al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥillizah: Ḥujr, Royal Kinship and the Dhū al-Majāz Covenant (verses 56–67)

1. From historical advocacy to a peace agreement

Al-Ḥārith is arguing his tribe’s case before a ruler through remembered events. After portraying the adversaries’ earlier campaigns and setbacks, he recalls Ḥujr, Imruʾ al-Qays, al-Jawn and al-Mundhir as part of his account of military service.

The argument then turns to kinship, sincere counsel, ʿAmr ibn Hind and the covenant at Dhū al-Majāz. The progression matters: recollection of strength is followed by an insistence that agreements should be honoured. These are claims made within tribal advocacy, not independently established historical findings.

2. Verse 56: Ḥujr ibn Umm Qaṭām

ثُمَّ حُجْرًا أَعْنِي ابْنَ أُمِّ قَطَامٍ وَلَهُ فَارِسِيَّةٌ خَضْرَاءُ
Meaning: Then [consider] Ḥujr, I mean the son of Umm Qaṭām, who possessed green Persian military equipment.

Thumma Ḥujran introduces another named figure in a sequence of historical claims. Aʿnī is a first-person imperfect verb clarifying whom the speaker means. The commentary associates fārisiyyatun khaḍrāʾ with Persian military armour or equipment, rather than merely an ordinary green garment.

Naming a warrior and describing his equipment lends specificity to the narrative. The colour adds visual force, but does not by itself establish a broader historical conclusion.

3. Verse 57: Lionlike courage and springlike generosity

أَسَدٌ فِي اللِّقَاءِ وَرْدٌ هَمُوسٌ وَرَبِيعٌ إِنْ شَمَّرَتْ غَبْرَاءُ
Meaning: In combat he was like a tawny, soft-footed lion; when a harsh season of scarcity arose, he became like spring to the people.

Asadun conveys courage; wardun describes a reddish or tawny shade and hamūsun soft, subdued movement. In contrast, rabīʿun presents spring as a figure for provision during scarcity.

One man is likened to a lion in battle and to spring in want. The rhetorical contrast balances force with generosity. The expression in shammarat ghabrāʾ evokes a grim year through vivid imagery.

4. Two comparisons and two social roles

The two images in the previous verse should not be flattened into a single compliment. Asadun fī al-liqāʾ suggests steadiness and fearlessness in battle, whereas rabīʿun in shammarat ghabrāʾ suggests bringing relief in hardship.

ImageSettingEffectLionCombatCourage and aweSpringScarcityBenefit and abundance

Wardun hamūsun adds colour and motion to the lion image rather than leaving it as an abstract label.

5. Verse 58: Freeing Imruʾ al-Qays

وَفَكَكْنَا غُلَّ امْرِئِ الْقَيْسِ عَنْهُ بَعْدَ مَا طَالَ حَبْسُهُ وَالْعَنَاءُ
Meaning: We removed Imruʾ al-Qays’s fetter after his confinement and suffering had lasted a long time.

Fakaknā is first-person plural past from f-k-k, “we loosened or freed.” Ghulla is the shackle, the direct object, while ṭāla marks the duration of confinement and distress.

The collective we claims a tribal service. A shared name alone is not enough to identify this Imruʾ al-Qays with the poet of the first Muʿallaqah; the identification should not be imposed without evidence from this source.

6. Verse 59: The contingent associated with al-Jawn

وَمَعَ الْجَوْنِ جَوْنِ آلِ بَنِي الْأَوْسِ عَنُودٌ كَأَنَّهَا دَفْوَاءُ
Meaning: With al-Jawn of the clan of Banū al-Aws was a formidable, resistant force, likened to a solid rising mass of rock.

The repeated al-Jawn identifies the figure through his affiliation with Banū al-Aws. ʿAnūdun suggests stubborn resistance, while dafwāʾ evokes an imposing rounded or elevated mass, as the commentary’s comparison conveys.

