The Complete Works of Amin Nakhla - 5 Volumes

Author Name: Amin Nakhla

Poetic Works 3 Parts - Poetic and Legal Works

Amin Nakhla was both a creative poet and a great writer. He possessed a balanced scale of literature, with one pan for poetry and another for prose. Anyone examining Amin Nakhla's literature would find that he paints with words, a truly creative artist. Didn't the great poet Nizar Qabbani have a book titled "Painting with Words"? And it was said in ancient times: "Poetry is like painting," and Al-Jahiz said in his book "Al-Hayawan": "Poetry is a formulation and a kind of depiction." Amin Nakhla, distinguishing Lebanese poetry from others, says: "Oh, so-and-so: when it comes to poetry, beware of the Lebanese! These people are molded from the substance of poetry; their hearts are shaped from its weave, and their thoughts are woven with its imagination. They have mountains and seas, temperate seasons, skies and clouds and basins, and high winds that catch the tops of trees." Amin Nakhla's literature is a literature of clarity and vibrant color in the creation of beauty, and he defines literature thus: "Indeed, literature is an effort for truth, and an infatuation with beauty, where the darkness of eternities falls a thousand times upon the artistic creation, steeped in the colors of passion and toil, yet it remains safe and sound, untouched by night, for what is good remains good in every era, and what is trivial remains forever trivial."

This epistle consists of two parts: the first, the Tale of Forgiveness, and the second, the Reply to Ibn al-Qarih. Abu al-Ala began this epistle with a description of Ibn al-Qarih's epistle. The Tale of Forgiveness is divided into six chapters: Chapter One - In Paradise, Chapter Two - The Scene of the Gathering, Chapter Three - A Return to the Mention of Paradise, Chapter Four - The Paradise of Jinn, Chapter Five - Hell, Chapter Six - A Return to Paradise.