حَتَّى إِذَا أَلْقَتْ يَدًا فِي كَافِرٍ وَأَجَنَّ عَوْرَاتِ الثُّغُورِ ظَلَامُهَا
Until the sun, as though, placed a hand under a covering, and the night’s darkness concealed the exposed places along the frontier.
Kāfir here carries the lexical sense of a covering—darkness—not the later religious designation ‘unbeliever.’ Ajanna also means to cover or conceal. ʿAwrāt al-thughūr refers to exposed or vulnerable gaps in frontier positions.
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Labīd ibn Rabīʿah: Cold-Morning Generosity, Defence and a Swift Horse (Verses 62–69)
حَتَّى إِذَا أَلْقَتْ يَدًا فِي كَافِرٍ وَأَجَنَّ عَوْرَاتِ الثُّغُورِ ظَلَامُهَا
Until the sun, as though, placed a hand under a covering, and the night’s darkness concealed the exposed places along the frontier.
Kāfir here carries the lexical sense of a covering—darkness—not the later religious designation ‘unbeliever.’ Ajanna also means to cover or conceal. ʿAwrāt al-thughūr refers to exposed or vulnerable gaps in frontier positions.