Revelry and Remorse

Revelry and Remorse: A Poem of Abū Nuwās
Author(s): James E. Montgomery

Source: Journal of Arabic Literature , Jul., 1994, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Jul., 1994), pp. 116-134
Published by: Brill
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Journal of Arabic Literature, XXV (1994), © E. J. Brill, Leiden
REVELRY AND REMORSE: A POEM OF ABU NUWAS
It is the custom of the Journal of Arabic Literature Symposium on

Classical Arabic Literature to select a poem, or poems, for the sym-
posiasts to read, translate and discuss, devoting at least two full sessions
of the conference to the exercise. The poets chosen for this purpose have
included Abui Firas, al-Shanfara (Lamiyyat al-'Arab), cUmar b. Abi
RabiCah, Dhu l-Rummah, Abui Nuwas and, most recently, al-Buhturi.
From the third Symposium (1985) onwards, they have been chosen in
conjunction with the period which marked the theme of the Symposium.
This custom has proved to be most fruitful and instructive. At the 1991
convocation, a poem of Abuf Nuwas was selected for the symposiasts by
Professor Dr R. Jacobi of the University of Saarbrucken and Dr G.J.H.
van Gelder of the University of Groningen. The choice of the poem was
inspired. The discussion continued for three formal sessions and the
poem was even debated during the symposiasts 'free time'. The
Secretary to the Symposium, DrJ.E. Montgomery, then of the Univer-
sity of Glasgow, kept 'minutes' of the formal sessions, noting down the
translations offered by the participants and recording alternative sugges-
tions. Together with Professor J.N. Mattock of the University of
Glasgow, he produced a translation of the poem which was circulated to
the symposiasts for comment, with the intention that the poem, being of
such exquisite craftsmanship and charm, should merit publication in this
journal. Professor Dr Jacobi offered to provide the notes for an introduc-
tion to the piece, Dr van Gelder offered to provide annotation and Dr
Montgomery suggested that he might include an essay on the use of
Koranic language in the poem. The Arabic text was prepared by Dr
Philip F. Kennedy of the University of Oxford. The subsequent paper
is principally the work of these enthusiasts of classical Arabic poetry,
although the input and the original effort was communal. The sym-
posiasts were: Professor A. Hamori (Princeton), Dr S. Sperl (SOAS), Dr
A. Schippers (Amsterdam), Dr R. Drory (Tel Aviv), Professor Dr R.
Jacobi (Saarbruicken), Dr P. Smoor (Amsterdam), Dr P. Kennedy
(Oxford), Dr T. Seidensticker (Giefgen), Ms. D. Beifiel (Saarbrucken),
DrJ. Meisami (Oxford), Dr M.V. McDonald (Edinburgh), Mr I. Elout-
mani (Amsterdam), Dr G.J.H. van Gelder (Groningen), Professor W.
Heinrichs (Harvard), Professor J.N. Mattock (Glasgow), DrJ.E. Mont-
gomery (Oslo).
The poem of Abui Nuwas chosen for the Sixth JAL Symposium on
Classical Arabic Poetry (held in Pembroke College, Cambridge) was a

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REVELRY AND REMORSE 117
tariyyah, to be found in volume III of Ewald Wagner's edition of the

diwdn, poem number 40, pages 61-64 (Wiesbaden and Beirut 1987) (cor-
responding to al-Ghazali, Diwdn Abf Nuwds, Cairo 1953, 38-40 and the
Dar Sadir edition, 111-3). It is a poem with manifestly religious content,
describing how, in his old age, the libertine repents of his sins and calls
on God's forgiveness. In the process he evocatively (and longingly?)
extols one of the many pleasurable symposia which he has attended.
This poem, of 35 lines, is composed in six sections:
1-6 : Prologue: the Poet and his Friends

7-15: Negotiations with the Inn-keeper
16-21: The Wine
22-29: The Symposium
30-35: Epilogue: The Poet's Repentance
It can, therefore, be said to have the A B C B A development commonly

encountered in CAbbasid poetry. The Prologue and Epilogue correspond
both formally and contextually, treating, respectively, of the poet's deal-
ings with his friends and his dealings with God. The Negotiations with
the Innkeeper and the Symposium are lively set-pieces into which other
characters are introduced (viz. The Inn-keeper, the saqt and the lutenist).
The wine description, formally, is the centrepiece of the work: it is the
culmination of the first two sections and the origin of the last two. That
it formally vies with the Epilogue for dominance of the poem is a reflec-
tion of the ambivalent attitude of Abui Nuwas, as discussed later in the
context of his use of Koranic language. The analysis of the formal con-
struction of the poem is corroborated by the analysis of the sequence of
the length of the sections: 6 + 9 + 6 + 8 + 6.
1. Splendid young blades, like lamps in the drakness, proud-nosed,

stiff-necked, keen-
2. Who assaulted Fate with dallance to which they clung assiduously,
so that their attachment to it could not be severed,
3. For whom Time brought round its felicitous spheres and halted,
bending its tender neck over them-
4. I drank with them sharp Isfant wine, imported from Takrit, clear and
chilled;
5. One of those whose hand we asked for in haste, when we roused the
owners of the wine-shops
6. In a host of the night, turbulent and swollen, like the sea which dazes
the sailor with fear.
7. Suddenly at that moment there appeared an infidel crone, like a
solemn anchoress,

