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واحتياط الأنقاط هنا و هنا كر عود قصر من ويكا وريع تحمل الموت فيه فتيان ضررا تحسب الموت روضة و ربيعـــا من رعاريع أو خطاريف مرد و كهول شاحَتْ في العز جميعا

131

فوق جرد من الجياد مناجيم يعانيب مودت ان تميما من سطر نمر رباع شناح كان غرباً مكبا ذريعا سريعا

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من عراب للحوض أو لثكانت أو كدال تسقُوا الحليب النقيعا

W

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شخمتي في قَلَعَتي من تصدى للقاني اصحى تميعا فليعــــــا

حَسبى الله رب موسى وعيسى و البيين أن اراني كنيـــــــا کنیع

آيد الواحد الفريد بنصر

فاظل الجموع منه الجميعا

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ان فرعون كان أغوى واقوى ضَلَّ في اليم والجموع مربعــــــا

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ماسنى عقلوا احاكم يكن لى مِثْلَ بَل الإمامِ خلا تبيعـ

200

او يكن لي كما مضى ابراه ان هما لم يصابراً لم يليعا

أو او يدعني من شره وادعه إن خيرا في الشرآن لا يشيعـــــا

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إن الاعلام اهل الاحلام منكم آل فودى ما تَبَنوا رفيعــــــا

653

EL BAKA'Y'S SECOND POEM.

ماتينوا الا فتى أحونيا

وو دی

في طريق العلي بصيرا سميع

يُكرمون الكرام أن منهم هم ثم لا يصحبون خلقا خليعا

ثم لا يصحبون الأوليا

عالما شارعاً تقيا و ريعــــــا

احسنها من جوارنا ما أسات فلدينا الوداد أبقوا وديعـــا

و لدينا انشاء أبقوا ربيطا

ولدينا الاخاء ابقوا وضيعا

وید

لو تساعون مثله فيه كنتم فَأَجَرْتُمْ رايَا مَعا وصنيعـــا

لاكن الطبع مالك فلو اسطا ع جبان الوَرَى أَسمى شجيعا

ހ

وله أيضا يخاطب الغلان في شان ضيفه

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أَحَقَّا انى من عندَ أَحْمَد احمد محمد سيد العبد والعبد اسود

يسايل عن سيفى ليرجع ضيفه فيسلبه من ماله و يقيد

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و يجعله ضيفا لكاوور عنده

دردار

ومن شرف ما ضيفي لِهَذَا معود

أبطلان مال الفول ام هو حالم بلى حالم والله احمد احمد

و من دون نسبنى عاقل ويكملم ورضوى و همان و قدس و نرود

اياخذه من قبل أن تأخذ الفنى على راسه والمشرفي المهند

باخذه و السيف والرمح نايم على سرق أن الوشيح مقصد

اياخذه أين النواري كلها

ون

ون و

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بنو الشيخ عثمان بن فودی چند تا ومن جنده موسى بن بوصال يشهد

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و ترشيتموت الاسد يقدم حيهم لكاوى بن ام القطبي يبرق يرعد

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واحي بن سالم حوله الكودرن و لوعدُ أَي اليمن جيش محمد

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وفى تنكريكيف رجال اعرة بنو حملاس القوم فيها تسود

و تنصر ضيفي من كلسوق نتية لهم أسد في النايبات وأسود القوم فى الاسلام لا يتخذ لونني وهم اخوتي اجدى الى وانجد

هم

ولى من بني الفلان الارض عصبة الى نصر دين الله تسعى وتجاه

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اذا ما رأوا كفرا وعصيان ريهم ابوا و نبوا عن كل من هو مفسد

ولى من رجال الله في الارض ثم من ملايكة تصر وجيش مشرد وحسبى تَعَسى الله جل جلاله نما النصر الا منه والله أحد

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EL BAKAY'S SECOND POEM.

655

نما النصر الا منه لا من مليك وإن كثروا جدا وعزرا وحيد (1) على كل جبار يصر و يعند هو الله جل الله عود نصره

رأتي لتكفيني مِنْ احمد دعوة إلى الله في جوف من اليل تصعد

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أبى لم يتب فالأمر لله مسند فان ناب يوما فهو خير له وان

عاد تمرد

را

بن
ر عاد وشداد
ضمن فبله فرعون نمرود قيله

را
فعادوا ويادوا كلهم وتفود
فكل عليه قد دعى انبياءهم

دعى ربه موسی و عیسی و صالح و هود و ابراهيم ثم محمد

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اجيبوا يجيب المومنين وينجد فمدعونا سبحانه واحد كما

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فانك لا حمير عليك ولا يد فيا رب انصرنِى كَما قَد نصرتهم

بادو

وصل عليهم ثم سَلّم مباركًا

نما منهم

الا حميد واحمد

TRANSLATION OF THE TWO POEMS OF AHMED EL BAKAY.

BY DR. JOHN NICHOLSON, PENRITH.

"In the name of GOD," &c.

"And our Sheikh and Lord, A'hmed el Bakáy, the son of our Sheikh and Lord Mohammed, the son of our Sheikh and Lord El Mukhtár, said, addressing the assembly of the Fulán of Másina, when they attacked his guest, 'Abd el Kerím Barth, the Englishman, the Christian. (The metre is khafif.)

