The Commentary of Al-Qasidah — Page 93
The commentary of al-Qa si dah 93 The publication of obscenity and lewdness were done openly and people used to be very proud of them. This was the kind of poetry that was considered to be excellent literature and they used to hang these on the Ka‘bah. As these evils entered amongst the Christians they lost spirituality as well. A very famous Christian poet of the 1st century hijrah named Akh t al in his following couplet refers to himself, but actually depicts the real condition of the Christians of that time: b&& /= / R < Z/ < w-5M 1c" P"*"v" I have lost my youth and I have tried to recover it by the use of red wine and beautiful young women. ( D i w a nu Akh t al , p. 204, D a rul-Kit a bul-‘Arabiyy, Beirut, 1994) In this couplet, Akh t al who was very respected and honourable among his people has actually drawn a picture of the lives of his people. He has admitted to the true evils of his people, which are excessive drinking and womanizing. 12 In essence the three evils, i. e. , womanizing and drinking, which are tied to lewdness, and music, the latter two being subservient to the first two, are the entire basis for luxury and voluptuousness. This couplet mentions the evil of the Arabs, that they exhibited unbridled love for women. It seems they could not eliminate it 12 A Summary of N u rul-Qur’ a n , no. 1, R uha n i Khaz a ’in , vol. 9, p. 344