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118 REVELRY AND REMORSE
8. Tracing her lineage back through infidel stock, monastic idol-

worshippers,
9. Who said, "Who are you?" We replied, "People you know, every
one open-handed, noted for his prodigality,
10. Who, along the way, have stopped at your house: so seize the
liberality of the generous and name your price,
11. For you have won a life of ease, provided you seize from us what
David seized from Goliath.
12. Be lively in making a profit from them, doing-at the same time-a
noble deed until they have left your house. Then you can sleep
like the dead!"
13. She said, "I have what you want. Wait until the morning". We
replied, "No, bring it now!
14. It is itself the morning; its clear radiance dispels the night when it
shoots out sparks like rubies
15. As the patrolling angels do, when, at night, they stone with the stars
the rebellious Afrits".
16. It advanced in the cup as bright as the sun at day-break, poured from
/an amphora/ upturned, bleeding at the waist.
17. We said to her, "How long has it been in the amphora, since it was
hidden away?" She replied, "It was made in the time of Saul.
18. It was concealed in the amphora and has grown to be an old spinster
buried inside a coffin in the earth.
19. It has been brought to you from the dephts of its resting-place, so
be careful not to take it in the cup with food".
20. The odour that wafts from it to the drinkers is like the scent of
crushed musk from a newly slit vesicle;
21. When mixed with clear rain-water it is like a network of pearls on
ruby brocade
22. Carried round by /a youth like/ the moon with large black eyes from
which the magic of Harut could have sprung,
23. With a lutenist in our midst who moves us as he sings "Abode of
Hind in Dhat al-Jizc, Hail!"
24. Our gazes are constrained to turn towards him-you should see us
/looking/ at him, as if bedazzled.
25. He is from Hit, swaying gracefully, refined, and I say to him in fun,
"Hit it, Hitl!"
26. So he begins with accurate diction /to sing/ polished and well-
articulated songs, keeping the time,
27. Until when the sphere of the strings, together with the drums, spins
us round, we are left as if in a trance.

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28. We glory in it in gardens thick with myrtle, acacia, pomegr

mulberry,
29. Where the birds distract you from every other pleasure whe
warble in antiphonal strains.
30. Blessings upon that time which slipped away too quickly-
time which was not hateful to me then.
31. Dalliance did not turn me from coming to drink it and I did not fail
to answer its urges
32. Until, lo! grey hair surprised me by its appearance-How hateful is
the appearance of cursed grey hair
33. In the eyes of beautiful women; when they see its appearance they
announce severance and separation from love.
34. Now I regret the mistakes I have made and the misuse of the times
prescribed for prayer.
35. I pray to you, God, praised be Your name!, to forgive me just as
You, Almighty One, forgave Him of the Fish (Jonah)!
1. "Lamps in the darkness", masdbfh al-dujd, cf. the line by Imral al-
Qays describing the Banu Taym as maodb.h al-zaldm (Diwdn ed. Muh.
Abf l-Fadll Ibrahim, Cairo 1969, 141).
"Stiff-necked": sid, plur. of a4yad, literally, suffering from sayad, a
disease that afflicts camels, who are unable to bend their necks because
of it. Sid could also be taken to be the plural of .sdaid "hunter", which
in this context is less likely, even though it should not be ruled out that
the connotation of "hunting" is present in the background.
"Keen" (ma4dlit, plur. of misldt), used in a similar context: Wagner
III, 65. Originally it belongs to heroic poetry where it is applied to bold
men; words from the same root refer to cutting swords.
2. The words dahr ("Fate", "Time", or "Eternity") and lahw
("dalliance, entertainment, distraction, fun") recur towards the end of
the poem (11. 30 and 31); there is not much difference between dahr and
zamdn ("Time") in line 3.
Afldk al-suiid ("felicitous spheres") could also be rendered as "the
spheres of the lucky stars". The plural afldk is then problematical, since
the fixed stars occupy only one sphere. Note that falak also occurs in line
27. Perhaps there is a connection between the revolving spheres of the
Universe and Time, and the wine cups that go round; cf. Wagner IV,
10: nujumuhd ff l-kuszusi idh talaCat/afldkuhd mazjuhd bi-ijrd¥a, and III, 21:
Ka-annamd l-ka su ... fifalakin baynand musakhkharatin (or, perhaps better,
musakhkharatan).
4. Qarqafa l-isfant ("sharp Isfant wine"): apparently a kind of ver-
mouth, or a wine that is reminiscent of it, since isfant is derived from the

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Greek apsinthion ("wormwood", cf. absinthe). Abuf Nuwas uses

also in Wagner III, 321; cf. Manfred Ullmann in Welt des Orients 22
(1991), 215. Qarqaf is said of a wine that makes one shudder (apparently
a desirable quality, even though al-Nawaji calls it "the ugliest [word for
describing wine]", Halbat al-kumayt, Cairo 1938, 7); it is used six times
in Abui Nuwas' wine poems (see Jamel Bencheikh, "Poesies bachiques
d'Abfi Nuwas; themes et personnages", BEO 18 (1963-64), 7-84, index
p. 79).
Strictly speaking, 11. 3-6 are relative clauses belonging tofityatin of line
1, so that 11. 1-6 form one syntactic unit.
5. "Those whose hand we asked for": the usual metaphor
wine = bride, not elaborated any further in this poem. The "owners of
the wine-shops" are, as so often feminine: rabbdt al-hawdnit; the same in
Wagner III, 64, in a poem with the same metre and rhyme, which shows
many parallels with the present one, but may not be by Abui Nuwas. It
is attributed to a certain IsmaCil b. Yuisuf al-Basri in Ibn al-MuCtazz,
Tabaqdt al-shuCarda ed. CAbd al-Sattar Ahmad Farraj, Cairo, 1968,
339-40.
6. The espressionfifaylaqin li-l-dujd is ambiguous: it may refer to the

