Farwa ibn Musayk's verses on the Day of al-Radm and on his journey to the Prophet

Two pieces that Ibn Ishaq gives for Farwa ibn Musayk al-Muradi: a qasida on the day of al-Radm, and two verses on his journey to the Prophet. ^{1 2}

It opens by describing camels passing over desert tracks, their eyes sunk, pulling at their reins. The poet then says: if we are defeated, we have always been victorious in the past, and if we are beaten, we are not beaten for good. Cowardice did not hold us back; it was our fates and the portion of others. Such is time, whose turns alternate, returning now and then. While we were glad and content, the turns of time overturned, and those who had been envied were found reduced to dust. Whoever among them is envied by the misfortune of time finds time a treacherous companion. If kings lived forever, we would live on, and if the noble remained, we would remain; but it destroyed the leaders of my people, as it destroyed the generations before them. ^{1 2}

A line from it reads that if we are defeated, we were victors in the past, and if we are beaten, we are not beaten for good. ¹

When he set out to the Prophet, leaving the kings of Kinda, he said: when the kings of Kinda turned away, like a man whose sciatic nerve had betrayed him, I brought my mount near, heading for Muhammad, hoping for his generosity and his good hospitality. ²

Ibn Hisham says that the first verse of the poem, and the line "if we are beaten", come from a source other than Ibn Ishaq. Abu Ubayda recited the half-line "I hope for his bounty and the goodness of his praise". ²

The editors cite the Mu'jam al-Buldan that "Lufat" is a place in the lands of Murad, and al-Bakri's Mu'jam Ma Ista'jam that it is a place between Mecca and Medina, with the first letter vowelled with a kasra. From Lisan al-Arab they gloss "tabbana" as: if Hamdan had prevailed over us on the day of al-Radm and defeated us, we were not defeated for good, since "al-mughallab" is one who is beaten repeatedly. "Sijal" comes from a contest of drawing water from a well; "al-nasa" is a vein in the thigh, stretched by the hair. ^{1 2}