Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: Ḥuṣayn ibn Ḍamḍam, Revenge and the Cost of Bloodshed (Verses 33–42)

1. The revenge episode after peace

Zuhayr has praised the peacemakers and warned of war through the images of a mill and a breeding she-camel. He now narrates an episode involving Ḥuṣayn ibn Ḍamḍam, in which a private plan of revenge threatens a wider tribal settlement.

Verses 33–42 move through three stages: a concealed intention and its execution (33–36), a fierce warrior portrait (37–38), and the consequences of bloodshed, including named victims (39–42). The episode gives concrete historical shape to the warning in the preceding passage.

2. Verse 33: Unwelcome consequences

لَعَمْرِي لَنِعْمَ الْحَيُّ جَرَّ عَلَيْهِمْ ۞ بِمَا لَا يُؤَاتِيهِمْ حُصَيْنُ بْنُ ضَمْضَمِ
By my life, Ḥuṣayn ibn Ḍamḍam brought upon that worthy tribe a calamity wholly ill-suited to its welfare.

La-ʿamrī introduces an oath, while la-niʿma al-ḥayy expresses esteem for the tribe amid lament over its predicament. Jarra ʿalayhim means to bring an unwelcome consequence upon others. The poet criticizes the harm caused to a community by one man’s private vendetta.

3. La-niʿma al-ḥayy: praise alongside reproach

Niʿma is a fixed verb of praise; al-ḥayy is its subject, referring to the tribe or its people. In jarra ʿalayhim, the agent, Ḥuṣayn ibn Ḍamḍam, appears later. Thus the wording first highlights the community’s worth and then identifies the cause of its suffering.

This is not simply praise of a warrior. The passage sets individual action against collective damage, a tension central to Zuhayr’s anti-war argument.

4. Verse 34: A concealed grudge

وَكَانَ طَوَى كَشْحًا عَلَى مُسْتَكِنَّةٍ ۞ فَلَا هُوَ أَبْدَاهَا وَلَمْ يَتَقَدَّمِ
He had folded away a secret purpose within himself; he neither disclosed it nor acted prematurely.

Ṭawā kashḥan, literally folding the flank, is an idiom for keeping an intention hidden. Mustakinnah denotes something concealed and settled within the heart. The suffix in abdāhā refers back to that secret matter. The verse separates outward silence from genuine reconciliation.

5. Vocabulary and grammar of concealed intent

ExpressionBasic senseFunction in context
طَوَىPast verb: he foldedConcealment
كَشْحًاFlank; accusativePart of the idiom
مُسْتَكِنَّةٍHidden, settledInner intention
أَبْدَاهَاHe revealed itDisclosure of the secret

Reading ṭawā kashḥan as only a bodily motion would miss its idiomatic force. It is a kināyah for concealment, contrasted with revealing the plan.

6. Verse 35: A vow of retaliation

وَقَالَ سَأَقْضِي حَاجَتِي ثُمَّ أَتَّقِي ۞ عَدُوِّي بِأَلْفٍ مِنْ وَرَائِي مُلْجَمِ
He said: I shall first accomplish my purpose, then guard myself against my enemy with a thousand bridled horsemen behind me.

The prefix sa- in sa-aqḍī marks a projected act. Here ḥājatī is not an ordinary need but the planned act of vengeance. “A thousand” displays a claim of overwhelming mounted support and can also function as a rhetorical expression of martial confidence, not independently verified military statistics.

7. Thumma and the order of the plan

In “sa-aqḍī ḥājatī thumma attaqī ʿaduwwī,” thumma establishes the sequence: strike first, secure oneself afterward. Both main verbs are first-person singular imperfects; the first also bears the future prefix sa-.

Min warāʾī locates the force behind the speaker, while muljam evokes horses already bridled for action. The syntax conveys deliberation rather than a sudden, unplanned outburst.

8. Verse 36: The sudden attack

فَشَدَّ فَلَمْ يَفْزَعْ بُيُوتًا كَثِيرَةً ۞ لَدَى حَيْثُ أَلْقَتْ رَحْلَهَا أُمُّ قَشْعَمِ
He charged without alarming many households, reaching the place where “Mother Qashʿam”—death—had made her lodging.

