A poem by the Sahabi Labid ibn Rabi'ah (RA)
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Zayd
Habar Magaadle
My favourite poem from the Sahaba was from Ibn Zuhayr, or Ka'ab in Zuhayr (RA) who's father was one of the great poets of the Jahiliya.
Ka'ab and his brother were shepherds who were both poets, their father saw a dream of a golden ladder falling from the sky whereby he tried to climb it but couldn't put a hand on it. He then interpreted the dream to be as a great man/prophet coming after he dies, he instructed his sons to be with him if he was to manifest.
One son went to Medina and became Muslim, the other persisted and even began writing poems of insults to the Prophet, in the end when the Prophet conquered Makkah, Ka'ab walked into the Majlis of the Prophet with his face concealed. He asked " If Ka'ab ibn Zuhayr was to walk in and ask for forgiveness would you accept?" the Prophet replied with the affirmative. Ka'ab then revealed his face and he almost got into a fight with the Ansar of Medina, the Prophet then asked Ka'ab to use his talent in poetry instead of violence.
Ka'ab then began to recite a famous 60-line poem that he recited off the top of his head (what they call freestyle nowadays)
The most famous line was " Inna Rasuulun La-Sayfun Yustadhaa'u bihi, Muhannadun min Suyufi-Laahi Masluulu"
After this line the Prophet stood up and enveloped Ka'ab with his blessed Burdah (cloak), the Burdah was passed down to Ka'ab's sons and grandsons until the Ummayad's purchased it and wore it on every Friday Khutbah.
The poem is still studied today in linguistic academia as an example of elite classical Arabic literature.
http://www.academia.edu/13840166/Banat_Suad_Translation_and_Introduction
http://scholarship.haverford.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1136&context=religion_facpubs
Translation:
Su'ad has departed, so this day my heart is in pain.
Tied after her heart is my heart, not freed rather in chains.
And Suad.. In the very morning they departed didn't but she,
Look more beautiful with her black stained deer-like eyes
Her cheeks covered by her dark hair, shining when she smiles
They look like cups that have been filled with the finest wine
The wine being mixed with cold water from the purest springs,
From the springs of the mountains of the north,
The winds take away all the straw from it's surface (the spring),
Adding more pure water in it, then the white clouds come from the side of Sariyah,
Her friendship is a great honor only if she kept her,
Promises or would that the advice achieves her approval
But her friendship is fraught with agonizing pain, passion,
Breaking promises changing her mind now and then,
She is never found in one state of mind, but keeps changing constantly,
Like a goblin that changes her color by changing her dress,
And she doesn't keep the promise which she pretends to have made,
but like the sieves that keep water for just a few moments,
Her vows and her promises she made, should not beguile you,
For all hopes and all dreams regarding her are just delusions,
The promises of Urqub are good parables for her promises,
Everybody knows that her promises are but white lies,
I wish and I hope to win her love in the nearest future,
But I don't think that we may achieve this wish from her,
Su'ad has reached a distant land where the only thing that could reach it,
Would be a herd of healthy she-camels of noble breed, that run with speed,
Only by she-camels with great stamina that know no languor,
That run between the speed of a speed and the haste of a mule,
She-camels of a breed that spread musk wherever they sweat,
That can go on unknown tracks with signs erased and marks effaced,
That can see the unseen with their farsighted white eyes of a wild bull,
If they expect any danger, they carefully look for a place safe and secure
Those that have long and strong necks and strong muscular legs,
Those high-bred animals, that exceed others in their characteristics,
Forerunner with widened cheeks, wild with masculine characteristics,
Wide are her shoulders which gradually incline towards the front,
Her skin is like the hardened but lean leather of a shield,
Si that her shoulders are hardly hurt by the brances of the acacia tree,
She has combined all better qualities she inherited from her ancestors,
Such as the swift running, long back, long neck, and easiness of pace.
