Untitled

DISMISSAL OF A DISHONEST JUDGE, Ig
beginning of this letter surpasses and excels the lattef part by
as much as the siira '
'
1
Say, He is God, i'ke One excels the sura
'>T/te hands ctf A bit Lahab shall perisli"-' and it is a pity to
surrender the minds of eloquent men J ike you into the hands ,>f
the struggle for the necessaries of life.V Then he ordered him to
be given means sufficiently ample to prevent such an announce-*
ment as this ever entering 'his ears again. Naturally it then
happened that he could compress into two sentences the ideas
of two worlds.
ANECDOTE V.
^ThS Sahib Isma'il ibm'Abbad 3
petent ") of Ray^ was ministef to the Shahanshah 4 . He
,
entitled al-Kdft ("the Com-
was most
perfect in his accomplishments, of which fact his correspondence
and his poetry are two sufficient witnesses and* unimpeachable
arbiters.
Now ihe Sahib was a Mu'tazilite 5
,
and such are wont to be
extremely pious apd scrupulous in their religious duties, holding
it right that a true believer should abide eternally in hell by
reason of .a grain of unrighteousness ; and his servants, retainers
and agents for the most part held the same opinion that he did.
Now there was at Qum a judge appointed by the Sahib in
whose devoutness and piety he had a firm belief, though one af^r
another men asserted the contrary. All this, however, left the
Sahib unconvinced, until two trustworthy persons of Qum, whose
statements commanded credence, declared that in a certain suit
between So-and-so and Such-an-one this judge had accepted a
bribe of five hundred dinars. This was rhightily displeasing to
the Sahib for two reasons, first on account of the greatness ef
the bribe, and secondly on account of the shameless unscrupulousness
of the judge. He at once took up his pen and wrote :
"
In the Name of God the Merciful the Clement*} O Judge of
! We dismiss you, (\\) so Come* /"
Scholars and rhetoricians will notice and appreciate the high
merit of this sentence in respect to its concision and clearness, and
naturally from that time forth rhetoricians and stylists have inscribed
th%s epigram on their hearts, and impressed it on their minds.
1
2
Qur'dn, cxii. <
Qur'dn, cxi.
3 For an account of this great minister and generous patron of literature, see
de Slant's translation of Ibn Khallikdn, vol. i, pp. 212217, and Note VI at end.
4
Thi^ old Persian title," King of kings" was borne by several of the House of
Buwayh. Here either Mu'ayyidu'd-Dawla or his brother Fakhru'd-Dawla is intended.
5 This, as M