nocturnal travellers, or to the "host (or the thick) of the night". The
night may be compared to an army, see the line Qad aghtadi wa-l-laylu f-
hartmihl/muCaskiran fi l-Cizzi min nujuimihi (attr. to Abui Nuwas in al-
CAskarl's, Diwdn al-maCdni, Cairo, 1352, I, 357) or, anonymously, Wa-
rubba laylin bdtat Casdkiruhul/tahmilu ji l-jawwi suda raydti (ibid. I, 345). The
night is also often compared to the sea, as in Imra' al-Qays' line Wa-laylin
ka-mawji l-bahri, or, by an unknown poet, Rubba laylin ka-l-bahri hawlan
(Ibn al-Shajari, Hamadsa, Hyderabad, 1945, 211); one may also compare
Koran 24:40, on which see p. 125 below.
7. "Crone": shamtd', which may also be rendered as "grey-haired"
(an adjective that is sometimes used for the wine itself, referring to its age
rather than its aspect; but see Bencheikh, op. cit., 26). The woman is
called kdfira, "infidel" or "heathen", because she is a Christian. "Like
a solemn anchoress": or, "in the guise, or dress, of someone who
humbly and gravely serves God", f ziyyi mukhtashiCin li-l-ldhi zimmitl; the
words seem to imply a measure of hypocrisy.
8. This line is not found in al-Ghazali's edition.
11. This line and the preceding one play with the root ghnm "to gain,
seize".
12. A play on the antithesis fa-4yay "Live!" and mitt "Die!". The
first may mean "be lively", or simply "live (by your gain from them,
in the shadow [fi- zilli, i.e. as a consequence of] a noble deed)". The
imperative "Die!" may mean "then you can sleep, or rest, like the

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dead", or perhaps "then you can drop dead, for all we care
native translation of the line could be "Live, then, on the profit they
bring as if you were doing a noble deed at least until they have left your
house. Then you can die!"
14. "Its clear radiance dispels the night": reading yujallt l-layla saf-
watuhd instead of ... l-laylu safwatahd of the edition; Ghazali's edition has
tuhilu l-layla safwatuhd.
Ydqut (cf. also line 21) may mean "topaz" or "sapphire" as well as
"ruby"; therefore the wine might be white or red. Often, however, yaqut
is used in connection with what is obviously red wine, hence the transla-
tion as "ruby".
15. The motif is often used in wine poetry, e.g. Yanqaddu minhd
shuCdCun kullamd muzijatlka-l-shuhbi tanqaddu fi ithri Cafdr£tl (al-Mas'udi,
Muruj al-dhajab ed. Ch. Pellat, Beirut, 1966-79, V, 248, attrib. to Abu
Nuwas but not found in his Diwdn), Khudhhd tabuCan li-man walld
musawwamatanlka-annahd kawkabun ft ithri 'ifrfti (Ibn al-Ruimi, Dfwdn ed.
Husayn Nassar, Cairo, 1973-81, 379), Yamujju ibriquhu l-mizdja kamd
m-l-tadda shihdbun ft ithri cifrfit (Ibn al-MuCtazz, Diwan ed. B. Lewin, IV
(Istanbul, 1950), 21).
16. The shape of the amphora somewhat resembles a trunk, headless,
with a narrow waist. The reading bdzighatan, rather than ndziCatan as in
Ghazali's edition, is confirmed by the Koranic parallel pointed out
below.
19. The landlady's injunction seems to refer to the drinking etiquette
of Abui Nuwas' time, by which wine was not drunk, as with us, during
meal-times.
20. The translation of this and the following lines (20-29) reflects the
shift in tense, from perfect to imperfect. It might be argued, however,
that in the translation the past tense should be used, since the whole scene
is set in the past, and as such might read better in English.
22. Compare Ibn al-MuCtazz, DIwdn (ed. Lewin) IV, 21: Ft caynih£
mariatun idhd nazaratlqad kahalat hu bi-sihri Hdrtiz.
23. The second hemistich sounds, or is meant to sound, like a quota-
tion from a well-known poem; but no such line has been found, nor has
the placename Dhat al-JizC.
24. The ellipsis ("at him" meaning "looking at him") is slightly odd
but seems to convey the "dazzlement" of the boy's admirers.
25. Hit, a place on the Euphrates, west of Baghdad, noted not only
for its asphalt and naphtha but also for its wine. The translation attempts
to reproduce the punning of the exclamation: hdti yd Hftii
The variant sakhyyi l-jurmi, "generous in his sins", is ambiguous:

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"generous with his sins", or "when he sins, he devotes lavish

to them".
26. A problematical line. What, for instance, is the function of 'an in
'an naghamin? Why are the words muthaqqafdtin fas.hdtin feminine plural?
If they are accusative, is it normal foryabtadf( =yabtadilu) to be construed
in this way? What exactly does bi-tathbftt mean? Instead ofyabtadz bi- "He
begins with" one could read, with GhazTli's edition, yanbart bi- "he
bursts out into". Ghazall also has lahn "notes, tune" for lafz "diction".
27. "The sphere of the strings", falaku l-awtdri, rather than referring
to the Harmony of the Spheres, may have been prompted by the
hemispherical body of the lute. The music moves the listeners round and
round, be it literally, in a dancing transport like mystics, or merely in
their reeling brains. At first, Time went round for the drinkers (see
above, line 3), then the wine, and now they are whirling round them-
selves.
28. "We glory in it" (nuzha bihd): or "we gained it" (reading, with
Ghazall, fuznd bihd); the pronoun might refer to the wine or to the songs.
Rand ("myrtle") is the more likely reading instead of the edition's zand;
the emendation was proposed by Ullmann in Welt des Orients 22 (1991),
215. Mulaffafatin bi- "thick with" might also be translated as "sur-
rounded by" or "wrapped up in". With this line a new scene is
displayed: until now we had pictured the drinkers inside the tavern, but
in this and the following line another locus amoenus, equally stereotyped,
is depicted, perhaps standing for the paradisiacal times of old that are,
or should be, over, according to the epilogue of the poem.
29. The original contains paronomasia: tulhika ("distract you") and
mulhiyatin (pleasure, distracting thing"); the words take up the
"dalliance" (lahw) of line 2, which reappears in line 31.
30. This line is lacking in Ghazill's edition.
31. In the translation the pronoun -hd ("its") is taken to refer to the
wine. However, since the wine has not been mentioned in the preceding
ten lines or so, the pronoun may refer rather to the "gardens" of line
28, or amusement in a general sense. The word mawrid is, of course,
associated with drinking, but is very often used for anything resorted to.
32. In line 7 the landlady of the tavern was described as grey-haired,
shamtda (note that shaybda is not normally used when speaking of women);
now it is the poet himself who is "curved", or ill-favoured (ghayr mabkhtut)
with grey hair. Note the enjambment of lines 32 and 33.
34. The perfect tense of qad nadimtu is perhaps best translated as pres-
ent tense, as a performative statement. One may detect a long-distance
paronomasia between line 4: nddamtuhum "I drank with them" and this