The ticks start moving on her skin but soon they roll down,
Since her back is smooth and her filled belly sides are slippery,
She withdraws herself as a wild animal from her herd and then comes back,
Her elbows are made of twisted muscles coming down from her chest,
She is unblemished and beautiful, for her eyes, her neck,
Her nose and her cheeks have no scars of branding with iron,
Her tail moves like a stick of the palm branch with thick hair on it,
Her udder hasn't been polluted by her feces and urine
Her auburn eyes seem like erect rocks to he who observes her
As she clearly is of highbred family with somewhat flattened cheeks,
She walks on her slender but still legs smoothly when treading the earth,
As if those legs never touch the ground due to her graceful movement
Her stiff brown legs spread pebbles from under her feet,
She doesn't need shoes for climbing the peaks of hillocks,
As if her legs smell out the odor of a wild mushroom whenever she sweats,
Maybe they touched a poisonous plant when wandering in the pastures
On a day when the chameleon spent it suffering from a headache,
As if the chameleon had a day of boredom due to the heat of the sun,
The camel herder said to his people, "take a mid day nap",
While the grasshoppers started jumping upon the pebbles here and there,
She passed the intensity of the day laying her long neck on her bent front legs,
And when she stood up, other camels that have lost their mothers stood up too,
When they announced the death of her young baby she started crying
Her both sides of her belly became soft and there was no one to tie her
She moves forward her chest with the help of her front legs while,
Her chemise is torn from her collarbone and it is in tatters,
The slanderers are trying in his presence to malign me and they say
Certainly you O the son of Abi Sulma (Zuhayr in 3rd person) are to be killed,
And every close friend whom I used to trust too much said to me,
"I am sorry I can't help you, for I am too busy to spend time with you"
I said " Leave me alone, may you lose your fathers, let me go to him,
For whatever the Rahman has destined is undoubtedly going to manifest,
Every son of a woman even though he may live a long peaceful life,
One day, certainly, he is to be carried on the coffin to his tomb,
I have been told that the Messenger of God has threatened me,
But it is the forgiveness of the Messenger of God that one can expect,
I came to the Messenger of God to apologize to him,
And apologies are always accepted by the Messenger of God,
Please wait! You may be guided by the One who has given you the great blessing,
In the form of the Qur'an that contains admonitions and much, much more
Don't misunderstand me because of the words of the slanderers,
For I did nothing wrong, it is but rum ours that have been spread against me,
I am standing where the elephant would have stood,
I am listening and seeing what the elephant would have seen,
He would have started trembling, except if he had it from the Messenger,
With the permission of God, his approval in the form of a graceful nod,
I kept Journeying through the destructive desert clad in armors
Whilst the wings of darkness and the curtain of the night covered me,
Until I put my right hand in the palm and did not take it away,
From the palm of He who speaks so gently and his words are the words,
It is because he is the most honorable one in my eyes to whom I am talking now,
Though they said " You are accused and are going to be questioned about it
He is from a family of brave lions who strenuously work to protect their domain,
The domain that is invincible, can't be reached, it is between thick layers of jungle,
At war this lion chooses for a brave lion as his rival,
Then both of them turn the battlefield into a ground filled with morsels of flesh,
If he leaps upon someone who is not his equal, he doesn't fight him,
But he leaves him not until he is captured and tied with chains,
Birds of prey keep themselves hidden from him due to fear
And other wild animals never venture to approach his valley
Everyday in his valley there is a brave and bold warrior,
Lying in front of him in tattered clothes, ready to be punished
The Messenger is like a sword whose brightness guides the warriors,
Crafted in India (the best swords at that time were Indian-made swords)
One of the swords of God, unsheathed against His enemies
He was among the young men of Quraish when one of them said
After they had embraced Islam in Makkah, " Leave the city and migrate"
They left the city, it is true but they left it with dignity and they showed,
No cowardice when they met their enemy as they were united for a cause.
They are high ranking champions, who wear normal clothes,
But when there is a call for battle, they wear armor of David's design,
Full white armors that are covered by twisted square knots,
Like square knots of the desert plant with twisted thorns
They walk like the beautiful white camels and they protect themselves,
With decisive blows, whenever they face the black warriors with their javelins,
They never become happy when their javelins have injured others,
And they never complain and whine when they are injured in the battles
Spears of their enemies always find their chests ready to be stabbed,
As they never try to escape death by turning their backs to them.
The amazing thing is Ka'ab (RA) recited this off the dome, demonstrating his inherited traits from his father.