Kaʾannahā explicitly introduces a simile. It magnifies the cohesion and apparent strength of an entire fighting body rather than making a literal claim about its physical shape.

7. Verse 60: Battle dust, retreat and the blaze

مَا جَزِعْنَا تَحْتَ الْعَجَاجَةِ إِذْ وَلَّوْا شِلَالًا وَإِذْ تَلَظَّى الصِّلَاءُ
Meaning: We did not lose courage amid battle dust when they turned away in disorder and the heat of combat flared.

Mā jaziʿnā negates a past act: “we did not panic.” Al-ʿajājah is dust, wallaw is turning away, shilālan describes scattered, hurried flight, and talaẓẓā al-ṣilāʾ pictures the battle as a blazing fire.

Dust and flame are sensory battle images. The verse is an emphatic opposition between the speaker’s claimed steadiness and the enemy’s flight, not a complete historical report.

8. Verse 61: Compensation involving the king of Ghassān

وَأَقَدْنَاهُ رَبَّ غَسَّانَ بِالْمُنْذِرِ كَرْهًا إِذْ لَا تُكَالُ الدِّمَاءُ
Meaning: We secured requital involving the king of Ghassān and al-Mundhir despite resistance, at a time when the settling of blood claims was difficult.

Aqadnāhu is associated with securing requital or blood compensation. Karhan signals unwillingness or compulsion. In lā tukālu al-dimāʾ, blood is treated metaphorically as something measured out; the commentary connects this to retaliation and the settling of blood claims.

This is a historical boast made by the poet. It should not be turned into an independent statement of legal rules governing retaliation.

9. Six key expressions in the war narrative

The verbs of these six verses reveal an argumentative sequence: identifying a warrior, describing his courage, freeing a captive, magnifying an army, claiming steadiness and recalling requital.

FormGrammarContextual meaningأَعْنِي1st-person imperfectI meanفَكَكْنَا1st-person plural pastWe freedجَزِعْنَا1st-person plural pastWe panickedتَلَظَّىPast verbFlared up

The negative mā changes mā jaziʿnā to “we did not panic,” a crucial distinction for interpreting the boast.

10. Why the metaphor of measuring blood matters

Idh lā tukālu al-dimāʾ does not describe literally measuring blood like grain. Tukālu is an imperfect passive verb; it places blood in the conceptual position of something accounted for or measured. The commentary links this image to requital and the settlement of blood claims.

The figurative force lies in compressing violent, difficult claims into a scene of measurement. Read the lexical meaning (“to measure out”) alongside the intended sense (“to account for and settle bloodshed”) instead of confusing the two.

11. Verse 62: The nine kings

وَأَتَيْنَاهُمْ بِتِسْعَةِ أَمْلَاكٍ لَكَ كِرَامٍ أَسْلَابُهُمْ أَغْلَاءُ
Meaning: We brought them nine kings, O ruler, men whose captured equipment and spoils were exceedingly valuable.

Tisʿati amlāk is a number-and-counted-noun construction; amlāk is plural of king. Aslābuhum refers to captured personal arms or effects, and aghlāʾ emphasises their value.

The pronoun in laka directs the appeal toward the ruler. The historical count works persuasively inside the poem; independent confirmation of the number would be a separate task.

12. Verse 63: Kinship through ʿAmr ibn Umm Unās

وَوَلَدْنَا عَمْرَو بْنَ أُمِّ أُنَاسٍ مِنْ قَرِيبٍ لَمَّا أَتَانَا الْحِبَاءُ
Meaning: We also acquired close kinship with ʿAmr son of Umm Unās through marriage, when the marriage payment came to us.

Waladnā ʿAmran here serves a boast about lineage and marriage ties, not merely a report of one childbirth. The commentary connects Umm Unās with a marital relationship and al-ḥibāʾ with the payment given in that context.

