A Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic
|II. Reader
13. Qahwa ‘coffee’ (16th–17th centuries)
Texte intégral
Transcription
- 1 Zack (2009, 202–3). My transcription here follows that of Zack’s edition, leaving orthographical pa (...)
1Note1
- 2 Al-Ghazzī (1979, 3: 92–93).
- 3 Muḥammad al-Bakrī, Dīwān (MS 59 Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc, 1586, fols 99b–100a). I (...)
Translation
3‘Coffee’ from Dafʿ al-iṣr ʿan kalām ahl Miṣr by al-Maghribī:
- 4 While the original reads muḥmaka, this is likely an error on al-Maghribī’s part, as the edition of (...)
- 5 Makhḍ (sic – read maḥḍ).
- 6 Sic – read aqhā.
- 7 As in Zack’s study, this figure remains unidentified.
- 8 As in Zack’s study, this figure remains unidentified.
- 9 Mājid (sic – read masājid).
- 10 Given the prominence of the Bakrī family during this period it is difficult to ascertain to which m (...)
- 11 Muftī and poet who lived in Damascus, died 1567/8.
4[The Egyptians] say: coffee (qahwa) for the extract of the bean, but this usage is not in the standardised language [according to al-Fayrūzabādī], who says, “qahwa is wine, a thoroughly4 satiating drink, and a froth-less, clear5 yogurt. It is like qiha/qaha (one of the names of the narcissus) [?] and it is an aroma. The word qahwān means a large aged goat with two horns. The verb aqhī6 means to persist in drinking qahwa and to obey the sovereign.” These definitions don’t indicate coffee used today, and even the bean, which is its source, has no mention in the medical textbooks, so bear in mind their lack of mention by the author of al-Qāmūs—did it occur after him? Shaykh al-Ḥākimī7 gave me an account of his deceased companion, Abū al-Ṣaʿūd,8 who was writing down the statements of his master, the preacher Shaykh al-Qudsī one day when he was preaching in one of the mosques.9 Shaykh al-Ḥākimī was there, and heard him say, “Coffee (qahwa) is that with which the people are afflicted, and its prohibition appears in the Ḥadīth. This is so because of the prohibition against qahwa (i.e., khamr).” Then Shaykh al-Ḥākimī stood as if he did not know this already, and said, “O Shaykh, take note of what you’re saying.” So, Shaykh al-Qudsī said to him, “It is as though you are of those who are afflicted by qahwa.” So, al-Ḥākimī replied, “Contemplate what you are saying.” And because it seemed that he was lying about the Prophet [he added, ] “What is the definition of wine (khamr)? Is it not the juice of grapes?” Shaykh al-Qudsī said, “Yes.” So, al-Ḥākimī said, “So, where does coffee fit in this?” He was then speechless and feared that I would inform al-Ustādh al-Bakrī10 of this. So, he sent some companions to make peace over the matter, and to this day he doesn’t mention coffee in anything. So, I was pleased, and didn’t inform al-Ustādh [al-Bakrī], who has many poems in praise of coffee—as does Shaykh Abū al-Fath al-Mālikī.11 I wrote the following:
I witnessed a virtue in the coffee husk
when he who is without compassion is far
I judged it fairly to make peace between us
as this virtue from coffee is a just arbiter
5Entry for Ibrāhīm ibn al-Muballaṭ from al-Kawākib al-sā’ira bi
aʿyān al-mi’a al-ʿāshira by Najm al-Dīn al-Ghazzī:
6The Eminent Shaykh, litterateur, poet Ibrāhīm Burhān al-Dīn ibn al-Muballaṭ al-Qāhirī, poet of Cairo. The following comes from his poetry on the coffee bean:
My critic says, “coffee is a bitter drink
water is the sweet beverage without equal”
So, I replied, “what you disparage with bitterness
I’ve chosen—So, chose for yourself that which is sweet”
7He has also said:
These days, I see the coffee bean
is what people have agreed upon drinking
Drinking it became a custom
it neither hurts nor helps
8He is also noted for these lines:
O critic of the imbibing of our coffee which
cures the soul of what ails it
Or you do not see it, when in its cup
it speaks the eye amidst its white
9Another poet has a verse with the same motif:
Drink, savoring the coffee bean
that is sweet with brothers and friends
A blackness within the whiteness of the cup
speaks of the man’s eyeball
10I [al-Ghazzī] have said even better than this, here:
Drink two cups of coffee
even if it costs an extra coin, silver or gold
A blackness in the white of its cups
as though they were of the man’s eyes
- 12 For commentary on the first three stanzas of this muwashshaḥ see Larkin (2006, 231). Note my transl (...)
