The Dīnārī Maqāmah: The Second Dinar and Abū Zayd’s Unmasking

1. From praise to a surprising reversal

The stranger has completed his praise of the first coin. Al-Ḥārith is so impressed by his improvisation that he seeks another performance—this time an utter reversal of theme.

«ثُمَّ شَمَّرَ لِلِانْثِنَاءِ بَعْدَ تَوْفِيَةِ الثَّنَاءِ»
He then prepared to depart after fully delivering his praise.

Shammara conveys purposeful readiness; al-inthināʾ is turning back, whereas al-thanāʾ is praise. Similar sound binds two distinct ideas: action and verbal tribute.

2. The narrator draws out a second dinar

«فَنَشَأَتْ لِي مِنْ فَكَاهَتِهِ نَشْوَةُ غَرَامٍ»
His wit stirred in me a fresh exhilaration of attachment.

The narrator draws another dinar. Fukāhah is playful or engaging speech; nashwah is a rising delight; gharām is strong attachment.

The point is his attraction to the poet’s remarkable performance. The payment becomes a device for testing another rhetorical skill rather than proof of any independent personal relationship.

3. The new test requires blame, not praise

«فَجَرَّدْتُ لَهُ دِينَارًا آخَرَ وَقُلْتُ لَهُ: هَلْ لَكَ فِي أَنْ تَذُمَّهُ ثُمَّ تَضُمَّهُ؟»
I drew out another dinar and asked whether he would condemn it and then take possession of it.

The near-rhyming verbs tadhummahu / taḍummahu juxtapose denunciation with acquisition. The question challenges the poet to produce criticism of the very item he hopes to receive.

Having just heard an extravagant panegyric, the audience now encounters its opposite: a poem of blame. This reversal is the episode’s central literary trick.

4. An improvised change of register

«فَأَنْشَدَ مُرْتَجِلًا وَشَدَا عَجِلًا»
He immediately began reciting, improvising at speed.

Irtijāl denotes producing verse on the spot. Murtajilan / ʿajilan underscore both spontaneity and rapid delivery.

Where the earlier poem celebrated the coin’s appearance and usefulness, this one treats colour, deceit and greed as signs of danger. The contrast demonstrates how an agile poet builds opposing arguments around the same subject.

5. Gold portrayed as a two-faced deceiver

«تَبًّا لَهُ مِنْ خَادِعٍ مُذَاقِقٍ، أَصْفَرَ ذِي وَجْهَيْنِ كَالْمُنَافِقِ»
Away with that deceiving yellow thing, two-faced as a hypocrite!

Aṣfar points to gold’s yellow colour; dhī wajhayn makes the coin appear double-faced. Ka-l-munāfiq is an explicit simile comparing it to a morally duplicitous person.

This is satirical personification, not a literal moral agency possessed by metal. Its ethical force concerns the human conduct and temptations associated with wealth.

6. Two appearances in a single object

«يَبْدُو بِوَصْفَيْنِ لِعَيْنِ الْوَامِقِ، زِينَةِ مَعْشُوقٍ وَلَوْنِ عَاشِقِ»
To the loving eye it appears under two descriptions: the beloved’s adornment and the lover’s complexion.

Wāmiq is one who loves; maʿshūq the beloved; ʿāshiq the lover. Gold supplies the adornment; yellow pallor supplies the lover’s distressed colouring.

The parallel adornment/colour and beloved/lover pairs two social images with one physical feature, showing a more subtle craft than simple rhyme.

7. The love of money and moral risk

«وَحُبُّهُ عِنْدَ ذَوِي الْحَقَائِقِ يَدْعُو إِلَى ارْتِكَابِ سَخَطِ الْخَالِقِ»
Those who perceive realities see that excessive love of it can invite actions displeasing to the Creator.

Dhawū al-ḥaqāʾiq are people of discernment; irtikāb is committing an act; sakhaṭ displeasure. The endings form an audible link between moral insight and divine judgment.

The focus is ḥubbuhu, attachment to wealth. The verse warns of the risks of unchecked desire; it does not logically assert that possessing any money makes a person sinful.

8. The coin in a catalogue of wrongdoing

«لَوْلَاهُ لَمْ تُقْطَعْ يَمِينُ سَارِقِ، وَلَا بَدَتْ مَظْلَمَةٌ مِنْ فَاسِقِ»
Without it, the poet says, a thief’s right hand would not be severed, nor would a wrongdoer’s injustice emerge.

Lawlāhu sets up a counterfactual cause; sāriq is a thief and maẓlamah an act of injustice. These images associate greed with transgression and punishment.

The line is forceful rhetorical hyperbole, not a factual claim that gold is the sole cause of all theft and oppression. Its point is the moral danger of craving wealth.

