Al-Ma’arri’s satirical poetry reimagined for today's readers
Recent books from Yemen, Egypt, and Syria take a new look at the 10th-century philosopher’s famed letter 'The Epistle of Forgiveness', which is said to have inspired Dante’s 'Divine Comedy'
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Al-Ma'arri in his residence as depicted in a 1965 book
Al-Ma’arri’s satirical poetry reimagined for today's readers
Abu al-Ala al-Ma’arri, who was born in the latter half of the 10th century, was a Syrian philosopher, poet, and writer known for his anti-religious or atheistic views. Blinded by smallpox at a young age, he moved from Aleppo to Tripoli, Antioch, and Baghdad before returning to Syria. As a rationalist, he rejected superstition and dogma.
Writing over 1,000 years ago, his texts are key works of Arab literary heritage, and today's scholars want to make them accessible to new generations, offering them in simplified formats and contemporary language.
Among the most prominent works of al-Ma’arri (973–1057) are Saqt az-Zand (The Tinder Spark), his first collection of poetry, Luzumiyyat (Unnecessary Necessity), his second collection, and Risalat al-Ghufran (The Epistle of Forgiveness), a satirical work written in 1033 that may have influenced Dante’s Divine Comedy. An epistle is a letter.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of books have been written about al-Ma’arri and his works, but recently three books have been published presenting abridged versions or selected passages from al-Ma’arri’s celebrated text. Here, Al Majalla assesses them.
The cover of "The Comedy of Forgiveness" by Habib Abdul Rab Saruri
Habib Abd al-Rabb Sururi
Yemeni novelist and academic Habib Abd al-Rabb Sururi has published a book titled The Comedy of Forgiveness through UAE-based Al Muḥeeṭ Publishing. It offers abridged summaries of al-Ma’arri’s Risālat al-Ghufrān and Dante’s Divine Comedy, comparing the two. Both share a visionary premise, and both authors assume a transcendental role, delineating the nature of the afterlife by depicting heaven and hell, populating them with chosen characters.
Al-Ma’arri “recounts the lives of people in the hereafter”, inventing stories and events as he pleases. His narrator “meets the Devil and a diverse host of humans and mythical beings, chiefly towering figures from literature, mythology, religion, and politics.” Through this, he conveys his views on major metaphysical concepts such as forgiveness, intercession, repentance, paradise and punishment.
Sururi’s aim is to get school students to engage with al-Ma’arri’s texts, so he presents the work in “a concise, classroom-friendly format” that does not replace the original but significantly reduces its lengthy digressions and abundant citations. He also replaces many of the more archaic terms (whose meanings would otherwise need to be explained) with modern equivalents, or embeds their meanings directly into the text, sparing readers the need to keep translating.
Regarding Dante (1265–1321) and his Divine Comedy, Sururi says he relied chiefly on the modern translation by the Iraqi poet and translator Kazim Jihad, describing it as “rich in scholarly notes and a comprehensive critical introduction”. He also drew upon the way French school curricula present selected extracts from Divine Comedy in “streamlined, accessible form”.
Writing over 1,000 years ago, al-Ma'arri's texts are key works of Arab literary heritage, and scholars now want to make them accessible to new generations
Sururi concludes that while Dante and al-Ma'arri are "fundamentally divergent figures, they are occasionally brought together by a shared method, necessitated by the nature of their journeys into the afterlife and their yearning to hear the confessions of its inhabitants, as well as their occasional convergence in views on human nature".
He offers a concise biography of al-Ma'arri, along with selected philosophical reflections. Saruri argues that understanding Risalat al-Ghufran requires acquaintance with al-Ma'arri's philosophy and worldview. His detailed reading of the text, supported by generous excerpts, reveals numerous stylistic and structural elements, noting that the concept of forgiveness represents "a central obsession".
Sururi follows al-Ma'arri's descriptions of paradise—its tiers, pleasures, and varieties—as well as its counterpoints in hell, and highlights the dual narrative voices. With his extensive introductions, examination of al-Ma'arri's life and philosophy, and comparison with the Divine Comedy, this work goes well beyond his stated aim of offering a simplified and accessible version of Risalat al-Ghufran.