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line: qad nadimtu "I regret/repent". Arab lexicographers h

connect the two very different meanings of the root ndm.
Instead of khata~ ("mistake") Ghaz.lT has khatal "idle talk". The
words i.ddCat maktuib al-mawdqit are ambiguous; literally, "the wasting of
times prescribed, or written down"; therefore an alternative translation
might be "wasting the time that has been allotted to me". Compare
Ewald Wagner in his Abu Nuwds (Wiesbaden 1965, 308, which gives a
rendering of lines 30-35): "... dass ich nicht beachtete, was (von meinen
Taten) zu den einzelnen Zeiten aufgeschrieben wurde". The Koranic
reference given below seems to favour the first alternative.
Regret with repentance as a result of the appearance of grey hair is,
of course, a common motif in love poetry. In bacchic verse it is rare. One
may compare Wagner III, 144: Fa-dhdka qabla nuzuli l-shaybi
'adatundlldkinnana nartaji ghufrdna ghaffdar (cf. A. Hamori, On the Art of
Medieval Arabic Literature, Princeton 1974, 67). In another final line of
repentance, Wagner III, 314: Dhdka cayshun law ddma l ghayra annf/Ciftuhu
mukrahan wa-khiftu l-Amind, it is the caliph rather than God who inspires
similar sentiments.
35. "Him of the Fish", at first sight thrown in for the sake of the
rhyme, is carefully chosen not only because of the connotations explained
below: it also echoes the theme of the sea which appeared in line 6. As
Hamori points out in his brief discussion of the poem (op cit., 70-71)
"Through this short-circuit, the begging for mercy in the last line is pit-
ched against the quest myth itself. The contradiction between role and
reality is made explicit: the poet comes out of the Whale."
Throughout the preceding piece, both explicitly and implicitly, Abu

Nuwas employs a number of Koranic words and terms. It is the purpose
of this note to explore the extent to which this practice is pursued.
Remarkable, and perhaps controversial, are the topical terms and
elements of the khamriyya which can be paralleled from the Koran.
Throughout, the guiding principle has been to accept as Koranic echoes,
allusions or references, those words the semantic and moral range of
which are enhanced by reference to the context of their occurrence within
the Koran; this context may be that of the dya or the passage or indeed
the suzra: in the case of Jonah, it is the composite complex of references.
Many are, of course, tendentious: some are indeed speculative. It is,
however, hoped that a general picture of what the poet may have
intended and how the poem may have been received by its audience can
be limned and enhanced by such an investigation. For the sake of conve-
nience, the poem will be discussed in terms of the six structural blocks

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identified in the introduction. Koranic references are to the Cairene and

the European editions, in that order.
1-6. Prologue. The Poet and his Friends
1. Fitya is found as a plural twice in the Koran, in both instances referr-

ing to the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus: K.18.10/9 & 13/12. The latter
establishes them explicitly as Believers: innahumfityatun dmanwu bi-rabbihim
wa-zidndhum hudan. Hard on the conclusion of their narrative, Paradise
is awarded to "those who have believed and done the works of
righteousness" (R. Bell, The Qur'dn, Edinburgh 1937, 277) (K.18.31/30:
see also 107-8/106-7). K. 18.25/24 details the length of their residence in
the Cave: "three hundred years and nine more" (Bell 276), perhaps con-
sonant with the references to Time in lines 2 and 3 of the poem.
Misbdh, pl. masdbih, occurs thrice: as part of a simile evoking God's
resplendence (K.24.35); as a metaphor for the stars (K.41.12/11 & 67.5),
It is, therefore, in Koranic terms a 'positive' word. The latter two
instances connect interestingly with line 15 of the poem: wa-zayyannd 1-
samd'a l-dunyd bi-masdbiha wa-hifzan (K.41.11); wa-la-qad zayyanna I-samda
l-dunya bi-masdbiha wa-ja Calndhd rujuman li-l-shaydt£na (K.67.5).
2. Lahw is a 'negative' word in the Koran, referring to the distractions
of the earthly life (K.6.32, 29.64, 47.36/38 & 57.20/19). In accordance
with the Koran's binary style of composition, these loci involve a
reference to the Afterlife. Of further interest are K.6.70/69 (al-ladhina
ttakhadhuz dinahum laciban wa-lahwan wa-gharrathumu l-haydtu l-dunyd) and
K.62.11 (wa-idhd ra 'aw ty'aratan aw lahwani nfad.du ilayha wa-tarakuka quz iman
qul mad inda l-ldhi khayrun mina l-lahwi wa-mina l-t4drati), with their context
of the abandonment and neglect of the duties of a Muslim. This negative
portrayal of the troop is further corroborated by the two Koranic
instances of habl: (K.3.103/98 & 112/108), both of which delineate the
relationship between God and Man. The fitya are 'tied, bound' to
dalliance as Man is bound to God.
3. For falak (the plural aflak is not found), see K.21.33/34 & 36.40
where the context is God as the Ordering Principle of the Cosmos. As
God orders the Universe for Man, so Time (al-zamdn) orders the
Universe for the 'young blades'. Furthermore, Time turns towards them
(d.tf) as the heedless turn from God and his Messenger: thdniya citfihi li-
yudilla 'an sabili l-ldhi lahu ft l-dunyda khizyun (K.22.9).
The presence of Koranic overtones in verses 1-3 remains, at best, a
plausibility. The allusions are ideas essentially topical, or at least com-
monplace, in the poetry of Abufi Nuwas: the noble company; their
relentless dissoluteness; their cosseted lifestyle. However, one can point