Lammā atānā is a temporal clause meaning “when it came to us.” The poet is laying a foundation for the argument that kinship should produce sincere political counsel, made explicit next.

13. Verse 64: Kinship as a basis for counsel

مِثْلُهَا تُخْرِجُ النَّصِيحَةَ لِلْقَوْمِ فَلَاةٌ مِنْ دُونِهَا أَفْلَاءُ
Meaning: Such kinship brings forth sincere counsel for the people; without it stretches the barrenness of distance and separation.

Mithluhā points back to the kinship described in verse 63. Al-naṣīḥah is sincere counsel rather than convenient flattery; falāh ... aflāʾ supplies a picture of distance and emptiness.

Kinship is personified as a source from which counsel can be drawn, while the absence of that relationship is conveyed through the language of desolation. This is an argument offered by the poet, not a universally valid rule about every relative.

14. Connecting waladnā with naṣīḥah

Verses 63–64 contain two linked propositions. Waladnā ʿAmran establishes a family tie with the court; mithluhā tukhriju al-naṣīḥah derives the claim that such ties should lead to sincere counsel.

The relationship is not an end in itself. The poet wants the ruler to hear his tribe as concerned kin rather than rebellious outsiders, in the setting of contested reports.

The distinction between counsel and flattery is significant: the first can include unwelcome truth; the second may simply seek approval.

15. Verse 65: Rebuke of arrogance and deliberate blindness

فَاتْرُكُوا الطَّيْخَ وَالتَّعَاشِيَ وَإِمَّا تَتَعَاشَوْا فَفِي التَّعَاشِي الدَّاءُ
Meaning: Leave arrogance and the pretence of blindness; if you persist in wilfully refusing to see, the harm lies in that very conduct.

Fa-trukū is a plural imperative. Al-ṭaykh is pride or insolence; al-taʿāshī refers to pretending not to see, or deliberately disregarding what is evident. It is a metaphor for wilful blindness to facts, not a medical claim.

The conditional wa-immā tataʿāshaw warns that persistence in this posture carries its own harm. The argument now shifts from boasting about military action to admonition about conduct and judgment.

16. Verse 66: The covenant at Dhū al-Majāz

وَاذْكُرُوا حِلْفَ ذِي الْمَجَازِ وَمَا قُدِّمَ فِيهِ الْعُهُودُ وَالْكُفَلَاءُ
Meaning: Remember the alliance of Dhū al-Majāz, where covenants were made and guarantors stood behind them.

Udhkurū is the plural imperative “remember.” Ḥilf means a covenant or alliance; Dhū al-Majāz is the named setting; ʿuhūd are undertakings and kufalāʾ guarantors.

The commentary associates this agreement with reconciliation and pledged sureties. The poet now seeks to move the argument beyond remembered warfare toward mutually acknowledged obligations, rather than a decision made merely from anger or accusation.

17. Verse 67: Documents against shifting desires

حَذَرَ الْجَوْرِ وَالتَّعَدِّي وَهَلْ يَنْقُضُ مَا فِي الْمَهَارِقِ الْأَهْوَاءُ
Meaning: The covenant was made to guard against injustice and aggression; can personal wishes undo what has been written in the documents?

Ḥadhara al-jawri wa-l-taʿaddī gives the purpose: prevention of injustice and overstepping. Al-mahāriq are written sheets or documents, and al-ahwāʾ are whims or partisan desires.

The question hal yanquḍu ... al-ahwāʾ is rhetorical: private wishes should not simply annul a solemn agreement. The contrast between recorded obligations and changeable desires is the ethical climax of this section.

18. Four central terms of the covenant

Verses 65–67 rest on a cluster of terms. Without distinguishing them, the lines may look like a generic moral sermon, whereas they recall a specific agreement and the obligations surrounding it.

