🌟 A Rare Sight! Milking Heavenly Animals? Meeting Abū Dhūʾayb al-Hudhalī in Heaven
Ibn Qarih and Adi meet a man milking camels, with all the rivers of milk around. They ask what all this is about, only to be met with by wisdom.
✨ The Story Continues:
And whilst out riding and hunting in the meadows of Paradise, Ibn Qarih and his host Adi ibn Zaid, run into the famous poet from the tribe of Hudhayl, Abū Dhuʾayb.
Ibn Qarih and ʿAdī, proceeding with their ride see a man milking a camel in a pails of gold. “Who are you?” they ask the man, to only be replied “Abū Dhuʾayb, of the tribe of Hudhayl1.”
They say, “Long life and happiness to you!”… “But are you milking camels, with all these rivers of milk around? That does not seem sound.”
“That is all right,” he replies, “It occurred to me all the same as it occurred to you to set out hunting in Paradise. I was thinking of the verses I composed in the olden times”, (referring to the following verse),
Wa inna ḥadīthan minki law taʿlamīnuhu || janā al-naḥli fī albāni ʿūdhin maṭāfili
Indeed, a word from you — if only you knew —
Is honey gathered in the milk of suckling camels, new,
Maṭāfīla abkārin ḥadīthin nitājuhā || tushābu bimāʾin mithli māʾi al-mafāṣili
Born of virgin mothers just past their first birth,
Mixed with water as pure as from pellucid springs
“Allah by his power, has brought me this camel suckling her first born, so I got up and milked her, and now I want to mix the milk with honey2.” said Abu Dh'uayb. Then when he filled his Golden Pail with milk,
The Creator ﷻ brought forth a jeweled beehive which the swarm had filled with honey sucked from the flowers.
Abū Dhuʾayb then gathers the honey, mixing it with his milk, to say to his now-guests, “Will you not drink some?” Ibn Qarih and Adi then drank from his pail a few mouthfuls so nice, that had a few drops of it be even distributed amongst the inhabitants of Hell, they would have felt as if they had eternally been in Paradise.”
Adī then proceeded to say the following3
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى هَدَىٰنَا لِهَـٰذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِنَهْتَدِىَ لَوْلَآ أَنْ هَدَىٰنَا ٱللَّهُ ۖ لَقَدْ جَآءَتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ ۖ وَنُودُوٓا۟ أَن تِلْكُمُ ٱلْجَنَّةُ أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
«Praise be to God Who has guided us to this! We would not have been guided to it if God had not guided us. The messengers of our Lord came with the Truth. It is proclaimed to them: This is the Garden that you have been given as inheritance for what you used to do.»
Ibn Qarih then says to ʿAdī, There are a couple things in your poetry that I wish you had not said”
ʿAdī replies in his ʿIbādī dialect, “God help you! You have been blessed with something that ought to distract you from poetry. You ought to behave here in Paradise as it is said:
كُلُواْ وَٱشۡرَبُواْ هَنِيٓـَٔۢا بِمَا كُنتُمۡ تَعۡمَلُونَ
«Eat and drink with relish, for what you used to do.»4”
to which Ibn Qarih then responds by saying, “I have asked my Lord the Almighty not to deprive me in the Garden of the pleasures I have in my literary erudition, from which I derived such pleasure in my ephemeral life; and He has answered my prayer.
وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَعَشِيًّا وَحِينَ تُظْهِرُونَ
«Praise be to Him in heaven and on earth, in the evening and at noontide»5
[Lets understand this classical verse further & learn Arabic using this couplet!]