9. Miserliness and delayed payment

«وَلَا اشْمَأَزَّ بَاخِلٌ مِنْ طَارِقِ، وَلَا شَكَا الْمَمْطُولُ مَطْلَ الْعَائِقِ»
No miser would recoil from a visitor, nor an unpaid claimant complain of the obstructive debtor’s delay.

Ishmaʾazza denotes shrinking away in distaste. Ṭāriq is one who comes calling; mamṭūl is the party whose rightful payment is delayed, and maṭl is procrastination in meeting a debt.

The paired examples describe two failures: refusing generosity and withholding what is already owed. The moral analysis extends beyond a private feeling to damaged social relations.

10. Envy adds another social injury

«وَلَا اسْتَعَاذَ مِنْ حَسُودٍ رَاشِقِ»
Nor would someone seek refuge from an envious person who launches harmful shafts.

Ḥasūd is the envious person; rāshiq has the sense of one who shoots or casts missiles. The verse makes envy feel like an attack.

The poem’s catalogue moves from theft and injustice through miserliness, withheld dues and envy. Gold functions as a literary emblem of greed’s social consequences, not a literal agent of every offence.

The following phrase «وَشَرُّ مَا فِيهِ مِنَ الْخَلَائِقِ» introduces the culminating harm associated with money in human relations.

11. The paradox of relief by parting with money

«أَنْ لَيْسَ يُغْنِي عَنْكَ فِي الْمَضَائِقِ، إِلَّا إِذَا فَرَّ فِرَارَ الْآبِقِ»
In hardship, the coin helps you only when it flees from you like an absconding servant.

Maḍāʾiq are constricting situations; ābiq describes a runaway servant. The coin’s 'flight' is an image of its leaving the owner’s possession in payment or giving.

The paradox is deliberately pointed: hoarded money may not solve a problem until it is spent or given away. This reverses the simple assumption that possessing more always means being better off.

12. Addressing gold like a rejected beloved

«وَمَنْ إِذَا نَاجَاهُ نَجْوَى الْوَامِقِ»
And consider one who whispers to it as a devoted lover whispers to the beloved.

Nājāhu is to address someone privately; najwā is intimate speech; wāmiq means a loving person. The coin is figuratively turned into a person receiving tender confidences.

But this lover’s speech will culminate in separation. The humour aims both at the coin and at an excessively intimate emotional attachment to wealth.

13. The satirical poem ends with farewell

«قَالَ لَهُ قَوْلَ الْمُحِقِّ الصَّادِقِ، لَا أَرَى فِي وَصْلِكَ لِي فَفَارِقِ»
He says to it as one telling the truth: I see no good for me in remaining united with you—so depart!

Muḥiqq refers to one justified in what he says; wiṣāl is union or continued closeness. The final imperative fa-fāriq transforms the language of attachment into a demand for separation.

The movement from the golden 'two-faced' deceiver to the command to leave closes the satire. The same talent has now composed both exaggerated praise and elaborate criticism of a dinar.

14. Comparing the two compositions

First dinarSecond dinarBrightness and advantageDuplicity and temptationSocial influenceDamaged relationshipsThe coin is welcomedThe coin is told to depart

The subject is the same object, but the rhetorical task changes. The poet succeeds by selecting fitting images, diction and rhyme for opposed positions.

The reader need not regard the two pieces as literal reports wholly compatible in every proposition. They are consciously framed literary perspectives of praise and satire.

15. The second payment is made

«فَقُلْتُ لَهُ: أَمْلِكْ، فَنَفَحْتُهُ بِالدِّينَارِ الثَّانِي»
I told him to take possession of it, and gave him the second dinar.

The second challenge is completed, and the narrator honours his offer. Amlik grants possession, while al-dīnār al-thānī distinguishes this reward from the first.

Once again the sequence is poetry followed by payment. The scene is not mainly about pricing a coin, but about rewarding a poet capable of extemporaneous compositions in contrary modes.

16. Two coins together, another playful gesture

«فَأَلْقَاهُ فِي فَمِهِ وَقَرَنَهُ بِتَوْأَمِهِ»
He put the second coin into his mouth and joined it with its twin.

Tawʾam means a twin; the first dinar is treated as the second’s twin. The gesture echoes how he handled the first reward.

The action becomes a visual comic contradiction: the poet denounces money in language while eagerly keeping both coins. The narrative invites readers to compare speech with action.

17. Al-Ḥārith suspects an old acquaintance

«فَنَاجَانِي قَلْبِي بِأَنَّهُ أَبُو زَيْدٍ»
My heart whispered to me that this was Abū Zayd.

Nājānī qalbī personifies the narrator’s heart as a confidential speaker. It expresses a sudden recognition based on the stranger’s manner, wit and literary dexterity.

At this stage the impression is an intuition, not yet independently confirmed. The ensuing exchange will test whether the stranger is indeed the familiar Abū Zayd.