TermMeaningFunctionḤilfAllianceBasis of settlementʿUhūdCovenantsBinding promisesKufalāʾGuarantorsSupport for fulfilmentMahāriqWritten sheetsRecord of obligations

The promise and the guarantor are not synonyms: one is an obligation, the other the party undertaking to secure it.

19. Morphology of command, condition and negation

Verb form shapes the rhetorical force of this passage. Fa-trukū and udhkurū demand action; tataʿāshaw belongs to a conditional warning; yanquḍu is the imperfect verb in a question about annulling a covenant.

FormMorphologyFunctionFa-trukūPlural imperativeDemand to desistUdhkurūPlural imperativeRecall the agreementTataʿāshawPlural imperfect, conditionalWarn of a consequenceYanquḍuSingular imperfectQuestion invalidation

20. Syntax of hal yanquḍu ... al-ahwāʾ

وَهَلْ يَنْقُضُ مَا فِي الْمَهَارِقِ الْأَهْوَاءُ
Can desires undo what is in the written documents?

Hal introduces a question; yanquḍu is the imperfect verb; mā fī al-mahāriq is its object; and al-ahwāʾu is the delayed grammatical subject. This order matters: the alleged actor is desire, while the thing allegedly undone is the written covenant.

The interrogative carries a negative, argumentative force rather than a neutral request for information.

21. Narrative, evidence and moral conclusion

The sequence has three distinct stages. First, remembered episodes involving Ḥujr, al-Jawn, Imruʾ al-Qays and al-Mundhir are used to show earlier services. Second, kinship through ʿAmr ibn Umm Unās is offered as a ground for sincere counsel. Third, the covenant of Dhū al-Majāz is invoked to insist on recorded commitments.

The persuasive movement is we served → we are connected → we are bound by an agreement. The literary function of each claim can be analysed without treating every remembered episode as already proven history.

22. Careful reading of difficult historical terms

Terms such as salab, qawad, ḥilf, kufalāʾ and mahāriq belong to an earlier social and military setting. Their contextual senses must be established before importing contemporary legal or political meanings.

Ḥujr ibn Umm Qaṭām and ʿAmr ibn Umm Unās are named persons, while Dhū al-Majāz is the named location of the covenant. The poem’s advocacy is not identical to later legal doctrine; no unmentioned rulings need to be inserted.

The poet’s argument is that claims of strength and kinship should be matched by recognition of solemn pledges.

23. Lesson synthesis: from battle to covenant

These twelve verses develop one case on several levels: named fighters and battles, the freeing of a captive and claims of requital, royal kinship, then an appeal to sincere counsel and a settled agreement.

Asad / rabīʿ contrasts courage with generosity; lā tukālu al-dimāʾ uses figurative measurement for blood claims; al-taʿāshī rebukes wilful refusal to see; and hal yanquḍu ... al-ahwāʾ rejects the power of whim to dissolve a covenant.

The next passage will develop accusations and reciprocal obligations between the tribes against that background.

24. Names, lineage and descriptive syntax

In Ḥujran aʿnī ibna Umm Qaṭām, a person is first named and then clarified with aʿnī, “I mean.” Ibna is accusative, followed by a genitive construction identifying his mother. This is a genealogical identification, not a place-name.

Asadun fī al-liqāʾ functions as a figurative description: the warrior is not literally a lion. In fārisiyyatun khaḍrāʾ, noun and adjective are both feminine.

These details distinguish clarification of identity in one verse from metaphorical characterization in the next.

25. Numerals and broken plurals

In bi-tisʿati amlāk, tisʿah is the number and amlāk is the counted noun, the broken plural of malik (king). The passage refers to nine rulers, not nine places or armies.

The same page contains useful plural forms such as aslāb, ʿuhūd, kufalāʾ and ahwāʾ. Recognising their singular roots improves reading fluency:

SingularPluralMeaningMalikAmlākKingSalabAslābCaptured equipmentʿAhdʿUhūdCovenantKafīlKufalāʾGuarantor