nslation of the Latin is:

Concerning the legitimate and lawful use of the drink commonly
known as cafe by Abdalcader Ben Mohammed al Ansari. The book is
composed in seven chapters and was brought out by the author in the
year of the Hegira 996 at which time a hundred and twenty years had
passed since the use of this drink had become firmly established in
Arabia Felix.

_Coffee in Poetry_

The Abd-al-Kadir work immortalized coffee. It is in seven chapters. The
first treats of the etymology and significance of the word cahouah
(kahwa), the nature and properties of the bean, where the drink was
first used, and describes its virtues. The other chapters have to do
largely with the church dispute in Mecca in 1511, answer the religious
objectors to coffee, and conclude with a collection of Arabic verses
composed during the Mecca controversy by the best poets of the time.

De Nointel, ambassador from the court of Louis XIV to the Ottoman Porte,
brought back with him to Paris from Constantinople the Abd-al-Kadir
manuscript, and another by Bichivili, one of the three general
treasurers of the Ottoman Empire. The latter work is of a later date
than the Abd-al-Kadir manuscript, and is concerned chiefly with the
history of the introduction of coffee into Egypt, Syria, Damascus,
Aleppo, and Constantinople.

The following are two of the earliest Arabic poems in praise of coffee.
They are about the period of the first coffee persecution in Mecca
(1511), and are typical of the best thought of the day:

IN PRAISE OF COFFEE

_Translation from the Arabic_

O Coffee! Thou dost dispel all cares, thou art the object of desire
to the scholar.

This is the beverage of the friends of God; it gives health to
those in its service who strive after wisdom.

Prepared from the simple shell of the berry, it has the odor of
musk and the color of ink.

The intelligent man who empties these cups of foaming coffee, he
alone knows truth.

May God deprive of this drink the foolish man who condemns it with
incurable obstinacy.

Coffee is our gold. Wherever it is served, one enjoys the society
of the noblest and most generous men.

O drink! As harmless as pure milk, which differs from it only in
its blackness.

Here is another, rhymed version of the same poem:

IN PRAISE OF COFFEE

_Translation from the Arabic_

O coffee! Do