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to the subtle ironies which the poet constructs by playing on

source and the contextual meaning of the allusions: his dissolute
companions are, surprisingly, the Muslim moral exemplars of the People
of the Cave; they shine like lamps, as the light of God shines like a lamp
in a niche; they attack Time, the destroyer of men (K.45.24/23, wa-mad
yuhlikund illd l-dahru) with lahw, an enticement of this world which causes
man to neglect the next world and the sermonising of Muhammad;
unlike those who seek refuge in the 'bond' of God, they are bound to
pleasure; for them, it is al-zamdn, virtually synonymous with the very
Time (dahr) which they attack, and not God who orders the cosmos to fit
their pleasures; they are molly-coddled by Time which turns to them in
a manner similar to the rejection of God by those who turn from and
refute Muhammad's apostleship. Abu Nuwas subtly establishes a
paradox central to the poem: the use of religious vocabulary in a
distinctly irreligious context, perhaps implying that his past behaviour
was as a religion to him and his boon-companions.
4. The khamr of this verse anticipates a feature of the wine-bibbing
scene proper: it is forbidden here on earth (K.2.219/216, 5.90/92 &
91/93) but available in Paradise (K.47.15/16).
6. Al-yamm is a word regularly associated with the narrative of Moses:
it is the sea out to which he is put in the basket (K.20.39, the basket being
the tdbut [see verse 18 of the poem] & K.28.7/6) and it is the sea in which
Pharaoh and the Egyptians are drowned (K.7.136/132, 20.78/81 &
28.40 = 51.40). This 'sea' is, of course, something to be feared. The root
hyr is found in relative proximity to a mention of both David and Jonah
(K.6.71/70, 84 & 86, respectively). In K.24.40 the might and vengeance
of God are likened to a stormy sea at night. The troop is to be feared.
Their might is as awesome as that of God.
7-15. Negotiations with the Inn-keeper
7. The unbeliever's appearance, and her subsequent behaviour, is

belligerent. The root brz is used of the sallying forth of Saul's army
against Goliath (barazu: K.2.250/251), and of the troops at the Battle of
Uhud (K.3.154/148). As she is an unbeliever, she will be called to
account before God on Judgement Day (K.14.21/24 & 40.16), an
implication perhaps continued in the root khshc, commonly associated
with hushed voices and humble demeanour on the Last Day
(K.20.108/107, 42.55/44, 54.7, 68.43, 70.44, 79.9, 88.2). It also, how-
ever, denotes man's proper response to God and God's message
(2.45/42, 3.199/198 [khdshizCna li-l-ldhi], 17.109, 21.90, 23.2, 33.35 &
57.16/15).

128.32.10.230 on Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:05:43 UTC
8. The single Koranic occurrence of the word sawami' (K.22.40/41)

suggests that here Abfi Nuwas employs the word in a negative sense not
found in the Koran. It is one member of a list of places of worship
(among them masdjid) which God has protected from destruction.
Taghut, which is not found in the plural in the Koran (K.2.257/259,
4.51/54, 4.60/63, 4.76/78, 16.36/38 & 39.17/19), is a word, probably of
Abyssinian origin, which can variously be interpreted as "idolatry"
(Arthur Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur'dn, Baroda 1938, 202) or
as the name of an idol, as Abu Nuwas clearly intends here. The phrase
Cubbddi l-tawdghiti is most likely an echo of K.5.60/65 (cabada l-.tdghiti).
11. David slays Goliath in K.2.251/252 (fa-hazamahum bi-idhni l-ldhi
wa-qatala ddwtdu jdluta). He is a member of the army led by Saul (Talut)
(K.2.249/250). Ironically, the inn-keeper is to plunder the troop as David
did Goliath, 'with the permission of God', by, of course, selling them
unlimited quantities of wine, forbidden by Islam, at exorbitant prices.
13. The verb bagha has strongly negative connotations in the Koran.
Its standard meaning is " 'to act unlawfully and unjustly against others'
out of an excess of self-conceit" (Toshihiko Izutsu, Ethico-Religious Con-
cepts in the Qur'dn, Montreal 1966, 146) but it is also frequently used as
a strong verb with the meaning 'to desire something earnestly', with both
positive (K. 18.64/63 & 18.108) and negative overtones (K.3.83/77,
3.99/94, 5.50/55, 6.164, 7.86/84 & 7.140/136, 9.47, 10.90 & 12.65). The
inn-keeper, an unbeliever, here adopts the Muslim moral high ground
with respect to the droughthy revellers.
14. This use of yujalli (or tujalli) may possibly be an echo of K.91.3
(wa-l-nahari idha jalldha, i.e. al-shamsa) and 92.2 (wa-l-nahari idhd tajalla).
The sparks which the wine shoots forth are the "sparks (each) like a cas-
tle" which "the smoke of Hell rising in three columns" spits forth (Bell
268): innaha tarmi bi-shararin ka-l-qa4ri (K.77.32). The wine bodes ill. Yet
these sparks are like yawaqit, to which the paradisiacal virgins are also
likened (K.55.58). The paradox, adumbrated in line 4 of the poem, is
here reiterated and continued in line 15.
15. For al-russdd, see K.72.9 (shihdban rasadan) and 72.27. For murrdd,
see K.4.117 (shaytdnan maridan), K.22.3 (shaytdnin marfdin) and 37.
(shaytdnin maridin), of which sura verses 8-10 are also relevant (Id
yassammacuna ild l-malai, l-aCld wa-yuqdhafdna min kulli jdnibin [9] duhu4ran
wa-lahum 'adhdbun wdsibun [10] illd man khatifa l-khaffatafa-atbaCahu shihabun
thaqibun). For al-'afdrzt, see K.27.39. This is another possible instance of
Abui Nuwas's use of a word found in the Koran with a meaning it does
not bear in the Koran, for in the context the Afrit is only too eager to
help Solomon in his scheme to convert the Queen of Sheba.
Many of the paradoxical associations begun in the first section of the

