Sirat Ibn Hisham 304
Poetry of Abū Ṭālib in seeking to win Quraysh's favor
سِوَى أَنَّ رَهْطًا مِنْ كِلَابِ بْنِ مُرَّةٍ بَرَاءٌ إلَيْنَا مِنْ مَعَقَّةِ خَاذِلِ وَهَنَّا لَهُمْ حَتَّى تَبَدَّدَ جَمْعُهُمْ وَيَحْسُرَ عَنَّا كُلَّ بَاغٍ وَجَاهِلِ وَكَانَ لَنَا حَوْضُ السِّقَايَةِ فِيهِمْ وَنَحْنُ الْكُدَى مِنْ غَالِبٍ وَالْكَوَاهِلِ شَبَابٌ مِنْ الْمُطَيِّبِينَ وَهَاشِمٍ كَبِيضِ السُّيُوفِ بَيْنَ أَيْدِي الصَّيَاقِلِ فَمَا أَدْرَكُوا ذَحْلًا وَلَا سَفَكُوا دَمًا وَلَا حَالَفُوا إلَّا شِرَارَ الْقَبَائِلِ بِضَرْبٍ تَرَى الْفِتْيَانَ فِيهِ كَأَنَّهُمْ ضَوَارِي أُسُودٍ فَوْقَ لَحْمٍ خَرَادِلِ بَنِي أَمَةٍ مَحْبُوبَةٍ هِنْدِكِيَّةٍ بَنِي جُمَحٍ عُبَيْدِ قَيْسِ بْنِ عَاقِلِ وَلَكِنَّنَا نَسْلٌ كِرَامٌ لِسَادَةٍ بِهِمْ نُعِيَ الْأَقْوَامُ عِنْدَ الْبَوَاطِلِ وَنِعْمَ ابْنِ أُخْتِ الْقَوْمِ غَيْرَ مُكَذَّبٍ زُهَيْرٌ حُسَامًا مُفْرَدًا مِنْ حَمَائِلِ أَشَمُّ مِنْ الشُّمِّ الْبَهَالِيلِ يَنْتَمِي إلَى حَسَبٍ فِي حَوْمَةِ الْمَجْدِ فَاضِلِ لَعَمْرِي لَقَدْ كُلِّفْتُ وَجْدًا بِأَحْمَدَ وَإِخْوَتِهِ دَأْبَ الْمُحِبِّ الْمُوَاصِلِ فَلَا زَالَ فِي الدُّنْيَا جَمَالًا لِأَهْلِهَا وَزِيَنًا لِمَنْ وَالَاهُ رَبُّ الْمَشَاكِلِ فَمَنْ مِثْلُهُ فِي النَّاسِ أَيُّ مُؤَمَّلٍ إذَا قَاسَهُ الْحُكَّامُ عِنْدَ التَّفَاضُلِ حَلِيمٌ رَشِيدٌ عَادِلٌ غَيْرُ طَائِشٍ يُوَالِي إلَاهًا لَيْسَ عَنْهُ بِغَافِلِ فَوَاَللَّهِ لَوْلَا أَنْ أَجِيءَ بِسُنَّةٍ تَجُرُّ عَلَى أَشْيَاخِنَا فِي الْمَحَافِلِ لَكِنَّا اتَّبَعْنَاهُ عَلَى كُلِّ حَالَةٍ مِنْ الدَّهْرِ جِدًّا غَيْرَ قَوْلِ التَّهَازُلِ لَقَدْ عَلِمُوا أَنَّ ابْنَنَا لَا مُكَذَّبٌ لَدَيْنَا وَلَا يُعْنَى بِقَوْلِ الْأَبَاطِلِ فَأَصْبَحَ فِينَا أَحَمْدٌ فِي أَرُومَةٍ تُقَصِّرُ عَنْهُ سَوْرَةُ الْمُتَطَاوِلِ حَدِبْتُ بِنَفْسِي دُونَهُ وَحَمَيْتُهُ وَدَافَعْتُ عَنْهُ بِالذُّرَا وَالْكَلَاكِلِ فَأَيَّدَهُ رَبُّ الْعِبَادِ بِنَصْرِهِ وَأَظْهَرَ دِينًا حَقُّهُ غَيْرُ بَاطِلِ رِجَالٌ كِرَامٌ غَيْرُ مِيلٍ نَمَاهُمْ إلَى الْخَيْرِ آبَاءٌ كِرَامُ الْمَحَاصِلِ فَإِنْ تَكُ كَعْبٌ مِنْ لُؤَيٍّ صُقَيْبَةً فَلَا بُدَّ يَوْمًا مَرَّةً مِنْ تَزَايُلِ قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: هَذَا مَا صَحَّ لِي مِنْ هَذِهِ الْقَصِيدَةِ، وَبَعْضُ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ بِالشِّعْرِ يُنْكِرُ أَكْثَرَهَا.
Translation
✧ Except that a band from Kilāb b. Murrah are innocent toward us of the disgrace of a deserter. We were gentle with them until their assembly scattered, and every transgressor and ignoramus withdrew from us. Ours among them was the watering-trough of the cup, and we are the heights of Ghālib and the withers. Youths from al-Muṭayyibūn and Hāshim, like white swords in the hands of polishers. They achieved no vengeance, nor shed blood, nor allied except with the worst of tribes. With a strike in which you would see the young men as though they were lions preying on chopped flesh. Sons of a beloved Indian slave woman, sons of Jumaḥ, slaves of Qays b. ʿĀqil. But we are a noble offspring of lords by whom the peoples are lamented in times of falsehood. And excellent is the sister's son of the people, not belied, Zuhayr, a single sharp sword from the baldrics. Loftier than the lofty generous nobles, traced to a lineage surpassing in the arena of glory. By my life, I have been charged with love for Aḥmad and his brothers, in the manner of a devoted, constant lover. May he remain in this world a beauty for its people, and an adornment for those whom the Lord of creation befriends. Who among the people is like him—what hopeful one—when judges compare him in excellence? Forbearing, upright, just, not reckless, he devotes himself to a God from whom he is not heedless. By God, were it not that I would bring a custom that would drag upon our elders in the assemblies, we would have followed him in every state of time, earnestly, not the speech of jesting. They knew that our son is not belied among us, nor does he concern himself with the sayings of falsehood. So Aḥmad became among us in a stock whose ascent the ambitious cannot reach. I devoted myself for him and protected him, and defended him with the peaks and the chests. So the Lord of the servants aided him with His victory, and made manifest a religion whose truth is not false. Noble men, not inclined to tyranny, whom noble fathers of pure lineage raised to goodness. And if Kaʿb of Luʾayy is a branch, then one day inevitably the time of separation must come. Ibn Hishām said: This is what has been authenticated for me from this ode, and some of the people of knowledge of poetry deny most of it.
Grades by grader
No grade is recorded for this wording.