Fa-shadda conveys a forceful charge, while fa-lam yafzaʿ suggests that many households were not generally alarmed beforehand. Umm Qashʿam is a conventional epithet for death, not a literal woman. By making death “set down her travelling equipment,” the verse personifies an otherwise abstract outcome.

9. Umm Qashʿam as a name for death

The epithet “Umm Qashʿam” holds two levels together: the literal danger of a fatal attack and the figurative image of a traveller taking up lodging.

In ḥaythu alqat raḥlahā, ḥaythu is an adverb of place; alqat is a past verb and raḥlahā its object. The whole phrase identifies the place at which death has figuratively settled or has become imminent.

10. Verse 37: Lion-like ferocity

لَدَى أَسَدٍ شَاكِي السِّلَاحِ مُقَذَّفٍ ۞ لَهُ لُبَدٌ أَظْفَارُهُ لَمْ تُقَلَّمِ
Beside a lion-like warrior, fully armed and formidable, with a thick mane and claws that had not been clipped.

Asad, “lion,” characterizes the fighter’s danger and bravery through an animal image. Shākī al-silāḥ means thoroughly equipped with weapons, while muqadhdhaf suggests a powerfully built figure. Mane and unclipped claws extend the lion image and heighten the threatening portrait.

11. The lion portrait and its extended imagery

ExpressionLiteral imageLiterary effect
أَسَدLionBravery and menace
شَاكِي السِّلَاحFully armedReadiness for battle
لُبَدThick maneSustained intimidation
أَظْفَارُهُ لَمْ تُقَلَّمUnclipped clawsThreat of attack

The portrait goes beyond bodily size: it embodies a complete martial danger through the lion image. Extending the image makes the expression richer than a single comparison.

12. Verse 38: Aggression and retaliation

جَرِيءٌ مَتَى يُظْلَمْ يُعَاقِبْ بِظُلْمِهِ ۞ سَرِيعًا وَإِلَّا يَبْدِ بِالظُّلْمِ يَظْلِمِ
He is daring: when wronged, he retaliates swiftly; and if no wrong is done to him, he is apt to initiate wrongdoing himself.

Matā yuẓlam introduces a condition: the passive imperfect yuẓlam is jussive, and yuʿāqib is the result. Wa-illā opens the alternative case. The point is both this fighter’s extreme boldness and the alarming cycle in which retaliation can become unsolicited aggression.

13. Yuẓlam and yaẓlim: passive versus active

The same root ẓ-l-m produces two different perspectives in verse 38:

يُظْلَمْ — passive imperfect: he is wronged.
يَظْلِمْ — active imperfect: he commits wrong.

Changing the grammatical voice also changes moral agency. Someone initially presented as a victim of injury may become the initiator of injury. This is more than a formal change of verb pattern.

14. Character portrait versus the poem’s ethical direction

Words such as “lion,” “strongly built,” and “daring” establish the fighter’s formidable character. They do not by themselves mean that the poet morally endorses every act depicted. The preceding passage has already argued that war creates widespread devastation.

In context, martial force and the danger of violence operate together. What looks like individual courage can become collective misfortune when directed toward uncontrolled retaliation.

15. Verse 39: The bloody watering place

رَعَوْا ظِمَاهُمْ حَتَّى إِذَا تَمَّ أَوْرَدُوا ۞ غِمَارًا تَفَرَّى بِالسِّلَاحِ وَبِالدَّمِ
They completed their period of grazing and thirst, then were led as though to deep waters overflowing with weapons and blood.

Raʿaw / awradū belong to grazing and bringing livestock to water, but they are transferred to the people’s movement toward conflict. Ghimāran denotes deep waters, transformed by “weapons and blood” into a battlefield. The pastoral scene thus becomes an extended metaphor for war.

16. War figured as leading animals to water

Raʿy is grazing, īrād bringing animals to a watering place, and ghimār deep water. Normally these sustain life; the poet transfers the same vocabulary to bloodshed.

The reversal generates the meaning: instead of refreshment, the participants find weapons and blood. War is shown as transforming a life-sustaining routine into a scene of destruction.

17. Verse 40: An ominous pasture

فَقَضَوْا مَنَايَا بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ أَصْدَرُوا ۞ إِلَى كَلَإٍ مُسْتَوْبِلٍ مُتَوَخِّمِ
They brought deaths to fulfilment among themselves, then moved on to a pasture that was unhealthy and ominous.

