LessonsṬarafah: Mālik, Kinship Obligations, and Injustice from Relatives (Verses 68–78)Quiz

وَإِنْ يَقْذِفُوا بِالْقَذْعِ عِرْضَكَ أَسْقِهِمْ
بِكَأْسِ حِيَاضِ الْمَوْتِ قَبْلَ التَّهَدُّدِ
Meaning: If opponents insult your honor with abusive words, I would make them drink from the cups of death’s pools even before threats were exchanged.

Al-qadhʿ is obscene or abusive speech, al-ʿirḍ one’s honor, and ḥiyāḍ al-mawt literally “the pools of death.” Asqihim bi-kaʾs turns the language of offering a drink into an image of violent retaliation. This belongs to the hyperbolic rhetoric of pre-Islamic tribal boasting, not to a present-day prescription for conduct.

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Verse 74: an extreme image of defending honor

Ṭarafah: Mālik, Kinship Obligations, and Injustice from Relatives (Verses 68–78)

وَإِنْ يَقْذِفُوا بِالْقَذْعِ عِرْضَكَ أَسْقِهِمْ
بِكَأْسِ حِيَاضِ الْمَوْتِ قَبْلَ التَّهَدُّدِ
Meaning: If opponents insult your honor with abusive words, I would make them drink from the cups of death’s pools even before threats were exchanged.

Al-qadhʿ is obscene or abusive speech, al-ʿirḍ one’s honor, and ḥiyāḍ al-mawt literally “the pools of death.” Asqihim bi-kaʾs turns the language of offering a drink into an image of violent retaliation. This belongs to the hyperbolic rhetoric of pre-Islamic tribal boasting, not to a present-day prescription for conduct.