🌟 Paradise [5]: Lady-Love & Honey; The Earthly Dreams of Namir Ibn Tawlab al Uqli
Askings of an Arab-Master in Verse
Alamma bi-ṣuḥbatī wa hum hujūʿun | Khayālun ṭāriqun min umma ḥiṣni
Lahā mā tashtahī ʿasalan muṣaffan | Idhā shāʾat wa-ḥawwārā bi-samni
“ Whilst all were wrapped sleeping tight,
Came in vision Umm - Ḥiṣn one night.
She has what she desires: honey purified
young camel meat with butter clarified ”
“How can I feel about An Namr Ibn Tawlab al Uqli? (النمر بن تولب بن زهير العُكلي) would he be fortunate enough to taste that honey? & learn that honey of the transient world compared with this is but bitter camel-thorn?”
“Oh Ibn Qarih!, were it be some of the celestial honey mixed with the bitterest gall, the bitter would be changed into the sweetest of sweet”
🟢 Understanding The Arabic Words in Context:
أَلَمَّ بِصُحْبَتِى وَهُمْ هُجُوعًٌ
خَيالًٌ طارِقًٌ منْ أُمَّ حِصْنِ
=> ألمّ: ‘He visited / came upon suddenly’,
often used for abrupt or fleeting contact.
=> بصحبتي: My company / my presence
(note the singular construct here suggests and implicates intimacy & solitude).
=> وهم هجوعٌ: While they were asleep —
(هجوع = deep night sleep, adds to the secrecy/mystery.)
=> خيالٌ: A phantom / vision / dreamlike apparition —
in ghazal, often the image of a beloved.
=> طارقٌ: Nocturnal visitor —
from the root ط-ر-ق, “to knock at night”.
=> من أمّ حصن: From Umm Ḥiṣn —
likely the name of the beloved (literally it comes to be "Mother of Fortitude" or "Dame of the Fortress").
لَها ما تَشْتَهِي عَسَلًا مُصَفًّى
إذا شاءَتْ وَحُوّارَى بِسَمْنِ
=> لها ما تشتهي: She has all she desires, or She is given what she desires —
suggesting indulgence or luxury.
=> عسلًا مصفى: Purified honey —
ideal image of sweetness and refinement.
=> إذا شاءت: Whenever she wishes —
reinforces the control/power of the beloved.
=> وحوارى1 بسمن: And tender young camel meat cooked in clarified butter —
delicacy and richness, signaling high status or deep desire.
🔵 Intricacies of the Verse:
This verse of Namir Ibn Tawlab2 is two-line classical Arabic love elegy. The context reflects a nocturnal visit by a feminine figure which is a recurring motif in pre-Islamic and Umayyad ghazal poetry.
The scene is set at night (وهم هجوعٌ), introducing a mysterious apparition (خيالٌ طارقٌ) tied to a woman (أم حصن), which then shifts into praise or longing, mentioning sweet offerings like filtered honey and young camel meat with clarified butter.
Genre/Imagery Markers:
خيال طارق: supernatural or dreamlike visitor — common in ghazal and ru'ya (vision) poetry
أم حصن: likely a maqāmiyya (attributed beloved, possibly metaphorical)
Rich in gustatory imagery (عسل، سمن) — which hints at luxury and idealized femininity.
🔘 Root Analysis and Their Classical Usages:
🟡 The Meter of Our Couplet (البحر الشعري):
⏑ – – | ⏑ – ⏑ – | ⏑ – | ⏑ – –
The mentioned verse follows the Kamil meter throughout.
أَلَمَّ بِصُحْبَتِي وَهُمْ هُجُوعٌ
a-lam-ma ⏑ – – | bi-ṣuḥ-ba-tī ⏑ – ⏑ – | wa-hum ⏑ – | hu-jū-ʿun ⏑ – –
خَيَالٌ طَارِقٌ مِنْ أُمِّ حِصْنِ
kha-yā-lun ⏑ – – | ṭā-ri-qun ⏑ – ⏑ – | min um- ⏑ – | mi ḥiṣ-nin ⏑ – –
("ḥiṣ-nin" ends on a kasrah + tanwīn, but is counted metrically as ḥiṣ-nin = ⏑ ⏑)
لَهَا مَا تَشْتَهِي عَسَلًا مُصَفًّى
la-hā mā ⏑ – – | tash-ta-hī ⏑ – ⏑ – | ʿa-sa-lan3 ⏑ – | mu-ṣaf-fan ⏑ – –
إِذَا شَاءَتْ وَحُوَّارَى بِسَمْنِ
i-dhā shā- ⏑ – – | ʾat wa-ḥuw- ⏑ – ⏑ – | wā-rā ⏑ – | bi-sam-nin ⏑ – –
(ḥuwwārā contains a shadda, so metrically it's stretched into two syllables: ḥuwwā = – –, retaining the metre.)
🌟 Forthcoming:
“If Allah (blessed be his name) granted one to drink from these streams, he would catch “fish ” the likes of which he had never seen. If Al-Mutanabbi had seen them he would describe them as…
The verse we will discuss in the next post…
From Misbaah Al Lughaat which references to Taj Ul Urus for this word; But But; The same word has later been used seperately to mean “Bread” as well.
In attempts to find a reference to know more about the Poet; It appears he was amongst the Companions of Prophet PBUH.
He is a narrator of a Hadith found both in Abu Dawud & Nisai where he is mentioned not by name. Rijaal scholars made him out to be our Poet An-Namir ibn Tawlab and he is mentioned 'Tuhfah Al-Ashraaf', The great compendium of biographical Hadith references by Al - Mizzi. This implies Al Uqli not only died a Muslim but was also considered a trusted narrator of Hadith. (Found in glosses of Shaykh Albani’s As Saheehah - 2857).
https://www.islamicboard.com/threads/al-imaam-al-albaanee-on-why-people-dont-make-hijrah-in-this-time-period.15070/#gsc.tab=0
In classical prosody (ʿarūḍ), a final tanwīn fatḥah (ً) — like the one on ʿasalan — is typically treated as a long syllable, not as an additional syllable.
This is because of a phonetic rule that When tanwīn fatḥah (ً) occurs before a pause or at the end of a hemistich, it is followed by an alif al-wiqāyah (ا). So: ʿasalan → ʿasalā (عَسَلًا → عَسَلَا) in pausal recitation, becoming two syllables: ⏑ –.