صَرْخَةُ أَلَم A Cry of Pain

2016–2017 · 16 verses · kāmil metre

Poet: Abd al-Baqi al-Mahmoud Muhammad
Elegy for: al-Abbas ibn Asaghayyir, imam of Inékar (d. 2016)

Introduction

Al-Abbas ibn Asaghayyir was the imam of the mosque of Inékar (أنيكر), in northern Mali, and one of the village’s authorities. He knew the Qur’an by heart, had studied Arabic and the religious sciences, and was known throughout the region for his piety. He was keen to teach people their religion and sometimes stood in for the qadi to judge between them.

He was assassinated by unidentified gunmen, amid the conflicts then affecting northern Mali, on the evening of 16 February 2016. He left two sons, Ahmid and Ilyas.

The poet wrote this elegy in 2016–2017, as a third-year student in the literature department of the Islamic University in Niger, in Say. The notes after the poem are his.

The poem

Show the translation

أنشأت هذه القصيدة في رثاء العبّاس بن أسَغَيّرْ، من بحر الكامل. إنشاء الطالب/ عبد الباقي المحمود محمد، المستوى الثالث، قسم الأدب، كلية اللغة العربية والعلوم الإنسانية، الجامعة الإسلامية بالنيجر ـ ساي (2016–2017م).

العينُ تَبكي والقلوبُ تقاسي جَمْراً تلظى حَرُّه بالنّاسِ

The eye weeps, and hearts endure a blazing ember whose heat scorches everyone.
لا بُرَ يُرجى للقلوب ولا شِفا من بَعْدِ فقد أحِبّةٍ وتناسي

For hearts there is no cure to hope for, no healing, after losing those we love — even in trying to forget.
آجالنا مكتوبة وفعالنا قد سُطِّرَتْ والله ذو قِسْطاسِ

Our appointed terms are written, our deeds recorded, and God holds the just balance.
كيف العزاء وقد ثوى بأنيكرٍ بدر الدجى فبقت بلا نبراسِ

How can we be consoled, when the full moon of dark nights lies in Inékar, and the village is left without a lamp?
إنّ البدورَ بَكَتْ لغَوْرِ مَثِيلِها وتقلّبَتْ بَيْنَ الرَّجَا والياسِ

The full moons wept at the setting of their peer, tossed between hope and despair.
إنَّا وإنْ طال الزَّمانُ فلا نرى شيئاً يُسلِّينا عنِ العباسِ

However long time may run, we see nothing that could console us for al-Abbas.
العلمُ مقرونٌ به وكذا التقى فعلامَ يُرمى المتقي بالباسِ

Knowledge was joined to him, and piety too: why then is the God-fearing man struck down by violence?
أيْنَ احترامُ العلمِ والأخلاقِ هَلْ يُرمَى الرَّشادُ بأسهُمِ الأقواسِ

Where is the respect for knowledge and virtue? Is right guidance to be shot with arrows from bows?
صلواته موصولة بصلاته وتراه لا يخشى من الإفلاسِ

His prayers went hand in hand with his gifts, and he was never seen to fear poverty.
والمعتفون إذا أرادوا سيْبَه غطّاهمُ من سيبه بلباسِ

And when supplicants sought his bounty, he covered them with his gifts as with a garment.
ولقد يوبِّخ من يقوم بمنكرٍ والعُرْفُ من أفعاله بمِراسِ

He rebuked whoever did wrong, and doing good was his steady practice.
إنّا رأينا الرشد في أفعاله والرُّشد ـ دوماً ـ حِصّة الأكياسِ

We saw wisdom in his deeds, and wisdom is ever the portion of the wise.
الكون يشهد برَّه وبأنّه يَزِنُ الأمورَ بحكمةٍ وقياسِ

The whole world bears witness to his goodness, and that he weighed matters with wisdom and measure.
الله يُخلِفُنا بأمثالٍ له من وُلْدِه أحميدَ أو إلياسٍ

May God give us successors like him among his children, Ahmid or Ilyas.
وجزاه ربي بالجنان ورحمةٍ لا ضُرَّ يبقى بعدها لأناسِ

May my Lord reward him with the Gardens, and with a mercy after which no harm remains for anyone.
هذا عزاء شامل لأحِبّةِ الـ ـعبّاس، هم لي في الدّنا إيناسي

These are my condolences to all who loved al-Abbas: in this world, they are my company.

Poet’s notes

verse 4 — أنيكر: اسم القرية التي اغتيل فيها. (Inékar: the village where he was assassinated.)
verse 4 — النبراس: المصباح. (al-nibrās: the lamp.)
verse 10 — المعتفون: السائلون. (al-mu‘tafūn: those who ask.)
verse 10 — السَّيْب: العطاء. (al-sayb: the gift.)
verse 14 — أحميد وإلياس: ابنان تركهما العباس. (Ahmid and Ilyas: the two sons al-Abbas left behind.)

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.