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al-Ḥārith ibn ʿUbād. ""Everything's destined toward demise"." Global Medieval Sourcebook.Text based on Cheikho, L. 1890. Kitāb Shuʿarāʾ al-Naṣrāniyyah. Vol. 1. Beirut: Maṭbaʿat al-Ābāʾ al-Mursilīn al-Yasūʿiyyīn fī Bayrūt, pages 271-273. .
"كل شيء مصيره للزوال" | "Everything’s destined toward demise"
Source Information
"كل شيء مصيره للزوال" | "Everything’s destined toward demise"
by al-Ḥārith ibn ʿUbād
Text Source:
Transcription based on Cheikho, L. 1890. Kitāb Shuʿarāʾ al-Naṣrāniyyah. Vol. 1. Beirut: Maṭbaʿat al-Ābāʾ al-Mursilīn al-Yasūʿiyyīn fī Bayrūt, pages 271-273.
Responsibility Statement:
- Text based on Cheikho, L. 1890. Kitāb Shuʿarāʾ al-Naṣrāniyyah. Vol. 1. Beirut: Maṭbaʿat al-Ābāʾ al-Mursilīn al-Yasūʿiyyīn fī Bayrūt, pages 271-273.
- Translation by Sherif Abdelkarim
- Encoded in TEI P5 XML by Danny Smith
Editorial Principles:
Transcriptions and translations are encoded in XML conforming to TEI (P5) guidelines. The original-language text is contained within <lem> tags and translations within <rdg> tags.
Texts are translated into modern American English with maximum fidelity to the original text, except where it would impair comprehension or good style. Archaisms are preserved where they do not conflict with the aesthetic of the original text. Scribal errors and creative translation choices are marked and discussed in the critical notes.
Arabic diacritics adjusted for readability.
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Published by The Global Medieval Sourcebook.
The Global Medieval Sourcebook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
كل شيءٍ مصيره للزوال غير ربي وصالح الأعمال Everything’s destined toward demise Besides my Master
c
and good works. Critical note:
Allah.
وترى الناس ينظرون جميعا ليس فيهم لذاك بعض احتيال You see the people, all looking, Unable to cheat their demise.
قل لأم الأغرِّ تبكي بُجَيْراً حيل بين الرجال والأموال Tell the highborn’s mother,
c
mourning Bujayr, A barrier’s set between men and their wealth. Critical note:
Bujayr’s mother.
ولعمري لأبكينَّ بُجَيْراً ما أتى الماء من رؤوس الجبال I’ll mourn Bujayr, by my life, As water runs from mountaintops.
5
لهف نفسي على بُجيْرٍ إذا ما جالت الخيلُ يوم حربٍ عُضال My misery, Bujayr, when Horses coursed, intractable war day. وتساقى الكُماةُ سُمًّا نقيعاً وبدا البيضُ من قباب الحِجَال The courageous exchanged fatal raids. Whites appeared from canopies’ bellies,
c
Critical note:
“Whites” here perhaps refers to the warriors’ unsheathed, shining weapons, or more likely to the faces of the Banī Bakr’s women, peeking out of their enclosures. This latter reading lends itself to the verse that follows, as it does the legend of al-Ḥārith’s entrance into the fight. As medieval commentators have it, the fateful day he joined the battle would be remembered as the Day of Shearing (Yawm al-Taḥāluq), or the Day of Haircutting Past the Earlobes (Yawm Taḥlāq al-Limam), on account of Bakr’s tribesmen cutting their hair in order for their women to identify them: al-Ḥārith had ordered them to attend onto the battlefield to finish off Taghlib’s wounded and nurse their own.
وسَعَتْ كلُّ حُرَّة الوجهِ تدعو يا لبكرٍ غرَّاءَ كالتِّمثال While freewoman raced, calling, “Bakr!”
c
—honorable as idols. Critical note:
Bakr being the name of al-Ḥārith’s tribe.
يا بجيرَ الخيرات لا صُلحَ حتى نملا البيد من رؤوس الرجال O opulent Bujayr,
c
no peace until We fill the wasteland with men’s heads. Critical note:
The Arabic, “Ya Bujayr al-khayrāt”, plays on the name Bujayr, which means (of a belly) “filled with water or milk”. Here, the poet endearingly declares Bujayr full of “the best”: al-khayrāt.”
