The grammatical subject of taʾtāluhu is the following ibhāmuhā—‘her thumb’. The attached object pronoun -hu refers back to the stringed instrument or its relevant part.
The word order first presents the movement and only then identifies the moving thumb. The poet is not merely reporting the existence of music; he is giving a close-up image of performance.
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Labīd ibn Rabīʿah: Resolve, Nawār and Pre-Islamic Night Gatherings (Verses 54–61)
The grammatical subject of taʾtāluhu is the following ibhāmuhā—‘her thumb’. The attached object pronoun -hu refers back to the stringed instrument or its relevant part.
The word order first presents the movement and only then identifies the moving thumb. The poet is not merely reporting the existence of music; he is giving a close-up image of performance.