In this Assembly Al Ḥârith arrives in the town of Ṣan‘â in Yemen, in great poverty; and, while seeking relief, encounters a crowd, which is gathered about a preacher. The discourse is a stern warning against self-indulgence, and an exhortation to repentance. Ḥârith, wishing to learn who the preacher is, follows him to a cave, and there finds him enjoying himself with good food, and even with wine. He begins to rebuke him, but the preacher, throwing off dis­guise, extemporizes some lines, confessing that his preaching was only a device to obtain charity. Ḥârith asks the attendant the name of the preacher, and is told that he is Abû Zayd, of Serûj. This As­sembly is placed first because in it Ḥârith is represented as un­acquainted with Abû Zayd, though the first Assembly composed by Ḥarîri is said to be that called Al Ḥarâmîyeh, which is placed forty-eighth in the collection.

Al Ḥârith, son of Hammâm, related:—When I mounted the hump of exile, and misery removed me from my fellows, the shocks of the time cast me to San‘â of Yemen.—And I entered it with wallets empty, manifest in my need; I had not a meal; I found not in my sack a mouthful.—Then began I to traverse its ways like one crazed, and to roam in its depths as roams the thirsting bird.—And wherever ranged my glances, wherever ran my goings at morn or even,—I sought some generous man before whom I might fray the tissue of my countenance, to whom I might be open concerning my need;—Or one well bred, whose aspect might dispel my pain, whose anecdote might relieve my thirsting.— Until the close of my circuit brought me, and the over­ture of courtesy guided me, to a wide place of concourse, in which was a throng and a wailing.—Then I entered the thicket of the crowd to explore what was drawing forth tears.—And I saw in the middle of the ring a person slender of make;—Upon him was the equipment of pilgrimage, and he had the voice of lamentation.— And he was studding cadences with the jewels of his wording, and striking hearings with the reproofs of his admonition.—And now the medley of the crowds had surrounded him, as the halo surrounds the moon, or the shell the fruit.—So I crept towards him, that I might catch of his profitable sayings, and gather up of his gems.—And I heard him say, as he coursed along in his career, and the throat of his improvisation made utterance:—

O thou reckless in petulance, trailing the garment of vanity! O thou headstrong in follies, turning aside to idle tales!—How long wilt thou persevere in thine error, and eat sweetly of the pasture of thy wrong?— How far wilt thou be extreme in thy pride, and not abstain from thy wantonness?—Thou provokest by thy rebellion the Master of thy forelock; in the foulness of thy behaving thou goest boldly against the Knower of thy secret.—Thou hidest thyself from thy neighbour, but thou art in the sight of thy Watcher; thou conceal-est from thy slave, but no hidden thing is hidden from thy Ruler.—Thinkest thou that thy state will profit thee when thy departure draweth near? or that thy wealth will deliver thee when thy deeds destroy thee? or that thy repentance will suffice for thee when thy foot slip-peth? or that thy kindred will lean to thee in the day that thy judgment place gathereth thee?—How is it thou hast not walked in the high-road of guidance, and hastened the treatment of thy disease, and blunted the edge of thine iniquity, and restrained thyself—thy chief enemy? Is not death thy doom? What then is thy preparation? Is not grey hair thy warning? What then is thy excuse? And in the grave’s niche thy sleeping place? What dost thou say? And to God thy going? and who shall be thy defender?—Oft hath the time awakened thee, but thou hast set thyself to slumber; and admonition hath drawn thee, but thou hast strained against it; and warnings have been mani­fest to thee, but thou hast made thyself blind; and truth hath been established to thee, but thou hast dis­puted it; and death hath bid thee remember, but thou hast sought to forget; and it hath been in thy power to impart of good, but thou hast not imparted.—Thou preferrest money which thou mayest hoard before piety which thou mayest keep in mind: thou choosest a castle thou mayest rear rather than bounty thou mayest con­fer.—Thou inclinest from the guide from whom thou mightest get guidance, to the pelf thou mayest gain as a gift; thou lettest the love of the raiment thou covetest overcome the recompence thou mightest earn.—The rubies of gifts cling to thy heart more than the seasons of prayer; and the heightening of dowries is preferred with thee to continuance in almsgivings.—The dishes of many meats are more desired of thee than the leaves of doctrines: the jesting of comrades is more cheerful to thee than the reading of the Koran.—Thou commandest to righteousness, but violatest its sanctuary: thou for-biddest from deceit, but refrainest not thyself: thou turnest men from oppression, and then thou drawest near to it; thou fearest mankind, but God is more worthy that thou shouldest fear him. Then he recited—

Woe to him who seeks the world, and turns to it his careering:

And recovers not from his greediness for it, and the excess of his love.

Oh, if he were wise, but a drop of what he seeks would content him.

Then he laid his dust, and let his spittle subside; and put his bottle on his arm, and his staff under his arm­pit.—And when the company gazed on his uprising, and saw that he equipped himself to move away from the midst—Each of them put his hand into his bosom, and filled for him a bucket from his stream:—And said, “Use this for thy spending, or divide it among thy friends.”—And he received it with half-closed eyes, and turned away from them, giving thanks;—And began to take leave of whoever would escort him, that his road might be hidden from them; and to dismiss whoever would follow him, that his dwelling might be un­known.—Said Al Ḥârith, son of Hammân: Now I went after him, concealing from him my person; and followed on his track from where he could not see me;— Until he came to a cave, and slipped into it suddenly.— So I waited for him till he put off his sandals and washed his feet, and then I ran in upon him;—And found him sitting opposite an attendant, at some white bread and a roast kid, and over against them was a jar of date wine.—And I said to him, “Sirrah, was that thy story, and is this thy reality?”—But he puffed the puff of heat and went near to burst with rage; and ceased not to stare at me till I thought he would leap upon me.—But when his fire was allayed, and his flame hid itself, he recited:—

I don the black robe to seek my meal, and I fix my hook in the hardest prey:

And of my preaching I make a noose, and steal with it against the chaser and the chased.

Fortune has forced me to make way even to the lion of the thicket by the subtlety of my beguiling.

Yet do I not fear its change, nor does my loin quiver at it:

Nor does a covetous mind lead me to water at any well that will soil my honour.

Now if Fortune were just in its decree it would not empower the worthless with authority.

Then he said to me, “Come and eat; or, if thou wilt, rise and tell.”—But I turned to his attendant, and said, “I conjure thee, by Him through whom harm is depre­cated, that thou tell me who is this.”—He said, “This is Abû Zayd, of Serûj, the Light of Foreigners, the Crown of the Learned.”—Then I turned back to whence I came, and was extreme in wonder at what I saw.