🟢 Understanding The Arabic Words in Context of The Verse:
Couplet 1:
وَإِنَّ حَدِيثًا مِنْكِ لَوْ تَعْلَمِينَهُ
جَنَى النَّحْلِ فِي أَلْبَانِ عُوذٍ مَطَافِلِ
💎 Meanings:
وَإِنَّ : And indeed
حَدِيثًا : A speech, utterance (esp. one moving or eloquent)
مِنْكِ : From you (feminine)
لَوْ تَعْلَمِينَهُ : If only you (f.) knew it
"وإن حديثًا منك لو تعلمينه" then comes to mean => A single utterance from you, if you only knew its effect
جَنَى النَّحْلِ : The honey gathered by bees
فِي أَلْبَانِ : In the milk (fresh milk — usually sweet and nourishing)
عُوذٍ : Mothers of young offspring (plural of عائذ, female animal who just gave birth)
مَطَافِلِ : Those with suckling young (young still nursing; plural of مُطْفِل)
"جنى النحل في ألبان عوذٍ مطافلِ" comes to mean => is like the honey gathered mixed into the milk of ʿūdh that are nursing their offspring
Couplet 1:
مَطَافِيلَ أَبْكَارٍ حَدِيثٍ نِتَاجُهَا
تُشَابُ بِمَاءٍ مِثْلِ مَاءِ الْمَفَاصِلِ
💎 Meanings:
مَطَافِلِ : Those with suckling young (young still nursing; plural of مُطْفِل)
أَبْكَارٍ : Virgins or those new to birthing (used here as a literary intensifier for purity)
حَدِيثٍ : Recent (referring to the recent birth of their young)
نِتَاجُهَا : Their offspring (lit. their birthing; from "najā")
"مطافيل أبكارٍ حديثٍ نتاجها" then comes to mean => These lambs are newborns from maiden ewes, born very recently .
تُشَابُ : It is mixed or mingled
بِمَاءِ : With water
مِثْلِ مَاءِ الْمَفَاصِلِ : Like the water from joints (referring to pure and colorless liquid, i.e. high quality milk) (rare metaphor)6.
"تشاب بماء مثل ماء المفاصل" then comes to mean => The milk is so fluid and soft, it's said to be like the moisture from joints
🔵 Intricacies of the Verse:
This couplet is amongst Abu Dhuayb Al Hudhali’s most evocative comparisons. He metaphorically likens a woman’s speech (specifically, its sweetness and purity) to honey mingled in the milk of newly birthed she-camels, whose offspring are still young and suckling. This imagery is then refined further: such milk is compared to water from joints. i.e. pure synovial fluid (consumed in many parts of the world as well), crystal-clear and without impurities. It’s an ancient Arabic way to signal ultimate clarity and delicateness.
The verse depends heavily on sensory immersion, and the evoked images. the sweetness of honey, the freshness of milk, the gentleness of suckling, and the clarity of fluid all aimed at constructing an emotional metaphor for speech that deeply moves, nourishes, and charms.
There’s also a temporal tension: the phrase "لو تعلمينه" ("if only you knew it") suggests unreciprocated affection, a longing, or missed opportunity — wrapped in the most lush and dignified terms.
🔘 Roots of words and Their Classical Usages:
🌟 Forthcoming:
Ibn Qarih continues his excursion and meets the Nābighahs, al-Nābighah of the tribe of Jaʿdah and al-Nābighah of the tribe of Dhubyān. He then proceeds to have a conversation with them, in which the following couplets come up.
This couplets and conversation that ensues, we shall discuss in our next post.
Footnotes:
Abū Dhūʾayb al-Hudhalī:
A major mukhadram poet (those who lived during both Jāhiliyyah and Islam during the Time of Prophet PBUH but did not meet Him). He was Renowned for his elegies (he lost all his sons and commemorated them in a famous mourning qaṣīda) and for his precise, naturalistic metaphors, especially regarding animals and the wild.
Abū Dhūʾayb was once described as “the most observant of poets” regarding animal behavior and the life of the desert. & This couplet reflects that. it’s almost zoological in observation. You can feel he has seen the lambs, the texture of the milk, the exact hue of honey dispersing and evokes them with precise use of Arabic.
Camel Milk & Honey:
This combination was an elite delicacy in both nomadic and urban Arab societies. The comparison would’ve instantly signaled luxury and nourishment to any listener.
Adi says the words without the first “(وَقَالُوا۟) Qaalu” proceeding with the words of Ayah as quoted in the Quran. this is Al A’raf - 43.
At-Tur :19
Ar Rum, 30:18
“ماء المفاصل” : The Synovial Water Metaphor:
Arabs in pre-Islamic Arabia used this term to describe purest, most limpid fluids. It wasn’t commonly used outside of technical or poetic registers, and here signals extreme refinement and transparency. Later, it becomes metaphorically linked in Sufi poetry with "pure being" or "untainted truth".