Moments

This collection of proverbs, sayings, and الحكَم issued in the late eighties of Naima came as the conclusion of all his work before he released his pen and withdrew until his sunset at ninety-nine into what is beyond the appearances of life and death that no pen can reach or speech encompass. Even this collection itself is not a creative work in the usual sense, as if the writer sat at his desk with a certain written work in mind to produce, but it is as its name fully implies, flashes or sparks that shine in the mind like lightning suddenly, hardly flashing before disappearing, so that its owner does not know it, and at that time he may be farthest from pen or paper, how it came and why. And often a single flash, burdened with nine decades, as is the case here with Naima, contains what could occupy an author entirely; like its counterpart lightning, which, once it flashes and goes, causes a downpour of rain. Your enemy is a friend disguised as an enemy. The jailer is a prisoner of his prisoner. How can one who carries filth in his innards be arrogant or overbearing?