Part 1 · Pages 170-171
Barrah’s Elegy for Her Father
English rendering of the source section
Local verse translation from the Arabic text; lexical notes and variant readings are included separately.
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 sectionBarrah bint Abd al-Muttalib said, mourning her father: My eyes, pour forth abundant tears for a man of noble nature and pure origin; for one of ancestral greatness, who kindled the fire, fair of countenance and immense in standing.
For Shaybat al-Hamd, possessor of noble deeds, of glory, honor, and distinction; for the man of judgment and decisive counsel in calamities, rich in generosity and abundant giving; his glory stood above his people, bright as the light of the moon; death came to him, yet the turns of night and fate did not strike him in his most vulnerable part.
[1] Al-fajr here means giving, generosity, and abundant wealth. [2] “It did not strike him” means that death did not hit his vulnerable parts but struck the vital point; al-shawa are the limbs. [3] Most copies read this wording; another recension has a variant judged corrupt by the editor.