A Poem on Protecting Knowledge
Abu al-Hasan Abd al-Aziz
al-Jurjani said:
They say to me that you are
withdrawn,
but they saw a man even more
humiliated and withdrawn.
I saw a people who belittled any
humble soul who drew near to them;
anyone who was exalted by pride
they received with honour.
I gave not knowledge its due,
and every time a craving for the
world came to me,
I used my knowledge as a
staircase to attain it.
When it was said, “This is a
fountain.” I said, “I see.”
But the unfettered soul will
[foolishly] endure thirst.
I strove not in the service of
knowledge,
nor as a servant of the needy
souls I met.
I sought, instead, to be served.
Am I to be made wretched by the
seedling I planted,
harvesting only humiliation?
If this is so, it would have been
better to have sought ignorance!
If only the people of knowledge
had protected it,
it would have protected them.
If they had magnified it in their
souls,
they would have been magnified.
To the contrary, they belittled
it,
and thereby became despicable.
They disfigured its face with
their craving for the world,
leaving it frowning and
dejected.
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