Texts in memory... The Abbasid “jinn rooster” and the tragedy of the murderer killed by his love

The Syrian city of Homs suffered devastating earthquakes, but it always rose again, and in the Abbasid era it was a mecca for arts and literature (Firefly, Al Jazeera)

In this cultural corner, “Texts in Memory,” Al Jazeera Net opens a space to savor Arabic and translated texts, for words to speak in their own tongues without intermediaries, out of its belief in the priority of text (oral and written) to build values ​​and ideas and shape awareness, conscience, taste, and behavior, even in the era of image dominance.

This window selects a selection of traditional and contemporary literature, thought, and history texts in various cultural fields, and contents itself with a short introduction, which then opens the door to the texts themselves so that their meanings can shine without a veil. The editor has added to them - sometimes - brief explanatory footnotes.

This collection is a selection of poetry from the heavens of Arabic poetry, where the high stars of literature shine, and an exceptional poet draws attention with his statement, unique style, and legendary story.

He is the "jinn rooster" born in the Abbasid era, and despite the absence of any historical records proving his true existence, he appeared - in biographies and translations - like a jinn poet wandering between the desert and cities, penetrating people's veils and singing the poetry of death, love, wisdom and madness, and he said:

What is the intensity of eagerness from my business, nor my seeking,

nor gains from my concern, nor my desire?

But calamities and calamities befall me,

and time knocks with events and calamities.

No one knows my worth or my manners

except a person who has ability and good manners.

With his eloquent tongue and poetic eloquence, “Dick Al-Jinn” is a reflective mirror of the Abbasid culture and its thirst for knowledge and literature. His poetry and biography were fraught with mystery and admiration, and his creativity came as a result of the cross-fertilization of the cultures of the Abbasid era, which made him a source of inspiration for successive generations of poets and writers, reminding us that poetry is not just cobbled together words, but rather magic that penetrates hearts and transcends the boundaries of time and place. Among his poetry about loss and flirtation is his saying:

I said goodbye to her while the flame of longing burned in my heart

while the distance between the soul and the body

He said goodbye to two boys who could not be said goodbye

except with the moment of an eye or the fingertips of a hand.

I bade her farewell and she complained about my heart

by clasping her hand in my hand out of pain.

And the eyes of the informants were wary, and she went

away, biting the grapes in her anger out of her cold.

The first covenant of the eye was the day it shed

tears, and the last covenant of the heart was with flogging.

The doctor felt my hand out of ignorance, so I told him

that there was love in my heart, so he freed my hand.

My yellowing is not due to a fever that has brewed in my body

, but rather the fire of passion burning in my liver.

He said, “This is an illness that has no cure

except by seeing the one you love, my support.”

The texts in heritage books tell the story of “Dick the Jinn” in different and varied details, and show how his story became legendary over time.

The story began with a love relationship between a jinn rooster and a Christian slave girl from Homs. She converted to Islam and he married her. The text talks about a period in his life where he fell into financial distress and traveled as a result to earn money. However, a relative of his claimed that his wife was cheating on him with a boy, which led him to kill her unjustly and injure him. Deep remorse for his crime.

The name “Jinn Rooster” is associated with the Syrian city of Homs and the Abbasid era (Firefly, Al Jazeera)

The story is complex and interwoven and shows how narratives can change and develop over time, depending on who is telling them and the purpose of the novel. The diversity in narratives reflects the nature of literary history and how it can be affected by deletions and additions by narrators across generations.

“The Jinn Rooster” says in one of his ghazals:

Siham Lahaz, who has arched eyebrows,

has recorded sorrow in the heart from all sides

The day after we wrote messages in our cheeks

with the tips of pens and teardrops

It appears on our cores and throats,

and our eyelids send it to the soil

And our tongues are mute, as if they were anklets worn out

in prayer for the good-looking people

The meaning is enough for you, so limit yourself

to what you mentioned about separation from loved ones

Passion made him yearn until it was as if

his intestines were stinging scorpions

He spends the night on the beds of poverty, fidgeting

for a little while, having a lot of misfortunes

Ashjan's prey lies flat on its palm

and between its fangs and claws

My boyfriend betrayed patience and lost his mind,

and my eyes were keen to graze the stars

My friend, from the eyes of Sala, the star of darkness

speaks with a wide-shouldered sigh

My friend, how many sorrows have I concealed

and revealed through my tears to my friend’s eyeballs?

