Ṭarafah: Character, Lineage, the Sword, and the Camels (Verses 79–88)

1. From grievance to self-assertion

After his complaint about injustice from relatives, the speaker turns to defending his character and standing. Khuluq (personal conduct), lineage, agility, and the sword’s force form a connected self-portrait.

He first insists on his chosen conduct, then imagines belonging to other prominent lineages. He proceeds to a forceful description of his sword and finally introduces an encounter with resting camels. These are the speaker’s self-claims within the classical convention of poetic boasting, rather than independently verified events.

2. Verse 79: character and distance

فَذَرْنِي وَخُلُقِي إِنَّنِي لَكَ شَاكِرٌ / وَلَوْ حَلَّ بَيْتِي نَائِيًا عَنْ ضَرْغَدِ
Leave me to my own character: I remain grateful to you, even if my home is far from the mountain of Ḍarghad.

Fa-dharnī expresses a firm request to be left to his own ways. Ḍarghad is named as a mountain; the distance in the second hemistich is therefore geographical, not temporal.

The concessive wa-law imagines even a remote dwelling while preserving his profession of gratitude. The tone shifts from the earlier grievance to the speaker’s assertion about his own conduct.

3. Dharnī and nāʾiyan: form and syntax

Dharnī is an imperative built from the root w-dh-r; the final -nī is a first-person object pronoun: “leave me.”
Khuluqī is a noun with a first-person possessive suffix, referring to “my conduct.”
Nāʾiyan is an active participle from nāʾa, “to be distant,” used in the accusative to describe a state.

The verse combines an imperative, possessive construction, a concessive possibility, and a circumstantial expression to contrast personal steadiness with distance.

4. Verse 80: imagined lineage

فَلَوْ شَاءَ رَبِّي كُنْتُ قَيْسَ بْنَ خَالِدٍ / وَلَوْ شَاءَ رَبِّي كُنْتُ عَمْرَو بْنَ مَرْثَدِ
Had my Lord willed, I could have been Qays ibn Khālid; had He willed, I could have been ʿAmr ibn Marthad.

The repetition of law shāʾa rabbī emphasizes that birth and ancestry are not achievements of personal will. The poet names two distinguished men and imagines an alternative position in society.

This is not a literal claim that his lineage changed. It is a counterfactual comparison preparing for the imagined wealth and descendants in the next line.

5. Verse 81: wealth and descendants

فَأَصْبَحْتُ ذَا مَالٍ كَثِيرٍ وَزَارَنِي / بَنُونَ كِرَامٌ سَادَةٌ لِمُسَوَّدِ
Then I would possess much wealth and be visited by noble sons, leaders in a household held in honor.

Fa-aṣbaḥtu continues the imagined consequence of the condition in the previous verse. The line does not report wealth the poet actually acquired. Dhā mālin kathīrin means “possessing abundant property.”

Banūn kirāmun sādah pictures sons of noble standing and leadership. Wealth and distinguished descendants appear as linked signs of status in the poet’s imagined alternative life.

6. Connecting law with fa-aṣbaḥtu

The sequence law shāʾa rabbī ... fa-aṣbaḥtu functions as one imagined condition and consequence: had the poet been born into those prominent lineages, wealth and distinguished offspring might have followed.

Here law does not promise a future event; it constructs an unrealized alternative. Treating the imagined result as an event that actually occurred would misread the verse.

7. Status through lineage, wealth, and leadership

The poet combines three status markers: nasab (ancestry), māl (resources), and siyādah (recognized leadership). Their combination shows that the social prestige imagined in this poetry extends beyond wealth alone.

This is the cultural vocabulary of the passage. Reading it as the poet’s perspective avoids turning historical status conventions into a universal measure of human worth.

8. Verse 82: agility and the snake image

أَنَا الرَّجُلُ الضَّرْبُ الَّذِي تَعْرِفُونَهُ / خَشَاشٌ كَرَأْسِ الْحَيَّةِ الْمُتَوَقِّدِ
I am the lean, energetic man you know, alert and quick as the head of a darting serpent.

In al-rajul al-ḍarb, ḍarb describes a light or lean-bodied man; it is not simply a reference to striking with a sword. Khashāsh suggests quick intelligence and readiness.

