The Eloquence of Nasīb

Once again, His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, presents us with one of his invaluable studies of literary books. Here, from Al Qasimi Publications for 2018, he offers us a book titled "The Eloquence of Nasīb in the Poems of Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi." In this work, His Highness collected and studied eight poems, all of which, as the reader will notice from the first glance and immediate impression, are characterized by highly eloquent classical Arabic and a clear musical rhythm, in addition to the lyrical dimension that permeates the texts, weaving them into a beautiful, vibrant, and unified necklace. There is another very important observation: His Highness has footnoted all the poetic verses in the book, explaining the meanings of the archaic Arabic words that many who are not fluent in Arabic today might not know.
His Highness began his book with an introduction intended to clarify his method and approach to his study for the reader, providing information about the book and its historical context, and explaining why he titled it as mentioned above. He wrote: "I was gifted an old-looking poetry collection, bound in brown, containing a number of poems by the late Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr bin Khalid Al Qasimi, the former ruler of Sharjah, and by others, comprising debates and correspondences. I discovered one of the divans of the late litterateur Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi. After studying and analyzing these poems, I found them to be in praise and self-praise. Among them were eight poems by Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi. He began his poems, meaning he embellished and adorned them, by mentioning women. It is customary for the nasīb (introductory love poetry) to appear at the beginning of poems of praise. Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi presented the finest words and similar expressions at the beginning of each poem, i.e., in the nasīb of the poem. I extracted and analyzed this linguistically and grammatically, after disregarding the rest of each poem, and titled it (The Eloquence of Nasīb), making it the title of this book."
His Highness then praises the eloquence and richness of the vocabulary of the litterateur Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi, and the profundity and lack of weakness in his language.
After this profound introduction, which sheds light on what is to come and makes the reader eager to delve into the rest of the book, His Highness takes us to the eight poems mentioned in his introduction. The language, as His Highness pointed out, appears very different from the commonplace, of high standing, from the very beginning of the first poem, which commences with the following verses:
Sleep has forsaken the watchful eyelids,
Woe to a soul not patient without you.
Yesterday, I was aloof from love,
Then fell into what I dreaded.
I rebuked those who followed love and shunned it,
But today, I excuse those who follow love.
His Highness was keen to explain the difficult words that appeared in these exquisite verses. In the footnote, he stated that "عزب (azab) means to be far away and absent," and that "ويح (wayh) is a word of mercy and sorrow," and that "يحاذر (yuḥādhiru) means to be prepared and ready to be surprised."
The dreamy poetic and musical image is completed by this explanation of the words, leaving the recipient once again to ponder the magnificence of these verses. They reread them with full awareness a second, perhaps third and fourth time, for there are no limits to the pleasure of describing the state of falling in love after avoidance and rejection were the habit of the heart afflicted by it yesterday. Nor are there limits to the bewildered questions posed by the heart's shift between yesterday's safety from love and reproaching those who fall into it, and its state today as it falls into what it used to blame others for.
When the beauty of the opening verses of the book's poems compels us to continue the delightful and enjoyable journey within it, we realize that as readers, we are facing a sincere promise to discover beautiful poetry expressed with eloquent and transparent language. The poet continues to scatter his unique poetic style throughout his poems, as if they are a golden chain made from the same shining, ceaseless piece.