مرثيتي لخالي سعد الدين Elegy for My Uncle Saad al-Din

2023 · 22 verses · ṭawīl metre

Poet: Ahmadou Mohamadalher Ishaki

Introduction

Sheikh Saad al-Din ibn Asghayyar, the poet’s maternal uncle, died on 2 August 2023, according to the heading of this poem. Ahmadou completed this elegy ten days later, in Tamanrasset, on 12 August 2023.

He mourns a master and a guide, learned, generous and respected, whose house welcomed lessons, students and guests, and asks God not to hand the clan over to an ignorant leader. Verse 18, in square brackets, quotes an older verse; verse 20 repeats almost word for word the last verse of Abd al-Baqi al-Mahmoud Muhammad’s elegy for the same sheikh.

The poem

Show the translation

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم. مرثيتي لخالي السيد الشيخ سعد الدين بن أصغيّر رحمه الله، المتوفى يوم 2 من شهر أغسطس عام 2023م.

أفي كُل يوم نُبتلى وتُذابُ نجومُ العُلومِ والهُدى وتُخابُ

Must we be tried every day, and see the stars of knowledge and guidance melt away and fail?
أفي كل يوم نُبتلى في أماجدٍ بِلَا هُم، يقود الجهلَ فينا ذِئابُ

Must we lose illustrious men every day, so that without them wolves lead ignorance among us?
أفي كل يوم نُبتلى ونُصابُ ونفقِد صبرا فيهم فنُعابُ

Must we be tried and stricken every day, lose our patience over them, and be blamed for it?
همُ ما همُ همْ قادتي ومشايخي وليس لنا إلا الرِّضى ومَتابُ

They — and what men they were! — are my leaders and my masters; nothing is left to us but acceptance and repentance.
كأن دموعي حين تَنسابُ دَفْقةٌ من السّيل إذ جادتْ عليه سَحابُ

My tears, when they flow, are like the surge of a torrent that the clouds have generously fed.
وما لدُموعي لا تَسيل وقد مضَى إلى القبر سعدُ الدّين ذاك غيابُ

And why should my tears not flow, when Saad al-Din has gone to the grave? That is an absence indeed:
لِبدْرٍ له فضلٌ علينا وغيرِنا بنُصحٍ وإرشادٍ؛ وفينا مُهابُ

the absence of a full moon whose kindness reached us and others through his counsel and guidance; among us he was held in awe.
فما ذُقت طعمَ الحُلوِ بعد ذهابه وما ساغ لي بعد المُصاب شرابُ

Since he left I have not tasted sweetness, and since this calamity no drink goes down.
فوالله لولا سَوْغُ ذلك شِرعةً وعقلا لَمَا انقَادَتْ لذاك رِقابُ

By God, were it not acceptable by divine law and by reason, no neck would ever have bowed to it.
إذ الشَّيخُ ذو علمٍ وفضلٍ ومُخلصٌ وذو حِكَمٍ -بالعقل فينا- لُبابُ

For the sheikh was a man of knowledge and virtue, sincere, full of wise sayings — the very kernel of reason among us.
لقد قادنا وساد فينا بعلمِه وحكمتِه فاخْضَرّ مِنْهُ يَبَابُ

He led us and rose to lead among us by his knowledge and wisdom, and through him barren land turned green.
كريمٌ جوادٌ ما لذا من مُخالِفٍ وفي بيتِه يُلفىٰ الهنآ. وكَبابُ

Noble and generous — none would deny it —, in his house one found comfort and grilled meat.
وفي مجلسٍ تُلقىٰ دروسٌ ونخبةٌ كأني بهم عند الحضور هِضَابُ

In his gathering lessons were given before an elite who, seated there, seemed to me like hills.
يطوف بهم ساقي الكُؤوسِ بشاهِهِ عَلَتْ كأسَهُ فُقَّاعةٌ وَحَبابُ

The server goes round them with his tea, foam and bubbles rising on his glass.
وعند تمامِ الدّرسِ يُلقىٰ أمامَهم شِواءٌ وأمراقٌ يَليها عُجابُ

And when the lesson ended, grilled meat and broths were set before them, followed by wonders.
ومن كان ذي صفاتُه وخصالُه لرُزءٌ -علينا- فقدُه ومُصابُ

One whose qualities and virtues were such — losing him is a bereavement and a calamity for us.
فليس لنا إلا مقولةُ سابِق من الدّهر في مدح الكرام عُبَابُ

Nothing is left to us but the words of a poet of old, an abundant flood in praise of the noble:
[وإن مديحَ النّاس حقٌّ وباطلُ ومدحُك حقٌّ ليس فيه كِذابُ]

“The praise of men is part truth, part falsehood; but your praise is truth, with no lie in it.”
على أنّني راضٍ بما قال ربُّنا وأمضاهُ فينا؛ والرّجاءُ ثَوابُ

Yet I accept what our Lord has said and decreed for us; and hope is a reward.
فياربّ أسْكِنه الجِنانَ مُنعّمًا وألهم ذَويهِ الصّبرَ، ليتَ أُجَابُ

O Lord, settle him in the Gardens in bliss, and inspire his family with patience; may I be answered!
ولا تُخزِنا واخلُف لنا بعد فَقْده عليمًا حكيمًا قلَّ فيه مَعَابُ

Do not put us to shame; after his loss give us a successor, learned and wise, with few faults.
ولا تَبْتَلِي الحيَّ الكريمَ بسَافِهٍ يقودُهمُ، جَهْلاً فذاك خَرابُ

And do not try our noble clan with a fool who would lead them in ignorance: that would be ruin.

أحمدو محمد الخير الإسحاقي، تمنغسات: 12/أغسطس/2023م

The Arabic text is reproduced as the poet wrote it, vowel marks included. The translation, offered verse by verse by the site’s team, follows the meaning rather than the rhyme: only the Arabic text is authoritative.