وتَقَرَّ العيونُ بعد بُكاها حين تسقي الدّما صدورَ العوالي Eyes will smile after crying Once blood quenches arrowheads.
10
صْبَحَتْ وائلٌ تَعِجُّ من الحر بِ عجيجَ الجمال بالأثقال Wāʾil’s children wailed from war,c
The wailing of encumbered camels. Critical note:
Wāʾil being the parent of Taghlib and Bakr.
لم أكُنْ من جُناتِها عَلِمَ اللهُ وإنِّي لَحِرِّها اليوم صال I played no part in this war, Allāh knows; I feel its heat today.
قد تجنّبت وائلاً كي يُفيقوا فأبت تغلب عليَّ اعتزالي I avoided Wāʾil that they might come around, But Taghlib refused my seclusion.
c
Critical note:
That is, al-Ḥārith’s avoidance of the war.
وأشابوا ذُؤَابَتي ببجيرٍ قتلوه ظُلماً بغير قتال They greyed my forelock with Bujayr, Killed him wrongly, without cause.
قتلوه بِشِسْعِ نَعْلِ كُليبٍ إنّ قَتْلَ الكريمِ بالشِّسْعِ غالِ Killed him in exchange for Kulayb’s lace— The noble’s killing for string’s expensive!
c
Critical note:
That is, the murder of Bujayr for a shoelace is unacceptably disproportionate.
15
يا بني تغلبٍ خذوا الحِذر إنَّا قد شربنا بكأس موتٍ زُلال Children of Taghlibc
! Take heed: We drank pure Death indeed. Critical note:
That is, the Taghlib tribe, named after Taghlib, son of Wāʾil.
يا بني تغلبٍ قتلتُم قتيلاً ما سمعنا بمثله في الخوالي Children of Taghlib! You killed a precious one, now slain, We haven’t heard the likes of him!
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لقِحَتْ حرْبُ وائلٍ عن حِيالِ Draw Naʿāmah’s
c
harness near—Critical note:
al-Naʿāmah: al-Ḥārith’s formidable horse.
c
Wāʾil’s war bore fruit, after infertility. Critical note:
In the original Arabic, the repeated command verb employed, “qarribā,” takes the dual form, although a plural audience is targeted. Classical Arabic poets rely on this addressing of two imaginary bystanders for dramatic effect, most famously Imruʾ al-Qays (d.c.545) in his ode’s opening, “Qifā nabki min dhikrā ḥabīb wa-manzili” (“Stop! Let’s weep, recalling lover and lodge”).
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي ليس قولي يُرادُ لكنْ فِعَالي Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— I don’t intend words, but deeds.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي جَدَّ نَوْحُ النِّساءِ بالأعوالِ Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— The women’s wails turned earnest.
20
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي شابَ رأسي وأنكرتني القوالي Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— My head greyed; haters knew me not. قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي للسُّرى والغُدُوِّ والآصال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For riding: nighttime, morning, afternoon.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي طال لَيْلي على اللّيالي الطِّوال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— My night’s surpassed the longest nights.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لاعتناق الأبطال بالأبطال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For close embrace: Champions 'gainst Champions.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي واعْدِلا عن مقالَةِ الجُهَّال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— Discard the words of the heedless.
c
Critical note:
A general judgment on boasts unsubstantiated by action, though perhaps it refers to some specific rumors arising out of al-Ḥārith’s tribulation.
25
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي ليس قلبي عن القتال بِسَال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— My heart will not forgo warring. قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي كُلَّما هبَّ ريحُ ذَيْلِ الشَّمال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— Even as Boreas’ tailwind roared.
c
Critical note:
Literally, whenever the north wind’s tail stirred.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لبجيرٍ مُفَكِّك الأغلال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For Bujayr, Breaker of the chains.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لكريمٍ مُتَوَّجٍ بالجمال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For a noble, Beauty-crowned
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لا نَبيعُ الرِّجال بيْعَ النِّعال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— We don’t sell men for shoes.
c
Critical note:
See Introduction and note 8 above.
30
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لبجيرٍ فداهُ عَمِّي وخالي Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For Bujayr, my uncles be ransomed! قرِّباها لِحَيِّ تغلِبَ شُوساً لاعتناق الكُماةِ يوم القتال Bring it
c
— to haughty Taghlib, For the warriors’ embrace the day of battle. Critical note:
That is, the harness.