The cover of "Selections from the Epistle of Forgiveness" by Ahmed Ragab Shaltout
Ahmed Rajab Shaltout
Egyptian writer Ahmed Rajab Shaltout offers Selections from Risālat al-Ghufrān to help revive interest in al-Ma'arri. Published by the Arab Press Agency in Cairo, it chooses passages and anecdotes from the original text, accompanied by footnotes explaining archaic vocabulary.
Shaltout introduces readers to al-Ma'arri's intellectual stature in Arab culture, highlighting his ideas, including his request for the inscription on his grave: "This wrong was by my father done to me, but never by me to anyone"—a reference to his view that his father, by marrying, "condemned him to life in this world".
Shaltout says al-Ma'arri was "possessed of prodigious memory and extraordinary comprehension", noting how he dictated Risalat al-Ghufran at the age of 60. Shaltout says Dante's Divine Comedy is "almost a replica of (Risalat al-Ghufran) both in concept and detail". He also points to the influence of Risalat al-Ghufran on English poet John Milton and his iconic poem Paradise Lost.
Shaltout further notes that al-Ma'arri's imagery of paradise is drawn from the Qur'an and the story of the Prophet's Night Journey and Ascension (Isra and Mi'raj), an important observation often overlooked when discussing the structural inspirations behind the work.
The cover of "The Epistle of Forgiveness" edited by Farhan Balbal
Farhan Bulbul
Syrian 20th-century writer Farhan Bulbul, who died earlier this year, published what he called "a contemporary rendering of al-Ma'arri's text" in a volume released by Mamdouh Adwan Publishing in Damascus.
This version reflects Bulbul's command of modern Arabic, though it still contains some terms unfamiliar to today's readers, such as using "al-raḥ" (an archaic term meaning 'wine'). Bulbul explained that he replaced "obsolete and unfamiliar words with common, accessible vocabulary, while taking great care to preserve al-Ma'arri's sentence structures and his marvellous metaphors, which reflect a fertile imagination".
He restructured some phrases and sentences to "strip away the affected complexity that once served as a marker of eloquence and rhetorical prowess, recasting them into simple expressions that reflect today's standards of clarity and fluency". He emphasised that none of this compromised the stylistic identity of either al-Ma'arri or Ibn al-Qārih. Bulbul considered his effort an extension of what Kamal Keilany began in the 1930s.
He notes that Risālat al-Ghufrān consists of two parts. "The first is a journey through heaven and hell, the second is a series of commentaries on Ibn al-Qāriḥ's letter, addressing linguistic, poetic, and historical issues."
A bust of the poet and philosopher Abu al-Ala al-Ma'arri
Revered literary figure
Despite the opposition he faced from Salafists at that time, al-Ma'arri has continued to enjoy profound respect within Arab cultural circles for the past century or so. Egyptian writer Taha Hussein, a leading 20th-century figure in the Arab Renaissance, was among al-Ma'arri's fans. Hussein—a leading Arab intellectual who was also blind—was already teaching al-Ma'arri's works at university and had authored three books on him, in which Hussein "translated" (as he put it) some of al-Ma'arri's ideas to a modern audience.
Aisha Abd al-Rahman, a student of Taha Hussein, produced a landmark scholarly edition of Risalat al-Ghufran in 1950. This followed an earlier edition by Ibrahim al-Yaziji, whose second edition was published in Cairo in 1907. These are part of a long-standing effort to summarise and elucidate this important work, which was, for a time, part of the secondary school curriculum in countries like Egypt and Tunisia (the latter removed it from the syllabus three years ago).
In one book, Taha Hussein described al-Ma'arri as "a deeply philosophical thinker, sincere in his contemplation of life and living beings, wary of himself and doubtful of his own opinions, an indication of humility and self-awareness... He was also mistrustful of others yet remained affectionate and compassionate towards them".
Hussein argued that people are right to love and admire al-Ma'arri "not out of vanity or pride in a distant past or a revered heritage—matters which al-Ma'arri himself gave little regard—but through engaging with his works, understanding them and subjecting them to critical reading". He concluded that whether we accept his views or not is of little importance, for life "is in constant flux, intellect in continuous progress, and human beings, no matter how proud, remain humbled before the truth".
