1878.] 
25 
C. J. Lyall —The MoUtllaq/ah of Zuheyr. 
It may possibly mean numerous , and hence strong, this sense being- derived from that 
of a body of men halting together in a compact host, on the alert and prepared for all 
attacks. 
v. 46. This verse is in praise of ‘Abs, and is in continuation of v. 45. The 
second hemistich offers some difficulty : one does not expect to find their protection of 
“him that wrongs them” set down to their credit; but the words el-juni ‘aleyhim 
cannot be otherwise rendered. Probably the wronger spoken of is the man who by 
slaying a member of another tribe involves his own in difficulties. It sometimes 
happened that such an one found himself unsupported by his kinsmen, and turned out 
from among them as a Jchali ‘, or outcast: for instance, el-Harith son of Balim, who 
slew Khalid son of Jaffar of ‘Amir while the latter was under the protection of 
en-No‘man son of el-Mun'Sir, King of el-Hireh, was so treated by his tribe of 
Murrah, the same as that to which the men whom Zuheyr praises in this poem 
belonged. Such a desertion, unless for the gravest possible cause, was held to be 
disgraceful; and ‘Abs are accordingly praised because they would not give up the 
wrongdoer, though he brought evil upon them. 
v. 47. Zuheyr was eighty years old when he composed his Mo‘allaqah ; if this 
was in 608 or 610 A. D., as M. de Perceval supposes, he may well have been a hundred, 
as the Aghani relates (ix. 148), when he was seen by Mohammed, who said—“0 God!' 
grant me a refuge from his Devil! ”—that is, his cunning in song ; it is added that he 
made no more poems from that day till his death, which ensued shortly after. This 
would be about 628 or 630 A. D. ; and we know that his son Ka‘b gave in his adhesion 
to the Prophet in 631 (the latter part of the ninth year of the Hijrah), after Zuheyr’a 
other surviving son Bujeyr, together with the greater part of his tribe, the Muzeyneh, 
had already embraced el-Isl&m. 
v. 49. “ Blind beast,” l asliwa: literally, “a weak-eyed she-camel”—one that 
sees not well where she is going, and therefore strikes everything with her forefeet, 
not paying attention to the places where she sets down her feet (Lane). The word is 
used proverbially : you say —ReJciba fulununi-l- l as7iwd, “Such an one rides the weak- 
eyed she-camel” ; that is, he prosecutes his affair without due deliberation ; and 
—Khabata khabta-l^ashwd, “ He trod with the careless tread of a weak-eyed she- 
camel,” he acted at random. 
v. 50. If this verse is rightly placed next after v. 49, the rending, by the teeth 
and the treading under foot should refer to the weak-eyed she-camel spoken of in that 
verse ; and so I have taken it, the camel being blind Chance. 
v. 53. I am far from satisfied with the translation given of this verse, in which, 
however, I have scrupulously followed the commentary. The doubtful words are 
mutma’innu-l-birri and yetejemjem ; the former is explained as meaning birrun khdlisun , 
that is, “pure goodness”; and the latter as the same as yetar added, that is, “ he is 
disturbed, confounded, perplexed.” But Lane renders mutmcCinnu-l-birri as “ quiet, 
at rest, in heart or mind” (s. v. birr , end) ; for tejemjema , he gives—“ he spoke indis¬ 
tinctly, he concealed a thing in his bosom, he held back from the thing, not daring to 
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