Poetry...on the spot

[Na7lah]

Many times when reading through arabic dialogues, stories and incidents in history it’s amazing to see how quickly lines of poetry could be constructed by the Arabs. In a normal conversation, a person would just add in eloquent lines of poetry that he/she had come up with at that very moment in time!

Looking further into this, below are just a few incidents of this phenomenon of شعر العَفَوي

In the time of al-Ma’moon the Khaleef at that time, a certain man apostatized and claimed Prophethood. Al-Ma’moon asked ‘What is your ayah’? He replied with a few lines in which he tried to imitate Soorah al-Kawthar trying to make it relevant to himself, saying:


[SIZE=+0]إنا إعطيناك الجواهر[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]فصلِّ لربك و جاهر[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]و لا تطع كل فاجر[/SIZE]


Verily, We have granted you Al-Jawaahir (jewels)
Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and proclaim!
And do not obey every rebellious sinner


As a result, he was sentenced to death. On his way to execution that day, he was carrying the stake upon which he was to die. Abu ‘Itaahiyah, the great poet saw him in this state and went up to him.

He knocked on the piece of wood and recited the following lines as a comeback and humiliation:


[SIZE=+0][SIZE=+0]إنا أعطيناك العود[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][SIZE=+0]فصلِّ لربك من القيود[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]و إني ضامن ألا تعود[/SIZE]


Verily, we have given you the stake!
Therefore turn to your Lord in prayer from the fetters
And I guarantee that you will not return!

 

[Na7lah]

It is said that once a man who was learned in grammer left one day to argue and debate with the great grammarian Sibaweyh, author of ‘Al-Kitaab’. He reached his home only to find that Sibaweyh had left and instead his khaadimah (maid) was home. He asked whereabouts Sibaweyh had gone and when he’ll return. She replied with an amazing answer which demonstrated her great eloquence in the Arabic language. Pay close attention to the structure of the arabic words!

[SIZE=+0][SIZE=+0]فاءَ إلى الفيافي ليفيئ لنا فيئاً[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][SIZE=+0]حتى إذا فاء الفيئُ , فاء[/SIZE][/SIZE]

He went (faa’a) to the desert (fayaafee) to hunt (yafee’a) for us a game (fay’)
Until when the shadow (fay’) retreats (faa’a), he’ll return (faa’a)

Most of the nouns and verbs she used was derived from the same root word (faa’), and different meanings of the same words… how eloquent and well established in the arabic language she was!

The man left at once! How was he to argue with Sibaweyh if this was how eloquent and gramatically-correct his khaadimah was!

 

[Na7lah]

Ali ibn Abee Taalib (radhi’Allaahu ‘anhu) one day saw his wife Fatimah (radhi’Allaahu ‘anha) using a siwaak to brush her teeth. He constructed the following lines of poetry on the spot!

قد فُزتَ يا عودَ الأَراكِ بثغْرِها
ما خِْفتَ يا عودَ الأراكِ أراكا
ولو كُنْتَ مِنْ أَهْلِ القتالِ قتلتُكَ
ما فازَ منِّي يا سواكُ سواك

You have seized her mouth of ‘uud of al-Araak
Were you not afraid O ‘uud of al-Araak that I would see you?
Had you been from those who I could fight, I would have killed you
No one has been able to defeat me O siwaak, except you

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

wa alaykum us-salaam
jazakillahu khair...first one was cool served him right! lol :shade:
the second one was a tongue twister lol
the third one was sweet...but i think this word فُزتَ has been wrongly translated..it means you have succeeded, not seized, no? if thats the case, it makes it even interesting ::giggling::statisfie

 

[Sahabiyaat]

Ali ibn Abee Taalib (radhi’Allaahu ‘anhu) one day saw his wife Fatimah (radhi’Allaahu ‘anha) using a siwaak to brush her teeth. He constructed the following lines of poetry on the spot!

