107 - 'Abd Allāh narrated to us: Ḥassān, a Bedouin from Banū Asad, recited to me:
Lo, conscience and loyalty have gone,
their men have perished, and scum alone remains!
And time has surrendered me to people
who are like wolves, howling aloud.
Whenever I approach them, they push me away from one to another,
as if I were a mangy beast infected with disease.
They are friends to me as long as I have no need of them,
and enemies whenever affliction descends.
I say—and I am not to be blamed for saying it:
may destruction fall upon all brothers!
Notes
- (1) Al-Khaṭṭābī cited it in al-ʿUzla (p. 86), saying: Ibn Abī al-Dunyā recited it to me, with it.
And tadhammum (disdaining/censuring oneself) comes from tadhammama al-rajul: when he feels disdain or embarrassment, or censures and accuses himself.
Al-Khaṭṭābī said, commenting on the verse of this poet: "This is a hideous statement and harsh speech. Brotherhood is safeguarded against such qualities, and far be it from brotherhood to be wiped out with oblivion. Rather, the people erred in the name, attributing it to those who do not deserve it and substituting it for those not entitled to it; so they called mere acquaintances 'brothers', and then began censuring brotherhood and criticizing friendship on their account, and this is injustice and aggression."
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