128.32.10.230 on Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:05:43 UTC
poem are taken over into the second. Particularly fascinating are the
intentional applications of positive Koranic terms to what are morally
negative activities, such as drinking, or morally disreputable people, the
association of the troop with the manifestations of God's might and
power. In the third and fourth sections, the poet proceeds to depict the
earthly symposium in terms of the Koranic Paradise (an aspect of the
poet's art which merits sustained investigation), without flinching from
the blatant admission that what he and his friends are doing is sufficiently
wicked to cast them into Hell-fire.
16-21: The Wine
16. The diyda of the sun is a sign of God's power: K. 10.5 (huwa l-ladhi
jaCala l-shamsa diydaan wa-l-qamara nu-ran) and 28.71, and this is cor-
roborated by the twofold occurrence of the participle bdzigh in K.6.77-78,
where Abraham is convinced of Monotheism: fa-lammd ra'd l-qamara
bdzighan qdla hddhd rabbi fa-lammd afala qdla la-in lam yahdinz rabbi la-
akuinanna mina l-qawmi l-ddllina [78] fa-lamma ra'd l-shamsa bdzighatan qdla
hddhd rabbT. Ka's is exclusively associated with the quaffing of the
heavenly beverage in Paradise: K.37.45/44, 52.23, 56.18, 76.5 & 17,
78.34.
17. The sole Koranic reference to T_luit, Saul, is K.2.247-9/248-50.
Jeffery suggests that the name was "formed probably under the influence
of tadla to rhyme with jdllt." (Jeffery 204).
18. The tdbuzt is both the Ark of the Covenant (K.2.249) and the cask
in which Moses was put out to sea (K.20.39). Neither of these are
immediately appropriate, beyond the fact of their presence in the Koran;
given that the Ark of the Covenant derives from the same passage as
Saul, David and Goliath, it is reasonable to presume that the poet seized
the opportunity offered by this passage to use an evocative rhyme-word.
Furthermore, tdbut and yamm are found in the same dya (K.20.39).
20. The scent (nafha) of musk is like the "whiff of the punishment of
the Lord" (Bell 308) of K.21.46/47 (wa-la-in massathum nafjhatun min
'adhdbi rabbika), whereas the musk is itself a feature of the nectar of
Paradise: yusqawna min rahfqin makhttimin [26] khitdmuhu miskun (K.83.25-
26). Slightly less probable is an allusion contained infatiq to K.21.30/27
(a-wa-lam yara l-ladhi'na kafaru anna l-samdwdti wa-l-arda kdnatd ratqan fa-
fataqndhumd wa-jaCalna mina l-mVdi kulla shay'in hayyin).
21. The water from the clouds (al-muzn) is a sign of God's bountiful
kindness to man (K.56.68-9/67-8). Muzi'at is found in the Koran in the
form of mizdj (K.76.5 & 17 [see line 16 sub ka's] and 83.27 [see line 20
sub misk]), which is undoubtedly connected with the verb. "Fraenkel,

128.32.10.230 on Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:05:43 UTC
Fremdworter, 172 [Sigmund Fraenkel, Die Aramdischen Fremdw

Arabischen, Leiden 1886], points out that mizdj is not an Arabic f
but it is the Syr. ... potus mixtus, which later became technically
the eucharistic cup of mixed water and wine ... There can ... be little
doubt that it was borrowed in pre-Islamic times as a drinking term (Jef-
fery 263). Both passages refer to the tempering of the drink of the Blessed
in Paradise. For ydqut see verse 14 above.
22-29. The Symposium
22. Hawar is, of course, one of the distinguishing marks of the heavenly
maidens (K.44.54 = 52.20, 55.72 & 56.22). The reference to the magic of
Harut is significant. Bell translates K.2.102/96 as follows: "Solomon did
not disbelieve, but the satans disbelieved, teaching the people magic and
what had been sent down to the two angels in Babel, Harut and Maruit:
they do not teach anyone without first saying: 'We are only a temptation,
so do not disbelieve'; so they learn from them means by which they
separate man and wife; but they do not injure anyone thereby, except by
the permission of Allah; and they learn what injures them and does not
profit, though they know that he who buys it has no share in the
Hereafter; a bad bargain did they buy for themselves, if they had
known" (Bell 14). Haruft and Maruit are "two angels sent down by the
angelic council to be judges on earth; when Zuhra (or Venus) appeared
before them as a beautiful woman, they were carried away by desire for
her, and tried to follow her to heaven; on being given the choice between
punishment in this life or the life to come, they chose the former and are
kept suspended by the feet in Babylon, where those who want to learn
magic can hear their voice" (W. Montgomery Watt, Companion to the
Qur'dn, London 1967, 25-26). Abu Nuwas is enticed by the beauty of the
ganymede as Harut (and Maruit) were by Zuhra. He knows that to suc-
cumb is certain punishment. Moreover, the ganymede entices Abu
Nuwas as the Babylonian angels entice men, declaring that he is a temp-
tation and warning Abfi Nuwas not to enter into unbelief. His inability
to gainsay the bewitching, paradisiacal charms of the saqz will lead him
to a life of misery in the Hereafter. Moreover, whatever forbidden
knowledge the poet may learn from the cup-bearer will be bi-idhni l-ldhi,
just as the inn-keeper's profit is bi-idhni l-ldhi (see line 11 above). One
might (in generic terms) feel the want of a seduction scene in this
khamriyyah. The poet may mean to imply that he can and does resist the
charms of the cup-bearer, thereby minimising his sins, although equally
one might argue that verse 22, by force of convention, does in itself imply