Aṣdarū evokes driving livestock away after watering and continues the earlier awradū. Kalaʾin mustawbilin mutawakhkhim depicts harmful, unhealthy pasture. Instead of safe nourishment after the watering place, the movement leads to further injury and ominous consequences.

18. Awradū and aṣdarū: two stages of the image

TermLivestock settingWar setting
أَوْرَدُواLed to waterEntered bloodshed
غِمَارDeep waterIntense fighting
أَصْدَرُواLed back from waterDeparted after fighting
كَلَأ مُتَوَخِّمHarmful pastureDamaging aftermath

The paired verbs give war a full entry-and-exit sequence, yet leaving the battlefield does not automatically produce safety.

19. Verse 41: The named casualties

لَعَمْرُكَ مَا جَرَّتْ عَلَيْهِمْ رِمَاحُهُمْ ۞ دَمَ ابْنِ نَهِيكٍ أَوْ قَتِيلِ الْمُثَلَّمِ
By your life, their spears did not bring upon them the blood of Ibn Nahīk or of the man slain in connection with al-Muthallam.

La-ʿamruka swears by the addressee’s life. The poet invokes named dead persons while denying that these men’s spears made them responsible for those deaths. Jarrat ʿalayhim recalls jarra ʿalayhim in verse 33, now under negation, shifting attention to the precise attribution of blood-guilt.

20. Verse 42: Denying participation

وَلَا شَارَكَتْ فِي الْمَوْتِ فِي دَمِ نَوْفَلٍ ۞ وَلَا وَهْبٍ مِنْهَا وَلَا ابْنِ الْمُخَزَّمِ
Nor did their spears share in the death of Nawfal, nor in that of Wahb, nor in that of Ibn al-Mukhazzam.

Wa-lā shārakat extends the denial in the previous line to additional named casualties. The feminine singular verb agrees naturally with the nonhuman plural rimāḥ (“spears”). Repeating wa-lā gives each denial separate weight. After war, assigning responsibility for deaths becomes a significant issue.

21. Verses 41–42: negation and responsibility

The listed names are not merely a catalogue; they structure a denial of responsibility for specific bloodshed.

Verse 41 uses the negative clause mā jarrat ... dam. Verse 42 broadens it by repeating wa-lā. Spears appear as grammatical agents even though people wield them; attributing actions to weapons is a familiar rhetorical way of foregrounding the means of violence.

22. Core vocabulary and morphology

WordFormMeaning here
يُؤَاتِيهِمْImperfect, muwātāhBenefits/suits them
مُسْتَكِنَّةActive-participle formConcealed or settled
مُلْجَمPassive participle of aljamaBridled
مُقَذَّفPassive-participle patternStrongly built
مُتَوَخِّمActive-participle patternHarmful, unhealthy

Adjectival forms, participles and imperfect verbs together convey both the hidden intention and the outward violence of the narrative.

23. Time, condition and negation

Wa-kāna ṭawā refers to an intention already concealed in the past.
Sa-aqḍī ... thumma attaqī projects an action, followed by a second planned step.
Matā yuẓlam yuʿāqib sets out a condition and its jussive result.
Mā jarrat ... wa-lā shārakat denies particular attributions of killing.

The grammatical contrasts map the story: concealed past → projected act → characteristic response → later accusations.

24. The ten-verse narrative as a unified argument

The passage links an individual vendetta to collective consequences. It begins with harm brought upon the tribe, develops the secret design and threatening warrior portrait, and ends with denials of liability for named deaths. All three stages revolve around a single problem: how can the cycle of revenge be stopped?

The lion portrait and the grazing/watering metaphor do different work. One characterizes individual power; the other explores the destruction that follows its violent use. This prepares the poem’s subsequent sequence of ethical maxims.

25. Distinguishing simile, idiom and extended metaphor

PhraseDeviceEffect
طَوَى كَشْحًاIdiomatic allusion (kināyah)Concealed intention
أُمُّ قَشْعَمEpithet for deathFatal atmosphere
لَدَى أَسَدLion image/metaphorWarrior’s ferocity
أَوْرَدُوا / أَصْدَرُواSustained pastoral metaphorStages of conflict

One narrative uses different figurative strategies: a hidden purpose, the personification of death, a warrior imagined as a lion, and an entire battle rendered as the movement of livestock.