قرِّباها وقرِّبا لَأْمَتي دِرْ عاً دِلاصاً تَرُدُّ حَدَّ النِّبال Bring it— and bring my breastplate, A sleek cuirass, blunts arrows’ edge.
قرِّباها بِمُرْهفاتٍ حدادٍ لِقِراعِ الأبطال يوم النِّزال Bring it— with slashing swords, For the clash of champions on battle day.
رُبَّ جيشٍ لَقِيتُهُ يَمطُرُ المَوْ تَ على هيْكَلٍ خفيفِ الجِلال Often I faced an army,
c
Death from lightly-armored chargers. Critical note:
An instance of meiosis (understatement for rhetorical effect). The term “rubba” (“perhaps”), in the line “rubba jaysh laqītuhu” (“perhaps I faced an army”), signals not uncertainty or infrequency but their opposites. See Ibn Manẓur, Lisan al-ʿArab, s.v. ر ب ب .
35
سائِلوا كِنْدَةَ الكِرامَ وبكراً واسألوا مَذْحِجاً وحيَّ هلال Ask noble Kinda, inquire into Bakr, Interrogate Madhḥij and Hilāl.c
Critical note:
Kinda, Bakr, Madhḥij, Hilāl: notable Arabian tribes.
إذ أتَوْنا بعسْكَرٍ ذي زُههاءٍ مُكْفَهِرِّ الأذى شديدِ المَصال When they reached us with a massive troop, Ready to attack, severe in their seizure;
فَقَرَيْناه حين رام قِرانا كُلَّ ماضي الذُّبابِ عضْبِ الصِّقال When they craved congress we met them, Welcomed every keen sword’s edge.
كل شيءٍ مصيره للزوال غير ربي وصالح الأعمال Everything’s destined toward demise Besides my Master
c
and good works. Critical note:
Allah.
وترى الناس ينظرون جميعا ليس فيهم لذاك بعض احتيال You see the people, all looking, Unable to cheat their demise.
قل لأم الأغرِّ تبكي بُجَيْراً حيل بين الرجال والأموال Tell the highborn’s mother,
c
mourning Bujayr, A barrier’s set between men and their wealth. Critical note:
Bujayr’s mother.
ولعمري لأبكينَّ بُجَيْراً ما أتى الماء من رؤوس الجبال I’ll mourn Bujayr, by my life, As water runs from mountaintops.
5
لهف نفسي على بُجيْرٍ إذا ما جالت الخيلُ يوم حربٍ عُضال My misery, Bujayr, when Horses coursed, intractable war day. وتساقى الكُماةُ سُمًّا نقيعاً وبدا البيضُ من قباب الحِجَال The courageous exchanged fatal raids. Whites appeared from canopies’ bellies,
c
Critical note:
“Whites” here perhaps refers to the warriors’ unsheathed, shining weapons, or more likely to the faces of the Banī Bakr’s women, peeking out of their enclosures. This latter reading lends itself to the verse that follows, as it does the legend of al-Ḥārith’s entrance into the fight. As medieval commentators have it, the fateful day he joined the battle would be remembered as the Day of Shearing (Yawm al-Taḥāluq), or the Day of Haircutting Past the Earlobes (Yawm Taḥlāq al-Limam), on account of Bakr’s tribesmen cutting their hair in order for their women to identify them: al-Ḥārith had ordered them to attend onto the battlefield to finish off Taghlib’s wounded and nurse their own.
وسَعَتْ كلُّ حُرَّة الوجهِ تدعو يا لبكرٍ غرَّاءَ كالتِّمثال While freewoman raced, calling, “Bakr!”
c
—honorable as idols. Critical note:
Bakr being the name of al-Ḥārith’s tribe.
يا بجيرَ الخيرات لا صُلحَ حتى نملا البيد من رؤوس الرجال O opulent Bujayr,
c
no peace until We fill the wasteland with men’s heads. Critical note:
The Arabic, “Ya Bujayr al-khayrāt”, plays on the name Bujayr, which means (of a belly) “filled with water or milk”. Here, the poet endearingly declares Bujayr full of “the best”: al-khayrāt.”
وتَقَرَّ العيونُ بعد بُكاها حين تسقي الدّما صدورَ العوالي Eyes will smile after crying Once blood quenches arrowheads.
10
صْبَحَتْ وائلٌ تَعِجُّ من الحر بِ عجيجَ الجمال بالأثقال Wāʾil’s children wailed from war,c
The wailing of encumbered camels. Critical note:
Wāʾil being the parent of Taghlib and Bakr.
