🌟 Couplet that Pardoned Zuhayr In Heaven: The Conversation with Zuhayr Ibn Abi Salma [2]
Zuhayr tells of his Pardon in Paradise and the couplet that merited its coming about
✨ The Story Continues:
It was remarkable. Zuhayr who had complained in the couplets (previous posts) of weariness and old age was unrecognizably youthful here in Paradise. Ibn Qarih now proceeds to talk to Zuhayr.
“Yes, it was me who composed those verses you recited”, replied Zuhayr.
“You, you’re the father of Ka’b1 & Bujair2, right?”
“Yes.”, replied the poet.
“Well, what merit brought you your pardon?” asked Ibn Qarih, “For you were amongst the neglected and ill-treated, to have born and lived in the time between the Christ & Prophet ﷺ. When people were like cattle left to their own devices, practising only their vices!”.
“My soul turned away from vanity” replied the poet. “I shunned falsehood as long as I was living, and I found a Lord who was forgiving. I believed in Allah Almighty”, said the poet.
He continued, “ I had once dreamed and saw a rope that came down from heaven. The people on earth who held fast on to it of were saved. Then I knew that it was a command from God, so I admonished my two sons and said to them, when I was on my deathbed: ‘If someone stands up and calls upon you all to serve God, obey him then!’.
Had I lived to see Muhammad ﷺ, I Would’ve Been The First Believer!
It is that when ignorance was still reigning and impiety had overshadowed the world, I had composed the following verses rhyming in ‘mim’. ”
Fa-lā taktumunna -llāha mā fī nufūsikum || li-yakhfā, wa-mahmā yaktum — Allāhu yaʿlam
Hide not from God what is in your souls,
as if to conceal it! Whatever one hides, God knows!
Yuʾakhkhar fa-yūḍaʿ fī kitābin fa-yuddakhar || li-yawm al-ḥisābi, aw yuqaddam fa-yunqam.
It’s postponed, it is kept in a book and stored
for the Day of Reckoning; or hastened punished outright
[Lets understand this classical verse further & learn Arabic using this couplet!]
🟢 Understanding The Arabic Words in Context of The Verse:
Couplet 1:
فَلَا تَكْتُمُنَّ اللَّهَ مَا فِي نُفُوسِكُمْ
لِيَخْفَى، وَمَهْمَا يَكْتَمِ ؛ اللَّهُ يَعْلَمْ
💎 Meanings:
=> فَلَا – So do not…
=> تَكْتُمُنَّ – You (plural) surely do not conceal; emphatic prohibitive (lā + verb + nūn of emphasis)
=> اللَّهَ – God
=> مَا فِي نُفُوسِكُمْ – That which is within your souls
=> لِيَخْفَى – So that it may be hidden (li: purpose)
=> وَمَهْمَا – And whatever (conditional)
=> يَكْتِمِ – He hides/conceals
=> اللَّهُ يَعْلَمْ – God knows (it)
Couplet 2:
يُؤَخَّرْ فَيُوضَعْ فِي كِتَابٍ فَيُدَّخَرْ
لِيَوْمِ الْحِسَابِ، أَوْ يُقَدَّمْ فَيُنْقَمِ
💎 Meanings:
=> يُؤَخَّرْ – It is deferred/delayed
=> فَيُوضَعْ – Then it is placed (i.e., written down)
=> فِي كِتَابٍ – In a book
=> فَيُدَّخَرْ – Then it is stored/saved
=> لِيَوْمِ الْحِسَابِ – For the Day of Reckoning
=>أَوْ يُقَدَّمْ – Or it is brought forward/presented early
=>فَيُنْقَمِ – Then retribution is taken; vengeance is exacted
🔵 Intricacies of the Verse:
No wonder Zuhayr was amongst the Prophet ﷺ favorite poets. He used to ask Ka’ab bin Zuhayr (His son), to recite to him verses of his father.
This couplet exhibits unmistakable theological depth. This couplet is not only explicit moral wisdom, but delivers a proto-monotheistic warning that what we conceal, God knows; what we do, will be recorded.
The first verse carries a moral imperative3 to not hide one’s inner thoughts and intentions from God. This aligns with later Qur’anic teachings, most famously:
"وَإِن تَكْتُمُوا مَا فِي صُدُورِكُمْ أَوْ تُبْدُوهُ يَعْلَمْهُ اللَّهُ"
(Qur'an 3:29) — “Whether you hide what is in your hearts or reveal it, Allah knows it.”
The second verse moves to divine judgment: either the deed is delayed and recorded, or it is punished immediately a clear early conceptualization of accountability, divine recordkeeping, and eschatological justice. It makes sense too Ma’ari using this verse of his as to proclaim his merit to Paradise.
The verse sort of showcases Quranic thematic intertextuality4 before its revelation and the used words; yaʿlam, yu’akhkhar, yudda khar, yunqam emphasize divine inevitability and judgment.
🔘 Roots of words and Their Classical Usages:
🌟 Forthcoming:
Ibn Qarih, upon hearing this verse; reminds Zuhayr that he had composed the following verses as well.
These, we will undergo in our next post In Sha Allah.
Footnotes & Trivia:
Kaʿb bin Zuhayr Ibn Abi Salma; initially critical of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ in verse but later embraced Islam and recited his famous Bānat Suʿād before the Prophet ﷺ, who forgave him and gave him the Burda (cloak).
Bujayr bin Zuhayr Ibn Abi Salma, Kaʿb’s brother, accepted Islam earlier and is said to have invited Kaʿb to the faith. Their poetic legacies form a powerful bridge between Jāhilī poetry and Islamic devotionalism.
Kitāb and Ḥisāb: The pairing of “book” (record) and “reckoning” is structurally mirrored in both Qur’anic and prophetic traditions. Zuhayr may be drawing on early monotheistic conversations of the 6th century & this may reflect the zeitgeist as Islam was to arrive in Arabia.
Echoes in Qur’an: The idea of divine knowledge of the unseen and recording of deeds is repeatedly mentioned in the Qur’an: “يَوْمَ تُبْلَى السَّرَائِرُ” — (Day when secrets are exposed) (Qur’an 86:9) & “وَكُلُّ صَغِيرٍ وَكَبِيرٍ مُّسْتَطَرٌ” — (All is written down, the small and the great) (Qur’an 54:53)