Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: Mortality, Generosity, Self-Respect and Wisdom of Speech (Verses 53–62)

1. The closing maxims: from tribal experience to the person

After discussing war, reconciliation and communal obligations, Zuhayr ends with compact observations about the individual. Verses 53–62 address mortality, generosity, conflict, self-respect, hidden character, speech and the limits of asking others for help.

The recurring technique is condition followed by consequence: a clause introduced by man or mahmā identifies an action and a second clause states its result. Several observations arise from tribal conflict; they are descriptions of that social setting rather than unrestricted moral commands for every era.

2. Verse 53: The impossibility of escaping death

وَمَنْ هَابَ أَسْبَابَ الْمَنَايَا يَنَلْنَهُ ۞ وَإِنْ يَرْقَ أَسْبَابَ السَّمَاءِ بِسُلَّمِ
Whoever fears the causes of death will still be overtaken by it, even if he could ascend the paths of heaven by a ladder.

Hāba means “feared.” The feminine plural subject encoded in yanalnahu refers to al-manāyā (deaths). The imagined ladder rising to heaven exaggerates the height of a possible refuge only to deny its effectiveness. The point is the inevitability of mortality, not an instruction to disregard ordinary safety.

3. Syntax of man hāba … yanalnahu

Man introduces a conditional generalization; hāba states the condition and yanalnahu gives its outcome. The feminine plural subject is “deaths” (al-manāyā), while the final -hu is the person who fears them.

Wa-in yarqa adds an extreme hypothetical qualification: even climbing toward the sky does not undo the earlier conclusion. The grammar therefore supports the rhetorical argument as well as the literal translation.

4. The ladder to heaven: hyperbole and imagined escape

In asbāb al-samāʾ bi-sullam, asbāb denotes means of ascent or paths, and sullam is a ladder. Zuhayr imagines an almost impossible escape route to show that even such a refuge cannot eliminate mortality.

The picture is an instance of hyperbole in the service of a general observation. Fear on earth is set against the widest imaginable upward flight, and the contrast intensifies the certainty of the consequence.

5. Verse 54: Generosity directed to the worthy

وَمَنْ يَجْعَلِ الْمَعْرُوفَ فِي غَيْرِ أَهْلِهِ ۞ يَكُنْ حَمْدُهُ ذَمًّا عَلَيْهِ وَيَنْدَمِ
Whoever directs beneficence to those who are unworthy of it may find his praise turned into blame and be left regretting it.

Al-maʿrūf is benevolent conduct, while ahlihi refers to those who properly receive or appreciate it in the poet’s social argument. The reversal ḥamduhu dhamman contrasts praise with reproach. This is a warning about judgment and the social outcome of favors, not a license to deny help to people in genuine need.

6. Praise and blame as rhetorical opposites

Ḥamd means praise and dhamm means blame. In yakun ḥamduhu dhamman, yakun is an incomplete verb, ḥamduhu its subject, and dhamman its predicate. The grammar presents the reversal of an expected reward into its opposite.

Wa-yandami adds the internal consequence: regret. This makes the maxim more than a statement about reputation; it connects a decision, its external reception and the agent’s subsequent evaluation of that decision.

7. Verse 55: When the spear replaces counsel

وَمَنْ يَعْصِ أَطْرَافَ الزُّجَاجِ فَإِنَّهُ ۞ يُطِيعُ الْعَوَالِيَ رُكِّبَتْ كُلَّ لَهْذَمِ
Whoever defies the first warnings represented by spear fittings will ultimately have to submit to long spears fitted with sharp points.

Al-zujāj refers to the fittings or lower spear parts in this explanation; al-ʿawālī are long spears and lahdham evokes a sharp piercing point. The contrast moves from an initial warning to the severe reality of armed conflict. Read this in the poem’s tribal-war setting, where failure to contain confrontation can escalate it.

8. The spear image: from refusal to escalation

Zuhayr compresses the experience of escalating tribal conflict into two aspects of a spear: an earlier point when resistance could still be checked and a later stage when the full violence of confrontation follows.

The verse is a warning about escalation rather than practical instruction in weapons. Yaʿṣi / yuṭīʿu supplies a concise verbal antithesis: one initially refuses, then is forced to submit to a harsher consequence.

9. Verse 56: Guarding one’s communal rights

وَمَنْ لَمْ يَذُدْ عَنْ حَوْضِهِ بِسِلَاحِهِ ۞ يُهَدَّمْ وَمَنْ لَا يَظْلِمِ النَّاسَ يُظْلَمِ
Whoever does not defend his water-place and rights may see them destroyed; in that harsh tribal setting, one who does not exert force may himself be wronged.

