Selections from the Art of Party Crashing in Medieval Iraq Read online

  SELECTIONS FROM

  Bunan

  a1-Khatib al Baghdadi

  TRANSLATED AND ILLUSTRATED BY

  Emily Selove

  List of Illustrations vii

  Translator's Note ix

  Acknowledgments xiii

  Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's Introduction 1

  The Meaning of "Party-Crashing" in the Language and the First Person Named after It 6

  Early Party-Crashing 11

  Going to a Meal Without Being Invited Is Deemed Rude rt 19

  Those Who Cast Aspersions on Party-Crashing and Its Practitioners and Satirize and Denounce Them rt 30

  Those Who Praise, Make Excuses for, or Speak Well of Party-Crashing - 36

  Party-Crashers from among the Notables, the Noble, the Learned, and the Cultured 42

  Those Who Engage in Very Subtle Acts of Party-Crashing 72

  Those Who Love People to Sponge and Facilitate It 79

  Anecdotes about Party-Crashers Who Exert Themselves in Party-Crashing and Make It a Trade and Occupation 85

  Accounts of the Ones That the Guards Would Refuse, but Who Outwit the Guards with a Lie or a Ruse 99

  Mention of the Party-Crashers' Conversations, Advice, and Poetry 111

  Accounts of Bunan, the Party-Crasher 128

  A Document Pertaining to Party-Crashing 163

  Bibliography 175

  Eat Dates

  Aroma

  Singing-Girl

  Kitten

  Takeout

  Lazy

  Waylon

  Happy Trails

  Bunan

  How Many

  he Book of Party-Crashing was compiled in the eleventh century by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 1071), a Muslim preacher and scholar of the hadith (reports on the deeds and sayings of the prophet Muhammad).' Al-Khatib is known mainly for his work Tarikh Baghdad (The History of Baghdad), which describes thousands of Baghdadi scholars. Like most of his writing, his History was intended as an aid for students of the hadith.

  1. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Al-tatfil wa hikayat al-tufayliyin wa akhbaruhum wa nawadir kalamihim wa ash`aruhum.

  In its lighthearted subject matter, al-Khatib's Book of Party-Crashing represents a departure from his more serious-minded religious scholarship. Nevertheless, even this work begins with hadith demonstrating the Prophet's generosity and lenient attitude toward the uninvited guest. Al-Khatib provides multiple versions of each hadith, with careful attention to their sources, so that even in this seemingly frivolous project (as he himself characterizes it in his introduction), his scholarly colors shine through. Nevertheless, the party-crashers in this text engage in some lighthearted blasphemy and plenty of drinking (all relatively mild, however, in comparison to many contemporaneous Arabic texts on the same subject).

  This book represents one of thousands of untranslated works of medieval Arabic literature,' whose many delights and surprises are consequently unknown to much of the English-speaking world. In many ways it is a typical example of monographic adab (Arabic belles letters), including both instructive and entertaining elements side by side in a pleasing bouquet. I hope this translation is the first of many works of medieval Arabic humor that I present to the English-speaking reader. I have already begun translation of another eleventh-century Arabic text about party-crashing, The Imitation ofAbu al-Qasim, as indeed party-crashers were a favorite topic of the time. For a fun and informative introduction to this work and to other similar Arabic texts, I recommend Geert Jan van Gelder's Of Dishes and Discourse: Classical Arabic Literary Representations of Food (also published under the title God's Banquet).

  I have based my translation of al-Khatib's work on the manuscript held in the Chester Beatty Library of Dublin, Arabic manuscript 3851. The chapter titles are (occasionally loose) translations of the original chapter titles presented in this manuscript, except for the chapters "Early Party-Crashing," "Mention of the Party-Crashers' Conversations, Advice, and Poetry," and "Accounts of Bunan, the Party-Crasher," all conglomerations of several adjacent chapters.

  Some anecdotes presented in the manuscript were not translated in this volume. Most of these anecdotes (twenty-five total) are repetitions of previous anecdotes, with different citations. These were provided meticulously by al-Khatib, whose scholarly instincts led him to include as full a collection of sources as possible. Several untranslated anecdotes are simply elaborations on the chain of transmission. The other missing anecdotes are mostly poetry (fifteen), because poetry is quite frankly difficult to translate (and some say impossible), especially if one renders, as I have, each translation into rhymed verse. I did so in hopes of providing as enjoyable and authentic experience of the Arabic originals as possible, which themselves employ a monorhyme scheme.