"Tell the host of the Fulán-I say, shameful! I am attacked in a great and weighty matter. Ye have sought my guest: you will find him, when you do find him, mighty, protected, the free guest of a free man, who is the son of a free woman, who was daughter of a freeman, and whose father was a freeman, who lavished benefits. No slave bore me, nor did such foster me in their bosoms as a suckling; and my father is he whom you know, and his father. We have not descended from Sém, except as noble, as munificent, as white of face, as lords or chieftains. Among their mothers there is no daughter of a slave who bears coals, like herself, that she may sell them; whose son is her master, whereas his father is his master; who effected his manumission, as being obedient. No daughter nor son of Hám was my parent, nor will I obey the sons of the lazy Hám. Among the sons of the lazy Hám none but fat women and corpulent men see guests [?]. My guest is my honor, and

my honor never was in jeopardy, therefore its guest shall never be imperiled. 'Abd Menáf ben Kosay ben Kilab ben Morra, my ancestor, and Luway ben Ghaleb, and Nizár ben M'add admonish me not to fear, and Fehr ben Málik ben El Nadhr* forbids me to entertain alarm or suspicion. El Wáfi increases 'Omár, the Sheikh of the sons of A ́hmed el Bakáy, by the addition of a fair, freeborn man; and El Kuntí increased him—the progeny of Alí—who sprang from 'Ukba the Accepted, who perished heroically. Such were my ancestors, noblemen, and their guest never died in agony.

"The Sultan is not alarmed that the homage and allegiance of the Sultan will not be duly paid.† He will not be afraid of you until the Sultan 'Abd el Mejíd is afraid of Nukmah. War and blows are to be found elsewhere than where ye seek; and wounds among the Zinj drive forth the flowing blood—without molesting this man-and long spears and cuts of swords round about on all sides, and the explosion of cannons hither and thither, like thunders which crash in blasts and reverberations. They consider the death in which men are destroyed-they count it a garden and a vernal season of noble youths and gallant lads, and mature men, who have grown old together in dignity, mounted on sleek, swift horses, steeds, coursers trained to run, tall piebalds, five-year-olds, tall, fleet, wide-stepping, rapid, applerumped, plump, long-boned, strong in back and neck, Arabian blood-horses of El Hódh, or Tagánet, or Kidál, § that are fed upon cooling milk.

"I am secure in my position. He who attempts to contend with me will be cut off, overwhelmed. I rely on ALLAH, the Lord of Moses, and Jesus, and the prophets, that I may see myself contented. HE aids the solitary and deserted with His help, so that He overwhelms the multitude altogether. Lo! Pharaoh was very wicked and very mighty: he lost his way in the sea, and the host were laid low.

"Oh, Másina! reprove your brother, that he may become a submissive friend to me, like the Imám Bello; or that he may be to me as both his parents were before: if they did not suffer, they did not fear. Or let him leave me alone with his evil, and I will leave him alone. The best of evil is that it should not manifest itself.

"Behold! the learned and the humane among you, the Al Fódiye; they do not adopt a chief; they do not adopt any but one who is wise about the way of the Most High, and who sees and hears. They respect the honorable, because they are themselves such. They do not associate with the ignoble; they only consort with those that, are saints, learned, poets, pious, abstemious. Repair the evil ye have done our neighbor, and preserve affection for us; preserve for us unfailing gratitude and inviolate brotherhood. If ye were willing, like them, ye should be in it, and would earn both fame and benefits. But nature is queen. If cowards only could, they certainly would be brave."

"And he said again, addressing the Fullán on the subject of his guest. (The metre is Tawíl.)

"Did Mohammed Síd, the slave, and that slave a black one, really come from A'hmed [ben] A'hmed, to inquire about my guest, in order to make him return as [become] his guest, that he might plunder him, and fetter him, and make him a guest of Kauri with him, and with San-Shirfu?** My guest is not accustomed to this! Or did Yaktán say the speech? Is he not a dreamer? Yes, a dreamer, by ALLAH! Ahmed, Ahmed! And, besides my guest, there is 'Aákil, and Yalam

All the preceding names are those of well-known ancestors of Mohammed, the prophet; those that follow are the poet's own.

+ I can not approve this translation of Dr. Nicholson. I read, and translate, “The Sultan is not afraid lest he may not be feared, or obedience not be paid him. The Sultan ('Abd el Mejid) is not a young lad." El Bakáy, I think, opposes here the Sultan 'Abd el Mejid to the young chief A'hmedu ben A'hmedu, who was quite a young man. Dr. Nicholson observes that there is a great fault in the metre of the first hemistich, but that the consonants of the text are strictly those of the MS.-H. B.

This place, Nukmah or Núgguma, is probably the small place of that name in Másina, and not the village called also "Ksar el M'allemin," mentioned above, p. 179; but I am not quite certain about it.-H. B.

Three districts celebrated for their breed of horses. Kidál lies between Mabrúk and the country of the Awelímmiden.-H. B.

Literally, "My fat is in my wallet." Freitag, "Arab. Prov.," i., p. 664.

The poet here exhibits to the hostile ruler of Másina the docile behavior of his friends, the rulers of Sokoto, the successors of the Sheikh Fódiye.-H. B.

**San-Shirfu is the name of one of the two kádhis of Timbúktu. Kaúri is the name of the emir. -H. B.

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