Al-Maʿarrī

Abu al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaymān al-Tanūkhī lived 363–449AH/973–1057 ce. Despite his blindness, he was very observant of both people and animals. Al-Maʿarrī, of Maʿarrat al- Nuʿmān, a town in Syria, thought that God would take note of whoever suffers and who causes suffering. When someone dies, there will be compensation for the good deeds done on earth. But what about sheep who offer their wool to be turned into coats? According to al-Maʿarrī, God is never to blame. He has the right to the throne and unceasing praise belongs to Him, for He is most elevated in the world, which appears as his reflection. The stars above observe people through a net hanging in heaven; they look like shimmering lights in the water. Al-Maʿarrī loved poetry and prose, and was interested in the nature of scriptural language. Having returned from his visits to neighboring Aleppo and then to distant Baghdad, he gathered many pupils to his hometown, Meanwhile, enemies tried to have ...