Ḥawḍ literally denotes a water trough or watering place and works here as an image of resources and rights. Yadhud means to repel or defend. The final clause reflects the harsh reciprocity of power in a pre-Islamic tribal order. It should not be treated as a timeless ethical authorization to oppress others.

10. The watering place as a symbol of rights

In a desert pastoral society, a ḥawḍ was associated with animals, water access, wealth and survival. It therefore serves as an image of resources and the rights attached to them. Yuhaddam pictures that sphere of protection being broken down.

Rhetorically, the tangible watering place expands into a symbol of social and material claims. The figurative sense depends on understanding the original physical setting rather than replacing it entirely.

11. Verse 57: Exile and self-respect

وَمَنْ يَغْتَرِبْ يَحْسَبْ عَدُوًّا صَدِيقَهُ ۞ وَمَنْ لَمْ يُكَرِّمْ نَفْسَهُ لَمْ يُكَرَّمِ
A person living far from familiar society may mistake an enemy for a friend; whoever fails to honor himself will not be honored by others.

Yaghtarib, from Form VIII, describes becoming a stranger or living away from familiar surroundings. The first hemistich concerns the difficulty of judging people without established social knowledge. In the second, the contrast yukarrim / yukarram moves from active self-respect to the passive reception of honor from others.

12. Active and passive forms of honoring

Man lam yukarrim nafsahu lam yukarram contrasts an active imperfect verb (one honors oneself) with a passive imperfect verb (one is honored by others). The root in both forms is k-r-m.

FormVoiceSense
يُكَرِّمْActiveHonors
يُكَرَّمِPassiveIs honored

The same lexical root supports a memorable relation between conduct toward oneself and social recognition by others.

13. Verse 58: Character cannot remain concealed

وَمَهْمَا تَكُنْ عِنْدَ امْرِئٍ مِنْ خَلِيقَةٍ ۞ وَإِنْ خَالَهَا تَخْفَى عَلَى النَّاسِ تُعْلَمِ
Whatever trait a person possesses, even if he thinks it can remain hidden from others, it will eventually become known.

Khalīqah here means a settled trait or disposition. Mahmā introduces a comprehensive condition; wa-in khālahā adds the concession “even if he supposes it hidden.” The point is that repeated conduct reveals inward qualities over time, despite a person’s attempt to conceal them.

14. The grammar of concealed traits

Mahmā acts as a general conditional expression. Takun is an incomplete verb; min khalīqatin specifies the kind of quality under discussion. Khāla means “supposed” or “imagined,” while the passive tuʿlami gives the final outcome: it becomes known.

The line does not claim immediate access to another person’s inner life. It presents conduct over time as evidence of a settled disposition, even if the individual hopes that it can stay hidden.

15. Verse 59: Silence tested by speech

وَكَائِنْ تَرَى مِنْ صَامِتٍ لَكَ مُعْجِبٍ ۞ زِيَادَتُهُ أَوْ نَقْصُهُ فِي التَّكَلُّمِ
How many a silent person impresses you, yet speaking reveals whether his worth increases or diminishes.

Kāʾin here expresses multiplicity: how many people! Ṣāmit is a silent person, while al-takallum means speaking. The paired opposites “increase or decrease” describe the change in one’s estimate of the person once words reveal their understanding, restraint, or lack of these qualities.

16. Verse 60: Tongue, heart and human worth

لِسَانُ الْفَتَى نِصْفٌ وَنِصْفٌ فُؤَادُهُ ۞ فَلَمْ يَبْقَ إِلَّا صُورَةُ اللَّحْمِ وَالدَّمِ
Half a person’s worth lies in his tongue and half in his heart and understanding; what remains is only the physical form of flesh and blood.

Lisān represents expressive ability, and fuʾād the heart, intention, discernment and inward understanding. The two halves are a rhetorical division of human worth, not a biological claim. The “form of flesh and blood” contrasts mere bodily appearance with qualities demonstrated in thought and language.

17. Speech and understanding must work together

A person may have serious knowledge but speak without restraint; another may speak beautifully without possessing sound judgment. The couplet pairs thought and expression as complementary human capacities.

The repeated nisf (“half”) creates a balanced structure. The second hemistich then reduces the remaining body to its visible physical form, completing the rhetorical distinction between intellect expressed through speech and mere appearance.