قد فُزتَ يا عودَ الأَراكِ بثغْرِها
ما خِْفتَ يا عودَ الأراكِ أراكا
ولو كُنْتَ مِنْ أَهْلِ القتالِ قتلتُكَ
ما فازَ منِّي يا سواكُ سواك

You have seized her mouth of ‘uud of al-Araak
Were you not afraid O ‘uud of al-Araak that I would see you?
Had you been from those who I could fight, I would have killed you
No one has been able to defeat me O siwaak, except you

awww how sweet.
So Ali (ra) was simply saying : oi! u lil stick, stay away from my lady lol.

 

[MinAhlilHadeeth]

Ali ibn Abee Taalib (radhi’Allaahu ‘anhu) one day saw his wife Fatimah (radhi’Allaahu ‘anha) using a siwaak to brush her teeth. He constructed the following lines of poetry on the spot!

قد فُزتَ يا عودَ الأَراكِ بثغْرِها
ما خِْفتَ يا عودَ الأراكِ أراكا
ولو كُنْتَ مِنْ أَهْلِ القتالِ قتلتُكَ
ما فازَ منِّي يا سواكُ سواك

You have seized her mouth of ‘uud of al-Araak
Were you not afraid O ‘uud of al-Araak that I would see you?
Had you been from those who I could fight, I would have killed you
No one has been able to defeat me O siwaak, except you

How sweet, maasha'Allaah... the other two posts were excellent too. BaarakAllaahu feeki.

 

[Na7lah]

wa alaykum us-salaam
jazakillahu khair...first one was cool served him right! lol :shade:
the second one was a tongue twister lol

wa iyaaki
i liked the second one best :shade:

awww how sweet.
So Ali (ra) was simply saying : oi! u lil stick, stay away from my lady lol.

that shows his level of gheerah huh? subhanallah

How sweet, maasha'Allaah... the other two posts were excellent too. BaarakAllaahu feeki.

shukran ukhty :thankyou: Allah Yubarik fikum

 

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

Ali ibn Abee Taalib (radhi’Allaahu ‘anhu) one day saw his wife Fatimah (radhi’Allaahu ‘anha) using a siwaak to brush her teeth. He constructed the following lines of poetry on the spot!

قد فُزتَ يا عودَ الأَراكِ بثغْرِها
ما خِْفتَ يا عودَ الأراكِ أراكا
ولو كُنْتَ مِنْ أَهْلِ القتالِ قتلتُكَ
ما فازَ منِّي يا سواكُ سواك

You have seized her mouth of ‘uud of al-Araak
Were you not afraid O ‘uud of al-Araak that I would see you?
Had you been from those who I could fight, I would have killed you
No one has been able to defeat me O siwaak, except you

Quick Explanation:

The lines play upon the fact that Ali - may Allah be pleased with him - is jealous that this Siwaak has access to his wife's mouth - may Allah be pleased with her. In a sense, the Siwaak is depicted as another man, who Ali - may Allah be pleased with him - would surely kill if he could. But the fact remains that the Siwaak is only a Siwaak - you can't kill a Siwaak! So by being this jealous from the Siwaak for merely being in mouth of his wife, Ali - may Allah be pleased with both of them - is raising the status of the his wife's mouth to something very precious, very elevated, and more importantly, very beloved to him. If her mouth is that precious, how precious do you think "his wife" is to him? See where the flirting comes in?
This sort of flirtation attained by raising the status of the beloved through jealousy is not a new thing exclusive to Ali - may Allah be pleased with him. Many Arab poets did the same. I recall hearing a line in which the poet was jealous from the gentle breeze touching the skin of his beloved.​

http://billo.wordpress.com/2006/04/13/the-mighty-toothbrush/#comment-196

 

[~Raynn~]

He went (faa’a) to the desert (fayaafee) to hunt (yafee’a) for us a game (fay’)
Until when the shadow (fay’) retreats (faa’a), he’ll return (faa’a)

Most of the nouns and verbs she used was derived from the same root word (faa’), and different meanings of the same words… how eloquent and well established in the arabic language she was!

Woahh....lol, I don't in fact know any arabic, unfortunately, but from what I understand of the above....oh:. That's amaazing...