The Alexandrian Maqāmah — A Traveler’s Ambition and a Complaint before the Judge

1. A new story begins in Alexandria

المقامة التاسعة الإسكندرانية
The ninth maqāmah, set in Alexandria.

Al-Ḥārith ibn Hammām begins with a search for knowledge and a livelihood. The story then shifts to a judge’s gathering and a marital complaint. The contrast between beautiful language and the truth of a claim will matter throughout.

Three threads establish the scene: the narrator’s travels, the charitable court gathering, and a woman’s allegations about her husband. The narrative is still at the accusation stage; the husband has not yet replied.

2. Youthful energy and the desire to earn

طَحَا بِي مَرَحُ الشَّبَابِ وَهَوَى الِاكْتِسَابِ
The exuberance of youth and the desire to earn carried me far.

Ṭaḥā bī suggests being driven or carried onward. Maraḥ al-shabāb conveys youthful high spirits, while hawā al-iktisāb is eagerness to acquire a livelihood. Together they explain both his motion and his motive.

A short opening thus gives the reader age, temperament, and purpose, rather than merely stating that the narrator traveled.

3. From Farghānah to Ghānah: a vast journey

إِلَى أَنْ جُبْتُ مَا بَيْنَ فَرْغَانَةَ وَغَانَةَ
Until I had traversed the lands between Farghānah and Ghānah.

Jubtu means that he covered or traversed places. The named locations evoke far-flung regions and an extraordinary span of travel. Their similar endings also give the line a pleasing sound.

The point is not a precise mileage calculation but the scale of the narrator’s wanderings, expressed with heightened literary style.

4. Entering the depths to gather fruit

أَخُوضُ الْغِمَارَ لِأَجْنِيَ الثِّمَارَ
I plunged into depths in order to gather fruits.

Ghimār evokes deep waters or dangerous situations; thimār literally means fruits but here suggests gains from effort. The danger and its hoped-for reward form the central contrast.

The verbs akhūḍu / ajniya express action and purpose. The lām before *ajniya* indicates why the narrator takes risks.

وَأَقْتَحِمُ الْأَخْطَارَ لِكَيْ أُدْرِكَ الْأَوْطَارَ
I entered dangers to attain my aims. The akhṭār/awṭār sound pairing continues the opening rhythm.

5. Two forms of learned counsel

وَكُنْتُ لَقِفْتُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِ الْعُلَمَاءِ وَتَقَفَّتُ مِنْ وَصَايَا الْحُكَمَاءِ
I had seized learning from scholars’ speech and absorbed the counsels of sages.

Laqiftu and taqaffaytu suggests following another’s guidance. His journeys combine earning with listening to learning and following counsel.

The balanced expressions contrast hearing scholarly speech with adopting practical counsel. Their related sound patterns reinforce the paired meanings.

6. Why seek a respected guide in a foreign city?

أَنَّهُ يَلْزَمُ الْأَدِيبَ الْأَرِيبَ إِذَا دَخَلَ الْبَلَدَ الْغَرِيبَ أَنْ يَسْتَمِيلَ قَاضِيَهُ وَيَسْتَخْلِصَ مُرَاضِيَهُ
A shrewd man of letters should win the judge’s goodwill when arriving in an unfamiliar town.

Adīb / arīb / gharīb create an audible pattern. In the tale’s social setting, a traveller may need the protection or assistance of a recognized authority.

This is counsel within the story’s historical world, not a universal instruction to cultivate judges in every modern setting.

فَاتَّخَذْتُ هَذَا الْأَدَبَ إِمَامًا
He adopted this counsel as a guide; imām is figurative for a guiding principle.

7. Alexandria: from a shelter to the court

فَمَا دَخَلْتُ مَدِينَةً وَلَا وَلَجْتُ عَرِينَةً إِلَّا وَامْتَزَجْتُ بِحَاكِمِهَا
Whenever I entered a city or reached a wild beast’s den, I sought association with its authority.

Walajtu means entering; ʿarīshah suggests a wild beast’s lair. A city and a beast’s den form a scale contrast.

امْتِزَاجَ الْمَاءِ بِالرَّاحِ compares his social familiarity to water blending into wine; it describes closeness, not an event of drinking. In Alexandria, al-Ḥārith is present at the judge’s court as an observer, not as a litigant. What follows is a case he witnesses and reports.

8. A gathering to distribute charity

وَقَدْ أَحْضَرَ مَالَ الصَّدَقَاتِ لِيَفُضَّهُ عَلَى ذَوِي الْفَاقَاتِ
He had brought out charity funds to distribute among those in need.

Ṣadaqāt / fāqāt form a rhyme. Fāqah denotes serious need. Yafuḍḍu here conveys disbursing or distributing the fund.

