Qadi Abd al-Rahman al-Bisani
Qadi ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Bisani, also known as Al-Qadi Al-Fadil, was a poet and writer who lived until 596 AH and was well-known in Egypt. His poetry often included religious intertextuality, with the Holy Qur’an as a prominent source of his culture.
Quotes
لا يكتب إنسان كتابًا في يومه إلا قال في غده: “لو غير هذا لكان أحسن، ولو زيد هذا لكان يستحسن، ولو قدم هذا لكان أفضل، ولو ترك هذا لكان أجمل”. وهذا من أعظم العبر، وهو دليل على استيلاء النقص على جملة البشر.
— من رسالة القاضي عبد الرحمن البيساني، 596 هـ / 1199 م
“No one ever wrote a book without, on the following day, saying, ‘Had such-and-such been changed, it would have been better; had such-and-such been added, it would have been more acceptable; had such-and-such been stated earlier, it would have been preferable; and had such-and-such been omitted, it would have been more elegant.’ Such a phenomenon is one of the great lessons and evidence of the inherent insufficiency of all members of the human race.”
— From a letter by Qadi ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Bisani, 596 A.H. / 1199 A.D.