128.32.10.230 on Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:0Jan 1976 12:34:56 UTC
a seduction scene. It is likely, in any case, that the poet repr

scene and the next, that of the lutenist, as a temptation fro
24. The playing of the lutenist is akin to the power of Allah which
astonishes and baffles Nimrod (if the traditional identification is correct):
K.2.248/260 (fa-buhita l-ladhi kafara). Its effect on the revellers is as
devastating as the Fire of Hell: K.21.40/41 (bal ya)tihim baghtatan fa-
tabhatuhum fa-ld yastatifuina raddahd wa-la hum yunzaruzna). The paradox is
maintained.
25. The translation uses the reading jirm, body. A possible variant
jurm "is a synonym of dhanb. In the Qur'an, the word appears mostly
under the participial form, mujrim, meaning 'one who commits, or has
committed, ajurm' and the ultimate referent is almost invariably kufr"
(Izutsu 247). The root occurs in K.83.29 (al-ladhina ajramu) in a contrast
of the fate of the Sinners and Believers: K.83.22-28, the Believers in
Paradise; 29-33, the mockery of the Believers by the Sinners on earth;
34-36, the mockery of the Sinners by the Believers in Heaven. Relevant
are verses 34-35: fa-l-yawma l-ladhina amanu mina l-kuffdri yadhakuna (34)
(ala l-ardaikiyanzuruna. The svmposiasts, gazing upon the (sinful) lutenist,
are like the Believers in Paradise, reclining upon couches and beholding
the damned.
27. In the Koran, sleep (al-nawm) is a swoon (subdt) which is a sign of

God's kindness to his creatures (K.25.47/49 & 78.9).
28. Gardens fulfil two functions in the Koran: they are a testament of
God's kindness to Man (K.27.60/61 & 80.30); they are the heavenly
retreat of the Pious (K.78.31-32: inna li-l-muttaqfna mafdzan [32] hadd'iqa
wa-aCndban). Talh (acacia) grows in the heavenly garden (K.56.29/28) as
does rumman (pomegranate) (K.55.68) which is also a sign of God's kind-
ness to man here on earth (K.6.99 + 141/142).
29. On two occasions, the Believers are exorted not to be diverted by
worldly concerns from the mention of God (dhikri l-ldhi) and the rites of
Islam: K.24.37 & 63.9. The birds of the Koran sing the praises of their
Lord: K.16.79/81, 21.79, 24.41, 34.10, 38.18-19/17-18. Abui Nuwas is
diverted from wordly matters (like a good Believer) by the sound of the
birds hymning the praises of God. This is a timely and fitting transition
to the poet's declaration of repentance.
Throughout these third and fourth segments the poet repeatedly plays
on the paradoxical nature of wine and the symposium: it is a (sinful)
means of achieving Paradise on earth. The poet also hints that he knows
this to be a temptation put in his way by God. Although he drinks the
wine, he may be thought to refuse the charms of the cup-bearer, to fall
under the spell of the lutenist for a time, but, upon hearing the dawn
chorus, to be turned to contemplation of the majesty of God.

128.32.10.230 on Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:05:43 UTC
30-35. The Poet's Repentance
30. In his recognition and avowal of his fondness for his erstwhile
debauchery, Abu Nuwas uses two emotive words, muhabbaban and mam-
qutan. In K.49.7 God "hath endeared belief to you, and made it appear
beautiful in your hearts, and made you dislike unbelief and reprobate
conduct, and opposition-these are the right-minded" (Bell 525). Maqt
is "a word meaning the utmost degree of hatred" (Izutsu 234):
K.4.22/26, 35.39/37, 40.10 & 35/37 & 61.3.
31. The root wrd is associated on three occasions with punishment an
Jahannam: K. 11.98/100 (yaqdumu qawmahu yawma l-qiydmati f
awradahumu l-nara wa-bi'sa l-wirdu l-mawrudu, of Pharaoh on Judgem
Day), 19.86/89 (wa-nasuiqu l-mujrimzna ildjahannama wirdan) & 21.98-
The Phrase 'an dawdC£hd bi-simmfti is reminiscent of K.7.193/192: in
tad'Chum ild l-hudd ld yattabiuikum sawdaun 'alaykum a-daCawtumzihum am
antum samituna.
34. The Koranic concept of naddmah seems not to allow for any change
or alteration in one's position or circumstance after one has begun to
repent. It is a state which, apart perhaps from K.49.6 (yd ayyuhad -adhina
dmanu injd'akum fdsiqun bi-naba'infa-tubayyinu an tuszbu qawman bi-jahdlatin
fa-tusbi.hu Cald mdfaCaltum nddimina), is eternal and is a distinguishing mark
of those who have committed an irreperable and irrevocable wrong:
K.5.31/34 (of Cain), 5.52/57 (of "those in whose hearts is disease", Bell
101), 10.54/55 (of wrong-doers onJudgement day), 23.40/42, 26. 157 (of
the people who hocked the Prophet $alih's camel), 34.33/32. Abui Nuwas
admits the enormity and the heinousness of his sins: he declares that he
is beyond redemption, for what he has committed are khata', synony-
mous with the Koranic khatlfah, which the Koran applies "mainly to the
most heinous religious sins" (Izutsu 246). The phrase maktuibi l-mawadqti
is an echo of K.4.103/104: inna l-saldta kanat 'ald l-mu minzna kitdban maw-
qutan. K.70.22-35 gives "a detailed description of those conditions, the
fulfillment of which is deemed strictly necessary if one desires really to
be in the number of 'those who will be allowed to live in Heavenly
Gardens, high-honored' ". One of these conditions is to "remain cons-
tant at ... prayers and observe them well (vv.23, 34)" (Izutsu 108-109).
35. Subhadnaka is found in Koranic prayers: K.5.116 (Jesus), 7.143/140
(Moses) & 10.10 (daCwdhum fl-ha subhanaka l-lahumma, of the Believers in
Paradise) and is a rogation employed by Jonah: K.21.87 (fa-ndddfji l-
zulumdti anna ld ildha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu mina 1-zdlimina). Abui
Nuwas seems to echo K. 10.10 (juxtaposition of dcw and sbh) and to refer
to K.21.87, anticipating the end of the bayt. Are we to see in this double
allusion the customary wit of the poet, praying for salvation to God like

