Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: The Departing Caravan, Travel Imagery and Similes (Verses 7–15)

1. How the nine-verse scene unfolds

Zuhayr’s first six couplets recognized and addressed an abandoned encampment. The focus now turns from silent remains to a caravan of women travelling in covered litters. Place names, route, equipment, timing, and temporary camps combine to give the scene movement.

The passage has three stages: sighting and route (7–10), travel at dawn and refined observation (11–12), and traces of a camp and departure onward (13–15). These details produce a continuous visual narrative, not a disconnected vocabulary list.

2. What are ẓaʿāʾin?

Ẓaʿāʾin is the plural of ẓaʿīnah. In this context it denotes women travelling in camel litters, sometimes extending to the covered conveyances themselves. It therefore evokes a specific caravan scene rather than unspecified travellers.

For desert journeys, routes, access to water, predawn departure and fitted travelling equipment were practical concerns. Zuhayr transforms them into poetry. Geography and coverings identify the caravan; the verbs of motion make the scene unfold.

3. Verse 7: asking a companion to look

تَبَصَّرْ خَلِيلِي هَلْ تَرَى مِنْ ظَعَائِنٍ تَحَمَّلْنَ بِالْعَلْيَاءِ مِنْ فَوْقِ جُرْثُمِ
Look closely, my friend: can you see the women’s travelling litters setting out across the high ground above Jurthum?

Tabaṣṣar calls for careful observation rather than a casual glance. With khalīlī (“my friend”), the picture takes the form of direct address. The question hal tarā invites us to search the horizon, while taḥammalna indicates departure with travelling equipment.

4. Morphology and grammar of the opening verbs

Tabaṣṣar is a second-person masculine singular imperative from form V (tabaṣṣara, root b-ṣ-r). Tarā is the imperfect of raʾā, used in the question. Taḥammalna is a third-person feminine plural perfect; its subject is the women in the litters.

The noun after min ẓaʿāʾin is genitive. Bi-l-ʿalyāʾ locates the departure in elevated terrain, and min fawqi Jurthum adds a further spatial marker. Grammar and geography work together.

5. Verse 8: al-Qanān and contrasting states

جَعَلْنَ الْقَنَانَ عَنْ يَمِينٍ وَحَزْنَهُ وَكَمْ بِالْقَنَانِ مِنْ مُحِلٍّ وَمُحْرِمِ
They left al-Qanān and its rugged terrain to their right; how many people in differing states of permissibility and sanctity pass through al-Qanān.

The route is fixed by al-Qanān and its ḥazn, hard rocky ground. ʿAn yamīn tells us which side of the caravan the landmark lies on. Kam is exclamatory here, conveying the many different people who have passed the same place.

For muḥill and muḥrim, the commentary allows readings connected with permitted and sacred states or times, as well as a contrast in status. The key is to recognize a deliberate contrast rather than impose a single unqualified historical identification.

6. Exclamatory kam and the two contrasting nouns

In wa-kam bi-l-Qanān min muḥillin wa-muḥrim, kam does not ask for a numerical answer. It is exclamatory/declarative kam, indicating abundance: many people and circumstances have passed through this place.

Muḥill and muḥrim take the form of active participles, using a lexical contrast between ḥ-l-l and ḥ-r-m. The coordinating wāw holds opposite states together. Thus a geographical landmark becomes a setting with a human past.

7. Verse 9: the litter coverings and red borders

عَلَوْنَ بِأَنْماطٍ عِتَاقٍ وَكِلَّةٍ وِرَادٍ حَوَاشِيهَا مُشَاكَهَةِ الدَّمِ
Their litters were adorned with fine patterned coverings and a curtain whose reddish borders resembled the color of blood.

Anmāṭ ʿitāq describes fine patterned textile coverings; killah is a screen or light curtain associated with the litter. Their ḥawāshī, the borders, are reddish. The comparison mushākahat al-dam is a color simile, not a reference to an episode of violence.

Cloth, color, and motion combine: at a distance the passing litters can be recognized by the fine coverings and their red edging.

8. Textile vocabulary as visual detail

ArabicMeaning here
أَنْماطPatterned cloth coverings
عِتاقFine or excellent
كِلَّةA screen or covering for a litter
حَواشِيBorders or edges

Wirād suggests reddish coloring. The pronoun in ḥawāshīhā refers to the covering. Comparison to a familiar intense color yields a clear color simile.

