Às vezes é importante recordar, como tenho afirmado muitas vezes, que o islão, tal como o cristianismo, não foi idêntico ao longo dos séculos. Para aqueles que acusam o islão de ser uma religião de guerra, quando islão significa paz, deixo um pequeno apontamento da Wikipedia, que não tive tempo de traduzir ou resumir, relativamente ao filósofo e poeta sírio Abu Ala Al-Ma'arri (973-1057), cego desde os dois anos, grande pensador oriental, no tempo do Califado Abássida de Baghdad, que não acreditando no islão, nem nas outras religiões da época, judeus, cristãos ou zoroastrianos, pôde publicar e difundir as suas obras e viver e morrer em paz.
Al-Ma'rri é considerado um dos maiores pensadores clássicos árabes, e a sua obra Risalat al-Ghufran (Carta de Perdão) é uma comédia divina que congrega relativamente à civilização árabe, todos os aspectos da vida humana. Muitos especialistas não hesitam afirmar que esta obra influenciou, ou mesmo inspirou, A Divina Comédia, de Dante Alighieri.
Nasceu em Ma'arra, perto de Alepo, viveu em Tripoli, Antioquia e Baghdad e regressou à Síria para o fim da sua vida. Nunca casou e morreu com 83 anos na cidade que o vira nascer.
Em 2013, a Frente Al-Nusra decapitou a sua estátua, erguida na cidade natal, pelo facto de o considerar um herético e de ser reverenciado por membros da família Assad.
Transcrevo notícia mais detalhada:
Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri (Arabic أبو العلاء المعري Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī,
full name أبو العلاء أحمد بن عبد الله بن سليمان التنوخي المعري Abū
al-ʿAlāʾ Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaimān al-Tanūẖī al-Maʿarrī; 973–1057)[1] was a blind Arab philosopher, poet, and writer. Al-Maʿarri held and expressed an irreligious worldview which was met with
controversy, but in spite of it, he is regarded as one of the greatest
classical Arabic poets. He was part of the falsafah movement in Arabic philosophy.
Born in the Syrian city of Maʿarra, he studied in nearby Aleppo, then in Tripoli and Antioch. Producing popular poems in Baghdad, he nevertheless refused to sell his texts. In 1010, he returned to Syria
after his mother began declining in health, and continued writing which gained
him local respect.
Described as a "pessimistic freethinker", Al-Maʿarri was a
controversial rationalist of his time, citing reason as the chief source of truth. He was
pessimistic about life, describing himself as "a double prisoner" of
blindness and isolation. He attacked the dogmas of religion and rejected Islam. He was equally sarcastic towards the religions of Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. He advocated social justice, and lived a secluded, ascetic lifestyle. He became a strict vegan, writing "do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals / Or
the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught / for their
young".[2] Al-Maʿarri held an anti-natalist view, in line with his general pessimism, suggesting that children should
not be born to spare them of the pains of life.[3]
Al-Maʿarri wrote three main works that were popular in his time. Among his
works are "The Tinder Spark", "Unnecessary Necessity", and
" The Epistle of Forgiveness" which
may be considered a precursor to Dante's Divine Comedy. Al-Maʿarri never married and died at the age of 83 in the city where he
was born, Maarrat al-Nuʿman. In 2013, a statue of Al-Maʿarri located in his
Syrian hometown was beheaded by jihadists from the Al-Nusra Front.[4]
Contents
- 1 Life
- 2 Philosophy
- 3 Modern views
- 4 Works
- 5 Editions
- 6 See also
- 7 References
- 8 Sources
- 9 External links
Life
Abul Ala was born in Maʿarra, modern Maarrat al-Nuʿman, Syria, near the
city of Aleppo, in December 973. At his time, the city was part of the Abbasid Caliphate, the third Islamic caliphate, and was during the Golden Age of Islam.[5] He was a member of the Banu Sulayman, a notable family of Maʿarra,
belonging to the larger Tanukh tribe.[1][6][7] One of his ancestors was probably the first qadi of Maʿarra. The Tanukh tribe had formed part of the aristocracy in Syria
for hundreds of years and some members of the Banu Sulayman had also
been noted as good poets.[8]
He lost his eyesight at the age of four due to smallpox. His later pessimism may be explained by his virtual blindness. Later in
his life, he regarded himself as "a double prisoner" which referred
to both this blindness and the general isolation that he felt during his life.[9]
