الرئيسية
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من طرف ابنة الياسر الثلاثاء يناير 27, 2009 6:34 pm
أبطأ من سلحفاة
Literal meaning: Slower than a turtle.
أبعد من الثريا
Literal meaning: Farther than Pleiades.
أتبع من الظل
Literal meaning: Follows more than a shadow.
أثقل من جبل
Literal meaning: Heavier than a mountain
أجبن من نعامة
Literal meaning: More cowardly than an ostrich.
أجود من حاتم
Literal meaning: More generous than Hatim. (Hatim Al Ta'ee, a very generous man who lived in the pre-Islam era)
أرق من النسيم
Literal meaning: Smoother than a breeze.
أزهى من طاووس
Literal meaning: More arrogant than a peacock.
أسبق من الأجل
Literal meaning: Faster than death(fate).
أسرع من البرق
Literal meaning: Faster than lightning.
أشأم من البسوس
Literal meaning: More jinxed than Al-Bassoos. (Al-Bassos is a woman who caused a 40 year war between two Arab tribes)
أشهر من نار على عَلَمِ
Literal meaning: More famous than a fire on a pole.
Notes: Nomads in the Arabian Desert used to put a wooden pole on the highest landmark around where they are camping for travelers to know that people live in that area. During the night they would wrap it with a rag like an upright torch and light it, in the dark this fire on the top of the pole is visible miles away.
أصبر من حمار
Literal meaning: More enduring than a donkey.
أصفى من الدمعة
Literal meaning: Purer than a tear.
أصنع من دود القز
Literal meaning: More skillful than a silk worm.
أضيق من ثقب الإبرة
Literal meaning: Tighter than a needle's eye.
أطوع له من يمينه
Literal meaning: He is more obedient to him than his own right hand.
أطول من ليل الشتاء
Literal meaning: Longer than the winter's night.
أظلم من الليل
Literal meaning: Darker than the night.
أعدل من الميزان
Literal meaning: More just than scales.
أقسى من الحجر
Literal meaning: Tougher than a stone.
أكتم من الأرض
Literal meaning: More discrete than the earth.
Note: implying that the earth hides what's inside it.
أكذب من سراب
Literal meaning: Faker than a mirage.
أمرّ من العلقم
Literal meaning: More bitter than a'lqum (a very bitter desert plant).
أشجى من حمامة
Literal meaning: Has a better voice than a pigeon.
آمن من حمام مكة
Literal meaning: Safer than the pigeons of Makah
Notes: hunting in Makah is forbidden in Islam, so no one will try to hunt them.
أمنع من أنف الأسد
Literal meaning: More secure than the nose of a lion.
أيقظ من ذئب
Literal meaning: More alert than a wolf.
أكثر من الهم على القلب
Literal meaning: More (in quantity) than misery in the heart.
أدنى من حبل الوريد
Literal meaning: Closer than the carotid artery (As close to a person as is humanly possible)
أرخص من التمر في البصرة
Literal meaning: Cheaper than dates (fruit) in Basra.
أرفع من السماء
أغدر من ذئب
Literal meaning: More treacherous than a wolf.
أغزل من امرئ القيس
Literal meaning: more flirty than Imru' al-Qais. (An Arab poet famous for his love poems)
أغشم من السيل
Literal meaning:
أفسد من السوس
Literal meaning: More corrupt then mites.
أقبح من قرد
Literal meaning: Uglier than a monkey.
آكل من النار
Literal meaning: Eats more than a fire.
أيأس من غريق
Literal meaning: More desperate than a drowning person.
أفرغ من فؤاد أم موسى
Literal meaning:
أطمع من أشعب
Literal meaning: More greedy than Asha'ab. (A very greedy man)
أوهن من بيت العنكبوت
Literal meaning: More vulnerable than a spider's web.
[edit] Parallelism
اجلس حيث يُؤْخَذُ بيدك وَتُبَرُّ ولا تجلس حيث يؤخذ برجلك وتُجَرُّ
Literal meaning: Sit where your hand is taken and good is done to you, and don't sit where you are held by your leg and dragged.
Metaphoric meaning: Be where you are welcome and avoid where you are not welcome.
احذروا من لا يرجى خيره ولا يؤمن شره
Literal meaning: Beware of him whose goodness you don't hope for and whose evil you can't be safe from.
Metaphoric meaning: none.
إذا كان الكلام من فضة فالسكوت من ذهب
Literal meaning: If talk is made of silver then silence is made of gold.
Metaphoric meaning: listen more than you talk.
إذا كنت سنداناً فاصبر وإذا كنت مطرقة فأوجع
Literal meaning: If you were an anvil be patient, if you were a hammer be hard.
Metaphoric meaning: if you are unlucky and there is nothing you can do about it, don't complain; if you are lucky, don't hold back.
أسد عليَّ وفي الحروب نعامة
Literal meaning: A lion on me and an ostrich in war.
Metaphoric meaning: He pretends to be brave when there is no danger but he is a coward when there is.
