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

فَتَعْرُكُكُمْ عَرْكَ الرَّحَى بِثِفَالِهَا ۞ وَتَلْقَحْ كِشَافًا ثُمَّ تُنْتَجْ فَتُتْئِمِ
Meaning: Then it grinds you as a mill grinds with its underlay; it conceives repeatedly like a she-camel bred without interval, gives birth, and brings forth twins.

Taʿrukukum conveys rubbing, crushing, or grinding. Al-raḥā is the millstone or hand-mill; thifāl is the underlay placed beneath it. The image communicates how war crushes people and deprives them of control.

In the next hemistich, war is represented as a she-camel: talqaḥ kishāfan points to conception at closely spaced intervals; tuntaj concerns giving birth; and tutʾim means to bear twins. The sequence communicates the rapid multiplication of war’s destructive effects.

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Verse 30: the mill and repeated conception

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

فَتَعْرُكُكُمْ عَرْكَ الرَّحَى بِثِفَالِهَا ۞ وَتَلْقَحْ كِشَافًا ثُمَّ تُنْتَجْ فَتُتْئِمِ
Meaning: Then it grinds you as a mill grinds with its underlay; it conceives repeatedly like a she-camel bred without interval, gives birth, and brings forth twins.

Taʿrukukum conveys rubbing, crushing, or grinding. Al-raḥā is the millstone or hand-mill; thifāl is the underlay placed beneath it. The image communicates how war crushes people and deprives them of control.

In the next hemistich, war is represented as a she-camel: talqaḥ kishāfan points to conception at closely spaced intervals; tuntaj concerns giving birth; and tutʾim means to bear twins. The sequence communicates the rapid multiplication of war’s destructive effects.