Imruʾ Al-Qais & The Tragedy Of Hope | Mufti Abu Layth

ah let me tell you guys a story you know this poem this is an an incredibly profound verse from imra al qaedas let me tell you about imran imra al-qais is from the celebrity don arabs from pre-islamic times so he's you know several generations pre-islam you're talking probably about 100 years prior to islam and then coming in coming towards it but

he's he passes away maybe about two generations prior to islam so imra is legend he's deemed one of the most eloquent of the ancient arabs and his name is um and he's from the tribe of kinder which were in the the around the najd region of arabia and and some spread out a bit and they were known from the

descendants of the southern arabs so from the kind of hemorrhoid kingdoms and and kinder were a kingdom in and of themselves and imra al qaeda's forefathers they were kings of this region and they were very and they pro and kinder were an important tribe because they their region covered some of the trade routes so stability in their region ensured safety of passage for for for you know mercantile travelers so it was really for the merchants so it's

incredibly important and what happens is they have several tribes that paid easier to them and homage and jizya by the way was something you know for a century two before the arabs was well known um it was something that the arabs used to do it was not something islam introduced and we can speak about that another day but and they used to pay jizyan so some of these tribes they rebel there's this uh insurgency insurrection and by and amongst them banu assad so they rebel against hojar and

so whilst this is going on he has several sons and during his time when he's a king and he's obviously got control he's got this under lock this whole region um imra al qaeda is just a kind of it's just an absolute chill chill boy he's like absolute uh a drifter he he's just a casanova he just spends his time writing poetry he just drinks alcohol he kind of he hangs out in the elite circles because he's a prince he gets access to these

elite circles and he kind of chills out with them he drinks wine he's just with women he's in fact his his his adventures with women are well known and he's he's like one of the most excessive he really i mean any woman he can get a chance to sleep with he's the he's on it you know this guy is and he's and he's so eloquent as well and he's this kind of warrior as well because he comes from this past but he's often just drunk and he's drifting and he's dad's so fed up with him his dad can't can't be bothered with him he calls it considers him a waste and this guy's just a waste of space

so he just travels um you know with a companion or two he goes to different kind of kings and they kind of because he's he's charming they entertain him and he just spends his nights kind of like this so what happens and this is where you have his famous uh you know you have his famous which he says and this was a um somebody and he

is like in in some ways he is to arabic poetry what mir takim is almost to urdu poetry he invents a lot of these these things in fact people argue that he promoted this you know you stand on the ruins and the poet says you know as i pass by the ruins of such and such and he calls out to his two companions but this some have argued that this may have been if not introduced and promoted by imra and the fact that the person that he likens women to gazelles and because

of their eyes and their slender necks and this is all him he's the one who introduces this into arabic poetry so he's huge in in uh in arabic and in his poem where he says you know stand by this vehicle he says you know he let us cry over our beloved and so on it's an amazing poem of his by the way full of his his adventures so he will say in it he says

he says and how many days have you had that were awesome with women and he says especially the day of dara and he speaks about he came to this place and there were these young women and they were bathing in this lake and he kind of comes and then he kind of slaughters his camel for them to eat and and they all kind of can't get enough of him and and he really he has this amazing way with words and he says

and he says the day i climbed into that you know the the the carriage on top of the camel where the woman would sit he says i climbed into ernest and she said to me what on earth are you doing [Laughter] you know you're gonna ah you're gonna be the end of me and he says what ah but but she she kind of complains and she says to him what are you doing you know uh

you know you're going to ruin you're going to kill my camel can't take the weight get off and and this is and he has these epic lines in this poem of his in his and amongst them which are used proverbially as well where he says he says in the night it's like a wave you know that lowers its curtain over me to just try me with new trials and tribulations

but it's an amazing but this was this person so what happens anyway he's living this life he's living he's doing it he's doing it and his father gets killed so his father gets killed and he the news reaches him that his father said i mean according to some variations that his father had said that imra al-qais will avenge me and some say oh he just took it upon himself but he he he has this he finds out and

