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