al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥillizah: Royal Praise, Tribal Disputes and Memories of War (verses 27–36)

1. From accusation to an argument at court

The preceding verses protested accusations against the poet’s tribe. The argument now turns to a ruler’s justice, the settlement of disputes and the memory of earlier warfare. Praise of the king serves a persuasive purpose: if he is impartial, the poet’s community should receive a fair hearing.

The passage first praises royal authority, then challenges the opposition to submit a case, contrasts investigation with silence, and finally recalls past raids. The verses present one party’s case in a tribal dispute, not an independent historical verdict.

2. Verse 27: lineage and the cavalry image

إِرَمِيٌّ بِمِثْلِهِ جَالَتِ الْخَيْلُ وَتَأْبَى لِخَصْمِهَا الْإِجْلَاءُ
Meaning: He is of the line of Iram; cavalry move around a man of such standing, and the cavalry refuse to be driven from their homeland by their opponent.

Iramī is a lineage adjective: Iram is named as an ancestor in the line of ʿĀd. Jālat al-khayl evokes cavalry circling or moving in battle; al-ijlāʾ means expulsion or forcing an opponent to retreat.

The genealogical claim and the cavalry image enhance the ruler’s stature. The scene is a literary expression of power, not a literal description of a stable or a troop count.

3. Iramī and al-ijlāʾ: morphology and vocabulary

Iramī is a nisbah adjective formed with the suffix -iyy. Bi-mithlihi is a prepositional phrase comparing the praised figure to an equal. Jālat is a feminine singular past verb used with the collective noun al-khayl.

Al-ijlāʾ is a verbal noun associated with removal or expulsion. In this context it contributes to the poet’s picture of military confrontation and authority.

4. Verse 28: a just ruler

مَلِكٌ مُقْسِطٌ وَأَفْضَلُ مَنْ يَمْشِي وَمَنْ دُونَ مَا لَدَيْهِ الثَّنَاءُ
Meaning: He is a just ruler, the most distinguished among people; praise itself falls short of his qualities.

Malik muqsiṭ means a ruler acting justly; muqsiṭ has the positive sense of fairness. Afḍalu man yamshī is a superlative expression. The closing phrase suggests that commendation cannot fully equal the ruler’s virtues.

This praise prepares for the coming appeal: the speaker invokes the integrity of the authority before whom the dispute is placed.

5. The distinction between muqsiṭ and qāsiṭ

Muqsiṭ is the active participle of aqsaṭa and means someone who acts justly. By contrast, qāsiṭ is used for someone who deviates from justice. The two similar forms thus carry different moral senses.

Afḍal is the comparative/superlative form; man yamshī is a relative construction. Their function is to heighten praise, not to record a measurable historical ranking.

6. Verse 29: an invitation to submit the case

أَيَّمَا خُطَّةٍ أَرَدْتُمْ فَأَدُّوهَا إِلَيْنَا تُشْفَى بِهَا الْأَمْلَاءُ
Meaning: Whatever dispute or case you wish to raise, bring it before us; through it the groups of leading men may find a resolution.

Ayyamā khuṭṭah has a general conditional sense: any matter or dispute. Fa-addūhā ilaynā invites the opponents to bring it forward. Al-amlāʾ here refers to distinguished groups or leading men, not the everyday term for dictation.

Rather than advancing directly to battle, the poet proposes that the disagreement be stated and considered.

7. Khuṭṭah, amlāʾ and tushfā: the language of remedy

Khuṭṭah denotes a case, issue or plan requiring resolution. Tushfā belongs to the language of healing, here transferred to the healing of a dispute: a sound judgment becomes a remedy.

The imperative fa-addūhā follows ayyamā, and the pronoun -hā refers to khuṭṭah. The syntax thus links a general invitation to a concrete action.

8. Verse 30: reopening buried conflicts

إِنْ نَبَشْتُمْ مَا بَيْنَ مِلْحَةَ فَالصَّاقِبِ فِيهِ الْأَمْوَاتُ وَالْأَحْيَاءُ
Meaning: If you reopen the old conflicts between Milḥah and al-Ṣāqib, they concern both the dead and the living.

Nabashtum literally evokes digging up something buried; it is applied to reopening old quarrels. Milḥah and al-Ṣāqib are place names rather than common nouns to be translated literally.

