The Maʿarran Maqāmah — The Needle, Its Compensation, and the Judge’s Dinar

1. The judge asks for the actual dispute

The elder and the young man have described a needle in terms more fitting for a remarkable person. The judge now needs the actual event, the damage, the request, and the reply.

Beautiful characterization is not yet a clear account of what happened. Asked to make matters plain, the young man chooses verse instead of ordinary prose, turning clarification into another performance of eloquence.

2. The borrowed needle in the youth’s poem

أَعَارَنِي إِبْرَةً لِأَرْفُوَ أَطْمَارًا عَفَاهَا الْبِلَى وَسَوَّدَهَا
He lent me a needle so I could mend worn clothes darkened and damaged by age.

Aʿāranī means “he lent me”; arfū means to mend; and aṭmār are tattered garments. The object is introduced not as luxury but as a means to meet a basic need, inviting sympathy for the borrower.

3. How the needle was damaged

فَانْخَرَمَتْ فِي يَدِي عَلَى خَطَإٍ مِنِّي لَمَّا جَذَبْتُ مَقْوَدَهَا
It was damaged in my hand by mistake when I pulled its attached cord.

Inkharamat indicates damage or breakage; jadhabtu means “I pulled”; and maqwadahā points to the attached thread or cord. The youth admits the event but explicitly describes it as an accident, distinguishing harm from intent.

4. The elder asks for compensation

فَلَمْ يَرَ الشَّيْخُ أَنْ يُسَامِحَنِي بِأَرْشِهَا إِذْ رَأَى تَأَوُّدَهَا
The elder would not waive compensation when he saw the needle bent and damaged.

Arsh refers to compensation for damage. Taʾawwuduhā describes the needle’s deformation. The young man has denied deliberate harm, but the elder still regards the property loss as worthy of compensation.

5. Replacement or value

هَاتِ إِبْرَةً تُمَاثِلُهَا أَوْ قِيمَةً
Bring another needle like it, or pay its value.

The demand has two practical forms: a comparable replacement or monetary payment. This is the first plainly stated remedy in the dispute. The alternatives make the practical financial claim clear and give the judge a definite issue to consider.

6. The pledged kohl applicator

The youth cannot immediately produce the replacement or money, so he pledges his mīl—a small instrument used to apply kohl, not a unit of distance.

The pledged object stays as security while the claim remains unsettled. A minor loss becomes a serious burden because neither person has easy access to money.

7. The eye waits; the hand cannot pay

فَالْعَيْنُ مَرْهَى لِرَهْنِهِ وَيَدِي تَقْصُرُ عَنْ أَنْ تَفُكَّ مَرْوَدَهَا
The eye longs for the pledged implement, while my hand cannot redeem it.

The eye’s need is placed against the hand’s inability. “My hand falls short” is a figurative way of saying that the speaker lacks the means to pay. The contrast turns an economic problem into a vivid bodily image.

8. The youth appeals to the judge

فَاسْبُرْ بِذَا الشَّرْحِ غَوْرَ مَسْكَنَتِي وَارْثِ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ تَعَوَّدَهَا
Probe the depth of my poverty through this account, and show compassion to one unaccustomed to such need.

Isbur ghawr evokes sounding a depth. Poverty is imagined as something deep enough to investigate. The young man moves from explaining damage to seeking the judge’s sympathy.

9. The structure of the youth’s verse

StageRole in the narrative
1–2Borrowing a needle and damaging it accidentally
3–4Demand for compensation, replacement, or value
5–6Pledging a kohl implement but lacking means to redeem it
Final verseAppeal for an understanding of poverty and compassion

The poem is not merely ornate rhyme. It gives a complete, staged narrative that supports the young man’s argument.

10. The judge turns to the elder

After hearing the youth, the judge turns toward the elder. Rather than answer in plain prose, the elder responds in verse, forming a second poetic voice within the same litigation.

The youth emphasizes accident and need. The elder’s reply will show that the claimant also lives in poverty and cannot easily absorb the loss. The case becomes a contest of equally persuasive hardships.

11. The elder begins with a solemn oath

أَقْسَمْتُ بِالْمَشْعَرِ الْحَرَامِ وَمَنْ ضَمَّ مِنَ النَّاسِكِينَ خَيْفُ مِنَى
I swear by al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām and the worshippers gathered in the valley of Minā.

The oath belongs to a literary character’s speech. The pilgrimage landmarks give it solemn force. The solemn diction strengthens his appeal, although the truth of the claim cannot be established through style alone.

12. The elder is poor as well

لَوْ سَاعَدَتْنِي الْأَيَّامُ لَمْ يَرَنِي مُرْتَهِنًا مِيلَهُ الَّذِي رَهَنَا
Had fortune helped me, you would not have seen me accepting his kohl applicator as a pledge.

Law introduces a contrary-to-fact condition: if circumstances had been different, the elder would not have needed security. His point is that his insistence on the pledge arises from hardship, not simply harshness.

13. Why even request a replacement?

وَلَا تَصَدَّيْتُ أَبْتَغِي بَدَلًا مِنْ إِبْرَةٍ غَالَهَا وَلَا ثَمَنَا
Nor would I have come forward seeking a replacement or a price for a damaged needle.

Taṣaddaytu conveys coming forward to make a demand. Badal and thaman distinguish replacement from monetary value. The elder argues that he would rather not press the claim but is compelled by poverty.

