Posted on June 27, 2012.
FROM THE CLASSICAL ARABIC LITERATURE

المودة

لابن المقفع

Friendship

By Ibn Muqaffah

المودة بين الاخيار سريع اتصالها بطئ انقطاعها ومثل ذلك كمثل كوب من الذهب

الذي هو بطئ الانكسار هين الاصلاح 

والموده بين الاشرار سريع انقطاعها بطئ اتصالها كالكوز من الفخار يكسره ادني عبث ثم لا وصل له ابدا

  

Abdullah ibn Muqaffah said:

“Friendship between good people is established quickly and does not end abruptly. Its example is like the example of a golden cup that cannot be broken quickly and is easy to repair. Friendship between bad people can end quickly and is difficult to establish like a porcelain mug that is broken by minimal negligence. It can never be repaired then.”

Ibn Muqaffah was one of the leading scholars of literature who converted to Islam from Zoorastrianism. He was one of the elite officials of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansoor. He was renowned for his interest in the sciences of language, philosophy and Persian history. He was well mannered and modest who did not mix with everyone except those who had similar interests. He displayed loyalty to his friends just as he was a beacon in the field of rhetoric. He was known for compactness of speech and distinguished himself in exposition of thought, facility of language and elegance of style.

He was killed in the year 142 after migration when he was no more than 36 years old. His most famous book is Kalila wa Dimna.

VOCABULARY:

المودة	friendship	انقطاع	Cutting off
بطئ	slow	هين	easy
سريع	quick	كوز	cup
اتصال	connection	عبث	negligence
ادني	Lower, minor	فخار	clay