Risalat al-Sahil wa al-Shajih
- Author died
- 449 AH
- Editions
- Risalat al-Sahil wa al-Shajih
Risalat al-Sahil wa al-Shajih (The Epistle of the Neigher and the Brayer) is an allegorical literary epistle composed by the Syrian poet and philologist Abu al-Ala al-Maarri (363–449 AH / 973–1057 CE), presenting political, social, and literary commentary through the dialogue of talking animals .
Background and Occasion
Al-Ma'arri completed the work around 408 AH (1017–1018 CE) . It was addressed to Abu Shuja' Fatik Aziz al-Dawla, who served as the Fatimid governor of Aleppo from 407 to 413 AH . The immediate impetus for the composition was a local taxation dispute: nephews of al-Ma'arri owned a plot of barren, waterless land near Hama that yielded little revenue, yet the local administration demanded tax payments for the treasury in Aleppo . Following persistent requests from his family, al-Ma'arri wrote the lengthy epistle to intercede and request an exemption from the tax .
The text also reflects broader regional instability and contemporary political events in northern Syria, including rumors of an impending Byzantine invasion and Aziz al-Dawla's directive ordering the Bedouin leader Salih ibn Mirdas to bring his mother inside the fortifications of Aleppo to reassure its inhabitants .
Structure and Content
The narrative opens with an allegorical scene featuring a blindfolded mule (al-shajih, the brayer) turning a waterwheel to draw water into a cistern without quenching its own thirst . The mule begins to complain and speak, entering into conversation with a noble horse (al-sahil, the neigher) arriving from Egypt . Al-Ma'arri frames the talking animals by drawing upon Quranic motifs, such as the speech of the ant and the hoopoe with the prophet Solomon in Surah al-Naml, and compares the discernment of Aziz al-Dawla to that of Solomon . Additional animals subsequently join the narrative, including a camel and a fox .
Beyond its explicit petition, the epistle incorporates praise of the ruler alongside veiled satire directed at Aziz al-Dawla, who devoted his attention to technical disputes over Arabic prosody (such as the metrics of al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi and the additions of al-Zajjaj) amidst military threats to his province . The text also touches on rumors concerning Aziz al-Dawla's interactions with the Byzantine emperor . Al-Ma'arri personifies inanimate objects, natural features, and grammatical concepts throughout the work, depicting roads, numbers, and letters as sentient entities offering praise and prayers .
Commentary and Publication
Al-Ma'arri composed a separate explanatory commentary on the text entitled Lisan al-Sahil wa al-Shajih (The Tongue of the Neigher and the Brayer) . Long believed to have been lost, a manuscript of Risalat al-Sahil wa al-Shajih was later discovered in Morocco and subsequently edited with a critical study by Aisha Abd al-Rahman (Bint al-Shati'), published in Cairo in 1975 .
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