Use: to express that someone is pretending to be what he is not.
إصلاح الموجود خير من انتظار المفقود
Literal meaning: Fixing what you have is better than waiting to get what you don't have.
Metaphoric meaning: none.
الإمارة حلوة الرضاع مُرَّةُ الفطام
Literal meaning: Lordship/command is sweet in nursing and bitter in weaning.
Metaphoric meaning: when someone becomes in charge, he does not want to quit.
ابنك على ما ربيتيه و جوزك على ما عودتيه
Literal meaning: you son is the way you raised him and your husband is the way you accustomed him.
Metaphoric meaning: it's your fault really because you didn't change what you could have changed.
Use: to encourage someone not to allow people to "walk all over them".
القرش الأبيض ينفع في اليوم الأسود
The white penny will become useful in your dark days.
قليل في الجيب خير من كثير في الغيب
لا تمازح الشريف فيحنق عليك ولا الدنيء فيتجرأ عليك
اخطب لابنتك ولا تخطب لابنك
Literal meaning: Work for the engagement of your daughter, but don't work for the engagement of your son.
إذا تكلمت بالكلمة ملكتك وإذا لم تتكلم بها ملكتها
Literal meaning: If you speak the word it shall own you, and if you don't you shall own it.
[edit] Verses of Poems
These verses are used commonly as proverbs:
أخاك أخاك إن مَنْ لا أخا له === كَساعٍ إلى الهيجا بغير سلاح
Literal meaning: Your brother your brother for that who has no brother; is like a person rushing to battle without a weapon.
Metaphoric meaning: be good to your brothers/friends/family because you need them for support as much as they need you.
إذا أنت أكرمت الكريم ملكته === وإن أنت أكرمت اللئيم تمردا
Literal meaning: If you were generous to a generous person you would own him; if you were generous to a mean person he would rebel on you.
Metaphoric meaning: A good person remembers a favor, a bad person does not.
إذا أنت لم تشرب مرارا على القذى === ظمئت وأي الناس تصفو مشاربه
Literal meaning: If you do not drink unclean water several times you will be thirsty, who among people ever drinks pure?
Metaphoric meaning: You have to put up with bad times, no one's life is void of bad times.
وليس الذئب يأكل لحم ذئب === ويأكل بعضنا بعضا عيانا
Literal meaning: the wolf does not eat wolf meat; and we eat each other openly.
Metaphoric meaning: humans hurt each other constantly, more than animals do.
ومن خطب الحسناء لم يغلها الْمَهْرُ
Literal meaning: And he who has proposed to the beautiful does not find her dowry expensive.
Metaphoric meaning: one is willing to pay highly for something that is worth it.
Note: In Arabic culture, the woman does not pay the dowry rather the man pays it to the woman; so the verse is saying that if a man wants to marry a woman he will not care how much he has to pay for it.
ومهما يكن عند امرئ من خَليقَة === وإن خالها تَخْفَى على الناس تُعْلَمِ
Literal meaning: whatever a man has of traits; even if he thinks they are hidden they will be known.
Metaphoric meaning: there is no point in hiding the truth because eventually it will be known.
ستُبْدي لك الأيامُ ما كنت جاهلا === ويأتيك بالأخبار من لم تزود
Literal meaning: days will show you what you were ignorant of; and news will come to you by that that you have not sent.
Metaphoric meaning: wait and you will find out what you want to know.
Use: to express that no matter how one is ignorant of what is going on, eventually he will know.
إذا كنتَ ذا رأىٍ فكن ذا عزيمة === فإن فساد الرأي أن تترددا
Literal meaning: If you have an opinion, be determined; the only faulty opinion is to hesitate.
Metaphoric meaning: none.
Use: to encourage someone to act based upon his opinions; as a wrong action is better than no action.
علمته شد الرماح === فلما اشتد ساعِدُهُ رماني == علمته نظم القوافي === فلما نظم قافية هجاني
Literal meaning: I taught him how to archer, when his arm became strong he shot me - I taught him how to write verses (poems), when he wrote a verse he attacked me.
Metaphoric meaning: I was the one that helped him, but he attacked me as soon as he found it in his benefit.
Use: to describe someone that has not been faithful to those that have helped him.
من رعى غنما في أرض مسبعة === ونام عنها تولى رعيها الأسد
Literal meaning: Higher than the heavens(sky).
إذا رأيت نيوب الليث بارزة === فلا تظنن أن الليث يبتسم
Literal meaning: If you see the lion's fangs, don't think the lion is smiling. (From a famous poem by Al-Mutanabbi)
تأبي الرماح إذا اجتمعن تكسرا وإذا افترقن تكسرت أفرادا
تعدو الذئاب على من لا كلاب له وتتقي صولة المستنفر الحامي
لقد أسمعت لو ناديت حيا ولكن لا حياة لمن تنادي
ما حك جلدك مثل ظُفْرِكَ فتول أنت جميع أمرك
ما كل ما يتمنى المرء يدركه تجرى الرياح بما لا تشتهي السفن
