«فَرَافَقْتُ صُحْبًا»
I then travelled in the company of a group of companions.
This short transition redirects the narrative from the narrator’s situation to the company’s character.
«قَدْ شَقُّوا عَصَا الشِّقَاقِ»
They had broken the staff of discord.
ʿAṣā means a staff; shiqāq means contention or division. The point is not a reported incident of breaking wood. It is an idiomatic physical image for ending disagreement.
Shaqqū is a masculine plural past-tense verb. The group is shown deliberately rejecting quarrelling, preparing the parallel image of their positive concord.