ImageCause of griefMain emphasis
Umm saqbLoss of a calfRepeated anguished calls
ShamṭāʾLoss of nine sonsTotal family bereavement
The paired negatives famā ... wa-lā build a single ascending comparison. Each example represents an extreme sorrow, yet neither is said to match the speaker’s. That comparative excess is central to the passage’s emotional rhetoric.
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ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm: Uncertain Time, the Beloved and Grief (Verses 12–22)
ImageCause of griefMain emphasis
Umm saqbLoss of a calfRepeated anguished calls
ShamṭāʾLoss of nine sonsTotal family bereavement
The paired negatives famā ... wa-lā build a single ascending comparison. Each example represents an extreme sorrow, yet neither is said to match the speaker’s. That comparative excess is central to the passage’s emotional rhetoric.