LessonsImruʾ al-Qays: The Long Night, Travel, and the Wolf (Verses 43–51)Quiz

أَلَا رُبَّ خَصْمٍ فِيكِ أَلْوَى رَدَدْتُهُ
نَصِيحٍ عَلَى تَعْذَالِهِ غَيْرِ مُؤْتَلِ
“How many an obstinate opponent concerning you, professing good counsel and sparing nothing in reproach, have I turned away.”

Rubba khaṣmin emphatically introduces an adversary. The second-person feminine fīki addresses the beloved; alwā points to obstinacy, while ghayri muʾtali depicts the critic as unsparing in blame.

The verse turns a dispute about the beloved into an expression of the speaker's persistence in attachment. The contrast between the advisor's standpoint and the lover's resolve supplies the dramatic movement: the speaker hears the repeated criticism but will not change his position.

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Verse 43: resisting a persistent reprover

Imruʾ al-Qays: The Long Night, Travel, and the Wolf (Verses 43–51)

أَلَا رُبَّ خَصْمٍ فِيكِ أَلْوَى رَدَدْتُهُ
نَصِيحٍ عَلَى تَعْذَالِهِ غَيْرِ مُؤْتَلِ
“How many an obstinate opponent concerning you, professing good counsel and sparing nothing in reproach, have I turned away.”

Rubba khaṣmin emphatically introduces an adversary. The second-person feminine fīki addresses the beloved; alwā points to obstinacy, while ghayri muʾtali depicts the critic as unsparing in blame.

The verse turns a dispute about the beloved into an expression of the speaker's persistence in attachment. The contrast between the advisor's standpoint and the lover's resolve supplies the dramatic movement: the speaker hears the repeated criticism but will not change his position.