LessonsZuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: War, the Grinding Mill, and the She-Camel Metaphors (Verses 28–32)Quiz

مَتَى تَبْعَثُوهَا تَبْعَثُوهَا ذَمِيمَةً ۞ وَتَضْرَ إِذَا ضَرَّيْتُمُوهَا فَتَضْرَمِ
Meaning: Whenever you stir war up, you awaken it in an odious form; when you accustom it to violence, it grows fierce and blazes.

Matā introduces a recurring conditional situation: “whenever.” The object pronoun -hā in tabʿathūhā returns to war: it is the fighting that people choose to revive. Dhamīmatan marks it as blameworthy.

Taḍra and taḍram intensify the warning. The final verb evokes a blaze, as war becomes fierce through repeated encouragement. The poet is concerned with the escalation that follows once violence is deliberately made habitual.

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Verse 29: what happens when war is stirred

Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: War, the Grinding Mill, and the She-Camel Metaphors (Verses 28–32)

مَتَى تَبْعَثُوهَا تَبْعَثُوهَا ذَمِيمَةً ۞ وَتَضْرَ إِذَا ضَرَّيْتُمُوهَا فَتَضْرَمِ
Meaning: Whenever you stir war up, you awaken it in an odious form; when you accustom it to violence, it grows fierce and blazes.

Matā introduces a recurring conditional situation: “whenever.” The object pronoun -hā in tabʿathūhā returns to war: it is the fighting that people choose to revive. Dhamīmatan marks it as blameworthy.

Taḍra and taḍram intensify the warning. The final verb evokes a blaze, as war becomes fierce through repeated encouragement. The poet is concerned with the escalation that follows once violence is deliberately made habitual.