9. Verse 10: the caravan on al-Sūbān

وَوَرَّكْنَ فِي السُّوبَانِ يَعْلُونَ مَتْنَهُ عَلَيْهِنَّ دَلُّ النَّاعِمِ الْمُتَنَعِّمِ
They rode across the elevated tract of al-Sūbān, climbing its back; their bearing showed the grace of women accustomed to comfort.

Al-Sūbān names an elevated tract. In yaʿlūna matnahu, the travellers climb its “back”; matn literally means a back but can describe raised terrain. The geographical image is made bodily and therefore easily visualized.

Dall al-nāʿim al-mutanaʿʿim suggests graceful manner and familiarity with comfort. The line adds characterization to motion rather than reporting only the caravan’s route.

10. Verbs, pronouns, and the meaning of dall

Wa-warrakna has a feminine plural subject marked by nūn al-niswah. In yaʿlūna, the masculine plural ending reflects a different grammatical presentation of the movement and associated travellers; the forms should not be flattened into one identical agreement pattern.

ʿAlayhinna is a prepositional phrase. Dall describes refined manner or graceful bearing, not simply the fabric in the previous lines.

11. Verse 11: predawn travel and the Valley of al-Rass

بَكَرْنَ بُكُورًا وَاسْتَحَرْنَ بِسَحْرَةٍ فَهُنَّ وَوَادِي الرَّسِّ كَالْيَدِ لِلْفَمِ
They set out early and journeyed in the pre-dawn hours; they were now as near to the Valley of al-Rass as a hand is to the mouth.

Bakarnā bukūran combines a verb with its cognate verbal noun to emphasize early departure. Istaḥarna bi-saḥrah continues the time reference to the pre-dawn period. Finally, ka-l-yadi li-l-fam expresses the caravan’s closeness to the Valley of al-Rass.

The hand and mouth are a familiar pair. Rather than giving a distance in units, the poet makes nearness immediately imaginable.

12. The cognate accusative and an everyday simile

In bakarnā bukūran, bukūran is a cognate accusative (mafʿūl muṭlaq) derived from the same root as the verb. It reinforces the early setting out. Bi-saḥrah specifies time; the pronoun in fa-hunna returns to the female travellers.

The comparison fa-hunna wa-wādī al-Rass ka-l-yadi li-l-fam compares the caravan’s closeness to the valley with the closeness of hand to mouth. Its shared property is nearness, not resemblance of shape.

13. Verse 12: delight for the discerning observer

وَفِيهِنَّ مَلْهًى لِلَّطِيفِ وَمَنْظَرٌ أَنِيقٌ لِعَيْنِ النَّاظِرِ الْمُتَوَسِّمِ
Among them is delight for a person of refined taste and a pleasing sight for an observant eye that recognizes signs of beauty.

Malhā is a source or occasion of delight. Li-l-laṭīf refers to a refined, sensitive appreciator. Manẓar anīq means an attractive scene; al-mutawassim is a discerning observer who notices and interprets visible signs.

The verse does not merely establish that a caravan exists. It explicitly considers what makes the sight striking to someone who observes carefully.

14. Refinement versus discerning observation

Laṭīf relates to fineness and delicacy; here it indicates a person of refined appreciation. Mutawassim is an active participle from form V, tawassama, root w-s-m: one who recognizes characteristics from their signs.

PhraseEmphasis
لِلَّطِيفRefined taste
لِعَيْنِ النَّاظِرLooking carefully
الْمُتَوَسِّمRecognizing signs

15. Verse 13: dyed wool and fanā berries

كَأَنَّ فُتَاتَ الْعِهْنِ فِي كُلِّ مَنْزِلٍ نَزَلْنَ بِهِ حَبُّ الْفَنَا لَمْ يُحَطَّمِ
At each stopping place, fragments of colored wool appear like intact berries of the fanā plant, not yet crushed.

At caravan camps, futāt al-ʿihn—little fragments of dyed wool—may be scattered about. Their colored, grain-like appearance is compared to ḥabb al-fanā lam yuḥaṭṭam, intact berries of a plant called fanā.

Even when the travellers are not directly described in the frame, traces of their equipment testify to their passing. The simile is concrete, visual and tied to the previous textile imagery.

16. Grammar and point of resemblance in kaʾanna

In kaʾanna futāta al-ʿihn ... ḥabbu al-fanā, kaʾanna governs a nominal construction: futāta is its accusative subject, al-ʿihni a genitive complement, and ḥabbu the nominative predicate. Fī kulli manzilin establishes the recurring setting.