The comparison ka-raʾs al-ḥayyah focuses on the swift, alert movement of a snake’s head—not on a moral characterization of snakes.

9. The precise point of the simile

The prefix ka- introduces the simile, while raʾs al-ḥayyah is the object of comparison. Al-mutawaqqid adds a sense of vivid alertness or rapid motion. The poet chooses lightness and responsiveness rather than mere size as his self-description.

Together with the sword verses that follow, this creates two related images: an agile individual and a weapon ready for immediate action.

10. Al-ḍarb versus khashāsh

Al-ḍarb describes bodily build in this context: lean or lightly built. Khashāsh describes quickness of mind and movement rather than weight.

ExpressionSense in this verse
al-ḍarbLean, lightly built
khashāshAlert, agile, resourceful
al-mutawaqqidVivid, quick-moving

11. Verse 83: oath and the sword

فَآلَيْتُ لَا يَنْفَكُّ كَشْحِي بِطَانَةً / لِعَضْبٍ رَقِيقِ الشَّفْرَتَيْنِ مُهَنَّدِ
I have sworn that my side shall never be parted from a keen Indian sword with fine, sharp edges.

Fa-ālaytu means “I swore an oath.” Lā yanfakku expresses continued inseparability. Kashḥī is the flank or side, and biṭānah conveys close attachment.

The speaker boasts that a sword remains constantly at his side. ʿAḍb (keen blade), raqīq al-shafratayn (fine-edged), and muhannad (Indian-made or Indian-style sword) jointly stress the weapon’s cutting quality.

12. Sword terms: vocabulary and construction

ʿAḍb is a keen sword, al-shafratān its two edges, and muhannad denotes an Indian-associated sword. The expression raqīq al-shafratayn includes a genitive construction with the dual al-shafratayn.

Kashḥī biṭānah is more than a cluster of lexical meanings: it pictorially binds the speaker’s side to his weapon, suggesting constant preparedness.

13. Verse 84: first strike and repeated strike

حُسَامٍ إِذَا مَا قُمْتُ مُنْتَصِرًا بِهِ / كَفَى الْعَوْدَ مِنْهُ الْبَدْءُ لَيْسَ بِمُعْضِدِ
A cutting sword: when I rise to retaliate with it, the first stroke makes a second unnecessary; it is no dull wood-cutting blade.

Al-badʾ is the initial strike and al-ʿawd the repeat. Their contrast intensifies the claimed decisiveness of the blade.

In the surrounding commentary, laysa bi-muʿḍid distinguishes this sword from an implement used for chopping wood. The claim that one stroke is sufficient is poetic boasting, not a factual rule about weapons.

14. Al-badʾ and al-ʿawd: contrast and force

The clause kafā al-ʿawda minhu al-badʾu gives prominence to the first stroke: it renders a repeated stroke unnecessary.

Al-badʾu is the subject of kafā, while al-ʿawda is its object. The construction sharpens the idea of an immediately decisive result. The later lā yanthanī continues the portrayal of unwavering action.

15. Verse 85: the sword as companion

أَخِي ثِقَةٍ لَا يَنْثَنِي عَنْ ضَرِيبَةٍ / إِذَا قِيلَ مَهْلًا قَالَ حَاجِزُهُ قَدِي
It is a trusty companion that does not turn back from a blow; when someone cries “Wait,” the one checking it says, “Enough.”

Akhī thiqah portrays the sword as a trustworthy companion. Ḍarībah refers to a stroke. Mahlan (wait) and qadī (enough for me) create two opposing voices.

The language gives the weapon a companion-like role and dramatizes its stopping point. This may be read as personification within a poem of martial boasting.

16. Two voices: mahlan and qadī

Mahlan is a verbal noun used as an exclamation asking someone to slow or stop. Qadī conveys “enough for me,” with the final yāʾ connected to the first person.

These two brief expressions compress a dramatic exchange: a cry to halt and an assertion that the blow has been sufficient. They illustrate ījāz, the rhetorical force of concise wording.

17. Verse 86: readiness in conflict

إِذَا ابْتَدَرَ الْقَوْمُ السِّلَاحَ وَجَدْتَنِي / مَنِيعًا إِذَا بَلَّتْ بِقَائِمِهِ يَدِي
When people rush to their weapons, they find me hard to overcome, once my hand grows moist around the sword’s hilt.

