Labid ibn Rabi'a's elegies for his brother Arbad

A group of elegies that Labid ibn Rabi'a composed for his maternal brother Arbad ibn Qays after his death by lightning. Ibn Ishaq gives them one after another at the end of the story of Amir and Arbad. ¹

The first is on the rhyme of the dal. Its theme is that death leaves no one; the poet fears for Arbad the fates, and does not dread the storms of the stars. He calls on his eye to weep for Arbad, when the women rise in sorrow. He describes him as sweet and clever, braver than the lion of the thicket, who stirs up lamentation at his funerals, and whom lightning and thunderbolts struck, the horseman of the day of battle. ^{1 2} Ibn Hisham says that one line, "the striker, the plunderer, the one stripped", comes from Abu Ubayda, and that a line "who forgives in hardship" comes from a source other than Ibn Ishaq. ²

The second is on the rhyme of the mim. The poet says that the protector, the defender and the one who repels wrong on the day of dispute have gone. He was certain of parting when it was said: Arbad's wealth has been divided by lot. He bids him farewell by his kunya: "Farewell in peace to Abu Huraiz; few are the farewells to Arbad in peace". He says that Arbad was their leader, their order, and the horseman of battle, and he ends by saying that no two brothers have lasted, except the two sons of Shammam, and the two stars with the Great Bear. ^{2 3} Ibn Hisham says that it is from a qasida of his. ³

The third is a rajaz: "Let the generous mourn a generous man, Arbad", who gives his wealth so that he may be praised and fill the bowl, and who left his family the inheritance of a man who was not poor. ⁴ The fourth is short: your good things will not perish, Arbad, so weep. He was the champion who defended when armour was worn, until the Lord of creation came between him and his hope, seeing that there is no immortality. ⁴

The fifth is on the rhyme of the ra. Every fierce adversary reminds him of Arbad; when they sought a just and generous man, Arbad would guide people when their guide was lost in the wilderness. Ibn Hisham says that its last verse is from a source other than Ibn Ishaq. ⁵ The sixth is two verses in which the poet says he walks on after Salma ibn Malik, Abu Qays and Urwa like a camel with its hump cut, and these are among his verses, according to Ibn Hisham. ⁵

The editors explain rare words of the elegies: "tu'addi" means leaves; "al-arib" means shrewd and sharp; "al-udd" is a tree whose leaves the wind has stripped; "al-qidad" are strips of leather, a likeness for lean horses; "al-nawh" is the company of wailing women; "al-najd" is brave; "al-harib" is the one who plunders and "al-haryb" the one who is plundered; "al-jiz" is Yemeni beads; "al-mushajjar" is a kind of litter; "Ibnay Shammam" are two mountains, and "al-Farqadan" and "Al Na'sh" are stars; "al-ajabb" is a camel with its hump cut. ^{2 3 5} They report from Abu Dharr that "jumud" in the rajaz is the name of a mountain, and that whoever reads it as "jahdan" takes it from hardship. ⁴

The full texts of the elegies are not given in the museum. The reader is referred to the diwan of Labid and to the pages of the biography cited above.