The court gathering begins with relief for the needy, but the arrival of two visitors turns the scene toward an unexpected domestic grievance.

9. An unusual pair enters

إِذْ دَخَلَ شَيْخٌ عَفْرِيَةٌ تَعْتُلُهُ امْرَأَةٌ مُصِيبَةٌ
An ungainly old man entered, dragged along by a woman with children.

ʿIfrīyah gives an impression of a rough, disagreeable exterior; muṣībah here means a woman with children, while taʿtuluhu means pulling or dragging him. The scene has dramatic force even before anyone speaks.

The striking presentation is not proof of either person’s character. The narrative will now let the woman state her case.

10. Opening with praise of the judge

أَيَّدَ اللَّهُ الْقَاضِيَ وَأَدَامَ بِهِ التَّرَاضِي
May God support the judge and preserve harmony through him.

Al-qāḍī / al-tarāḍī rhyme. The complainant opens with an honorific prayer before speaking about her family and her predicament.

This is a rhetorical introduction: respect for the addressee precedes the appeal. Its elegance should not be confused with proof of the later allegations.

11. The woman claims noble ancestry

إِنِّي امْرَأَةٌ مِنْ أَكْرَمِ جُرْثُومَةٍ وَأَطْهَرِ أُرُومَةٍ وَأَشْرَفِ خُؤُولَةٍ وَعُمُومَةٍ
I belong to the noblest stock, the purest lineage, and honorable maternal and paternal kin.

Jurthūmah / urūmah both point to origin or root. Khūʾūlah concerns maternal relatives and ʿumūmah paternal relatives.

She elaborates ancestry on both sides. The rhyme lends dignity to the claim, but the account remains her self-presentation within the court scene.

12. Ṣawn and hawn: her claimed character

مِيسَمِي الصَّوْنُ وَشِيمَتِي الْهَوْنُ وَخُلُقِي نِعْمَ الْعَوْنُ
Modesty is my mark, gentleness my habit, and helpfulness my disposition.

Mīsam is a mark or sign, shīmah a settled trait, ṣawn safeguarding honour, and hawn here gentle composure. Three similarly built clauses create parallelism.

She presents herself as dignified and deserving of sympathy. The court has heard her portrayal, not yet a tested account.

13. The father’s condition for marriage

عَاهَدَ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى بِحِلْفَةٍ أَنْ لَا يُصَاهِرَ غَيْرَ ذِي حِرْفَةٍ
He had sworn not to marry his daughter to anyone without a trade.

Yuṣāhira means entering a marriage alliance, and dhū ḥirfah means someone possessing a craft or trade. The woman says her father rejected other proposals because he sought a man able to earn.

The narrative’s concern is his stated preference and his failure to check a suitor’s claim; it does not establish a universal legal condition of marriage.

14. The suitor’s impressive claim

وَادَّعَى أَنَّهُ طَالَمَا نَظَمَ دُرَّةً إِلَى دُرَّةٍ فَبَاعَهُمَا بِبَدْرَةٍ
He claimed that he often strung pearl to pearl and sold the pair for a large sum.

Durrah is a pearl; badrah denotes a substantial purse or sum. The sound relation between the words gives his claim a memorable flourish, while the supposed profits sound impressive.

The key is he claimed it: the woman reports his boast, but no evidence of such earnings is yet supplied.

15. Seductive eloquence and missing verification

فَاغْتَرَّ أَبِي بِزَخْرَفَةِ مُحَالِهِ وَزَوَّجَنِيهِ قَبْلَ اخْتِبَارِ حَالِهِ
My father was deceived by the glitter of his false-sounding promises and married me to him before checking his situation.

Zakhrafah refers to ornament or embellishment; ikhtibār al-ḥāl means examining a person’s actual circumstances. The complaint turns on the contrast between attractive words and verified reality.

This is still the woman’s allegation, not yet the court’s settled finding.

16. After marriage: taken from home and family

فَلَمَّا اسْتَخْرَجَنِي مِنْ كِنَاسِي وَرَحَّلَنِي عَنْ أُنَاسِي
When he took me from my familiar shelter and away from my own people.

Kinās originally names a sheltered lair; it becomes a figurative image for her former home. Unāsī means her own people or close associates. The animal-shelter image conveys the insecurity of leaving a familiar household.

She then describes how the reality of married life, in her account, differed from the earlier promise.

وَنَقَلَنِي إِلَى كِسْرِهِ وَحَصَّلَنِي تَحْتَ أَسْرِهِ
He moved me into his corner and under his control; kisr/asr reinforces the sense of confinement.