128.32.10.230 on Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:05:43 UTC
Jonah in the belly of the whale, in the manner of the exultan

of the Believers in Paradise? The Koranic concept of Cafw
is a testament to the immeasurable bounty of God and it is th
prove to be the succour of the poet. God forgives the Believe
trespass (K.2.187/183, 3.152/146 + 155/149), the Israelite
worshipped the Golden Calf (K.2.52/49 & 4.153/152) and t
vulnerable (K.4.98-99/100). He also forgives repeated offenders
(42.30/29), those who have committed sayyi'dt ("recognizedly a near
equivalent of 'evil' or 'bad' " [Izutsu 38]) (K.42.25/24) and the believers
who have sinned: rabband ld tu'dkhidnd in nasnad aw aku.ta'nd rabband wa-ld
tahmal Calaynd isran kamd hamaltahu (ald l-ladhzna min qablind rabband wa-ld
tuhammilnd md la tdqata la-nd bi-hi wa-'fu 'annd wa-ghfir la-nd wa-rhamnd anta
mawldnd (K.2.286). The combination of khtI and 'fw in this dya is telling.
Although he does not refer to it, Abui Nuwas here plays, within the
Islamic ethical scheme, on the concept of tawba, " 'repentance' or
'penitence' ... a human counterpart of God's unfathomable mercy. God,
although He is the terrible Lord of the Judgment Day, the most
unyielding avenger of all evils done, is at the same time an infinitely mer-
ciful, and forgiving God ... God's limitless goodness and grace extend
even to those faithless who have fallen into the temptation to commit the
most heinous sin against God, the sin of idolatry, provided that they
repent of their evil ways and return to the faith ... all believers are
strongly enjoined to turn to God in sincere repentance. It may be that
God will forgive them their previous sins, committed consciously or
unconsciously. A truly repentant heart merits even the reward of
Paradise" (Izutsu 110-111).
The poet has chosen an admirable parallel in his mention of Jonah (on
whom see H. Speyer, Die Biblischen Erzdhlungen im Qoran, Breslau 1937,
407-410), called variously sahib al-hut (K.68.48), dhut l-nun (K.21.87) and
Yunus (K.4.163/161, 6.86 & 37.139). Jonah was swallowed by the whale,
being multm, "to blame" (Bell 448), having gone to sea because he
thought that God had no power over him (K.21.87). He called on God
when makzum,full of suppressed emotion" (Bell 598) (K.68.48), and
admitted to being one of the Wrong-doers (al-zalim£na) (K.21.87). As one
of those who glorify God (al-musabbih£na) (K.37.143) he was saved and
was "set ... among the Upright" (Bell 598) (al-sdliih£na). An interesting
corollary to the tale of Jonah is K. 10.98: "when they (the people of
Jonah) believed, We lifted away from them the punishment of humilia-
tion in this present life and gave them enjoyment of life for a season"
(Bell 202). One may feel tempted to speculate as to whether Abu Nuwas
means to imply that the rest of Baghdad will follow the example of the
doyen of debauched Baghdad and repent.

128.32.10.230 on Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:05:43 UTC
Abu Nuwas displays, in this poem, an intimate acquaintance

Koran, both text and context. He obviously expects his au
so too. Especially prominent in the poet's imagination are sur
provides many of the rhyme-words, 21, for its catalogue of
those suras which describe Paradise. Through the emotive
of Koranic references and related (probably unconscious)
manages to construct a religious khamriyya which has many
similarity with a zuhdiyya, but which never falters in the sure
which he manifests when merging both genres.
Abu Nuwas is renowned for his 'repentance' as is John D
despite his Catholic upbringing and his reputation for obscen
and fiercely intense erotic verse, was ordained deacon and
Paul's Cathedral on the 23rd of January, 1615. One thinks, fo
of A Hymn to God the Father (John Donne. The Complete English
by A.J. Smith, Harmondsworth 1982, 348-349) in which he ag
confesses his sins to God in a poem stamped with his fondnes
ing and paradox, and of the following piece, Meditation 3 of
Meditations, in which Donne not only evokes his sins in his c
them, but wishes that his passion for repentance and desire fo
as intense as his lust for the sins of the flesh (op. cit., 310
O might those sighs and tears return again
Into my breast and eyes, which I have spent,
That I might in this holy discontent
Mourn with some fruit, as I have mourned in vain;
In mine idolatry what showers of rain
Mine eyes did waste! what griefs my heart did rent!
That sufferance was my sin, now I repent;
Because I did suffer I must suffer Pain.
Th'hydroptic drunkard, and the night-scouting thief,
The itchy lecher, and self-tickling proud
Have the remembrance of past joys, for relief
Of coming ills. To poor me is allowed
No ease; for long, yet vehement grief hath been
The effect and cause, the punishment and sin.
JAMES E. MONTGOMERY
Secretary to the Symposium

128.32.10.230 on Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:05:43 UTC
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Revelry and Remorse

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Revelry and Remorse: A Poem of Abū Nuwās

Author(s): James E. Montgomery

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4183332

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