Description
Book SynopsisKnown as one of the most complex and unusual texts in Arabic literature (Banipal Magazine), The Epistle of Forgiveness is the lengthy reply by the prolific Syrian poet and prose writer, Abu l-''Ala'' al-Ma''arri (d. 449/1057), to a letter by an obscure grammarian, Ibn al-Qari. With biting irony, The Epistle of Forgiveness mocks Ibn al-Qari's hypocrisy and sycophancy by imagining he has died and arrived with some difficulty in Heaven, where he meets famous poets and philologists from the past. In al-Ma''arri's imaginative telling, Ibn al-Qari also glimpses Hell and converses with the Devil and various heretics.
Al-Ma''arria maverick, a vegan, and often branded a heretic himselfseems to mock popular ideas about the Hereafter. Among other things, he introduces us to hypocrites, poets, princes, rebels, mystics, and apostates, with asides on piety, superstition, wine-drinking, old age, and other topics. This remarkable book is the first complete translation of this mas
Trade Review
Apart from its fine quality, an enormous advantage of this new edition and translation lies in its completeness. * Journal of Islamic Studies *
Van Gelder and Schoeler present one of the most complex and unusual texts in Arabic literature, by al-Ma'arri (d. 1057 AD), maverick, poet and vegetarian * Banipal Magazine *
