هَلْ نَحْنُ لِابْنِ هِنْدٍ رِعَاءُ
Are we herdsmen serving Ibn Hind?
Hal is interrogative, naḥnu the subject of the nominal clause, riʿāʾ its predicate, and li-bni Hind indicates the relationship being challenged. The poet does not expect neutral information.
The interrogative form performs rhetorical denial: to frame the tribe as mere herdsmen would be degrading, and the question rejects that claim.
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al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥillizah: Failed Refuge, Royal Power, Tribal Assembly and Mirage (verses 37–46)
هَلْ نَحْنُ لِابْنِ هِنْدٍ رِعَاءُ
Are we herdsmen serving Ibn Hind?
Hal is interrogative, naḥnu the subject of the nominal clause, riʿāʾ its predicate, and li-bni Hind indicates the relationship being challenged. The poet does not expect neutral information.
The interrogative form performs rhetorical denial: to frame the tribe as mere herdsmen would be degrading, and the question rejects that claim.