False Rumours

How false rumours spread … فُتِنَ الشَّعبِيُّ لَمّا

Imam Sha’bi was a judge in the courts of the Umayyad Dynasty.

A dispute between a husband and wife was brought to him. He rightly ruled in favour of the wife because her case was stronger.

Incidentally, this woman was very good looking …

To make matters worse, the husband turned out to be a poet!!

He wrote the following lines of poetry about this court ruling and it spread like wildfire throughout the streets of Damascus:

فُتِنَ الشَّعبِيُّ لَمّا رَفَعَ الطَّرفَ إِلَيها
فَتَنَتهُ بِدَلالٍ وَبخَطَّي حاجِبَيها
قالَ لِلجِلوازِ قَرِّب ها وأحضِر شاهِدَيها
فَقَضى جَوراً عَلى الخَص مِ وَلَم يَقضِ عليها
كَيفَ لَو أَبصَرَ منها نحرها أَو ساعِدَيها
لَصبا حَتّى تَراهُ ساجِداً بَينَ يدَيها

Sha’bi was seduced when
* he raised his eye towards her (ilaihaa)

She seduced him with her fondness
* and the lines of her eyebrows (hajibaihaa)

He said to the guards: Bring her closer
* and bring her witnesses (shahidaihaa)

He ruled unjustly against her opponent
* and did not rule against her (‘alaihaa)

How would he have been, had he seen
* her upper chest or her forearms (sa’idaihaa)?

Yearning, you would have seen him
* lying in front of her (bayna yadaihaa)!

Everyone was singing this poem on the streets of Damascus – and it spread like wildfire to the East and the West!

The Khalifah Abdul-Malik Ibn Marwan smiled when he heard about the incident …

[This story is narrated in various forms in ‘Tarikh Dimashq’ of Ibn Asaakir, ‘Siyar A’lam al-Nubala’ of Imam Dhahabi, in ‘Aadaab al-Shar’iyah’ of Ibn Muflih, in ‘Rabi al-Abraar’ and other books of poetry and Arabic language].