He started his career as a poet at an early age, at about 11 or 12 years
old. He was educated at first in Maʿarra and Aleppo, later also in Antioch and
other Syrian cities. Among his teachers in Aleppo were companions from the
circle of Ibn Khalawayh.[8][9] This grammarian and Islamic scholar had died in 980 CE when al-Maʿarri was
still a child.[10] Al-Maʿarri nevertheless laments the loss of Ibn Khalawayh in strong terms
in a poem of his Risālat al-ghufrān.[11] Al-Qifti reports that when on his way to Tripoli, Al-Maʿarri visited a Christian
monastery near Latakia where he listened to debates about Hellenistic philosophy, which
planted in him the seeds of his later skepticism and irreligiosity; but other
historians such as Ibn al-Adim deny that he had been exposed to any theology other than Islamic doctrine.[11]
In 1004-5 al-Maʿarri learned that his father had died and, in reaction,
wrote an elegy where he praised his father.[11] Years later he would travel to Baghdad where he became well received in
the literary salons of the time, though he was a controversial figure.[11] After the eighteen months in Baghdad, al-Maʿarri returned home for unknown
reasons. He may have returned because his mother was ill, or he may have run
out of money in Baghdad, as he refused to sell his works.[1] He returned to his native town of Maʿarra in about 1010 and learned that
his mother had died before his arrival.[5]
He remained in Maʿarra for the rest of his life, where he opted for an
ascetic lifestyle, refusing to sell his poems, living in seclusion and
observing a strict vegetarian diet.[12] His personal confinement to his house was only broken one time when
violence had struck his town.[11] Though he was confined, he lived out his later years continuing his work
and collaborating with others.[13] He enjoyed great respect and attracted many students locally, as well as
actively holding correspondence with scholars abroad.[1] Despite his intentions of living a secluded lifestyle, in his seventies,
he became rich and was the most revered person in his area.[5] Al-Maʿarri never married and died in May 1057 in his hometown.[1][9]
Philosophy
Opposition to religion
Al-Maarri was a skeptic in his beliefs[14] who denounced superstition and dogmatism in religion. This, along with his
general negative view on life, has made him described as a pessimistic freethinker. One of the recurring themes of his philosophy was the right of reason against the claims of custom, tradition, and authority.[9][15] Al-Maʿarri taught that religion was a "fable invented by the
ancients", worthless except for those who exploit the credulous masses.[16]
Do not suppose the statements
of the prophets to be true; they are all fabrications. Men lived comfortably
till they came and spoiled life. The sacred books are only such a set of idle
tales as any age could have and indeed did actually produce.[17]
Al-Maʿarri criticized many of the dogmas of Islam, such as the Hajj, which he called "a paganʿs journey."[18] He rejected claims of any divine revelation and his creed was that of a
philosopher and ascetic, for whom reason provides a moral guide, and virtue is its own reward.[19][20]
His religious skepticism and positively anti-religious views extended beyond Islam and also toward Judaism and Christianity. Al-Maʿarri remarked that monks in their cloisters or devotees in their
mosques were blindly following the beliefs of their locality: if they were born
among Magians or Sabians they would have become Magians or Sabians.[21] Encapsulating his view on organized religion, he once stated, "The
inhabitants of the earth are of two sorts: those with brains, but no religion,
and those with religion, but no brains."[22]
Asceticism & Veganism
Al-Maʿarri was an ascetic, renouncing worldly desires and living secluded
from others while producing his works. He opposed all forms of violence.[5] In Baghdad, while being well received, he decided not to sell his texts,
which made it difficult for him to live.[1] This ascetic lifestyle has been compared to similar thought in India during his time.[13]
In al-Maʿarri's later years, he became a strict vegan, neither consuming
meat, nor any other animal products. He wrote:
Do not unjustly eat fish the water has given up,
And do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,
Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught
for their young, not noble ladies.
And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking eggs;
for injustice is the worst of crimes.