The antithesis the dead and the living makes the afterlife of a conflict visible: disputes concern those who fell and those who must continue living with their consequences.

9. Nabashtum and the memory of conflict

The root of nabashtum is n-b-sh, “to dig up.” The verb is second-person plural past following conditional in. The phrase between Milḥah and al-Ṣāqib is a historical geographical reference; the text does not warrant fixing a precise modern location.

The image of excavation is pointed: reopening the past means returning to a dispute marked by actual loss of life.

10. Verse 31: investigation can injure or vindicate

أَوْ نَقَشْتُمْ فَالنَّقْشُ يَجْشَمُهُ النَّاسُ وَفِيهِ الْإِسْقَامُ وَالْإِبْرَاءُ
Meaning: If you pursue a searching inquiry into those old matters, the examination burdens people and may bring both harm and healing.

Naqashtum and al-naqsh repeat the same root to suggest detailed scrutiny. Yajshamuhu al-nās conveys the effort or burden people bear in conducting it.

Al-isqām wa-l-ibrāʾ joins illness and cure as opposites. An inquiry can expose harm while also clearing a person of blame.

11. Comparing excavation, scrutiny and release

ExpressionBasic imageRole in the poemNabshDigging up the buriedReopening past warsNaqshFine probingDetailed investigationIsqāmCausing illnessDamage from conflictIbrāʾHealing or exonerationClearing an accusation

This sequence of metaphors draws attention to the human cost of reopening unresolved history.

12. Verse 32: the closed eye and hidden grit

أَوْ سَكَتُّمْ عَنَّا فَكُنَّا كَمَنْ أَغْمَضَ عَيْنًا فِي جَفْنِهَا الْأَقْذَاءُ
Meaning: If you remain silent about us, we are like someone who closes an eye while grit remains lodged beneath the eyelid.

Aghmaḍa ʿaynan means closing an eye; al-aqdhāʾ is grit or foreign matter that irritates it. The prefixed ka- signals a simile: outward quiet can coexist with continuing pain.

The image sets external silence against an unresolved inner injury. Stopping the conversation does not necessarily resolve the grievance.

13. Anatomy of the closed-eye simile

The subject of comparison is a community whose objection is suppressed. The comparison image is someone whose shut eye still contains grit. The shared quality is pain persisting beneath quiet.

In fa-kunnā, kāna takes the pronoun nā as its subject, while ka-man aghmaḍa conveys its predicate comparison. The pronoun in fī jafnihā refers to the eye.

14. Verse 33: challenging a claim of superiority

أَوْ مَنَعْتُمْ مَا تَسْأَلُونَ فَمَنْ حَدَّثْتُمُوهُ لَهُ عَلَيْنَا الْعَلَاءُ
Meaning: And if you deny what you ask for, whom can you name as possessing superiority over us?

Manaʿtum indicates withholding or refusing. In fa-man ḥaddathtumūhu the poet demands an identifiable comparison: whom have you cited as superior to us?

Al-ʿalāʾ means distinction or superiority. The rhetorical question challenges an adversarial claim; as tribal boast poetry, it should not be mistaken for an impartial ranking of peoples.

15. Conditional alternatives and their responses

Across verses 30–33, the poet offers distinct alternatives: in nabashtum (reopen the past), aw naqashtum (scrutinize it), aw sakattum (remain silent) and aw manaʿtum (refuse).

The pattern is not mere repetition. It presses the audience to consider the consequences of each choice: old injuries may surface, suffering may continue, or a claimed superiority may have to be defended.

16. Verse 34: remembering days of raids

هَلْ عَلِمْتُمْ أَيَّامَ يُنْتَهَبُ النَّاسُ غِوَارًا لِكُلِّ حَيٍّ عُوَاءُ
Meaning: Do you remember the days when people were raided and plundered, while cries rose from every group?

Hal ʿalimtum works as a reminder and a challenge. Yuntahabu is passive, “to be plundered.” Ghiwāran concerns raiding; ʿuwāʾ, literally a wolf’s howl, is used of cries amid violence.

Instead of providing statistics, the poet makes past warfare audible through an atmosphere of alarm.

17. Hal ʿalimtum and the soundscape of war

Hal is an interrogative particle, but here its aim is recollection rather than a neutral request for information. In yuntahabu al-nāsu, the verb is passive and al-nās is its grammatical subject in the passive construction, foregrounding those who suffer.

