Daraba Zaydun...

[Shajaa3ah]

[As you may have noticed, Zayd has done a lot of hitting in his time - he has been at it ever since the rules of Arabic grammar were being formulated it seems!]

It is narrated [1] that a Bedouin went to the grammar halaqah of Abu Zayd al-Ansari (a 3rd century grammarian of Basrah), so Abu Zayd said to him, "O Bedouin, ask what you like."

So the Bedouin spontaneously replied,

لســـتُُ لِلـــنـَّحْـوِ جــِئــْــتــُـــكُمْ **** لا وَلا فـــيـــهِ أَرْغَــــبُ

أَنــا مــــا لـــــي وَلاِمْــــــــرئ **** أَبَـــدَ الــدَّهْــــرِ يَـــضْرِبُ

خَــــلِّ زّيْـــــداً لِــــشــــــأْنِـــهِ **** أيـْنَــمــا شـــــاءَ يَــــذْهَــــبُ



[1] Ibn al-Anbaari, Nuzhat al-Ilbaa', 104

[Shajaa3ah]

[Liberal] translation:

It is not for grammar that I have come to you,
Nor is it that which I require.
What business have I with a man who,
To hitting is all that he aspires?
Leave Zayd to his own affairs,
He may go whereso he desires.