Ka'ab and his brother were shepherds who were both poets, their father saw a dream of a golden ladder falling from the sky whereby he tried to climb it but couldn't put a hand on it. He then interpreted the dream to be as a great man/prophet coming after he dies, he instructed his sons to be with him if he was to manifest.
One son went to Medina and became Muslim, the other persisted and even began writing poems of insults to the Prophet, in the end when the Prophet conquered Makkah, Ka'ab walked into the Majlis of the Prophet with his face concealed. He asked " If Ka'ab ibn Zuhayr was to walk in and ask for forgiveness would you accept?" the Prophet replied with the affirmative. Ka'ab then revealed his face and he almost got into a fight with the Ansar of Medina, the Prophet then asked Ka'ab to use his talent in poetry instead of violence.
Ka'ab then began to recite a famous 60-line poem that he recited off the top of his head (what they call freestyle nowadays)
The most famous line was " Inna Rasuulun La-Sayfun Yustadhaa'u bihi, Muhannadun min Suyufi-Laahi Masluulu"
After this line the Prophet stood up and enveloped Ka'ab with his blessed Burdah (cloak), the Burdah was passed down to Ka'ab's sons and grandsons until the Ummayad's purchased it and wore it on every Friday Khutbah.
The poem is still studied today in linguistic academia as an example of elite classical Arabic literature.
http://www.academia.edu/13840166/Banat_Suad_Translation_and_Introduction
http://scholarship.haverford.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1136&context=religion_facpubs
Translation:
Su'ad has departed, so this day my heart is in pain.
Tied after her heart is my heart, not freed rather in chains.
And Suad.. In the very morning they departed didn't but she,
Look more beautiful with her black stained deer-like eyes
Her cheeks covered by her dark hair, shining when she smiles
They look like cups that have been filled with the finest wine
The wine being mixed with cold water from the purest springs,
From the springs of the mountains of the north,
The winds take away all the straw from it's surface (the spring),
Adding more pure water in it, then the white clouds come from the side of Sariyah,
Her friendship is a great honor only if she kept her,
Promises or would that the advice achieves her approval
But her friendship is fraught with agonizing pain, passion,
Breaking promises changing her mind now and then,
She is never found in one state of mind, but keeps changing constantly,
Like a goblin that changes her color by changing her dress,
And she doesn't keep the promise which she pretends to have made,
but like the sieves that keep water for just a few moments,
Her vows and her promises she made, should not beguile you,
For all hopes and all dreams regarding her are just delusions,
The promises of Urqub are good parables for her promises,
Everybody knows that her promises are but white lies,
I wish and I hope to win her love in the nearest future,
But I don't think that we may achieve this wish from her,
Su'ad has reached a distant land where the only thing that could reach it,
Would be a herd of healthy she-camels of noble breed, that run with speed,
Only by she-camels with great stamina that know no languor,
That run between the speed of a speed and the haste of a mule,
She-camels of a breed that spread musk wherever they sweat,
That can go on unknown tracks with signs erased and marks effaced,
That can see the unseen with their farsighted white eyes of a wild bull,
If they expect any danger, they carefully look for a place safe and secure
Those that have long and strong necks and strong muscular legs,
Those high-bred animals, that exceed others in their characteristics,
Forerunner with widened cheeks, wild with masculine characteristics,
Wide are her shoulders which gradually incline towards the front,
Her skin is like the hardened but lean leather of a shield,
Si that her shoulders are hardly hurt by the brances of the acacia tree,
She has combined all better qualities she inherited from her ancestors,
Such as the swift running, long back, long neck, and easiness of pace.
