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| Author | Al-Ma'arri |
|---|---|
| Original title | رسالة الغفران |
Risālat al-Ghufrān (Arabic: رسالة الغفران), meaning The Epistle of Forgiveness, is a satirical work of Arabic poetry written by Abu al-ʿAlaʾ al-Maʿarri around 1033 CE.[1] It has been claimed that the Risālat al-Ghufrān has had an influence on, or has even inspired, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.[2]
The work is a response to a letter sent to al-Maʿarri by a self-righteous grammarian and traditionist, ʿAlī ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥalabī, known as Ibn al-Qāriḥ. In the words of Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych:
In his epistle, Ibn al-Qāriḥ sanctimoniously flaunts his own learning and orthodoxy by impugning a number of poets and scholars for being zindīqs, or heretics. He thereby insinuates a challenge to the religious beliefs of al-Maʿarrī, who expressed in his poetry ideas considered heretical by many. Al-Maʿarrī takes up this challenge in his response, Risālat al-Ghufrān, by presenting a tour de force of his own extraordinary learning, and further by offering an imaginary and derisive depiction of Ibn al-Qāriḥ in the Islamic afterworld. There, Ibn al-Qāriḥ is repeatedly taken by surprise at the mercy of the Almighty, as he discovers in the heavenly garden poets and men of letters that he himself had condemned as unbelievers. Hence the title of al-Maʿarrī’s epistle and its abiding message: that man should not presume to limit God’s mercy.[3]
In a mixed timeline of events, the story starts with Ibn al-Qāriḥ in heaven. Al-Maʿarri depicts heaven, as described in the Quran, as a place of pleasures. Everything forbidden in life becomes permissible and all desires are fulfilled with God's grace. The story then explains how Ibn al-Qāriḥ was able to enter heaven. While waiting for his judgement outside the realm of heaven Ibn al-Qāriḥ feels nervous about the prospects of his judgement, knowing he has led a life of schmoozing to rich men and bones and sins he decides to write a poem to the guards of heaven. He fails but continues to find ways to evade hell until he manages to get a pardon from the Islamic prophet Muhammad. After going to heaven, Ibn al-Qāriḥ decides to visit hell. He finds it to be filled with the greatest of Arab poets. He returns to heaven and there he finds Adam. He asks Adam if he truly said "we are created from earth and shall return to earth". Adam says no.