he's kind of like gutted because he says because he never used to like his father he says he says when i was a child he just ruined me like he let me go to waste and when i grew old he just made me carry his blood as in i had to avenge his death and this is why he says um when he hears about the death he thinks you know what it's time to get serious but before he gets serious he says

he says tonight we'll we'll we'll we'll have our wine but tomorrow tomorrow we shall die he says tomorrow we'll see to the serious issues and what happens is he kind of rallies around gets this support from people says i'm gonna uh you know i need to avenge the death of my father from banu assad and

so what happens is um he gets certain people they kind of support him and you know he finally they agree and they come along with him and he was a warrior and according to certain narrations he goes and he fights and he does actually he he kills this person of uh you know these people that were responsible for his father's death but then he says that you know what we need to restore the kingdom of kinder and i need to be its king

so some people say well you know you know this you know we we were with you up until the point of avenging your father but now you know this is you know this is not really this sounds more like a you problem go sort it out yourself and so he goes around thinking you know what i need some i need to get more back up so he goes to different um different kind of kings and and it's very interesting actually it goes to uh there's uh those of you that have heard of the

um the famous jahili uh jewish arab uh samoa samoa libna aadiya who has this fort known as and he goes to him as well and he kind of seeks some help but then he leaves some of his uh in fact i think he had his own daughter he leaves her there if the security and he leaves some weapons and stuff and um and he's going on this journey trying to get more help trying to rally and somebody tells him you know why don't you go to to caesar pesa because you know we can put you in touch and why do you go to him

so at the time justinian the first is the caesar and you know the famous justinian who does all the legal reforms and many of which are still european law is still kind of based on some of the justinian kind of reforms but so justin justinian the first is uh the caesar and somebody puts him in touch and sauce is going off the and he goes and he meets caesar and caesar kind of likes him he thinks what a guy he was charming eloquent and you know he had a way with himself and um caesar likes him so caesar says you know

what i'll help you he says why don't you crash out here a couple of days so he crashes out and whilst that's happening you know as they say i did say much more [Laughter] he he he he bumps into caesar's daughter i think it's caesar's daughter or his sister but i think it's his daughter and you know you know this one this one

casanova that cannot let an opportunity go by you know this one wrong number right door number next door so what he does is he says

[Laughter] touch me touch me so as it happens there's a little spark in this uh the naughty that happens between imra al qaeda and caesar's daughter and oh i think it may be i recall it to be his daughter so it may be sister so he's he has this now afterwards people you know caesar kind of has a little inkling that hmm there's something going on but he doesn't catch on and then imra al qaeda kind of beats them farewell bye

and he's off on his way and justinian tells him don't worry i'm going to send the cavalry and send the roman rome is going to make its way so anyway whilst i'm case is on his way and remember he's this epic poet somebody from banu assad the tribe that he had avenged his father's death from and and destroyed that tribe one of them ends up for some reason he's in caesar's uh caesar's royal court

and he realizes he comes to learn that immoral case has just been and caesar seems to be fond of him so he does a bit of the stirring stirring you know stirring he says to caesar that oh caesar that you know you know that typical without saying that it's a small mouth but he says it's a it's a big ask if i may plea please please please so jesus says yes speak speak speak as you you know freely he says look uh

caesar your highness he says the word is that he's had a little fling with your you know your women folk and you what you don't know about him is all his poetry is full of womanizing so for example in the famous he says this is in his by the way this is taught in all the madrasas as well and everything where he says about he says

he says and how many are pregnant women or a nursing woman that are nursing their child have i had sex with and this is in in his he says this and i distracted her from her child he says for man sarah ah but i've forgotten the next line but he says but he mentions that she tries to um she she gets distracted halfway because the child is crying

and he says and yet half of her is still underneath me and these are the kind of poems that he had by the way he was you know this is the the the greatest arab poet of jahilia times so this person tells caesar you don't know who this guy is i mean this guy he's going to make a poem about your daughter and all of the arabs are going to be singing it so caesar says