A veil in the womb was torn open

due to longing, until my relatives abused me

What exposes the shed tears when they flow

and makes them appear as kindness to what is in the evening?

I will close my eyes from afar, looking

at its fire, despite my watching nose

Will a glance prevent me from reaching it,

even if it kills the jealous, alienated soul?

And tell my eyes from afar to contemplate,

and I was not satisfied until my demands were honored

So I treated myself with what convinced me

and displayed the symptoms of the hateful and alienated

Purity, sincerity, and remaining affection

for a generous and uninterrupted era

And in my soul I have encircled my desires

towards those who have my needs and desires

It has a thick spring of sand,

and the green of basil has the green of a mustache

It was as if a clever boy had written it for her

and it came out like half a letter from a writer's handwriting

You fought, but I am a peacemaker

and I accept what you accept, not a fighter

But my people have a goal with your people,

and among them is the battle of the battalions

If you kill me, you will send war

on us as a trick, so flee and see the consequences

If the face of my beloved appears to me, then I

will spread what I have hidden among my bags

Otherwise, my cover is hidden and

buried over the passing nights

So that the snitches do not see the comfort of their eyes

and do not find in us a defective or a reproach

They claimed that I am in love with someone else, and

I am ashamed of you, like a closed seashell

And by the hidden folds of your heart, they are

like rain brought by the palms of clouds.

It was as if the tears of lovers were dripping

in their cups, running down each drinker

I was only aiming for you and drowning,

and I was not desiring any woman other than you

If eternity deprives me of a bow, it will abandon you

with its arrows of right sorrows

So say, my eyes are watching for them,

and my long-tailed thought is playing with the heart

Abu Al-Faraj Al-Isfahani is considered one of the first to address the tragedy of “Dick Al-Jin” in his famous book “Al-Aghani”. Al-Isfahani presents the story in a way that is close to realism, addressing the relationship of “Dick Al-Jinn” with a slave girl from Homs named Ward, and follows that with details revolving around his financial ordeal and the alleged betrayal that led to the murder. And regret. Al-Isfahani described Deek Al-Jinn as “a glorious poet who follows the doctrine of Abu Tammam and the Levantines in his poetry,” and he says in some of his poetry:

I did not die before you, but I live and you live together,

and I do not remain until the day you die

But we live as we desire and hope, and

God will force our disgrace upon us.

Until the days of our term had passed

and the day of ours had come, they would not enemy us.

We both died like two branches withered, withered

after they had become bright and fresh for a while.

In like the blink of an eye I will not taste sorrow

until death, nor will we taste it either.

Then peace be upon us in our beds

until we return to the balance of our origin.

If we obtain his pardon, then eternity will bring us together

if He wishes, or in a moment if He wishes, He will meet us.

So that all immortals would say,

“I wish we were lovers together.”

In his book “The History of Damascus,” Ibn Asakir praised the jinn rooster and his knowledge of music and singing and the effect they had on refining taste and mood. He conveyed details that were slightly different from what was reported by Al-Isfahani, but they also told of the emotional tragedy and tragic incident that the jinn rooster’s life witnessed.

The same applies to Ibn Khallikan’s account in “Deaths of Notables,” in which he described Deek as a jinn, saying that he was “a promiscuous person, devoted to amusement, neglecting what he had inherited, and his poetry was of the utmost quality.”

And the narration of Daoud Al-Antaki, the author of “Decorating the Markets in the News of Lovers”: who narrated the story and said about him, “He was a writer, clever, and intelligent, as if his heart spoke with tenderness, gentleness, flirtation, and wit.”

