LessonsImruʾ al-Qays: Hair, Sensory Similes, and Enduring Love (Verses 35–42)Quiz

غَدَائِرُهُ مُسْتَشْزِرَاتٌ إِلَى الْعُلَا
تَضِلُّ الْعِقَاصُ فِي مُثَنًّى وَمُرْسَلِ
“Her braids rise upward; the bound locks become lost among strands that are twisted and strands that hang loose.”

Ghadāʾir are locks or braids; mustashzirāt describes their raised or upward-drawn arrangement. Al-ʿiqāṣ concerns tied or gathered hair, while muthannā wa-mursal contrasts bent or folded strands with loosened hair.

The force of the image lies especially in taḍillu, “become lost.” The braids are depicted as so intricately interwoven that their paths are difficult to distinguish. The effect is poetic intensification of an elaborate hairstyle.

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Verse 36: raised braids and interwoven locks

Imruʾ al-Qays: Hair, Sensory Similes, and Enduring Love (Verses 35–42)

غَدَائِرُهُ مُسْتَشْزِرَاتٌ إِلَى الْعُلَا
تَضِلُّ الْعِقَاصُ فِي مُثَنًّى وَمُرْسَلِ
“Her braids rise upward; the bound locks become lost among strands that are twisted and strands that hang loose.”

Ghadāʾir are locks or braids; mustashzirāt describes their raised or upward-drawn arrangement. Al-ʿiqāṣ concerns tied or gathered hair, while muthannā wa-mursal contrasts bent or folded strands with loosened hair.

The force of the image lies especially in taḍillu, “become lost.” The braids are depicted as so intricately interwoven that their paths are difficult to distinguish. The effect is poetic intensification of an elaborate hairstyle.