They were like a foolish woman clarifying butter when she poured her clarified butter into a skin that was not properly prepared. (1)
He means thereby: in a skin that was not prepared. From that it is said: "So-and-so fosters his favor with so-and-so," when he seeks to set it right and sustain it. And from that is the saying of ʿAlqama ibn ʿAbada:
And you were a man to whom my governance devolved, / and before you masters governed me, but those masters lost me. (2)
He means by his saying, "devolved to you"—that is, my governance reached you, so you became the one who governs my affair and sets it right, after I departed from the governance of other kings who were over me before you (3), and who neglected my affair and ceased attending to it—and they are the rubūb (masters), the singular of which is rabb. And the owner of a thing is called its rabb. And the meaning of "al-Rabb" may also extend to aspects other than these, yet they all return to one of these three aspects.
So our Lord—exalted be His praise—is the Master who has no match and no equal in His supremacy, the One who sets right the affairs of His creation through the blessings He bestows abundantly upon them, and the Owner to whom belongs all creation and command.
And similar to what we have said regarding the interpretation of His statement—exalted be His praise—{ Lord of the worlds }, the narration came from Ibn ʿAbbās:
155 - Abū Kurayb narrated to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, saying:
Notes
- (1) His Diwan: 25. Sala'a al-samn yaslu'uhu: cooked it and processed it to clarify its butter. Al-sila', with a kasra on the sin: clarified butter. Haqana al-laban fi al-watb, and water in the skin: retained it therein and filled it. Rabba nihy al-samn yarubbuhu: greased it with rubb, which is the syrup of any fruit. They used to grease the hide of the butter container with syrup to strengthen and repair it, so its scent would become pleasant and prevent the butter from seeping through, without spoiling its taste or odor. If they did not do that to the container, the butter spoiled. Adim marbub: a hide well treated with syrup. He says: They acted as this foolish woman acted, so that which they strived to prepare and make was ruined.
- (2) His Diwan: 29, and it comes in the interpretation of the verse of Surat Al 'Imran: 79 (3:233 Bulaq ed.), and al-Mukhassas 17:154. The poetry was addressed to al-Harith ibn Abi Shamir al-Ghassani, king of Ghassan, who is the famous al-Harith al-A'raj. Ibn Sidah said: "Rubub: plural of rabb, meaning the kings who were before you neglected my affair, and now the management of my affair (rababati) has passed to you—meaning the management and rectifying of my affair. Thus this is rabb in the sense of owner/master, as if he said: 'Those who owned my affair before you neglected it.'" Al-Tabari said in what is to come: "He means by his statement 'my managers/lords': the management of my affair and taking charge of it before you were undertaken by those who would manage and rectify it, but they did not rectify it; rather, they neglected me so I was lost." Al-rababa: the realm/kingdom, and it also means covenant and pledge. Through this, this line of verse was interpreted, and they supported it with the narration of whoever reported "my trust" (amanati) instead of "my management" (rababati). The first is superior.
- (3) In the printed edition: "from the kings who were", they altered it to agree with the phrasing they were accustomed to.
This translation was produced with AI assistance and is part of an ongoing human-review process. Found a mistake? Use the feedback option in the reader menu.
