«وَسَلَّمَ إِلَيَّ سَاعَةَ الْفِرَاقِ رُقْعَةً مُحْكَمَةَ الْإِلْصَاقِ وَقَالَ: ادْفَعْهَا إِلَى الْوَالِي»
At the hour of parting he handed me a carefully sealed note and said: Deliver this to the governor.
Ruqʿah is a slip or note; muḥkamat al-ilṣāq means tightly stuck or sealed. Abū Zayd instructs al-Ḥārith to give it to the governor only when the governor has lost his composure and the escape is certain. The narrator becomes the messenger of a final verbal sting.
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The Raḥbiyyah Maqāmah — Abū Zayd Revealed, Escape and Satirical Counsel
«وَسَلَّمَ إِلَيَّ سَاعَةَ الْفِرَاقِ رُقْعَةً مُحْكَمَةَ الْإِلْصَاقِ وَقَالَ: ادْفَعْهَا إِلَى الْوَالِي»
At the hour of parting he handed me a carefully sealed note and said: Deliver this to the governor.
Ruqʿah is a slip or note; muḥkamat al-ilṣāq means tightly stuck or sealed. Abū Zayd instructs al-Ḥārith to give it to the governor only when the governor has lost his composure and the escape is certain. The narrator becomes the messenger of a final verbal sting.