ومن دون ضيفى عاقل ويلملم ورضوى و همان و قدس و درود اياخذه من قبلَ أَن تأخذ النمى على راسه والمشرفي المهند اياخذه و السيف و الرميح نايم على سرق إن الوشيح مقصد ايا خذه أين التوارق كلُّها و من عرب شيخ و كهل وأمرد و وہ و وں بنو الشيخ عثمان بن فودى جندنا جندنا موسى بن بوصال يشهد ومن و ترغيتموت الاسد يقدم حيهم لكاوى بن ام القطبي يبرق يرعد 11113 واخبى بن سالم حوله ايكودرن وللوغد ان الحن جيش وفى تنكريكيف رجال أعزة بنو حملاس القوم فيها تسود دو دو محشد و تنصر ضيفى من كلسوق فتية لهم أَسَد أسد في النايبات واسود هم النوم فى الاسلام لا يخذلونني وهم اخوتى احدى الى وانجد ولى من بني الفلان الارض عصبة الى نصر دين الله تسعى و تعداد 13 وں اذاما راوا كرا و عصيان ربهم ابوا و نبوا عن كل من هو مند ء ولى من رجال الله في الارض ثم من ملايكة نصر وجيش مشرد وحسبي فحسبى الله جل جلاله فما النصر الا منه والله أمجد 573 EL BAKA'Y'S SECOND POEM. فما النصر الا منه لا من ماليك وإن كثروا جدا و عزوا وحمد (وا) وانى لتكلمني من احمد ددوة إلى الله في جوف من اليل تصعد = فإن تاب يوما فهو خير له وان ابى لم يتب فالأمر لله مسند فمن قبله فرعون نمرود قبله و عاد وشداد بن عاد تمرد وا دعى ربه موسی و عیسی و صالح و هود و ابراهيم ثم محمد و ناون اجيبوا يجيب المومنين وينجد فيا رب أنصرني كما قد نصرتهم فانك لا حجر عليك ولا يد TRANSLATION OF THE TWO POEMS OF A'HMED EL BAKA'Y. 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 khafíf.) "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 honour, and my honour never was in jeopardy; therefore its guest shall never be imperilled. 'Abd Menáf ben Kosay ben Kiláb ben Morra, my ancestor, and Luway ben Gháleb, and Nizár ben Mådd, admonish me EL BAKA'Y'S FIRST POEM. 575 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 'Ukbå 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, apple-rumped, plump, longboned, strong in back and neck, Arabian blood-horses of El All the preceding names are those of well-known ancestors of Mohammed, the prophet: those that follow are the poet's own. † I cannot approve this translation of Dr. Nicholson. I read le and translate-"The sultan is not afraid, lest he may not be feared, or obedience not be paid him. The Sultan ('Abd el Mejíd) is not a young lad." El Bakay, I think, opposes here the Sultan 'Abd el Mejíd 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 Mallemín," mentioned above, p. 250. But I am not quite certain about it.-H. B. 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 A'l 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 honourable, 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 neighbour; 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." * 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." 664. i. p. The poet here exhibits to the hostile ruler of Másina the docile behaviour of his friends, the rulers of Sókoto, the successors of the Sheikh Fódiye.-H. B. |