Hassan ibn Thabit's reply to al-Zibriqan, 'The chiefs of Fihr and their brothers'

A qasida on the rhyme of the ayn, in which Hassan ibn Thabit answered the boast of al-Zibriqan ibn Badr at the delegation of Banu Tamim. It is the evidence on which al-Aqra ibn Habis ruled that the poet of the Muslims was a better poet than the poet of Tamim. ^{1 2}

Ibn Ishaq reports from Hassan that he was absent when the Prophet ﷺ sent for him, and that the Messenger told him he had been summoned to answer the poet of Banu Tamim. He set out while composing verses on how the Ansar protected the Messenger of God when he settled among them with their swords against every aggressor and tyrant, and on the house of Huraid, whose dignity is at al-Jabiya in al-Jawlan. ¹ When he came to the Prophet and the poet of the people stood up and said what he said, Hassan replied in the same manner, and the Prophet then ordered him to stand and answer the man. ¹ The editors note that these verses on the road come from a qasida of Hassan of fourteen verses, that al-Jabiya in al-Jawlan is a town in Syria, and that the meaning is that the Prophet came to stay among a clan of the Ansar with strength whose reputation was linked to that of the Ghassanids, the kings of Syria. ¹

Hassan begins with the chiefs of Fihr and their brothers, who set a custom for people to follow; everyone whose inner life is piety towards God is content with them. They are a people who, when they fight, harm their enemy, and when they benefit their allies, they benefit them; their nature among them is not an innovation. ³ He then describes them as the foremost, whom every foremost person follows; they are not stingy towards a neighbour; they are chaste, and their chastity is mentioned in revelation; they do not creep up on their enemy in secret; when war reaches them they are named, lions who do not boast when they overcome their enemy and do not panic when they are struck. ³ He ends by saying that whoever fights them wades into evil, and that the Messenger of God honours their followers; he offers them his praise with a heart supported by a tongue; they are the best of the living in earnest and in jest. ⁴

One of its lines says that the Messenger of God honours those who follow them when desires and factions differ. ⁴

Ibn Hisham transmits from Abu Zayd the second verse with the wording "the fear of God and the matter they legislated", and the editors note that it is the wording of the diwan. ^{3 4}

"Al-dhawa'ib" are the chiefs; "al-sajiyya" is nature; "mata'u" means they added; "al-tab'" is stain; "al-dhar'" is the young of a wild cow; "al-zaʻanif" are the edges of people and their followers; "Hulayya" is a lion-infested area in Yemen; "al-salaʻ" is a poisonous plant; "sana'" is one who speaks well and excels at it. ^{3 4}