جَادَ بِالْعَيْنِ حِينَ أَعْمَى هَوَاهُ عَيْنَهُ فَأَتَانِي بِلَا عَيْنَيْنِ
He gave away precious money when desire blinded his eye, and came to me as though bereft of both eyes.
The first ʿayn means ready money or a precious tangible asset; the second is the literal eye; bilā ʿaynayn exaggerates the loss of both eyes. Desire itself is personified as a blinding force.
The verse is Abū Zayd’s satire, not medical evidence that the governor actually lost his sight. Each occurrence requires a different contextual interpretation before the wider joke can be understood.
Reading layerTranslation decision
FormPreserve vowels, root and grammatical pattern
ContextUse verbs and objects to determine the intended sense
Literary effectShow similar sounds without merging distinct meanings
Semantic distinction exercise
What does al-ʿayn mean in jāda bil-ʿayn?