Ibn Rashiq, the author of Al-Umdah, said about him: “The rooster of the jinn is the poet of the Levant, and he was not mentioned with Abu Tammam except metaphorically, and he is older than him. Abu Tammam took examples of his poetry from him to emulate and stole them.” Among his most famous poems is his saying:

O soul, do not grow weary, do not become weary, and establish the foundations of a plateau on the paths.

Maintain the ray of conscience, feel patience and good condolences, and seek refuge in me

hummus

It is not possible to talk about the jinn rooster, without talking about his city, which it is said that he never left, which is Homs, that ancient city that boasts its terrain, its orchards, and its “Assi” river, which gave its residents unique characters and profound psychological advantages.

Homs is rooted in history, as it was inhabited by multiple civilizations, from the Amorites, Hittites, Phoenicians, Arameans, Greeks and Romans to the Arabs and Turks, leaving behind stories and legends to tell. Homs was mentioned in the holy books and was the scene of historical battles such as the Battle of Kadesh. It also witnessed important transformations such as the battle in which Aurelian defeated Queen Zenobia.

Homs suffered from devastating earthquakes, but it always rose again, and Homs’ status became prominent during the Islamic eras, especially in its conquest during the reign of the Rashidun Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab, and it continued to play an important role throughout the Umayyad era and the beginnings of the Abbasid era.

However, it witnessed periods of disobedience and revolts against the Abbasid rulers, and witnessed great fluctuations and turmoil. Dick Al-Jinn says in one of his elegies:

On this basis, calamities took place,

and in every plural of goings there were sects

We came down to the rule of time and its command

, and whether the bitter and troublesome half accepts it

A person's age laughs and the heart hurts,

and the boy is satisfied with his time while he is blaming

Except, O riders, it is obligatory to respond.

Stand up and tell us what the mourners say

To which of the youths of dew is the aim of destruction,

and to which of them the misfortunes have caused misfortunes?

O Abu Al-Abbas, how eager he is to respond

to your loss, and how bitter he is

O Abu Al-Abbas, our shoulders

are burdened with what they have carried so that we can keep up

In his grave is the glory of every grave,

for in you there is a sky full of wealth and clouds

For if you knew of the highness within you,

you would be exalted and the stars would spend the night in your arms

A brother for whom I cried blood while he was asleep,

beware, and my eyeballs were blinded while he was absent

So he died, and my patience for reward is not standing,

nor am I in a lifetime seeking God

Am I striving to gain reward in you?

Indeed, my striving will fail before God

Sin is nothing but patience on your part, but

the consequences of praise are that the consequences are disparaged

They say that it is obligatory for a person to provide for himself

, so I said, “It is obligatory for a person to support himself.”

It is the heart when the day of its mother’s son was hot

, and she was one side of it and the sickest side

I sipped my days, and they were as dark as

yours, and disaster prevailed, and it prevailed

And I defended the chest and throat of time,

and what hand do I have when time is a warrior?

And I said to him: Give the horse to his people,

and here I am, so add more, for we are Asaib

By God, sincerity, the words are true,

otherwise my love for the family of Ahmed is false

Even if my hand were your cure or my blood was the blood

of the heart until the heart was crushed, I would punish

I would have submitted with the greeting of contentment and taken it

as a hand to ward off destruction. No rider would perform Hajj to God

A boy who was like a sword, from where he came

to Nabatak, he is a speculator

A boy whose only concern is praise for eternity is a winner,

but if his money is missing from him, he is single

If he witnesses, they are

great scenes, and if he departs, they are battalions

You cried over a brother whom you were not related to.

Indeed, the brothers of purity are relatives

And the world in which you were a neighbor became dark

, as if you were a brother and friend to the world

The fires of misfortunes are cooled by the fact that I

see a time in which there were no misfortunes left

Source: Al Jazeera