaf’ilun. It has three Azrub: 1. Mustaf’ilán (- - U -, with an overlong final syllable, see supra ), produced by the ‘Illah Tazyíl, i.e. addition of a quiescent letter at the end (Mustaf’ilunn, by substitution Mustaf’ilán); 2. Mustaf’ilun, like the ‘Aruz; 3. Maf’úlun (- - -), produced by the ‘Illah Kat’ (see the preceding page; Mustaf’ilun, by dropping the final n and making the l quiescent becomes Mustaf’il and by substitution Maf’úlun). Hence the formula is:
Mustaf’ilun Fá’ilun Mustaf’ilun
{ Mustaf’il n
Mustaf’ilun Fá’ilun{ Mustaf’ilun
{ Maf’úulun,
which, with its allowable licenses, may be represented by the scheme:
U U | U | - - U - | - U - | - - U -
{ U U
U U | U { - - U -
- - U - | - U - { - - U -
{ U
{ - - -
The above will suffice to illustrate the general method of the Prosodists, and we must refer the reader for the remaining classes and subdivisions of the Basít as well as the other metres to more special treatises on the subject, to which this Essay is intended merely as an introduction, with a view to facilitate the first steps of the student in an important, but I fear somewhat neglected, field of Arabic learning.
If we now turn to the poetical pieces contained in The Nights, we find that out of the fifteen metres, known to al-Khalil, or the sixteen of later Prosodists, instances of thirteen occur in the Mac. N. edition, but in vastly different proportions. The total number amounts to 1,385 pieces (some, however, repeated several times), out of which 1,128 belong to the first two circles, leaving only 257 for the remaining three. The same disproportionality obtains with regard to the metres of each circle. The Mukhtalif is represented by 331 instances of Tawíl and 330 of Basít against 3 of Madíd; the Mutalif by 321 instances of Kámil against 143 of Wafír; the Mujtalab by 32 instances of Ramal and 30 of Rajaz against 1 of Hazaj; the Mushtabih by 72 instances of Khafíf and 52 of Sarí’ against 18 of Munsarih and 15 of Mujtass; and lastly the Muttafik by 37 instances of Mutakárib. Neither the Mutadárak (E. 2), nor the Muzári’ and Muktazib (D. 4.5) are met with.
Finally it remains for me to quote a couplet of each metre, showing how to scan them, and what relation they bear to the theoretical formulas exhibited on to .
It is characteristic for the preponderance of the Tawíl over all the other metres, that the first four lines, with which my alphabetical list begins, are written in it. One of these belongs to a poem which has for its author Bahá al-Din Zuhayr (born A.D. 1186 at Mekkah or in its vicinity, ob. 1249 at Cairo), and is to be found in full in Professor Palmer’s edition of his works, . Sir Richard Burton translates the first Bayt (vol. i. 290):
An I quit Cairo and her pleasances * Where can I hope to find so gladsome ways?
Professor Palmer renders it:
Must I leave Egypt where such joys abound?
What place can ever charm me so again ?
In Arabic it scans:
U - U | U - - - | U - U | U - U - |
A-arhalu’en Misrin wa tíbi na’ímihil455
U - U | U - - - | U - U | U - U - |
Fa-ayyu makánin ba’dahá li-ya sháiku.
In referring to iii. A. I. , it will be seen that in the Hashw Fa’úlun (U - -) has become Fa’úlu (U - U) by a Zuháf called Kabz (suppression of the fifth letter of a foot if it is quiescent) and that in the ‘Arúz and Zarb Mafá’ílun (U - - -) has changed into Mafá’ilun (U - U -) by the same Zuháf acting as ‘Illah. The latter alteration shows the couplet to be of the second Zarb of the first ‘Arúz of the Tawíl. If the second line did terminate in Mafá’ílun, as in the original scheme, it would be the first Zarb of the same ‘Arúz; if it did end in Fa’úlun (U - -) or Mafá’íl (U - -) it would represent the third or fourth subdivision of this first class respectively. The Tawíl has one other ‘Arúz, Fa’úlun, with a twofold Zarb, either Fa’úlun also, or Mafá’ilun.
The first instance of the Basít occurring in The Nights are the lines translated vol. i. :
Containeth Time a twain of days, this of blessing, that of bane *
And holdeth Life a twain of halves, this of pleasure, that
of pain.
In Arabic (Mac. N. i. II):
- - U - | - U - | - - U - | U U - |
Al-Dahru yaumáni zá amnun wa zá hazaru
- - U - | - U - | - - U - | U U - |
Wa’l-’Ayshu shatráni zá safwun wa zá kadaru.
Turning back to , where the A’áríz and Azrub of the Basít are shown, the student will have no difficulty to recognise the Bayt as one belonging to the first Zarb of the first ‘Arúz.
As an example of the Madid we quote the original of the lines (vol. v. 131): —
I had a heart, and with it lived my life * ’Twas seared with fire
and burnt with loving-lowe.
They read in Arabic: —
- U - - | - U - | U U - |
Kána lí kalbun a’íshu bihi
- U - - | - U - | U - |
Fa’ktawá bi’l-nári wa’htarak.
If we compare this with the formula (iii. A. 2. ), we find that either line of the couplet is shortened by a foot; it is, therefore, majzú. The first ‘Arúz of this abbreviated metre is Fá’ilátun (- U - -), and is called sahíhah (perfect) because it consists of the normal third foot. In the second ‘Arúz, Fá’ilátun loses its end syllable tun by the ‘Illah Hafz (suppression of a final Sabab khafíf), and becomes Fá’ilá (- U -), for which Fá’ilun is substituted. Shortening the first syllable of Fá’ilun, i.e. eliminating the Alif by Khabn, we obtain the third ‘Arúz Fa’ilun (U U -) as that of the present lines, which has two Azrub: Fa’ilun, like the ‘Arúz, and Fa’lun (- -), here, again by Khabn, further reduced to Fa’al (U -).
Ishak of Mosul, who improvises the piece, calls it “so difficult and so rare, that it went nigh to deaden the quick and to quicken the dead”; indeed, the native poets consider the metre Madíd as the most difficult of all, and it is scarcely ever attempted by later writers. This accounts for its rare occurrence in The Nights, where only two more instances are to be found, Mac. N. ii. 244 and iii. 404.
The second and third circle will best be spoken of together, as the Wáfir and Kámil have a natural affinity to the Hazaj and Rajaz. Let us revert to the line: —
U - - - | U - - - | U - - |
Akámú ‘l-wajda fí kalbí wa sárú.
Translated, as it were, into the language of the Prosodists it will be: —
Mafá’ílun456 ‘Mafá’ílun Fa’úlun,
and this, standing by itself, might prima facie be taken for a line of the Hazaj (iii. C. I), with the third Mafá’ílun shortened by Hafz (see above) into Mafá’í for which Fa’úlun would be substituted. We have seen () that and how the foot Mufá’alatun can change into Mafá’ílun, and if in any poem which otherwise would belong to the metre Hazaj, the former measure appears even in one foot only along with the latter, it is considered to be the original measure, and the poem counts no longer as Hazaj but as Wáfir. In the piece now under consideration, it is the second Bayt where the characteristic foot of the Wáfir first appears: —
U - - - | U - U U | U - - |
Naat ‘anní’l-rubú’u wa sákiníhá
U - U U - | U - U U - | U - - |
Wa kad ba’uda ‘l-mazáru fa-lá mazáru.
Anglicè (vol. iii. 296): —
Far lies the camp and those who camp therein; * Far is her tent
shrine where I ne’er shall tent.
It must, however, be remarked that the Hazaj is not in use as a hexameter, but only with an ‘Arúz majzúah or shortened by one foot. Hence it is only in the second ‘Arúz of the Wafír, which is likewise majzúah, that the ambiguity as to the real nature of the metre can arise;457 and the isolated couplet: —
U - - - | U - - - | U - - |
Yárídu ‘l-mar-u an yu’tá munáhu
U - - - | U - - - | U - - |
Wa yabá ‘lláhu illá ma yurídu
Man wills his wish to him accorded be, * But Allah naught accords
save what he wills (vol. iv. 157),
being hexametrical, forms undoubtedly part of a poem in Wafír although it does not contain the foot Mufá’alatun at all. Thus the solitary instance of Hazaj in The Nights is Abú Nuwás’ abomination, beginning with: —
U - - - | U - - - |
Fa-lá tas’au ilá ghayrí
U - - - | U - - - |
Fa-’indi ma’dinu ‘l-khayri (Mac. N. ii. 377).
Steer ye your steps to none but me * Who have a mine of luxury
(vol. v. 65).
If in the second ‘Arúz of the Wáfir, Maf’áílun (U - - -) is further shortened to Mafá’ilun (U - U -), the metre resembles the second ‘Arúz of Rajaz, where, as we have seen, the latter foot can, by licence, take the place of the normal Mustaf’ilun (- - U -).
The Kámil bears a similar relation to the Rajaz, as the Wáfir bears to the Hazaj. By way of illustration we quote from Mac. N. ii. 8 the first two Bayts of a little poem taken from the 23rd Assembly of Al Hariri: —
- - U - | - - U - | U U - U - |
Yá khátiba ‘l-dunyá ‘l-daniyyati innahá
U U - U - | U U - U - | - - - |
Sharaku ‘l-radà wa karáratu ‘l-akdári
- - U - | - - U - | - - U - |
Dárun matà má azhakat fí yaumiha
- - U - | - - U - | - - - |
Abkat ghadan bu’dan lahá min dári.
In Sir Richard Burton’s translation (vol. iii. 319): —
O thou who woo’st a World unworthy, learn * ’Tis house of evils,
’tis Perdition’s net:
A house where whoso laughs this day shall weep * The next; then
perish house of fume and fret.
The ‘Arúz of the first couplet is Mutafá’ilun, assigning the piece to the first or perfect (sahíhah) class of the Kámil. In the Hashw of the opening line and in that of the whole second Bayt this normal Mutafá’ilun has, by licence, become Mustaf’ilun, and the same change has taken place in the ‘Arúz of the second couplet; for it is a peculiarity which this metre shares with a few others, to allow certain alterations of the kind Zuháf in the ‘Arúz and Zarb as well as in the Hashw. This class has three subdivisions: the Zarb of the first is Mutafá’ilun, like the ‘Arúz the Zarb of the second is Fa’alátun (U U - -), a substitution for Mutafá’il which latter is obtained from Mutafá’ilun by suppressing the final n and rendering the l quiescent; the Zarb of the third is Fa’lun (- - -) for Mútfá, derived from Mutafá’ilun by cutting off the Watad ‘ilun and dropping the medial a of the remaining Mutafá.
If we make the ‘Ayn of the second Zarb Fa’alátun also quiescent by the permitted Zuháf Izmár, it changes into Fa’látun, by substitution Maf ‘úlun (- - -) which terminates the rhyming lines of the foregoing quotation. Consequently the two couplets taken together, belong to the second Zarb of the first ‘Aruz of the Kámil, and the metre of the poem with its licences may be represensed by the scheme:
- | - | - |
U U - U - | U U - U - | U U - U - |
- | - | - |
U U - U - | U U - U - | U U - - |
Taken isolated, on the other hand, the second Bayt might be of the metre Rajaz, whose first ‘Arúz Mustaf’ilun has two Azrub: one equal to the Arúz, the other Maf’úlun as above, but here substituted for Mustaf’il after applying the ‘Illah Kat’ (see p 247) to Mustaf’ilun. If this were the metre of the poem throughout the scheme with the licences peculiar to the Rajaz would be:
U U | U U | U U | - - U U | - - U - | - - U - |
U U | U U | U | - - U - | - - U - | - - - |
The pith of Al-Hariri’s Assembly is that the knight errant not to say the arrant wight of the Romance, Abú Sayd of Sarúj accuses before the Walí of Baghdad his pretended pupil, in reality his son, to have appropriated a poem of his by lopping off two feet of every Bayt. If this is done in the quoted lines, they read:
- - U - | - - U - |
Yá khátiba ‘l-dunyá ‘l-dandy.
U U - U | U U - U - |
Yati innahá sharaku ‘l-radá
- - U - | - - U - |
Dárun matà má azhakat,
- - U - | - - U - |
Fí yaumihá abkat ghadá,
with a different rhyme and of a different variation of metre. The amputated piece belongs to the fourth Zarb of the third ‘Aruz of Kámil, and its second couplet tallies with the second subdivision of the second class of Rajaz.
The Rajaz, an iambic metre pure and simple, is the most popular, because the easiest, in which even the Prophet was caught napping sometimes, at the dangerous risk of following the perilous leadership of Imru ‘l-Kays. It is the metre of improvisation, of ditties, and of numerous didactic poems. In the latter case, when the composition is called Urjúzah, the two lines of every Bayt rhyme, and each Bayt has a rhyme of its own. This is the form in which, for instance, Ibn Málik’s Alfíyah is written, as well as the remarkable grammatical work of the modern native scholar, Nasíf al-Yazijí, of which a notice will be found in Chenery’s Introduction to his Translation of Al-Hariri.
While the Hazaj and Rajaz connect the third circle with the first and second, the Ramal forms the link between the third and fourth Dáirah. Its measure Fá’ilátun (- U - -) and the reversal of it, Maf’úlátu (- - - U), affect the trochaic rhythm, as opposed to the iambic of the two first-named metres. The iambic movement has a ring of gladness about it, the trochaic a wail of sadness: the former resembles a nimble pedestrian, striding apace with an elastic step and a cheerful heart; the latter is like a man toiling along on the desert path, where his foot is ever and anon sliding back in the burning sand (Raml, whence probably the name of the metre). Both combined in regular alternation, impart an agitated character to the verse, admirably fit to express the conflicting emotions of a passion stirred mind.
Examples of these more or less plaintive and pathetic metres are numerous in the Tale of Uns al-Wujúd and the Wazir’s Daughter, which, being throughout a story of love, as has been noted, vol. v. 33, abounds in verse, and, in particular, contains ten out of the thirty two instances of Ramal occurring in The Nights. We quote:
Ramal, first Zarb of the first ‘Arúz (Mac. N. ii. 361):
- U - - | U U - - | - U - |
Inna li ‘l-bulbuli sautan fí ‘l-sahar
- U - - | U U - - | - U - |
Ashghala ‘l-áshika ‘an husni ‘l-water
The Bulbul’s note, whenas dawn is nigh * Tells the lover from strains of strings to fly (vol. v. 48).
Sarí’, second Zarb of the first ‘Arúz (Mac. N. ii. 359):
U - U - | - - U - | - U - |
Wa fákhitin kad kála fí nauhihi
- - U - | - - U - | - U - |
Yá Dáiman shukran ‘alà balwatí
I heard a ringdove chanting soft and plaintively, * “I thank