  I have chosen to include the chains of transmission at the beginning of each anecdote because they were clearly important to al-Khatib, whose work as a hadith scholar demanded careful scrutiny of these chains in order to verify each account's veracity. Sometimes these chains of transmission enter into the anecdote itself, though for the most part, they can safely be skipped by readers of this translation. If the reader is curious about a name mentioned, many of them can be found in the Encyclopaedia of Islam or volume 311 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography.

  began this translation as an undergraduate at Cornell University, where it served as my senior thesis in 2006, and continued working on it off and on throughout graduate school at UCLA. This work has been so long in the making that I must have forgotten some people who helped make it possible. I should first thank them, whoever they may be. Next I should thank Devin Stewart, who first suggested the text as suitable to my interests and abilities. He thereby launched what I hope will prove a lifelong love affair with medieval Arabic party-crashing. I should also thank Cornell University's College Scholar Program, which allowed me to invent my own major ("Literary Translation of Medieval Arabic Prosimetrum"), thus providing me the flexibility to begin this translation as an undergraduate.

  Shawkat Toorawa, my thesis adviser at Cornell, not only spent countless extra hours guiding me on my first steps into the ocean of Arabic literature, providing detailed commentary and advice on many of these translated anecdotes, but also warmed my heart with his friendship and humor. My other undergraduate committee members, Kenneth McClane (professor of English), Stan Taft (professor of art), and Ross Brann (professor of Arabic literature), were all similarly inspiring and helpful. Indeed, Ross Brann's Qur'anic Arabic class first excited my interest in the language. Munther Younes was also always willing to advise me and encourage my interests in Arabic. I must also thank Michael Cooperson, who spent many hours reviewing these translations and generally excelling at his job as my graduate adviser at UCLA. He is an inspiration to me as a brilliant scholar, translator, and illustrator. I also thank Bassam `Abd al-Wahhab al Jabi, most recent editor of the manuscript used in this translation, and Antonella Ghersetti, Italian translator of this text, both of whose work has proved invaluable to my own renderings. I am grateful to Charles Perry and Geert Jan van Gelder for their emergency assistance in identifying an obscurely described party food. Amy Richlin, professor of classics at UCLA, has spent so much time helping me in general that she must surely have facilitated this project in some way. Although this translation would never have happened without the instruction of those people mentioned above, any errors are solely my own.

  Mary Selden Evans of Syracuse University Press has patiently corresponded with me and negotiated on my behalf for the past five years, and I would like to express my gratitude to her for her unflagging
support for this project. I would also like to thank Annette Wenda for her meticulous and friendly copyediting of this translation, as well as Michael Beard, Kelly Balenske, Marcia Hough, Kay Steinmetz, Hannah Albarazi, Katie Laurentiev, Brooke Carey, and my anonymous reviewers.

  Finally, I must thank my family, who have always encouraged me in every way. My brother Matthew painstakingly edited a former introduction to this work, which does not appear in this volume-just one example of his constant love and support. My brother Ben always made me laugh, and probably crashed some parties himself in his day. I dedicate this translation to my parents, who allowed me to follow my interests wherever they may lead.

  SELECTIONS FROM

  ay God busy us both in obedience to Him, and may He hold you under His protection.

  You mentioned to me that you happened to hear about a party-crasher who came to converse with Nasr ibn `Ali alJahdhami, and that you wanted to study the story word for word and to examine it more closely. I told you that it had been related to me as well and by what chain of transmission, but we did not have enough time to fill in the details. So I was asked to write it for you and send it to you, and I thus undertake to collect what I have heard of the stories of party-crashers and accounts about them, and anecdotes of their conversation and poetry.

  Perhaps there were more suitable topics with which I could have occupied my mind; the elaboration of some other subject could have been more appropriate and pressing. But I wanted to oblige your request and answer your questions; it is commanded and needful, a requirement and a duty, for I must ensure your esteem for me, and the purity of your friendship, and the sincerity of your love.

