tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43553798510251779762024-03-17T04:21:19.003-04:00 Writing Gathering FieldDavid Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comBlogger269125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-19963544795246640092024-03-12T14:57:00.009-04:002024-03-17T04:20:47.448-04:00Alexander the Sleepless XIXAlexander's service was carried out to perfection, with God's help. Far advanced in their faith, his disciples rejoiced so much in their psalms and hymns and peaceful way of life that the Enemy was outraged at the sight, and went against the noble athlete like an army going to war.
Just as armies, when they are far apart, fire missiles before they charge in unison at each other with swords David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-84795342898585431772024-03-12T10:44:00.009-04:002024-03-14T03:18:15.161-04:00 HANDS AT WORK
Tent Weaving
Woven panel of a Bedouin bayt mushatta (winter tent); wool and goat hair (detail).Souq Al Qattara, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi. Photograph by Omar Al-Yammahi, 2015
In the poetic tradition of a tent-dwelling society, you would expect to hear a lot about domestic weaving. Modern ethnography tells us that several times a year, the David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-2330148869064590132024-02-29T23:53:00.027-05:002024-03-11T19:24:00.781-04:00The way to Cockaigne
The sea is the sea. A palm's a palm.
An elephant's an elephant. A giraffe is tall.
Earth is earth. It David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-88347400406947092952024-02-26T08:21:00.011-05:002024-03-11T19:47:01.701-04:00Foul weather friend
Al-Asma‘i transmitted this long poem rhymed in rā’, in sarī‘ meter [scanned more helpfully as rajaz by Badr al-Din al-‘Ayni], where each line is rhymed in the diminutive ending, signifying in most cases what is paltry and small in quantity:
At Dhu Sudayr, the misery &David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-46977978557525611282024-02-19T07:53:00.009-05:002024-02-24T13:15:10.762-05:00HornetsThe hornet is called zunbūr, plural zanābīr, a feminine noun, sometimes applied to the bumblebee. In some dialects it is pronounced zinbār.
In The Book of "Not in the Speech of the Arabs," Ibn Khalawayh says: The only authority I have known to call the hornet by a filionym was Abu ‘Umar al-Zahid, who said the hornet is called Abū ‘Alī.
There are two kinds of David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-70442716388181675232024-02-12T13:14:00.001-05:002024-02-15T23:08:22.581-05:00A riddle and a mentionLast year, I tried to write a few paragraphs on ghazal poetry and its relation to the craft of spinning, called in Arabic ghazl. Before long, I had 9,500 words on my hands, and now I'm stoked for them to appear in Studia Metrica et Poetica, the open-access poetics journal from University of Tartu Press. For a magnificent editorial experience, I am grateful to Maria-Kristiina Lotman, and to Kalle David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-10217545249077027552024-01-25T21:39:00.025-05:002024-02-19T03:36:00.473-05:00Another Language of the BirdsIn the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
The angel Gabriel, peace be upon him, said: Hearken unto me, Muhammad, and to the knowledge sent you by my Lord and yours, Who gave the birds their languages and deserves our worship.
O Muhammad, when the Rooster of the Throne gives voice, every rooster on earth responds by crowing. And when the white rooster David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-31153039068455212182024-01-14T16:35:00.012-05:002024-02-09T10:07:26.699-05:00Houses of the unjustBy what logic are descendants liable for their ancestors? Do they not inherit their estates, and the gold and silver so often accumulated from unjust sources? That's sufficient cause, indeed the main cause for their liability. Their tribulations are shared with their ancestors' shades, who suffer along with them.