لم أكُنْ من جُناتِها عَلِمَ اللهُ وإنِّي لَحِرِّها اليوم صال I played no part in this war, Allāh knows; I feel its heat today.
قد تجنّبت وائلاً كي يُفيقوا فأبت تغلب عليَّ اعتزالي I avoided Wāʾil that they might come around, But Taghlib refused my seclusion.
c
Critical note:
That is, al-Ḥārith’s avoidance of the war.
وأشابوا ذُؤَابَتي ببجيرٍ قتلوه ظُلماً بغير قتال They greyed my forelock with Bujayr, Killed him wrongly, without cause.
قتلوه بِشِسْعِ نَعْلِ كُليبٍ إنّ قَتْلَ الكريمِ بالشِّسْعِ غالِ Killed him in exchange for Kulayb’s lace— The noble’s killing for string’s expensive!
c
Critical note:
That is, the murder of Bujayr for a shoelace is unacceptably disproportionate.
15
يا بني تغلبٍ خذوا الحِذر إنَّا قد شربنا بكأس موتٍ زُلال Children of Taghlibc
! Take heed: We drank pure Death indeed. Critical note:
That is, the Taghlib tribe, named after Taghlib, son of Wāʾil.
يا بني تغلبٍ قتلتُم قتيلاً ما سمعنا بمثله في الخوالي Children of Taghlib! You killed a precious one, now slain, We haven’t heard the likes of him!
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لقِحَتْ حرْبُ وائلٍ عن حِيالِ Draw Naʿāmah’s
c
harness near—Critical note:
al-Naʿāmah: al-Ḥārith’s formidable horse.
c
Wāʾil’s war bore fruit, after infertility. Critical note:
In the original Arabic, the repeated command verb employed, “qarribā,” takes the dual form, although a plural audience is targeted. Classical Arabic poets rely on this addressing of two imaginary bystanders for dramatic effect, most famously Imruʾ al-Qays (d.c.545) in his ode’s opening, “Qifā nabki min dhikrā ḥabīb wa-manzili” (“Stop! Let’s weep, recalling lover and lodge”).
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي ليس قولي يُرادُ لكنْ فِعَالي Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— I don’t intend words, but deeds.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي جَدَّ نَوْحُ النِّساءِ بالأعوالِ Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— The women’s wails turned earnest.
20
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي شابَ رأسي وأنكرتني القوالي Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— My head greyed; haters knew me not. قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي للسُّرى والغُدُوِّ والآصال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For riding: nighttime, morning, afternoon.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي طال لَيْلي على اللّيالي الطِّوال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— My night’s surpassed the longest nights.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لاعتناق الأبطال بالأبطال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For close embrace: Champions 'gainst Champions.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي واعْدِلا عن مقالَةِ الجُهَّال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— Discard the words of the heedless.
c
Critical note:
A general judgment on boasts unsubstantiated by action, though perhaps it refers to some specific rumors arising out of al-Ḥārith’s tribulation.
25
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي ليس قلبي عن القتال بِسَال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— My heart will not forgo warring. قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي كُلَّما هبَّ ريحُ ذَيْلِ الشَّمال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— Even as Boreas’ tailwind roared.
c
Critical note:
Literally, whenever the north wind’s tail stirred.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لبجيرٍ مُفَكِّك الأغلال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For Bujayr, Breaker of the chains.
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لكريمٍ مُتَوَّجٍ بالجمال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For a noble, Beauty-crowned
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لا نَبيعُ الرِّجال بيْعَ النِّعال Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— We don’t sell men for shoes.
c
Critical note:
See Introduction and note 8 above.
30
قرِّبا مربَطَ النَّعامة منّي لبجيرٍ فداهُ عَمِّي وخالي Draw Naʿāmah’s harness near— For Bujayr, my uncles be ransomed! قرِّباها لِحَيِّ تغلِبَ شُوساً لاعتناق الكُماةِ يوم القتال Bring it
c
— to haughty Taghlib, For the warriors’ embrace the day of battle. Critical note:
That is, the harness.
قرِّباها وقرِّبا لَأْمَتي دِرْ عاً دِلاصاً تَرُدُّ حَدَّ النِّبال Bring it— and bring my breastplate, A sleek cuirass, blunts arrows’ edge.