Lam yuḥaṭṭam has a negating particle that makes the imperfect jussive, with poetic rhyme affecting the surface vowel. The berries are uncrushed; the comparison concerns small scattered colored fragments.

17. Verse 14: arriving at water and camping

فَلَمَّا وَرَدْنَ الْمَاءَ زُرْقًا جِمَامُهُ وَضَعْنَ عِصِيَّ الْحَاضِرِ الْمُتَخَيِّمِ
When they reached water whose gathered pools looked clear blue, they settled there as a camper puts down the staff of residence.

Waradna al-māʾ means they arrived at a water source. Zurqan jimāmuhu describes the clear blue appearance of the gathered pools or reserves. Then waḍaʿna ʿiṣiyya al-ḥāḍir al-mutakhayyim uses putting down the resident camper’s staff to signify settling temporarily.

Stopping at water was a practical part of desert travel. The idiom gives that routine action a vivid material image.

18. An idiom of settling down

Waḍaʿna ʿiṣiyya al-ḥāḍir literally depicts putting down a camper’s staff. In context it denotes making camp and settling for a time. The meaning is reached through a closely associated physical action, a useful example of kināyah (indirect expression).

Al-mutakhayyim emphasizes a person who establishes a tent or camp. The following verse’s thumma jazaʿnahu gives the counter-image of setting out again.

19. The blue pools: description and construction

Jimām denotes accumulated water or pools in this context. Zurqan supplies their bluish appearance and may be analyzed circumstantially; the attached pronoun in jimāmuhu refers back to water.

After travel through dry terrain, the clear color of stored water offers visual contrast and serves the caravan’s needs. Image and narrative therefore advance at the same time.

20. Verse 15: journeying onward after the stop

ظَهَرْنَ مِنَ السُّوبَانِ ثُمَّ جَزَعْنَهُ عَلَى كُلِّ قَيْنِيٍّ قَشِيبٍ وَمُفْأَمِ
They emerged from the region of al-Sūbān and crossed it in fresh, spacious, carefully made travelling conveyances.

Ẓaharna min al-Sūbān shows the caravan emerging from a tract. Thumma jazaʿnahu means then traversing or crossing it; thumma marks a further stage. The expressions qaynī, qashīb, and mufʾam suggest craftsmanship, newness, and breadth in travelling equipment.

The line does not merely say the journey ended. By following a stop with renewed crossing, it closes the movement as an ongoing route.

21. Craftsmanship, freshness, and breadth

Qaynī is explained in relation to qayn, an artisan or craftsman, suggesting well-made conveyances or equipment. Qashīb means new or fresh, and mufʾam spacious or ample. The commentary also notes a variant reading ʿalā kulli jarī.

The precise textual variation should not be concealed. The overall picture remains that the caravan rides in fresh, roomy, well-made equipment, which is then put to use in crossing the route.

22. The route as a series of places, times, and actions

VersesKey details
7–8High ground, Jurthum, al-Qanān
9–10Litter textiles; heights of al-Sūbān
11–12Predawn time, al-Rass valley, attractive sight
13–14Traces of a camp and a water stop
15Crossing onward

The poem’s narrated sequence is not a surveyed map; its importance lies in the connected observations and gradual change of scene.

23. Motion verbs and grammatical agreement

FormSense and grammar
تَحَمَّلْنَFeminine plural perfect: departed
جَعَلْنَFeminine plural perfect: placed to a side
بَكَرْنَFeminine plural perfect: set out early
وَرَدْنَFeminine plural perfect: reached water
جَزَعْنَهُFeminine plural perfect: crossed it

The repeated feminine plural suffix keeps the travelling women as principal agents; each verb adds a new stage to the itinerary.

24. Rhetoric of the caravan passage

The similes are functional rather than decorative: blood-red color for cloth borders (9), hand-to-mouth nearness for approaching a valley (11), and intact fanā berries for scattered wool (13). Each turns an abstract property into a familiar image.

The indirect expression “putting down a camper’s staff” (14) marks temporary settlement. Then the verbs of emerging and crossing (15) resume the movement. The sequence combines seeing, stopping, and moving onward into one scene.

25. Integrated review and the next turn

Verses 7–15 combine three levels: geography (Jurthum, al-Qanān, al-Sūbān, al-Rass), objects and color (textile covers, dyed wool, and water), and motion (departed, set out early, arrived at water, crossed). Each deepens the others.

The departing women are not reduced to a moment of longing; they become a full desert scene. With the next verse, fa-aqsamtu bi-l-bayt, the poem turns from observed travel to an oath concerning tribal reconciliation and human responsibility.