Khabar Shir wa Wifadat al-Nabigha al-Jaadi
- Author died
- 613 AH
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- Khabar Shir wa Wifadat al-Nabigha al-Jaadi
Khabar Shiʿr wa-Wifādat al-Nābigha al-Jaʿdī (Account of the Poetry and Delegation of al-Nabigha al-Jaadi), also transmitted under the title Juzʾ fīhi khabar shiʿr wifādat al-Nābigha al-Jaʿdī ʿalā al-Nabī ﷺ, is a short monograph (juzʾ) transmitted by the scholar Abu al-Yumn al-Kindi (520–613 AH / 1126–1217 CE) . It documents the historical and literary traditions concerning the arrival of the companion and poet al-Nabigha al-Jaadi (Abu Layla) before the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the poetry he recited on that occasion .
Transmission and Content
The work was transmitted through hearing from Abu al-Yumn Zayd ibn al-Hasan al-Kindi in the year 595 AH via his teacher Abu al-Qasim Ismail ibn Ahmad al-Samarqandi . It compiles several intersecting transmission chains (isnāds) tracing the report through early traditionists, including Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Baghawi, Yala ibn al-Ashdaq, and Abd Allah ibn Jarad .
The narrations recount that al-Nabigha al-Jaadi arrived before the Prophet ﷺ and recited his celebrated rhyming poem (al-qaṣīdah al-rāʾiyyah) . When he declaimed the verse:
بَلَغْنَا السَّمَاءَ مَجْدُنَا وَجُدُودُنَا ... وَإِنَّا لَنَرْجُو فَوْقَ ذَلِكَ مَظْهَرَا
We have reached the heavens through our glory and ancestry, and we hope for an ascent yet above that
the Prophet ﷺ asked him, "To where, O Abu Layla?", to which al-Nabigha replied, "To Paradise" . The Prophet affirmed, "Indeed, if God wills" . Al-Nabigha then continued with verses praising wisdom and forbearance:
وَلَا خَيْرَ فِي حِلْمٍ إِذَا لَمْ تَكُنْ لَهُ ... بَوَادِرُ تَحْمِي صَفْوَهُ أَنْ يُكَدَّرَا
وَلَا خَيْرَ فِي جَهْلٍ إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ ... حَلِيمٌ إِذَا مَا أَوْرَدَ الْأَمْرَ أَصْدَرَا
There is no good in forbearance if it lacks flashes of resolve to guard its purity against being muddied, nor is there good in rashness if it lacks a prudent man who settles an affair once it arises
Upon hearing this, the Prophet ﷺ commended his verses and supplicated for him, saying: لا يفضض الله فاك ("May God not break your mouth") . The tract notes that as a result of this blessing, al-Nabigha lived past the age of one hundred years maintaining an intact set of teeth .
The text also records textual variants and additional excerpts from al-Nabigha's long ode, including lines on his pre-Islamic companions at the court of al-Mundhir ibn Muharriq, his encounters with Christian monks, and philosophical reflections on fate and the brevity of life .
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