My verses have been wasted upon thine door, just as the jewels of
Khalisah have forfeited all their value.
When Khalisah heard about the couplet, she complained to Harun ah
Rashid. Harun sent for Abu Nuwas and asked him: "'O wretch! how dare
thou do this?" Abu Nuwas said the fault was that of the narrator who
took harnza' in the verse to be 'ayn 51 Harun feigned belief in what Abu
Nuwas said, so that the poet should keep his dignity and the person offended should have the offence removed. How could Harun al-Rashid,
so well versed in poetry and language, be deceived?
A similar kind of tradition pertains to Caliph "Ulnar bin al-Khattab
who would ignore the verses of Hutay'ah who was instead countered by
Zabarqan (the Companion of the Prophet). Hasan bin Thabit intervened
on this, occasion, but Caliph 'Umar wished to lop off the poet's tongue
(=silence him) through kindness. Caliph 'Umar and other noblemen have
practised the precept of the Holy Prophet that the poet's tongue should
be silenced through kindness. Caliph 'Umar always ignored the poets
when he saw them straying in the wilderness of absurdity. See how
'UbayduUah, the vazir of Mu'tadid, ignored the vile outpourings of 'All
bin Bassam who said on the occasion of the death of one of 'UbayduUah's sons:
O Abu al-Qasim, ask the repository of mankind's hopes to witness
the vicissitudes of Time.
Thy able and accomplished son died, while thou, a vile creature,
liveth.
Thine life is worse than death — Indeed, thou art the target of misfortunes.
When 'UbayduUah heard about these verses he had Bassam sent for, and
asked him why he had uttered these verses. In order to avoid further
controversy, 'Ali recited the following couplets:
Tell, O Abu al-Qasim, the repository of man's hopes that no one can
forestall death.
He who is gone is gone, and his going is great trouble.
Death, sparing thee, has taken away thy substitute.
This theme has been borrowed by Bassam from Ibn al-Mu'tazz who had
offered the following verses as elegies upon the death of 'Ubaydullah's
son:
Let the Vizier be told that Time and its vicissitudes are alike, and for
all of them there is a fixed period. Thou didst cause loss to the age,
while (the fate of) Abual-Husayn was decided upon. And thou wert
a gainer.
When 'Ali bin Bassam returned from the court of 'Ubayd Allah, he spoke
these verses out of sheer malice:
Send this message to the Vizier, and call: "O thou that hast seen twin
