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