[534] Cf. Díwán (ed. of Beyrout, 1886), p. 279, l. 9, where he reproaches one of his former friends who deserted him because, in his own words, "I adopted the garb of a dervish" (ṣirtu fi ziyyi miskíni). Others attribute his conversion to disgust with the immorality and profanity of the court-poets amongst whom he lived.
[535] Possibly he alludes to these aspersions in the verse (ibid., p. 153, l. 10): "Men have become corrupted, and if they see any one who is sound in his religion, they call him a heretic" (mubtadi‘).
[536] Abu ’l-‘Atáhiya declares that knowledge is derived from three sources, logical reasoning (qiyás), examination (‘iyár), and oral tradition (samá‘). See his Díwán, p. 158, l. 11.
[537] Cf. Mání, seine Lehre und seine Schriften, by G. Flügel, p. 281, l. 3 sqq. Abu ’l-‘Atáhiya did not take this extreme view (Díwán, p. 270, l. 3 seq.).
[538] See Shahrastání, Haarbrücker's translation, Part I, p. 181 sqq. It appears highly improbable that Abu ’l-‘Atáhiya was a Shí‘ite. Cf. the verses (Díwán, p. 104, l. 13 seq.), where, speaking of the prophets and the holy men of ancient Islam, he says:—
"Reckon first among them Abú Bakr, the veracious, And exclaim 'O ‘Umar!' in the second place of honour. And reckon the father of Ḥasan after ‘Uthmán, For the merit of them both is recited and celebrated."
[539] Aghání, iii, 128, l. 6 sqq.
[540] Transactions of the Ninth Congress of Orientalists, vol. ii. p. 114.
[541] Díwán, p. 274, l. 10. Cf. the verse (p. 199, penultimate line):—
"When I gained contentment, I did not cease (thereafter) To be a king, regarding riches as poverty."