18. Confronting the stranger’s disguise

«فَاسْتَعَدْتُهُ وَقُلْتُ لَهُ: قَدْ عَرَفْتُ بُوشِيكَ، فَاسْتَقِمْ فِي مَشِيكَ»
I called him back and said that I recognised his polished speech; now he should also walk straight.

Būshīk points to his polished and ornamented speech, while mashīk is his manner of walking. The sounds work together in a teasing admonition.

The line balances recognition with playful reproach. Al-Ḥārith is inviting the stranger to give up the pretence rather than simply asking his name.

19. Abū Zayd greets al-Ḥārith

«فَإِنْ كُنْتَ ابْنَ هَمَّامٍ فَحُيِّيتَ بِإِكْرَامٍ وَحَيِيتَ بَيْنَ كِرَامٍ»
If you are Ibn Hammām, may you be greeted with honour and live among honourable people.

The reply recognises Ibn Hammām by name. Ikrām / kirām supply a warm verbal echo.

This exchange confirms the narrator’s intuition: the stranger is Abū Zayd al-Sarūjī, whose recurring talent for language accompanies his shifts of outward appearance and fortune.

20. Abū Zayd’s answer: poverty and prosperity

«أَتَقَلَّبُ فِي الْحَالَيْنِ: بُؤْسٍ وَرَخَاءٍ، وَأَنْقَلِبُ مَعَ الرِّيحَيْنِ: زَعْزَعٍ وَرَخَاءٍ»
I turn between two states, distress and ease, and move with two winds, a fierce gust and a gentle breeze.

Buʾs / rakhāʾ contrasts material hardship and comfort; zaʿzaʿ / rakhāʾ turns that contrast into the weather of life.

The paired structures express instability and adaptability. His rhymed answer is as accomplished as the poems he has just delivered.

21. The final verses begin with a smile

«فَاسْتَسَرَّ بِشْرُهُ الَّذِي كَانَ تَجَلَّى ثُمَّ أَنْشَدَ حِينَ وَلَّى»
His earlier smile withdrew, and as he turned to leave, he recited again.

Bishr indicates a cheerful countenance; tajallā appearing clearly; wallā turning away.

The alternation of prose and verse now supplies a closing comic self-explanation. The poet’s final lines reveal how he uses an outward disability as a staged method of seeking relief.

22. The feigned limp is explained

«تَعَارَجْتُ لَا رَغْبَةً فِي الْعَرَجِ، وَلَكِنْ لِأَقْرَعَ بَابَ الْفَرَجِ»
I affected a limp, not because I wished to be lame, but to knock at the door of relief.

Taʿārajtu belongs to the pattern tafaʿʿul and suggests making oneself appear lame; ʿaraj is lameness and faraj relief from hardship.

The rhyme ʿaraj / faraj carries the whole comic strategy: the appearance of disability is presented as a way to secure help. This is a revelation about the character’s performance, not a medical assessment.

23. Casting off restraint and taking an uncertain path

«وَأُلْقِي حَبْلِي عَلَى غَارِبِي، وَأَسْلُكُ مَسْلَكَ مَنْ قَدْ مَرَجْ»
I cast my rein over my own back and follow a path of unrestrained wandering.

Ulqī ḥablī ʿalā ghāribī uses the image of a camel whose rein is left loose, a proverbial expression for freedom from restraint. Maraja evokes disorder or unregulated movement.

The verse presents a wandering life with an element of wilful improvisation. It is an image of freedom and instability, while the earlier deception prevents it from becoming simple heroic independence.

24. The final pun turns a defence into a joke

«فَإِنْ لَامَنِي الْقَوْمُ قُلْتُ: اعْذُرُوا، فَلَيْسَ عَلَى أَعْرَجَ مِنْ حَرَجِ»
If people blame me, I say: excuse me—for no hardship is laid upon a lame person.

Lāmanī means 'they blamed me'; iʿdhurū asks forgiveness; aʿraj is a lame person, and ḥaraj is hardship or constraint. Aʿraj / ḥaraj gives the closing line a witty sound pattern.

The humour lies in using an outwardly assumed disability as a ready-made excuse. The poem draws a distinction between genuine hardship and strategically performed hardship.

25. Closing the third maqāmah

المقامة الثالثة الدينارية
The Third Maqāmah, Dīnārīyah.

1. A stranger appeals to a literary gathering through an elaborate account of hardship.
2. He wins a first coin by improvising its praise.
3. He wins another by improvising an equally clever attack on money.
4. Al-Ḥārith recognises Abū Zayd, prompting a humorous exchange.
5. The closing verses explain his affected limp and end with a pun.

The literary achievement is the double treatment of one coin; the ethical tension is the gap between speech, desire and conduct. The third maqāmah ends here, and the fourth, al-Dimyāṭīyah, begins on printed page 142.