Venice masks

Tuesday 19 February 2019

On Fatalism - Al-Shafi‘i

Not always wealth, nor always force,
A splendid destiny commands;
The lordly vulture gnaws the corpse
That rots upon the barren sands.

Nor does want or weakness always conspire
To bind us to a sordid state;
The fly, that with a touch expires,
Sips honey from the royal plate.

Al-Shafi‘i tomb in Cairo
Source: Wikipedia
Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (Imam Shafay Mohammed bin Idris) (767 - 820) Saudi Arabia (born in Palestine and died in Egypt but lived most of his life in Saudi Arabia)
Translator not stated
Source: The sacred books and early literature of the East; with an historical survey and descriptions, Vol VI Medieval Arabic, Moorish and Turkish by Charles Francis Horne, Parke, Austin & Lispcomb, 1917

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