Nice Poem - The Courage of ‘Antara

As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah

Alhamdulillah the |-| Fajr |-| blog is up and running again,

‘Antara ibn Shaddad was a poet from the ‘Asr al-Jahili (Pre-Islamic era). Sadly, his father, Shaddad had refused to acknowledge him as his son because ‘Antara’s mother was a habashi slave whilst he himself (Shaddad) was from the chieftains of the tribe of ‘Abs. Many attempts were made on the part of ‘Antara so as to gain his father’s recognition, his tribe’s acknowledgement and as a result gain his freedom. ‘Antara as a result left his role of shepherding and instead took to furusiyyah (becoming skilled in the art of war and knighthood) in order to fulfil this aim. He used to compose poetry exhibiting and speaking much of his heroism, bravery and valiancy. His talent in the arts of war reached such heights that his tribe finally paid him recognition and this forced his father to acknowledge him in the end.

‘Antara was also in love with ‘Abla bint Malik, a cousin of his and a great deal of his poetry is actually directed to her. One such poem is his mu’allaqah (one of 7 famous poems written in Pre-Islamic era), a small portion of which has been analysed below.

A particular aspect of ‘Antara’s poems are the style which he employs - fine description to set the scene and excellent imagery to draw home the extent and depth of his words…

A portion of his mu’allaqah:

هلا سألتِ القوم يابنة مالكٍ *** إن كنتِ جاهلة بما لم تعلمي
يخبركِ من شهد الوقائع أنني *** أغشى الوغى وأعفُّ عند المغنم
If only you were to ask the people, O’ daughter of Malik.
If you are ignorant of what you do not know,
Then whoever witnesses the battles shall inform you
That I plunge into the uproar of war, and yet abstain from the spoils

‘Antara addresses ‘Abla (Bint Malik) who like his father is also skeptical and cautious due to him being the son of a slave. Should she accept him, should she not? Her tribe for one thing would never allow it – not only is she from noble descent and he from a lowly class (despite them being cousins), but there was also the prevailing custom of that era: any man who eulogized a woman and publically expressed his love for her was never allowed to marry her! ‘Antara here takes to winning the heart of ‘Abla and so he begins to describe to her his courage and heroism when it comes to war and defending his tribe and land. Two noble traits are mentioned here:

1 – That he is a true knight who fears nothing in the midst of battles and hence he throws himself into the heat of war.
2 – He abstains from the spoils (material gains in war). By mentioning this, ‘Antara alludes to the fact that he does not fight for the sake of spoils but rather for nobler principles such as defending his people despite them refusing to acknowledge his noble lineage.

لما رأيتُ القوم أقبل جمعهم *** يتذامرون كررتُ غير مذمم
When I see the people and their ranks encouraging one another
I go forth and crush (the enemy) without any blame

Here ‘Antara shows his swiftness and independency in battle. When the ranks of his tribe begin to falter and therefore try to give confidence to one another, ‘Antara (totally not in need of that) has no time for that and so, on his own he goes forth into the enemy ranks and crushes their frontlines single-handedly. ‘Ghayra mudhammam’ (without any blame) is another way of ‘Antara saying ‘this act of mine of penetrating the frontlines actually deserves praise.’

يدعو عنتر والرماح كأنها *** أشطان بئر في لبان الأدهم
They call ‘Antara when the arrows become like
Ropes hung from a well as they pierce the chest of my horse

Remarkable use of metaphor… The army calls out to ‘Antara for help when the battle intensifies. What is meant by ‘ropes hung from a well’ is that back in the days, each tribe had a central well and whenever people wanted to fetch some water, each family would hang down their own rope (and bucket). Hence there would at times be some competition as numerous families try to draw up clean water, and so lots of ropes would be cast into one well. ‘Antara uses that scene to describe how scores of arrows rain down on the chest of his horse just like ropes being pitched into a well.

مازلتُ أرميهم بثغرة نحره *** ولبانه حتى تسربل بالدم
فازور من وقع القنا بلبانه *** وشكا إلي بعبرة وتحمحُم
لو كان يدري ما المحاورة اشتكى *** ولكان لو علم الكلام مكلمي
I do not cease casting them with the neck of my horse
And (casting) with his chest until it becomes covered with blood
So he swayed with the strikes of spears upon his chest
And he complained to me with tears and groans
Were he to know what dialogue was, he would’ve complained to me
And he would’ve spoken to me if he but knew what speech was

Every knight takes great pride in his horse and ‘Antara being no less than a knight dedicates these lines to his fighting horse. There’s powerful personification here and ‘Antara so effectively steals the heart of readers by illustrating the horse as if he were also a fighter in battle - he describes the scenes in a manner that makes one sympathise with the horse as one would sympathise with a fellow human being. The way ‘Antara speaks of his horse makes you see the love and bond between these two companions.

ولقد شفى نفسي وأبرأ سقمها *** قيل الفوارس ويك عنتر أقدم
Indeed my soul was healed and cured of its illness
By the statement of the knights: ‘Woe to you O Antara, go forth!’

The theme of fakhr (pride and honour) reaches a height with these lines and the purpose/aim behind the poem draws in. ‘Antara puts himself a step above the rest by saying that even the great knights and fighters call out to ‘Antara and tell him to go forth as a fighting leader ahead of them in the frontlines. He says that it’s for this reason he does not feel pain when injured and were he to be injured, his soul quickly becomes cured because the knights have finally recognised him for who he is: A valiant and courageous horseman and not just the son of a slave who’s own father refuses to acknowledge him.

Man, you just gotta love Arabic literature