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

أَلَا أَيُّهَا اللَّيْلُ الطَّوِيلُ أَلَا انْجَلِي
بِصُبْحٍ وَمَا الْإِصْبَاحُ مِنْكَ بِأَمْثَلِ
“O long night, clear away into morning—yet morning is no better than you.”

Ayyuhā al-layl al-ṭawīl directly calls upon the night, and injalī asks it to disperse. Immediately afterward, wa-mā al-iṣbāḥu minka bi-amthal denies that the appearance of dawn would improve the speaker's state.

The verse juxtaposes hope and withdrawal of hope. If the cause of suffering were merely the absence of sunlight, dawn would cure it. The speaker instead suggests that distress persists within him even after the visible world becomes bright.

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Verse 46: calling for dawn, then denying its relief

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

أَلَا أَيُّهَا اللَّيْلُ الطَّوِيلُ أَلَا انْجَلِي
بِصُبْحٍ وَمَا الْإِصْبَاحُ مِنْكَ بِأَمْثَلِ
“O long night, clear away into morning—yet morning is no better than you.”

Ayyuhā al-layl al-ṭawīl directly calls upon the night, and injalī asks it to disperse. Immediately afterward, wa-mā al-iṣbāḥu minka bi-amthal denies that the appearance of dawn would improve the speaker's state.

The verse juxtaposes hope and withdrawal of hope. If the cause of suffering were merely the absence of sunlight, dawn would cure it. The speaker instead suggests that distress persists within him even after the visible world becomes bright.