  In this book I have gathered for you instances of tatfil (party-crashing) and its meaning, the first person nicknamed and known for it, opinions about it, its praise and its condemnation, and stories about people branded as its practitioners-everything that gives the scholar's mind a break from the heavy and the serious, so in perusing it, he can rest his thoughts from his uninterrupted study and hard work.

  1

  `Ali,' may God be pleased with him, said:

  If your minds get tired, just as bodies do, seek out some entertaining information!

  2

  Qasama ibn Zuhayr said:

  Resting the mind stimulates the memory.

  3

  The Prophet gives similar license in a hadith told to us by Abu al-Hasan `Ali ibn Yahya ibn Ja`far al-Imam of Isfahan, that Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn al-Qasim ibn al-Rayyan al-Misri in Basra told us, Tamtam, who is Muhammad ibn Ghalib ibn Harb al-Dabbi, related to us, Abu Hudhayfa told us, Sufyan told us on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, on the authority of al-Haytham ibn Hanash, on the authority of Hanzala the scribe, who said:

  The Prophet, may God bless him and give him peace, was talking about Heaven and Hell, and it was as though we were seeing it with our own eyes, but then one day I left and went home to my family. We were laughing together, and I had a sudden sinking feeling. Then I met Abu Bakr, and said to him, "I've been a hypocrite."

  "What do you mean?" he asked.

  "I was with the Prophet," I replied, "and he was talking about Heaven and Hell, and it was as though I was seeing it with my own eyes, but then I went home to my family, and we laughed together!"

  "I've done the same thing," said Abu Bakr.

  I went to the Prophet of God, and I told him what had happened.

  "0 Hanzala," he said, "were you the same with your family as you are with me, it's true, the angels would bless you in your bed and abroad, but Hanzala, there's a time for this and a time for that!"

  4

  The best and the greatest people never turn their noses up at a jest-they enjoy hearing it and are cheered when it is mentioned. It is rest for the soul and relaxation for the mind-the ear inclines to hear its tales, for therein lies the pleasure of conviviality.

  5

  Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl al-Qattan told me, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Ziyad al-Muqri' al-Naqqash told us that Dawud ibn Wasim told them in Bushanj, Abd al-Rahman, nephew of al-Asma'i, told us on the authority of his uncle:

  I recited to Muhammad ibn `Imran, the judge of Medina, one of the most intelligent people I saw among the Quraysh tribe,

  "Write these verses down for me!" he said.

  "God help you," I said. "This isn't for the likes of you!"

  "Woe to you!" he replied. "Even highminded and intelligent people like a good joke!"

  6

  Abu Nu'aym Ahmad ibn `Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Ishaq al-Hafiz in Isbahan told us, Ahmad ibn Kamil, the judge, told us in his letter to me, I heard Abu al'Ayna' say, I heard al-Asma'i say:

  Witty tales whet the mind and open the ears.

  And by God Almighty, I seek success in the correctness of this work and in this writing, and ask to be excused for whatever errors I may have committed.

  7

  I read under al-Hasan ibn Abu al-Qasim on the authority of Abu al-Faraj `Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Isbahani, al-Hasan ibn `Ali ibn Zakariyya told me, Abu `Uthman al-Mazini told us, al-Asma'i told us:

  The tufayli [party-crasher] enters a party uninvited. The word is derived from the root tafala, which refers to the encroaching darkness of nighttime upon the day.

  It is implied that the tufayli brings darkness upon the party, for the rest do not know who invited him, or how he got in.

  8

  Al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Ja`far al-Rafiqi told us in his book, `Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sari alHamdani told us, Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Muqri' told us, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim ibn Khallad told us, al-Asma'i told us:

  Someone called a tufayli goes to banquets uninvited. They are named after Tufayl, a man from Kufa of the Bann Ghatafan, who went to banquets uninvited. He was called "Tufayl of the grooms and the brides."'

  9

  The Bedouin Arab calls a party-crasher a ra'ish or a warish, and calls someone who goes to a party of drinkers uninvited a waghil.

  Imru' al-Qays said:

  2. Imru' al-Qays (d. ca. 565) was the pre-Islamic author of some of the most famous works of Arabic poetry, often boasting of his female conquests and his acts of mischief and bravery in the desert.