ʿUwāʾ provides sound imagery: the raids are remembered through the unsettling cries they caused.

18. Verse 35: from Bahrain toward al-Ḥisāʾ

إِذْ رَفَعْنَا الْجِمَالَ مِنْ سَعَفِ الْبَحْرَيْنِ سَيْرًا حَتَّى نَهَاهَا الْحِسَاءُ
Meaning: When we drove our camels swiftly from the palm country of Bahrain, until they reached the region called al-Ḥisāʾ.

Rafaʿnā al-jimāl means driving the camels onward at pace. Saʿaf al-Baḥrayn refers to date-palm fronds associated with the region; al-Ḥisāʾ is a named locality associated here with sand and accessible water.

These place references give the memory of raiding a sense of distance and duration. They are not a precise modern route map.

19. Reading the place names accurately

Al-Baḥrayn in this early poetic context names a broad historical region, not necessarily the borders of a modern state. Saʿaf suggests date-palm vegetation. Al-Ḥisāʾ is presented as a sandy locality associated with subsurface water.

The narrative sequence is departure, rapid movement and arrival at a known stopping point. The verse does not justify a precise modern geographical identification.

20. Verse 36: the account involving Tamīm

ثُمَّ مِلْنَا عَلَى تَمِيمٍ فَأَحْرَمْنَا وَفِينَا بَنَاتُ قَوْمٍ إِمَاءُ
Meaning: We then turned against Tamīm and entered a sacred month, while women from another people were among us as captives.

Milnā ʿalā Tamīm means turning against the tribe in a raid. Fa-aḥramnā means entering a sacred month here, rather than merely assuming the pilgrimage rite of iḥrām. Imāʾ here denotes enslaved or captive women in an early warfare context.

The verse expresses a claim within pre-Islamic martial boasting. Explaining the captivity does not endorse the practice as moral guidance.

21. The contextual meaning of aḥramnā

The verb aḥrama can indicate entering a state associated with sanctity. In this occurrence, the expression signifies entering a sacred month. Reading every occurrence only as the pilgrimage state of iḥrām would misrepresent this narrative.

Fa-aḥramnā is first-person plural past; thumma milnā marks sequence. Wa-fīnā banātu qawmin imāʾ describes the accompanying circumstances.

22. Four alternatives placed before the opponent

ExpressionOptionConsequenceIn nabashtumReopen old conflictsThe dead and living are implicatedAw naqashtumExamine closelyHarm or vindication may followAw sakattumRemain silentPain persists withinAw manaʿtumRefuseA superiority claim is challenged

The four clauses create a structured challenge: whichever path the opposition chooses, its implications must be confronted.

23. Key forms and grammatical constructions

FormGrammarContextual meaningMuqsiṭActive participle, aqsaṭaJustNabashtum2nd plural pastYou dug upYuntahabuPassive imperfectAre plunderedAghmaḍa3rd singular pastHe closedAḥramnā1st plural pastWe entered a sacred period

Morphology must be read with context: in particular, muqsiṭ and aḥramnā cannot be interpreted solely from superficial similarities to other forms.

24. Praise, advocacy, simile and historical claim

Praise: malik muqsiṭ foregrounds the ruler’s justice.
Advocacy: ayyamā khuṭṭah invites the statement of a dispute.
Metaphor: nabashtum portrays old quarrels as buried matter.
Simile: ka-man aghmaḍa ʿaynan compares unresolved silence to a painful closed eye.
Historical claim: banātu qawmin imāʾ mentions captive women in tribal warfare.

Separating these modes of speech avoids confusing literary amplification, legal argument and historical narration.

25. Synthesis: the structure of the argument

Verses 27–36 ask how a tribal dispute should be judged. The poet begins by praising a just king and inviting a formal statement of the case. He then compares the consequences of reopening history, close inquiry, silence and refusal. Finally, remembered raids and journeys lend historical force to his side of the dispute.

The section’s power lies in its varied imagery: ijlāʾ, muqsiṭ, tushfā, nabashtum, naqashtum, al-aqdhāʾ and ʿuwāʾ. Military authority, healing, excavation, irritation and noise are combined into a single argument. The next verse shifts toward a further account of power and domination.