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