  10

  `Ali ibn Abu `Ali al-Mu`addal told us, Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Rahim al-Mazini told us, `Ubayd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Bakr al-Tamimi told us, `Abd Allah ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba told us:

  Someone entering a party of feasters uninvited is called a warish, and someone entering a party of drinkers uninvited is called a waghil.

  11

  Al-Hasan ibn `Ali al-Jawhari told us, Abu `Amr Muhammad ibn al-'Abbas al-Kharraz told us, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Qasim ibn Bashshar alAnbari told us:

  He who enters the feast of a party uninvited is called a warish and a warush. The term tufayli is used by the common, and is derived from Tufayl of the Weddings, a man who attended banquets in Kufa uninvited.

  12

  Abu al-Husayn Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahid ibn `Ali al-Bazzaz told us, Muhammad ibn `Imran ibn Musa al-Katib told us, Ahmad ibn `Isa al-Karkhi told us, al-Harith ibn Abi Usama told us, Abu `Uthman al-Mazini told us, Abu `Ubayda related to me:

  A man from the Bann Hilal was staying by a well, called in those days "Abu Musa's well," because Abu Musa was the first to dig in that spot, and the site was therefore named after him. It was a regular campsite for the Arabs.

  So a man of the Banu Hilal was staying there, and his name was Tufayl ibn Zallal. Whenever he heard that some people were having a gathering, he would go there, and he would eat their food. A party-crasher is called a tufayli because of that man.

  13

  Abu `Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Khali' informed us, Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hammad informed us, al-Husayn ibn al-Qasim al-Kawkabi informed us, Ahmad ibn `Ubayd informed us, alAsma'i said:

  The first person who party-crashed (taffala) was "al-Tufayl ibn Zallal." The first person who sneaked food out of a party (zalla) was his father. Party-crashing was named after the son, and sneaking f
ood out was named after his father.;

  14

  Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rizq alBazzaz told us, Abu Ja`far Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn `Umar ibn `Ali ibn Harb al-Ta'i told us, `Ali ibn Harb told us, Sufyan told us on the authority of `Asim ibn Abu al-Nujud,

  or

  Abu al-Husayn `Ali ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd Allah ibn Bashran al-Mu'addal told us a number of times, Muhammad ibn `Amr ibn al-Bakhtari al-Razzaz told us, Sa'dan ibn Nasr ibn Mansur Abu `Uthman al-Bazzaz told us, Sufyan ibn `Uyayna al-Hilali told us on the authority of `Asim, on the authority of Zirr, who said, `Abd Allah said:

  Give lunch to the knowing or the learned, but do not give lunch to the "He's-with-me."

  This is the end of the report of `Ali ibn Harb, but Sa'dan adds, Sufyan said, Abu al-Zara' said, on the authority of Abu al-Ahwas, who said, `Abd Allah said:

  In the days before Islam we called someone invited to a party, who brought someone uninvited along with him, a "He's-with-me."'

  15

  `Ubayd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn `Uthman al-Sayrafi told me, `Ali ibn `Umar ibn Ahmad al-Hafiz told us, Abu Rawq al-Hamadhani told us ibn Basra, Bahr ibn Nasr told us in Mecca, `Abd Allah ibn Wahb told us, and he said, I heard Sufyan al-Thawri said, Abu alZa'ra' told us on the authority of Abu al-Ahwas on the authority of `Abd Allah, and he said:

  In the pre-Islamic time they considered the "He's-with-me," the one who is invited to a feast and is accompanied by another person, as well as the one whose beliefs are loaded on with others'.

  Al-Khatib said:

  This means one who makes his beliefs conform to those of other men without looking at the evidence or seeking proof. It is derived from the saddle load that hangs on a horse, for likewise this man hangs the issues of his beliefs on others, relying on imitation rather than striving in his own mind.

  19

  Al-Hasan ibn Abu Bakr told us, `Abd al-Malik ibn alHasan al-Mu'addal told us, Abu Yusuf al-Qadi told us, Sulayman ibn Harb told us, Hammad ibn Salama told us on the authority of Thabit, on the authority of Anas: