Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

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62 SELECTIONS FROM ARABIAN POETRY
That I can thus from wine be driv'n
Thou surely ne'er canst think
Another reason thou hast giv'n
Why I resolve to drink.
*Twas sweet the flowing cup to seize,
'Tis sweet thy rage to see;
And first I drink myself to please;
And next—to anger thee.
ON FATALISM"
Not always wealth, not always force
A splendid destiny commands;
The lordly vulture gnaws the corse
That rots upon yon barren sands.
Nor want, nor weakness still conspires
To bind us to a sordid state
The fly that with a touch expires
Yesid.
Sips honey from the royal plate.
Imam Shafay Mohammed Ben Idris.
TO THE CALIPH HARUN-AL-RASHID
Religion's gems can ne'er adorn
The flimsy robe by pleasure worn;
Its feeble texture soon would tear,
And give those jewels to the air.
Thrice happy they who seek th' abode
Of peace and pleasure, in their God
Who spurn the world, its joys despise,
And grasp at bliss beyond the skies.
Ibrahim Ben Adham.
** Shafay, the founder of one of the to tradition in their interpretations of
four orthodox sects into which the Mo- the Koran,, the Hanifites consider themhammedans
are divided, was a disciple selves as at liberty in any difficulty to
of Malek Ben Ans, and master to make use of their own reason.
Ahmed Ebn Hanbal ; each of whom, ^^ The author of this poem was a
like himself, founded a sect which is hermit of Syria, equally celebrated for
still denominated from the name of its his talents and piety. He was son to a
author. The fourth sect is that of Abou prince of Khorasan, and born about
Hanifah. This differs in tenets con- the ninety-seventh year of the Hegira.
sidcrably from the three others, for This poem was addressed to the Caliph
whilst the Malekites, the Shafaites, and upon his undertaking a pilgrimage to
the Hanbalites are invariably bigoted Mecca.
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