قرِّباها بِمُرْهفاتٍ حدادٍ لِقِراعِ الأبطال يوم النِّزال Bring it— with slashing swords, For the clash of champions on battle day.
رُبَّ جيشٍ لَقِيتُهُ يَمطُرُ المَوْ تَ على هيْكَلٍ خفيفِ الجِلال Often I faced an army,
c
Death from lightly-armored chargers. Critical note:
An instance of meiosis (understatement for rhetorical effect). The term “rubba” (“perhaps”), in the line “rubba jaysh laqītuhu” (“perhaps I faced an army”), signals not uncertainty or infrequency but their opposites. See Ibn Manẓur, Lisan al-ʿArab, s.v. ر ب ب .
35
سائِلوا كِنْدَةَ الكِرامَ وبكراً واسألوا مَذْحِجاً وحيَّ هلال Ask noble Kinda, inquire into Bakr, Interrogate Madhḥij and Hilāl.c
Critical note:
Kinda, Bakr, Madhḥij, Hilāl: notable Arabian tribes.
إذ أتَوْنا بعسْكَرٍ ذي زُههاءٍ مُكْفَهِرِّ الأذى شديدِ المَصال When they reached us with a massive troop, Ready to attack, severe in their seizure;
فَقَرَيْناه حين رام قِرانا كُلَّ ماضي الذُّبابِ عضْبِ الصِّقال When they craved congress we met them, Welcomed every keen sword’s edge.
Critical Notes
Translation
Line number 1
Critical note: Allah.
Translation
Line number 3
Critical note: Bujayr’s mother.
Translation
Line number 6
Critical note: “Whites” here perhaps refers to the warriors’ unsheathed, shining weapons, or more likely to the faces of the Banī Bakr’s women, peeking out of their enclosures. This latter reading lends itself to the verse that follows, as it does the legend of al-Ḥārith’s entrance into the fight. As medieval commentators have it, the fateful day he joined the battle would be remembered as the Day of Shearing (Yawm al-Taḥāluq), or the Day of Haircutting Past the Earlobes (Yawm Taḥlāq al-Limam), on account of Bakr’s tribesmen cutting their hair in order for their women to identify them: al-Ḥārith had ordered them to attend onto the battlefield to finish off Taghlib’s wounded and nurse their own.
Translation
Line number 7
Critical note: Bakr being the name of al-Ḥārith’s tribe.
Translation
Line number 8
Critical note: The Arabic, “Ya Bujayr al-khayrāt”, plays on the name Bujayr, which means (of a belly) “filled with water or milk”. Here, the poet endearingly declares Bujayr full of “the best”: al-khayrāt.”
Translation
Line number 10
Critical note: Wāʾil being the parent of Taghlib and Bakr.
Translation
Line number 12
Critical note: That is, al-Ḥārith’s avoidance of the war.
Translation
Line number 14
Critical note: That is, the murder of Bujayr for a shoelace is unacceptably disproportionate.
Translation
Line number 15
Critical note: That is, the Taghlib tribe, named after Taghlib, son of Wāʾil.
Translation
Line number 17
Critical note: al-Naʿāmah: al-Ḥārith’s formidable horse.
Translation
Line number 17
Critical note: In the original Arabic, the repeated command verb employed, “qarribā,” takes the dual form, although a plural audience is targeted. Classical Arabic poets rely on this addressing of two imaginary bystanders for dramatic effect, most famously Imruʾ al-Qays (d.c.545) in his ode’s opening, “Qifā nabki min dhikrā ḥabīb wa-manzili” (“Stop! Let’s weep, recalling lover and lodge”).
Translation
Line number 24
Critical note: A general judgment on boasts unsubstantiated by action, though perhaps it refers to some specific rumors arising out of al-Ḥārith’s tribulation.
Translation
Line number 26
Critical note: Literally, whenever the north wind’s tail stirred.
Translation
Line number 29
Critical note: See Introduction and note 8 above.
Translation
Line number 31
Critical note: That is, the harness.
Translation
Line number 34
Critical note: An instance of meiosis (understatement for rhetorical effect). The term “rubba” (“perhaps”), in the line “rubba jaysh laqītuhu” (“perhaps I faced an army”), signals not uncertainty or infrequency but their opposites. See Ibn Manẓur, Lisan al-ʿArab, s.v. ر ب ب .
Translation
Line number 35
Critical note: Kinda, Bakr, Madhḥij, Hilāl: notable Arabian tribes.
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