Guidance for Perceiving Minds — Page 7
7 reminded me of the fights, brawls, and brutality that were charac- teristic of the days of Pharaoh. I express this not as one filled with regret, for superiority belongs to the one who took the initiative. I had hoped that your friendship would ease my anxiety and the support of your host would alleviate my grief. Unfortunately, my expectations were misplaced, and my intuition proved wrong. Instead of your com- forting presence, I felt the opposite. This serves as an illustration of some of your qualities, and from it, I have learned that this land is one from which the flames of pride and arrogance do not subside, continuing to rage to this day. May Allah have mercy on Moses as ; why did he depart without its destruction? The crux of the matter is that you accused my book of being riddled with omissions and errors yet failed to provide any evi- dence from grammarians or writers. Thus, I turn to Allah to lament this injustice and slander on your part, for you have shown baseless animosity and resentment towards me. Have you made the language with which you communicate with your daughters and wives the standard of correctness? Without even perusing my book, you attributed mistakes to its vocabulary, composition, styles, and methods. You have incurred the displeasure of [God] the Reckoner and showed no fear of His punishment. You attributed to others falsehood and error. You corrupted people succumbing to the insidious whis- pers of Satan. You claimed that the book is rife with reprehensible mistakes, alleging affectation and weakness in its rhyme, lacking in ornate words and wit, and has the deficiency of non-Arab for- eigners. I believed you to be a beloved that grants me tranquillity like the morning breeze. Instead, you emerged as an adversary