Safiyyah’s Elegy for Her Father

Safiyyah bint Abd al-Muttalib said, mourning her father: I lay awake at a mourner’s voice in the night, over a man upon the open plain. At that, my tears streamed down my cheek, like a pearl falling from its string.

Over a noble man, neither base nor mean, whose excellence over all people was clear; over the generous, high-minded Shaybah, your good father, heir to every act of generosity; truthful in hardship, never cowardly, neither frail in standing nor one who leans on another; long of reach, impressive, strong of build, obeyed by his clan and praised; of noble house, radiant, rich in virtue, a rain-giver to people in barren years; noble in ancestry, free of disgrace, outshining both the one who leads and the one who is led; steadfast in judgment, from a noble company, chiefs of great stature, powerful as lions. If a man could live forever through ancient glory— but there is no path to immortality— he would have made the nights endure for him, for the sake of his lasting honor and ancestry.

[1] Waghil means a contemptible, weak person who falls short in affairs. [2] The phrase means that he was the best of fathers; “good” is intensified in the verse. [3] Niks is a weak man of no worth. Shakht describes someone thin and slight by nature, not merely emaciated. Sanid is a weak man who cannot rely on himself and leans on another’s judgment. [4] Shayzami means a tall, vigorous young man. [5] Recension A reads “in the time,” which does not fit the meter. [6] Al-harud is an old she-camel that yields little milk; the poet likens a barren year to it. Recension A reads “the barren land.” [7] Wusum is the plural of wasm, meaning disgrace. [8] Khadaramah means generous, giving chiefs; malawithah derives from strength. [9] Tabannaka means to become firmly established; she says his house was rooted in lofty honor.