And spare the honey which the bees get industriously
from the flowers of fragrant plants;
For they did not store it that it might belong to others,
Nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts.
I washed my hands of all this; and wish that I
Perceived my way before my hair went gray![15]
And do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,
Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught
for their young, not noble ladies.
And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking eggs;
for injustice is the worst of crimes.
And spare the honey which the bees get industriously
from the flowers of fragrant plants;
For they did not store it that it might belong to others,
Nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts.
I washed my hands of all this; and wish that I
Perceived my way before my hair went gray![15]
Anti-natalism
Al-Maʿarri's fundamental pessimism is expressed in his anti-natalist recommendation that no children should
be begotten, so as to spare them the pains of life.[4] In an elegy composed by him over the loss of a relative, he combines his grief with
observations on the ephemerality of this life:
Soften your tread. Methinks the earth's surface is but bodies of the dead,
Walk slowly in the air, so you do not trample on the remains of God's servants.[1]
Walk slowly in the air, so you do not trample on the remains of God's servants.[1]
Even on al-Maʿarri's epitaph, he wanted it written that his life was a wrong done by his father and not
one that was done by himself.[5]
Modern views
Al-Maʿarri is controversial even today as he was skeptical of Islam, the
dominant religion of the Arab World.[13] In 2013, almost a thousand years after his death, the al-Nusra Front, a branch of al-Qaeda, beheaded a statue of Al-Maʿarri during the civil war in Syria.[23] The statue had been crafted by the sculptor Fathi Muhammad.[8] The motive behind the beheading is disputed; theories range from the fact
that he was a heretic to the fact that he is believed by some to be related to
the Assad family.[23]
Still, al-Maʿarri is sometimes referred to as one of the greatest classical
Arab poets. Some have drawn connections between him and the Roman poet Lucretius, citing how progressive their views were compared to the time in which
they lived.[8]
Works
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The restrictive rhyme and meter can be heard in the
start of poem 197[24]
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An early collection of his poems appeared as "The Tinder Spark" (Saqṭ al-zand;
سقط الزند). The collection of poems
included praise of notable people of Aleppo and the Hamdanid ruler Sa'd al-Dawla. It gained great popularity and established his reputation as a poet. A few poems in the collection were
about armor.[1]
A second, more original collection appeared under the title
"Unnecessary Necessity" (Luzūm mā lam yalzam لزوم ما لا يلزم أو اللزوميات ), also simply Luzūmīyāt
or "Necessities". The title refers to how Al-Maʿarri saw the business
of living and alludes to the unnecessary complexity of the rhyme scheme used.[1]
His third famous work is a work of prose known as "The Epistle of
Forgiveness" (Risālat al-ghufrān رسالة الغفران). The work was written as a direct response to the Arabic poet Ibn
al-Qarih, whom Al-Maʿarri mocks for his religious views.[10][25] In this work, the poet visits paradise and meets the Arab poets of the pagan period, contrary to Muslim doctrine which holds that only those who believe in
God can find salvation (Quran 4:48). Because of the aspect of conversing with the
deceased in paradise, the Resalat Al-Ghufran has
been compared to the Divine Comedy of Dante[26] which came hundreds of years after. The work has also been noted to be
similar to Ibn Shuhayd's Risala al-tawabi' wa al-zawabi though there is
no evidence that Al-Maʿarri was inspired by Ibn Shahayd nor is there any
evidence that Dante was inspired by Al-Maʿarri.[27] Algeria reportedly banned "The Epistle" from the International Book Fair
held in Algiers in 2007.[5][23]
"Paragraphs and Periods" (Al-Fuṣūl wa al-ghāyāt) is a
collection of homilies. The work has also been called a parody of the Quran.[1]
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| Carta de Perdão |
Segundo pesquisa na Amazon, esta edição (2012) não é bilingue mas exclusivamente escrita em árabe. É a de maior circulação no mundo árabe.
Mas existe uma versão em italiano (com comparação com Dante), uma versão bilingue mais complexa e fidedigna (vol. 1 da sua obra completa), uma versão em inglês sobre a sua poesia e uma versão em inglês sobre a sua vida e obra.
Para quando uma tradução em português???
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