It is right for descendants to pay ancestral penalties, for it is into just suchDavid Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-12391709277606601252023-12-24T16:22:00.019-05:002024-01-02T01:09:09.189-05:00In defense of shepherdsSome people disparage herdsmen and call them simpletons: "Dumber than a shepherd of eighty [sheep]" is one thing they say, and "Don't go to the shepherd for advice" is another. But the virtues of the shepherd are indicated in hadith. "Never was there a prophet that did not tend a flock, and so did I," the Prophet said, God's blessings and peace be upon him, and: "God never sent a prophet that wasDavid Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-49355416210515366822023-12-20T10:58:00.018-05:002023-12-29T02:05:40.189-05:00Two recensionsA man described as ‘abāmā’ is a doltish simpleton. Jamīl said (meter: ṭawīl):
This dolt has never joined a fight, or knelt a camel
for its saddle as it strains against a tether.
Herds David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-11631951295773394212023-12-04T15:17:00.020-05:002024-01-10T12:58:21.794-05:00Some myths are true
SOCRATES: The speech I will deliver is by Stesichorus son of Euphemus of Himera, and it has to go something like this:
It's false to say that, rather than someone who loves you madly and is good to go, you should take a disinterested lover who is sane and rational. That would be well said if all madness were bad. But it is through madness that our greatest blessings come to us, by which of David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-78693952614424342332023-11-27T23:57:00.028-05:002023-11-30T02:44:35.882-05:00Nights come in threes
I was informed by Tha‘lab on the authority of Salama that al-Farrā’ said:
The first three nights [of the lunar month] are called al-Ghurar or al-Ghurr "The Blazes." The moon rises in the forepart (ghurra) of the night, and is likened to the blaze (ghurra) on a horse's forehead because it is brighter in one area than the rest. By some these nights are called al-‘Urj "The Limpers." The first of David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-59911637389844885322023-11-17T01:22:00.019-05:002024-01-06T01:44:40.646-05:00Night and Day are not to blame
[Al-Bukhari said:] I was informed by Yahya ibn Bukayr that he was informed by Layth on the authority of Yunus that Ibn Shihab said: Abu Salma reported to me that Abu Hurayra, may God be pleased with him, said:
The Prophet, God's blessings and peace be upon him, said: "God says: 'The children of Adam revile Fate, yet I am Fate, and Night and Day are in My hand.'"
&David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-33925126686729323042023-10-26T05:53:00.013-04:002024-01-20T09:21:40.509-05:00And the bat saidWho shuns the mob lives on. Beware of mixing with the throng! Just look at what it did for Ham. For all Ham's milling about the enclosure, Shem was the elect of God, the Apportioner.
A creature of seclusion, whose realm is the night, I am puny, but [unstoppable in flight] "like a boulder the flood washes down from a height." By day, I hide from others' view. Isolation is necessary, in my view. David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-2760180604137762712023-10-15T01:23:00.026-04:002023-11-06T00:41:49.677-05:00Which color is the skyI have seen these verses in the handwriting of Ibrahim ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Su’alati, who acknowledged them as his (meter: kāmil):
Lithe as a shoot, my tormentor in blue
passes by, exulting in his pride.
Tobacco smoke envelops his face, going up &David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-77929055796508057222023-09-29T19:53:00.012-04:002024-01-10T21:38:38.135-05:00Gourd FlowerWhat to be famous for? is a question only Chance and Fate get to answer. And if my name is remembered, it will be for the song "Gourd Flower," as recorded by my friend Julian Talamantez Brolaski, and appearing on xir new album It's Okay Honey.
The lyrics to this song first appeared on page 40 of Zeroes Were Hollow. Now, in a video jammed together from heart-breaking footage on archive dot org (David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-71487203503478335952023-09-16T16:27:00.009-04:002023-09-24T05:54:28.994-04:00Pillar to post
‘Abd Allah said: I am informed by Muhammad ibn al-Husayn that Ruh ibn Salma [or ibn Maslama, or ibn Aslam] al-Warraq said: I was informed by Qutham al-‘Abid that
‘Abd al-Wahid ibn Zayd [known as Abu ‘Ubayda al-Basri] said:I stopped one time in a valley, where I was startled by a monk who had confined himself in a cell. I said, "Is this a demon, or a man?"
