تَلَبَّسَ لي يَومَ التَقَينا عوَيمِرٌ
بِجابَلَقٍ في جِلدِ أَخنَسَ باسِلِ
The day we met, Uwaymir confronted me
ʿUwaymir assumed a guise before me on the day we met
at Jābalaq, cloaked in the hide of a fierce, snub-nosed lion.
At Jābalaq, in the hide of a fierce, snub-nosed lion.
وَأَوعَدَني حَتّى ظَنَنتُ بِأَنَّهُ
مُصيبي بِمِثلِ القَتلِ أَو هوَ قاتِلي
He threatened me until I thought that he
And he threatened me until I thought that he
would strike me with something akin to death—or kill me outright.
Would inflict something like death upon me, or kill me.
إِذا قُلتُ أَنصِفني وَلا تَظلِمَنَّني
رَمى كُلَّ حَقٍّ مِن سواه بِباطِلِ
Whenever I said, “Deal fairly with me, and do not wrong me,”
When I said, 'Deal fairly with me, and do not wrong me,'
he denounced as false every rightful claim made by anyone other than himself.
He countered every rightful claim from anyone else with falsehood.
فَباطَلتُهُ حَتّى ارعَوى وَهوَ كارِهٌ
وَقَد يَرعَوي ذو الشَغبِ بَعدَ التَجادُلِ
So I countered him in argument until he relented, though unwillingly;
So I countered him with falsehood until he relented, though unwilling.
even a quarrelsome man may come to his senses after disputation.
And a quarrelsome man may relent after an argument.
وَإِنَّكَ لَم تَعطِف عَلى الحَقِّ جاهِلاً
بِمِثلِ خَصيمٍ عالِمٍ مُتَجاهِلِ
Indeed, you have not brought an ignorant man around to the truth
Indeed, you have never turned an ignorant man toward the truth
with anyone like a learned adversary who feigns ignorance.
More effectively than through a learned opponent who feigns ignorance.
Sol 6.1