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