David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-45813834361201990042023-08-25T13:53:00.027-04:002023-10-01T02:12:15.664-04:00Deviation and aversionAbū Zayd: Māla [means "to incline"]; its verbal noun is mayl. Ibn al-Sikkīt: Mamāl and mamīl [are also its verbal nouns], and amāla and mayyala [mean "to cause something to lean"]. Abū Ḥātim [CORRECTED AGAINST LISĀN AL-‘ARAB]: Mayl is for leaning that is contingent, while mayal [the verbal noun of mayila] is for leaning that is congenital or structural. David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-65971772843426353132023-08-12T14:54:00.007-04:002023-08-29T17:05:40.841-04:00Just visiting√Zwr is a root of [Arabic words for] inclination and deviation. Zūr is "falsehood," because it deviates from the way of truth. Zawwara means "to conjure something in the mind," by way of shaping it and changing its tack to make it more agreeable to the hearer. When an idol is called zūr [as in the verse by al-Aghlab al-‘Ijlī, meter: rajaz], it is based soundly on this meaning [of "fabrication"]:
David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-47640886062773422462023-08-01T15:01:00.009-04:002023-08-20T11:58:20.256-04:00If lost in the hills
Source | SoundtrackDavid Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-36311510447846392092023-06-30T05:30:00.005-04:002024-02-19T15:19:45.296-05:00The Bend in Arabic[The verbs] i‘wajja, awida, māla, ḍali‘a, zawira, zāgha, ṣa‘ira, and ṣawira all mean the same. Ta’awwada is said of a thing that has a bend in it. And you say there is mayal in a bent thing, in addition to mayl, both verbal nouns of māla. [The nouns] ‘awaj, mayal, awad, ḍala‘, badan, zawar, zaygh, and ṣa‘ar are said especially for [affections of] the side of the face. God, be He Exalted and David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-22011460241959056232023-06-20T14:39:00.047-04:002024-02-06T08:21:27.350-05:00Interview With a Ampire
After thirty years in the arts, it's happened that someone asked me thoughtful questions about my work, and recorded and edited our conversation for everyone to enjoy. I will be forever grateful that it was my friend Tenaya Nasser-Frederick. Thanks also to the editors of Full Stop, where the interview appears in two parts: Part One | Part Two
UPDATED AUG. 31: Tenaya David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-39359671242939977762023-06-16T13:08:00.017-04:002023-11-04T23:17:03.463-04:00Man and crow
‘Ali ibn Sulayman al-Akhfash reported to me that Abu Sa‘id al-Sukkari said, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Habib, that
Abu 'l-Nashnash was a bandit of the Banu Tamim, an antisocial type and nuisance of the road who used to hold up caravans between the Hijaz and Syria. He was caught by one of Marwan's brigadiers, who fettered him and kept him prisoner, until Abu 'l-Nashnash took advantage David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-85602975932320121242023-06-09T07:17:00.009-04:002023-08-20T23:30:19.334-04:00Words and meaningsWords that hint at flashing glimpses, and meanings that set captives free. Words like trees in flower, and meanings that inspire deep breaths. Words that borrow the sweetness of lovers' complaints, and crib from their tête-à-tête on the day of separation.
You'd think their words were pearls cascading from a cloud, if not purer drops in showers, whose meanings were pearls laced into a chain, onlyDavid Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4355379851025177976.post-1049480235886867402023-05-30T12:29:00.019-04:002023-06-10T04:19:21.223-04:00Avant ‘Udhra
Abu ‘Ubayd Allah al-Marzubani reported that Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Jawhari informed him that Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Sulami said: It was reported to me by ‘Abd Allah ibn Abi Sa‘d that ‘Umar ibn Shabba al-Numayri said: Muhammad ibn al-Hasan told me: Muzahim ibn Zafar informed me that his uncle said:
In the land of the Banu ‘Udhra, I saw an aged man whose body was drawn in on itself like David Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019800944995622427noreply@blogger.com