The ticks start moving on her skin but soon they roll down,
Since her back is smooth and her filled belly sides are slippery,
She withdraws herself as a wild animal from her herd and then comes back,
Her elbows are made of twisted muscles coming down from her chest,
She is unblemished and beautiful, for her eyes, her neck,
Her nose and her cheeks have no scars of branding with iron,
Her tail moves like a stick of the palm branch with thick hair on it,
Her udder hasn't been polluted by her feces and urine
Her auburn eyes seem like erect rocks to he who observes her
As she clearly is of highbred family with somewhat flattened cheeks,
She walks on her slender but still legs smoothly when treading the earth,
As if those legs never touch the ground due to her graceful movement
Her stiff brown legs spread pebbles from under her feet,
She doesn't need shoes for climbing the peaks of hillocks,
As if her legs smell out the odor of a wild mushroom whenever she sweats,
Maybe they touched a poisonous plant when wandering in the pastures
On a day when the chameleon spent it suffering from a headache,
As if the chameleon had a day of boredom due to the heat of the sun,
The camel herder said to his people, "take a mid day nap",
While the grasshoppers started jumping upon the pebbles here and there,
She passed the intensity of the day laying her long neck on her bent front legs,
And when she stood up, other camels that have lost their mothers stood up too,
When they announced the death of her young baby she started crying
Her both sides of her belly became soft and there was no one to tie her
She moves forward her chest with the help of her front legs while,
Her chemise is torn from her collarbone and it is in tatters,
The slanderers are trying in his presence to malign me and they say
Certainly you O the son of Abi Sulma (Zuhayr in 3rd person) are to be killed,
And every close friend whom I used to trust too much said to me,
"I am sorry I can't help you, for I am too busy to spend time with you"
I said " Leave me alone, may you lose your fathers, let me go to him,
For whatever the Rahman has destined is undoubtedly going to manifest,
Every son of a woman even though he may live a long peaceful life,
One day, certainly, he is to be carried on the coffin to his tomb,
I have been told that the Messenger of God has threatened me,
But it is the forgiveness of the Messenger of God that one can expect,
I came to the Messenger of God to apologize to him,
And apologies are always accepted by the Messenger of God,
Please wait! You may be guided by the One who has given you the great blessing,
In the form of the Qur'an that contains admonitions and much, much more
Don't misunderstand me because of the words of the slanderers,
For I did nothing wrong, it is but rum ours that have been spread against me,
I am standing where the elephant would have stood,
I am listening and seeing what the elephant would have seen,
He would have started trembling, except if he had it from the Messenger,
With the permission of God, his approval in the form of a graceful nod,
I kept Journeying through the destructive desert clad in armors
Whilst the wings of darkness and the curtain of the night covered me,
Until I put my right hand in the palm and did not take it away,
From the palm of He who speaks so gently and his words are the words,
It is because he is the most honorable one in my eyes to whom I am talking now,
Though they said " You are accused and are going to be questioned about it
He is from a family of brave lions who strenuously work to protect their domain,
The domain that is invincible, can't be reached, it is between thick layers of jungle,
At war this lion chooses for a brave lion as his rival,
Then both of them turn the battlefield into a ground filled with morsels of flesh,
If he leaps upon someone who is not his equal, he doesn't fight him,
But he leaves him not until he is captured and tied with chains,
Birds of prey keep themselves hidden from him due to fear
And other wild animals never venture to approach his valley
Everyday in his valley there is a brave and bold warrior,
Lying in front of him in tattered clothes, ready to be punished
The Messenger is like a sword whose brightness guides the warriors,
Crafted in India (the best swords at that time were Indian-made swords)
One of the swords of God, unsheathed against His enemies
He was among the young men of Quraish when one of them said
After they had embraced Islam in Makkah, " Leave the city and migrate"
They left the city, it is true but they left it with dignity and they showed,
No cowardice when they met their enemy as they were united for a cause.
They are high ranking champions, who wear normal clothes,
But when there is a call for battle, they wear armor of David's design,
Full white armors that are covered by twisted square knots,
Like square knots of the desert plant with twisted thorns
They walk like the beautiful white camels and they protect themselves,
With decisive blows, whenever they face the black warriors with their javelins,
They never become happy when their javelins have injured others,
And they never complain and whine when they are injured in the battles
Spears of their enemies always find their chests ready to be stabbed,
As they never try to escape death by turning their backs to them.
The amazing thing is Ka'ab (RA) recited this off the dome, demonstrating his inherited traits from his father.
Zayd
Habar Magaadle
Wa iyyaka ya akhi,
No I don't study it officially although I would like to, my arabic is elementary, limited vocabulary, my only strengths are reading and understanding rather than speaking in which I struggle. However I'm going to study it on a course insha Allah and improve it all-round.
Hafez
VIP
In sha Allah, may Allah (SWT) make it easy for you.
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