11Coffee Muwashshaḥ from the Dīwān of Muḥammad al-Bakrī:12
Pass the coffee in the glass at hand
of the coffee bean, how excellent, how grand
What sound reason considers contraband
So, friend, for me have a drink poured
Adorn the cups, hear what I disperse
it’s the drink of the masters of verse
Allah’s privileged, endowed with his forthcoming force
for the protection of the lord
Upon us is an ignorant censor
who with invalid speech is a lie dispenser
a fleeting death, a memory obscure
he has gone with wine, poured
It’s said at the slightest drink hearts grow intoxicated
just as the brave of the unseen get inebriated
the matter now finished, the hearts morally obligated
But surely, the glasses I’ve scored.
Though he denies what he nears
there’s nothing better than these frontiers
people’s most joyous practice, they’re the best, it appears,
at drawing out the wine, poured.
Commentary
12The role of coffee in early modern Ottoman society has been addressed from many historiographical perspectives, from its importance as a traded commodity to the religious-legal debates surrounding its illicit status in Islamic law. What is less understood, perhaps, is the intellectual and literary impact of coffee. Presented here are three samples from the linguistic and literary corpus of 16th- and 17th-century Ottoman Arabic. First, an abridged version of Yūsuf al-Maghribī’s (d. 1019/1610), entry on coffee (qahwa) in his dictionary of colloquial Egyptian Arabic, followed by a few verses of coffee poetry from Najm al-Dīn al-Ghazzī’s (d. 1060/1650) centenary biographical dictionary. Lastly, a muwashshaḥ (strophic poem) by Muḥammad al-Bakrī (d. 994/1586), in which the subject of coffee merges into that of wine, demonstrating the generic link in between the two substances in Arabic literature. While these samples have primarily been translated here for readers’ enjoyment, they also invite us to think of coffee as a linguistic and literary problematic during the Ottoman period.
Notes
1 Zack (2009, 202–3). My transcription here follows that of Zack’s edition, leaving orthographical particularities from the manuscript source uncorrected.
2 Al-Ghazzī (1979, 3: 92–93).
3 Muḥammad al-Bakrī, Dīwān (MS 59 Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc, 1586, fols 99b–100a). It is important to note the coincidence of the manuscript’s copy date and the death of its author. Also, the first three stanzas appear in Kīlānī (1965, 194–95). My thanks to Adam Sabra for providing me with the manuscript source.
4 While the original reads muḥmaka, this is likely an error on al-Maghribī’s part, as the edition of al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ shows muḥkama. See al-Shami and Ahmad (2008, 1378).
5 Makhḍ (sic – read maḥḍ).
6 Sic – read aqhā.
7 As in Zack’s study, this figure remains unidentified.
8 As in Zack’s study, this figure remains unidentified.
9 Mājid (sic – read masājid).
10 Given the prominence of the Bakrī family during this period it is difficult to ascertain to which member this reference is made. Al-Maghribī died nearly a quarter century after Muḥammad al-Bakrī, author of the below mentioned muwashshaḥ. It is possible but improbable that al-Maghribī’s reference is being made to the same al-Bakrī.
11 Muftī and poet who lived in Damascus, died 1567/8.
12 For commentary on the first three stanzas of this muwashshaḥ see Larkin (2006, 231). Note my translation here departs selectively from the literal text in order to retain the rhyme scheme of the poem.
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