14. Calamities shoot like arrows

لَكِنَّ قَوْسَ الْخُطُوبِ تَرْشُقُنِي بِمُصِيبَاتٍ مِنْ هُنَا وَهُنَا
But the bow of calamities shoots afflictions at me from every direction.

Qaws al-khuṭūb personifies misfortunes as an archer. Tarshuqnī continues the archery image, while “from here and there” conveys repeated blows. An abstract condition becomes a vivid, active scene.

15. A shared condition of distress

وَخَبِرْ حَالِي كَخُبْرِ حَالَتِهِ ضُرًّا وَبُؤْسًا وَغُرْبَةً وَضَنَى
Understand my condition as like his: pain, misery, exile, and wasting weakness.

Ḍurr is distress; buʾs poverty or misery; ghurba estrangement; and ḍanā debilitating weakness. The sequence accumulates emotional force while insisting that both litigants suffer similarly.

16. The age has treated both equally badly

قَدْ عَدَلَ الدَّهْرُ بَيْنَنَا فَأَنَا نَظِيرُهُ فِي الشَّقَاءِ وَهُوَ أَنَا
Time has treated us equally: I am his counterpart in misery, and he is as though myself.

ʿAdala al-dahr is ironic fairness: both have been made equally unfortunate. The closing “he is I” heightens the resemblance beyond literal identity, merging two sufferers in one poetic image.

17. Neither side can easily yield

لَا هُوَ يَسْتَطِيعُ فَكَّ مَرْوَدِهِ لِمَا غَدَا فِي يَدِي مُرْتَهَنَا
He cannot redeem the kohl applicator now held as a pledge.

وَلَا مَجَالَ لِيَ لِضِيقِ ذَاتِ يَدِي فِيهِ اتِّسَاعٌ لِلْعَفْوِ حِينَ جَنَى
Nor does my poverty leave me room to forgive freely after the damage.

These verses reveal a mutual bind: the youth cannot pay, and the elder claims he cannot afford to waive payment.

18. The elder’s threefold appeal

فَهَذِهِ قِصَّتِي وَقِصَّتُهُ فَانْظُرْ إِلَيْنَا وَبَيْنَنَا وَلَنَا
Here is my story and his: look upon us, judge between us, and consider our welfare.

Ilaynā / baynanā / lanā are three compact prepositional expressions: look at our plight, judge between us, and act for our benefit. Their balanced rhythm brings empathy and adjudication together.

19. Comparing the two poetic pleas

YouthElder
The damage was accidentalThe damage happened and needs redress
Cannot redeem the pledged itemCannot afford to forgive the loss
“Depth of poverty” imagery“Bow of calamities” imagery
Asks the judge for compassionAsks the judge to help both sides

Their rhetoric differs, but the underlying condition in both pleas is poverty. Their claims are not interchangeable.

20. The judge produces a dinar

أَبْرَزَ لَهُمَا دِينَارًا مِنْ تَحْتِ مُصَلَّاهُ
When the judge had heard both accounts and recognized their need, he brought out a dinar from beneath his prayer mat.

Khaṣāṣatuhumā means their need or poverty; muṣallāh refers here to his place of prayer. The judge responds not only to a formal claim but to the hardship affecting both parties.

21. The call to end the quarrel

اقْطَعَا بِهِ الْخِصَامَ وَافْصِلَا
End the quarrel with this coin and part from one another.

Iqṭaʿā and afṣilā are dual imperatives, addressing both parties. Al-khiṣām means dispute. The dinar is intended to settle this particular episode; it does not establish a general measure of legal compensation.

22. From eloquence to opportunism

فَتَلَقَّفَهُ الشَّيْخُ دُونَ الْحَدَثِ، وَاسْتَخْلَصَهُ عَلَى وَجْهِ الْجِدِّ لَا الْعَبَثِ
The elder snatched the dinar before the youth and took it for himself in earnest, not play.

Al-jidd / al-ʿabath contrasts seriousness with jest. Just after a poetic appeal for mutual compassion, the elder rushes to possess the coin, creating a sharp comic reversal.

23. The elder’s ingenious division

نِصْفُهُ لِي بِسَهْمِ مَبَرَّتِي وَسَهْمُكَ لِي عَنْ أَرْشِ إِبْرِي
Half is mine as my share of benevolence, and your share is mine against the damage to my needle.

The elder appears to split the money but constructs a reason to keep both portions. Sahm means a share; arsh refers to compensation. The serious vocabulary of division is placed in a comically self-serving argument.

24. The youth’s disappointment; the judge falls silent

The elder tells the youth to retrieve his pledged applicator. The young man becomes visibly distressed, and the judge is left silent by the surprising outcome.

Three reactions form the literary contrast: the elder’s quick possession, the youth’s disappointment, and the judge’s silence. The scene reveals why verbal brilliance should not be mistaken for evidence of good intention.

25. A small loss, an intricate literary construction

Literary deviceEffect in the narrative
PersonificationA needle described as a remarkable person
MetaphorDepth of poverty and the bow of calamities
ParallelismTwo parties portrayed as equally impoverished
IronyThe elder takes the dinar after a plea for mutual compassion

The literary value lies less in the needle’s price than in the performances, contrasting characters, and reversal. The following passage will further expose their motives.