Imru' al-Qais Quotes (5 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Imru' al-Qais Quotes

Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi was an ancient Arabian king and poet in the late 5th and early 6th century, and also the last king of Kindite. He is sometimes considered the father of Arabic poetry. His qaṣīda, or long poem, "Let us stop and weep" is one of the seven Mu'allaqat, poems prized as the best examples of pre-Islamic Arabian verse. Imru' al-Qais was born in the Al Qassim region of northern Arabia sometime in the early 6th century AD. His father was said to be Hujr bin al-Harith , the Kindite monarchy's regent over the tribes of Asad and Ghatfan, and it is believed that Imru' al-Qais was born in the territory of Asad. His mother was said to be Fatimah bint Rabi'ah al-Taghlibi .

Legend has it that Imru' al-Qais was the youngest of his father's sons, and began composing poetry while he was still a child. His father strongly disapproved of this habit in his son, believing poetry to be an unseemly pastime for the son of a king. His father also disapproved of Imru' al-Qais' scandalous lifestyle of drinking and chasing women, and eventually banished him from his kingdom, or so the legend goes. But later, when the tribe of Asad rebelled and assassinated his father, Imru' al-Qais was the only one of his brothers to take responsibility for avenging his death. Renouncing wine and women, he fought the tribe of Asad until he had exacted revenge in blood, and spent the remainder of his life trying to regain his father's kingdom.

Like many figures of early Arabia, which at that time lacked a formal writing system and relied on the oral transmission of stories, the details of the life of Imru' al-Qais are hard to determine with any certainty. Even so, historians have been able to compare the various stories written down by later biographers with clues from Imru' al-Qais' own poems and information about major historical events in the Persian and Byzantine empires to reconstruct a probable account of the life and ancestry of this most famous of the Jahili poets.

According to one account, his full name and ancestry was Imru' al-Qais, son of Hujr, son of al-Harith, son of 'Amr, son of Hujr the eater of bitter herbs, son of Mu'awiyya, son of Thawr of the tribe of Kinda . He was also referred to as "The Lost King" , because he was never able to recover his father's throne. Wikipedia

✵ 501 – 544

Imru' al-Qais: 5 quotes 0 likes

Famous Imru' al-Qais Quotes

“I passed by the sentries on watch near her, and a people desirous of killing me;
If they could conceal my murder, being unable to assail me openly.”

Imru' al-Qais

The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Vol. 5, p. 22
Poetry, Couplets
Source: https://archive.org/details/sacredbooksearly05hornuoft/page/18/mode/2up The Sacred books and Early literature of the East, Vol. 5, p. 22

“Thus the tears flowed down on my breast, remembering days of love;
The tears wetted even my sword-belt, so tender was my love.”

Imru' al-Qais

The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Vol. 5, p. 20
Poetry, Couplets
Source: https://archive.org/details/sacredbooksearly05hornuoft/page/18/mode/2up

“Fair were they also, diffusing the odor of musk as they moved,
Like the soft zephyr bringing with it the scent of the clove.”

Imru' al-Qais

The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Vol. 5, p. 20
Poetry, Couplets

“Weep for me, my eyes! Spill your tears
And mourn for me the vanished kings
Hujr ibn 'Amru's princely sons
Led away to slaughter at eventide;
If only they had died in combat
Not in the lands of Banu Marina!
No water was there to wash their fallen heads,
And their skulls lie spattered with blood
Pecked over by birds
Who tear out first the eyebrows, then the eyes.”

Imru' al-Qais

Diwan of Imru' al-Qays, Poem 2, quoted in Dictionary of Literary Biography, p. 213
The Poem of Imru' al-Qais

“Has anything deceived you about me, that your love is killing me,
And that verily as often as you order my heart, it will do what you order?”

Imru' al-Qais

The Sacred books and Early literature of the East, Vol. 5, p. 22 https://archive.org/details/sacredbooksearly05hornuoft/page/18/mode/2up
The Poem of Imru' al-Qais, Couplets