a maori cat humper attack so he says you know what um we'll have to fix him so he says okay we'll fix this so what he does is uh he sends you know in that day and age they used to have something known as mumma so they would have a suit which would be a bit like a a kind of kami's kind of thing a bit like a kind of kami's but underneath you'd have like a sarong and his art like a tortilla but they would have the inside of it um poisoned

that when you wore it especially in the heat it would kind of go it would kind of infiltrate penetrate into the pores and it would poison you so it was known as in um classical times it was known as often a trick that was used by people to poison someone send them a new suit so justinian sends imra alcaze a suit and he says and sends a message that this is my suit and it is made from this cloth and it is identified as that from caesar himself i want you to wear this on every place

you go in front of people so they know that caesar is with you so imra al-qaeda says of course you know the bake was so he wears this kind of masmuma and obviously you can imagine the arabian heat the desert and he's wearing in all these places and the poison it penetrates his paws and he starts to get poisoned and he starts to get these things where um parts of your skin start to kind of almost they turn into these kind of boils and drop off or something this is why imra taste is also called the they call him the one of wounds

the one of many wounds because he his body developed all these wounds as he was kind of traveling um from town to town and it's it's amazing because he he he eventually he starts to break down with all this kind of this this this poison in his body and he says one of his famous poems known as the senior it is quite honestly it's quite a tragedy in its way because he he begins it by saying

and he says you know the usual style that hey come you know my two companions settle in this place and you know what's wrong why are people not listening to me and in it he brings up his kind because he really becomes so weak and he kind of recounts his days of glory and he says because he was a warrior in his day and he says that you know there were so many people who were in distress in the desert that i found them

and i chased the bandits away from them and allowed this person to breathe and then he kind of recounts his his events with women how women would all fight over him and and he says says i see that women don't like a person who who starts to lack in wealth [Laughter]

he says neither a person who once they start seeing white here in him or who becomes arched forward because he's of old age and he's trying to say that you know there was a time where i had all of this and where are these people today and you know because he's struggling and he says something you know it's really um he says he says he says [Music]

alba he says that i never thought that the days would end up with such tribulation that i can't even stand up to wear my own shirt like because this is how weak he's become and he says and you can see jimmy attan is used as in the feminine here

says if only my soul would just go in one goal but it seems to be dying a breath at a time and he and then he says he says that allah you know this line of his it's one that's full of hope like he says

he says indeed a person after having lost everything still there is a chance to regain everything and even after turning white in the hay tulla a long life is yet to come walmalbasa and many garments to wear this line of his is so full of hope but unfortunately his life was coming to an end i mean unbeknownst to him and he he kind of stumbles and then he eventually reaches this place known as and he's only got one two companions with him and he reaches this

place called asib and there's nothing in it and he finds this what looks like a grave and it's almost like poetic uh irony and he asks this old lady going by that what is this and she says it's the grave of a roman girl that's buried far away she she was from rome and she's buried here and and here he says his poem the famous that many that's become proverbial where he says

that he he addresses her and no sorry he says he begins it by ajayaratana in he says my neighbor he's calling her his neighbor and he says that see calamities come and he says and i am kind of laying like taking up settlement in this place called

that both of us are strangers here and he says what he says the famous says and every stranger to another stranger says you know if you do reach out to me with a with with some kind of kinship then that's awesome and if not then a stranger is always a stranger

but it's an and in this place he dies and it's this kind of story of this legend of a person who who goes through this eventful life of adventures and you know these kind of wars and women and alcohol and triumphs and and being in the circles of the elite to in the court of caesar to to eventually find himself in this deserted valley and as allah says

see not a soul knows where its death has been written and there's so much so many lessons to take from this uh story and say um when he spoke of the of the great poets of jahilya he said he said the one who kind of beat them all was imra so ladies and gentlemen i thought i'd share that with you but this line of his was so profound because of the hope it kind of imbibed although you know he's not going to make it he says

that even after having lost it all can still regain it all allah