من التراث العربي
Arabic Literature
Selections from the classical Arabic inheritance, poetry, adab, maqāmāt, and devotional literature.
إِذَا غَامَرْتَ فِي شَرَفٍ مَرُومٍ فَلَا تَقْنَعْ بِمَا دُونَ النُّجُومِ فَطَعْمُ الْمَوْتِ فِي أَمْرٍ حَقِيرٍ كَطَعْمِ الْمَوْتِ فِي أَمْرٍ عَظِيمِ
When you venture for an honour sought after, / be not content with what falls short of the stars. / For the taste of death in a trivial pursuit / is the same as the taste of death in a great one.
الكِتابُ نِعمَ الجَلِيسُ والعُدَّةُ، ونِعمَ النَّشِيطُ عِندَ الفَتْرَةِ، والمُونِسُ في الوَحْشَةِ.
The book is the finest of companions and provisions, the best of stirrers when the soul grows weary, and an intimate friend in solitude.
وَقَدْ صَارَ قَلْبِي قَابِلًا كُلَّ صُورَةٍ فَمَرْعًى لِغِزْلَانٍ وَدَيْرٌ لِرُهْبَانِ
My heart has become capable of every form: / a pasture for gazelles, a cloister for monks.
حَدَّثَ الْحَارِثُ بْنُ هَمَّامٍ قَالَ: شَهِدْتُ بِالْبَصْرَةِ مَجْلِسًا حَفَلَ بِأَهْلِ الأَدَبِ، وَضَمَّ مِنْ كُلِّ نَجِيبٍ نُجَبَاءَ.
Al-Ḥārith ibn Hammām related: I attended a gathering in Baṣrah crowded with the people of letters, drawing from every noble company the noblest of its kind.