Page:The Luzumiyat of Abu'l-Ala.djvu/106

 that he anticipated Darwin's theory of evolution. And it is remarkable how the fancy of the poet sometimes coincides with the logical conclusions of the scientist.

"Iblis," the devil.

"Rabbi," my lord God.

This quatrain is quoted by many of the Biographers of Abu'l-Ala to prove that he is a materialist. Which argument is easily refuted, however, with othersother [sic] quatrains taken at random from the Luzumiyat.

Omar was also a confessed cynical-hypocrite. Thus runs the first line of the 114th quatrain of Heron-Allen's:

And he also chafes in the chains of his sins. Following is the 23d quatrain of the same translation:

Abu'l-Ala, in a quatrain which I did not translate, goes even farther in his questioning perplexity.