Ibtadara al-qawmu al-silāḥ depicts a rush to seize arms. Manīʿan describes the poet as difficult to overcome and appears in the accusative. Bi-qāʾimihi refers to the sword’s hilt.

The moist hand holding the hilt gives the boast a physical detail: not merely owning a weapon, but being prepared to wield it when others reach for theirs.

18. Repetition of idhā and temporal framing

In idhā ibtadara al-qawmu al-silāḥa wajadtanī manīʿan, idhā introduces the situation: when people rush for weapons, the speaker is found difficult to subdue.

The second idhā ballat bi-qāʾimihi yadī supplies a physical detail of the situation. Repeating idhā links circumstance → action → described state within one verse.

19. Verse 87: the startled herd

وَبَرْكٍ هُجُودٍ قَدْ أَثَارَتْ مَخَافَتِي / بَوَادِرَهَا أَمْشِي بِعَضْبٍ مُجَرَّدِ
I passed among resting camels whose foreparts stirred in fear at my approach as I walked carrying a drawn blade.

Barkin hujūdin refers to a group of camels resting on the ground. Bawādirahā describes their foreparts, which the commentary depicts as stirred by fear.

ʿAḍbin mujarrad is a drawn sharp sword. At this point the text describes startled animals and the poet’s drawn weapon; the next verse singles out a prominent she-camel.

20. Bark and hujūd: a scene interrupted

Al-bark is a group of kneeling or resting camels; hujūd emphasizes their stillness. Athārat introduces movement and disruption.

The pace of the narrative changes sharply: a quiet herd, fear-induced motion, and an approaching man with a drawn sword. This is dynamic scene painting, built around verbs of movement and a contrast with rest.

21. Verse 88: a valued camel and its aged owner

فَمَرَّتْ كَهَاةٌ ذَاتُ خَيْفٍ جَلَالَةٌ / عَقِيلَةُ شَيْخٍ كَالْوَبِيلِ يَلَنْدَدِ
Then a large, valuable she-camel with a developed udder passed by—an esteemed possession of a very aged, stern man.

Kahāh describes a large she-camel. Dhāt khayf concerns the udder, while jalālah / ʿaqīlah signal size, distinction, and value.

Shaykh ka-l-wabīl yalandad compares the elderly owner to a hard, dry staff. The animal’s appearance here sets up the complaint and dispute narrated in the following verses, rather than completing that incident.

22. The camel: body, value, and owner

The she-camel is introduced along three dimensions: bodily size through kahāh, value through ʿaqīlah, and the owner’s age and physical severity through shaykh ka-l-wabīl yalandad.

The animal is an active presence in the scene, but the poem also presents it as valuable property. That dual role prepares the conflict that follows.

23. Key vocabulary: sword and encounter

ArabicMeaning in context
ālaytuI swore an oath
ʿaḍbA keen sword
muhannadAn Indian-associated blade
al-badʾ / al-ʿawdInitial stroke / repeated stroke
ibtadaraRushed to be first
manīʿDifficult to overcome
mujarradDrawn from the sheath

These terms form a semantic field of readiness, speed, and power, supporting the passage’s boastful tone.

24. Rhetorical techniques across the passage

TechniqueExample and effect
Counterfactual conditionlaw shāʾa rabbī — imagined lineage
Simileka-raʾs al-ḥayyah — instant agility
Hyperbolekafā al-ʿawda minhu al-badʾ — decisive force
Personificationakhī thiqah — the sword as companion
Scene contrastbark hujūd / athārat — rest disrupted

Together, the devices construct a confident but embattled speaker. Reducing them to dictionary meanings would miss their literary effect.

25. Narrative transition to the next incident

The sequence is important:
1. An insistence on personal conduct.
2. An imagined alternative birth into a distinguished lineage.
3. Pride in agility and the force of a sword.
4. A valuable she-camel passing among resting animals.

The closing image is more than another simile: it sets up the next story. The following verse, beginning yaqūlu wa-qad tarra al-waẓīfa wa-sāqahā, introduces the owner’s voice and complaint.