17. Idleness, sitting, and sleeping

وَجَدْتُهُ قَعْدَةَ جُمَّةٍ وَأَلْفَيْتُهُ ضُجْعَةَ نَوْمَةٍ
I found him forever sitting and lying down in sleep.

Qaʿdah evokes much sitting, ḍujʿah lying down, and nawmah repeated sleep. Parallel nouns make the alleged idleness vivid.

The contrast is deliberate: he had promised skilled earnings but, according to his wife, showed little activity. Her criticism now turns from past words to daily conduct.

18. From household comfort to depletion

وَكُنْتُ صَحِبْتُهُ بِرِيَاشٍ رَزِيٍّ وَأَثَاثٍ وَرِيٍّ
I had come with good clothing and ample household goods.

Riyāsh suggests furnishings or fine clothing, and athāth household property. Similar sounds help evoke comfortable material circumstances.

Her next allegation is that the husband used these assets rather than producing new earnings. The loss is not only current income but the erosion of what she brought into the marriage.

19. Haḍm, khaḍm, and qaḍm: consuming resources

فَمَا بَرِحَ يَبِيعُهُ فِي سُوقِ الْهَضْمِ وَيُتْلِفُ ثَمَنَهُ فِي الْخَضْمِ وَالْقَضْمِ
He kept selling it at a loss and consuming the proceeds in eating.

Haḍm suggests loss or underpricing, khaḍm eating soft food with a full mouth, and qaḍm biting or chewing harder food.

The similar sounds compress a whole economic complaint into a memorable phrase: sell cheaply, consume quickly, and leave nothing. It is a good example of near-paronomasia.

20. The loss of everything she possessed

إِلَى أَنْ مَرَقَ مَا لِي بِأَسْرِهِ وَأَنْفَقَ مَالِي فِي عُسْرِهِ
Until all I had slipped away and he spent my property amid hardship.

Maraqa suggests slipping away or passing out; bi-asrihi means entirely. Repetition of *mālī* and similar sounds emphasizes the loss of resources.

The wife now presents the depletion of her property as the main financial harm. It is a significant part of her appeal, still expressed as her account of events.

21. Rest is gone; the house is bare

فَلَمَّا أَنْسَانِي طَعْمَ الرَّاحَةِ وَغَادَرَ بَيْتِي أَنْقَى مِنَ الرَّاحَةِ
When he made me forget the taste of rest and left my house barer than a palm.

Rāḥah first means comfort, then the inner surface of the hand. The identical form with distinct meanings gives a compact pun.

A palm becomes a vivid image for an emptied home. The passage shows how literary meaning depends on context rather than a word having only one fixed English translation.

22. A saying about fragrance and the bride

إِنَّهُ لَا مُخْبَأَ بَعْدَ بُؤْسٍ وَلَا عِطْرَ بَعْدَ عَرُوسٍ
There is nothing to conceal after misery, nor bridal fragrance after the bride’s moment has passed.

Lā ʿiṭra baʿda ʿarūs is a proverbial expression. Here the woman insists that ornament and impressive talk can no longer replace earning a living.

The sound balance adds force, but the central meaning is practical: early appearances have faded, and a livelihood is now needed.

23. Demanding that he use his trade

فَانْهَضْ لِلِاكْتِسَابِ بِصِنَاعَتِكَ وَاجْتَنِ ثَمَرَةَ بَرَاعَتِكَ
Get up, earn through your trade, and gather the fruit of your skill.

Fanhaḍ and ijtanِ are imperatives: rise and reap. Ṣināʿah means craft or trade, while barāʿah is excellence or skill within it.

The fruit image recalls al-Ḥārith’s earlier desire to gather thimār from his labours. The same metaphor now makes the husband’s promised competence a testable question.

24. The husband’s reported answer: a stagnant market

فَزَعَمَ أَنَّ صِنَاعَتَهُ قَدْ رُمِيَتْ بِالْكَسَادِ لِمَا ظَهَرَ فِي الْأَرْضِ مِنَ الْفَسَادِ
He claimed that his trade had fallen into a slump because corruption had spread through the land.

Zaʿama reports what he alleged. Kasād means commercial stagnation; fasād means corruption or disorder. Their rhyme makes the excuse sound persuasive.

The husband’s justification is still reported through his wife. His direct answer comes later; the present lesson must not turn her account into the judge’s verdict.

25. A comparison: appearance and reality

ArabicMeaningRole in the storyZakhrafahOrnamentDecorates the boastIkhtibārVerificationTests the real circumstancesṢināʿahTradeClaimed earning capacityKasādStagnationExcuse for absent income

The distinction is between claiming competence and demonstrating it. The wife asks the judge to consider this gap, but the answer of the accused is still to come.

Only the woman’s statement has been heard; the husband’s direct response follows in the next level.