18. Verse 61: Youth and old age contrasted

وَإِنَّ سَفَاهَ الشَّيْخِ لَا حِلْمَ بَعْدَهُ ۞ وَإِنَّ الْفَتَى بَعْدَ السَّفَاهَةِ يَحْلُمِ
The folly of an old man leaves little expectation of later restraint, whereas a young person may yet grow into patience and good judgment after youthful folly.

Safāh is folly or lack of restraint, while ḥilm is forbearance and sound judgment. Al-shaykh / al-fatā contrasts old age with youth. The verse expresses the poet’s experienced generalization about opportunities for change; it should not be converted into an absolute rule about the capacities of every older or younger person.

19. Folly and forbearance across the lifespan

The first hemistich names the old person’s folly and the second the possibility that a young person becomes forbearing. The contrast is a rhetorical opposition between hardened habit and potential development.

Ḥilm is more than silence; it implies restraint, deliberation and patience. Zuhayr associates moral formation with the life course, but the aphoristic phrasing is a literary generalization, not an infallible individual diagnosis.

20. Verse 62: Giving, asking and moderation

سَأَلْنَا فَأَعْطَيْتُمْ وَعُدْنَا فَعُدْتُمْ ۞ وَمَنْ أَكْثَرَ التَّسْآلَ يَوْمًا سَيُحْرَمِ
We asked and you gave; we returned and you gave again. Yet a person who asks too often may one day be denied.

Saʾalnā / aʿṭaytum and ʿudnā / ʿudtum form paired actions: requests and repeated generosity. Al-tasʾāl denotes excessive or repeated asking. The first hemistich praises the addressees’ giving; the second warns that relentless requests can exhaust goodwill. Both generosity and moderation appear within the same couplet.

21. Repetition of actions in the final verse

VerbSubjectMeaning
سَأَلْنَاWeWe asked
أَعْطَيْتُمْYou (plural)You gave
عُدْنَاWeWe returned
عُدْتُمْYou (plural)You repeated

The first hemistich pairs the requester with the giver. The passive future sayuḥram shifts to the possibility of denial, creating a final counterweight to generosity.

22. Selected lexical and morphological analysis

WordRoot / patternSense
هَابَh-y-b; Form IFelt fear
يَغْتَرِبْgh-r-b; Form VIIIBecame a stranger
يُكَرِّمْk-r-m; Form IIHonored
خَلِيقَةkh-l-q; nounDisposition
سَفَاهs-f-h; verbal nounFolly
يَحْلُمِḥ-l-m; Form IBecame forbearing

The surrounding verse fixes each sense: estrangement rather than merely travel, moral restraint rather than dreaming, and a settled characteristic rather than an isolated act.

23. Condition and consequence as a poetic framework

ConditionConsequence
مَنْ هَابَ أَسْبَابَ الْمَنَايَايَنَلْنَهُ
مَنْ يَجْعَلِ الْمَعْرُوفَ فِي غَيْرِ أَهْلِهِيَكُنْ حَمْدُهُ ذَمًّا
مَنْ يَغْتَرِبْيَحْسَبْ عَدُوًّا صَدِيقَهُ
مَهْمَا تَكُنْ ... مِنْ خَلِيقَةٍتُعْلَمِ

A conditional opening helps a compact line become generally applicable: it sets an identifiable action beside its consequence. This aphoristic structure is a distinctive feature of Zuhayr’s concluding passage.

24. Rhetorical oppositions in the closing lines

The pairings yaʿṣi / yuṭīʿu (defy / obey), ḥamd / dhamm (praise / blame), yukarrim / yukarram (honor / be honored) and ziyādah / naqṣ (increase / decrease) make contrasts intellectually concise.

These are argumentative devices rather than mere ornament. Lisān al-fatā nisfun wa-niṣfun fuʾāduhu instead creates balance, while the repeated verbs of requesting and giving build an audible rhythm toward the final caution.

25. Completing Zuhayr’s Muʿallaqah

Zuhayr’s Muʿallaqah began with ruined campsites and the departing caravan, then moved to reconciliation between ʿAbs and Dhubyān, the devastation of war and episodes of tribal revenge. Its final verses transform that social experience into compact reflections on conduct.

Mortality, wise beneficence, self-respect, concealed traits, responsible speech and moderation in requests all ask how people should act amid uncertainty. This closes the third Muʿallaqah. The edition next introduces the fourth poet, Labīd ibn Rabīʿah.