Lessonsal-Ḥārith ibn Ḥillizah: Covenant, Tribal Liability and Royal Testimony — Conclusion (verses 68–82)Quiz

عَنَنًا بَاطِلًا وَظُلْمًا كَمَا تَعْتَرُ عَنْ حُجْرَةِ الرَّبِيضِ الظِّبَاءُ
Translation: You objected to us baselessly and unjustly, like gazelles passing beyond the boundary of their resting enclosure.

The commentary glosses ʿananan as an objection or interference. Bāṭilan wa-ẓulman condemns it as groundless and unjust. Ḥujrah marks an enclosure or boundary; rabīḍ is a resting place for animals; ẓibāʾ is the plural of gazelle.

The phrase kamā introduces an animal image. Its rhetorical purpose is to suggest a crossing of proper limits, not to offer a scientific description of gazelle behaviour.

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Verse 69: Baseless objection and the gazelle simile

al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥillizah: Covenant, Tribal Liability and Royal Testimony — Conclusion (verses 68–82)

عَنَنًا بَاطِلًا وَظُلْمًا كَمَا تَعْتَرُ عَنْ حُجْرَةِ الرَّبِيضِ الظِّبَاءُ
Translation: You objected to us baselessly and unjustly, like gazelles passing beyond the boundary of their resting enclosure.

The commentary glosses ʿananan as an objection or interference. Bāṭilan wa-ẓulman condemns it as groundless and unjust. Ḥujrah marks an enclosure or boundary; rabīḍ is a resting place for animals; ẓibāʾ is the plural of gazelle.

The phrase kamā introduces an animal image. Its rhetorical purpose is to suggest a crossing of proper limits, not to offer a scientific description of gazelle behaviour.