The Message of Happiness

This is the "message of contentment," and it is - as it appears to its reader - a letter sent by "Abu Al-Ala" to some of his prominent contemporaries, in which he congratulates him on the arrival of the Sultan''s minister, "Shibl al-Dawla"(1), to him, and his coming to him.What we know - upon investigation - about the affairs of these two elders, or the two ministers, or the advisors, is more than what "Abu Al-Ala" revealed to us in confirming this letter, so we realized from its context that both of them were advisors to the Sultan "Shibl al-Dawla," during whose reign "The Epistle of Forgiveness" was composed, as our poet''s statement reflects:And our two professors - may God humiliate their stubbornness in the end - if the Sultan "Cub al-Dawla" was the lion of the stars, they would - inevitably - be his arms, and if the door of mercy was closed, they would open its doors.Kamel Kilani