Part 1 · Pages 229-230
Zayd Reproaches His Wife for Hindering Him
English rendering of the source section
Local English translation from the Arabic text; variant readings and editorial commentary are distinguished from the transmitted narrative.
This local English rendering may condense the Arabic narration and editorial notes. It is not a complete published English edition. Consult the Arabic source for exact wording and context.
Read the corresponding Arabic sectionWhen Zayd ibn Amr prepared to leave Makkah to seek Abraham’s religion, his wife Safiyyah bint al-Hadrami would alert al-Khattab ibn Nufayl, Zayd’s paternal uncle and maternal half-brother. Al-Khattab had assigned her to watch Zayd and obstructed his journeys, disapproving of his departure from their people’s religion. Zayd said: “Do not keep me in humiliation, Safiyyah, when our ways are not the same. If I fear disgrace, I set out with willing mounts. I am like a water-creature that enters kings’ doors, traversing wide deserts with purpose.”
Zayd’s verses continue: “I cut through bonds that humble those who have no hard-matched peers. Humiliation takes the camel when its hide is worn through; it says, ‘I will not be brought low by the blows of its load.’ My brother, my mother’s son, then my uncle, will not grant me his agreement. When he reproaches me harshly, I say that words fail me; though I could speak of what I know and disclose its key and door.” The poem has gaps in its transmitted wording.