One Soul

This poem was written when the poet, Abd al-Rahim Mahmoud was around 27 years old, before he set off for battle against the Zionists in 1948 in Palestine. The poem was published in Arabic and titled al-Shahid, meaning: The Martyr.

Abd al-Rahim Mahmoud came from a scholarly family from Anabta, near Tulkarm in Palestine. His father was a Hanbali graduate from al-Azhar, and his teacher in his youth was Ibrahim Tuqan, one of the most famous Palestinian poets. As such, he employs many ideas with roots in Islamic thought. He later attended a military academy in Iraq, and then returned to Palestine leading various battalions in battle, before his martyrdom in the Battle of al-Shajara near Tiberias. He was buried in Nazareth, as per his final wishes.

The life and death that both gladdens a friend and enrages the foe is martyrdom in battle. In Islam, martyrdom is seen as the highest possible achievement in the court of God, and the greatest life only begins in paradise post-martyrdom. This bliss subsequently enrages the enemy who seeks to quash the fighter seeking martyrdom, for the enemy loses either way. As some early Muslims put it: either victory, or paradise.

Death is therefore not seen as blameworthy, but it’s intimate and loving instead. Hence why I rendered the third line to say “consummating” instead of simply “attaining” death. 

For line 3, a more literal translation would read “The soul of a noble one has but two ends: / Coming upon deaths and attaining his dream.” However, this doesn’t make much sense in English. The word al-muna (Ar: المُنى) could refer to a wish or aspiration; or it could most likely refer to the ultimate aspiration, in this context being death by martyrdom. Meanwhile al-manaya (Ar: المَنايا) is the plural of al-maniya (Ar: المنية) which means death. It is pluralized in Arabic to indicate each soul’s different occasions of death, and for emphasis.

"Utmost Wish" has been capitalized to refer to how a good death in Islam is seen as meeting God in the best way, for martyrdom is the ultimate aim only insofar as He is intended; and the martyr thus seeks it for His sake alone.

Furthermore, in Islam, it is said that the angel of death appears to the pious individual in a form that is most pleasing to them. This adds another dimension to the line reading as “embracing death” by highlighting the intimacy of death in such a noble state.

The Arabic of line 3 has been embroidered on the cloth that many resistance leaders and fighters in Palestine are shrouded in when they finally consummate death.

I have employed asyndeton (dropping the conjunction) on various lines, starting with line 3.

The word “untouch’d”, with the apostrophe replacing the “e”, is an archaic way of saying “inviolable”. Thus the speaker is essentially asking, “What’s life worth living if: 1) I’m not the fear of my enemies, and 2) my sanctities are not inviolable and untouchable? I’d rather be dead!”

While the oath la ‘ishta (Ar: لا عِشتَ) in the line is second person in Arabic, it can be read as a rhetoric address of the speaker to himself, hence why it is rendered as “may I not live!” in English.

The speaker is ardently desirous of martyrdom in specific, as indicated in the lines where he mentions hastening towards his death place, then explicitly stating that being slain is his goal in the next line.

The next several lines describe a scene of heroic martyrdom, starting with an expression of delight at its proximity (the swords clashing, blood flowing), and then zooming in to describe the fallen martyr in battle.

While “heaven’s lions” is a reference to birds of prey, the line could alternatively be read as a share of the martyr belonging to the angels. In Islamic tradition, the angel of death and his servants of the angels take the souls of the deceased upon death. Angels in Islamic lore are also powerful warriors, as understood in the testimonies of the Battles of Badr and Hunayn during the Prophet’s time (God bless him and give him peace). Furthermore, another reading could see the lions of heaven as the fallen comrades in battle before the martyr. In Arabic, to be called a lion is ennobling, indicating ferocity, chivalry, and valor.

While the “lions of earth” also refers to beasts of prey, it can also refer to comrades still fighting, for they fight like lions. Their share in their comrade’s martyrdom is his eternal life in paradise, which gladdens them, pushing them forward to keep fighting.

Where blood is described as both dye and fragrance, the allusion is to musk. Visually, fresh musk is crimson the way blood is, fitting the crimson description. Classically, poets often referred to musk as “gazelle’s blood”. Furthermore, there are traditions in Islam that explicitly note that the martyr’s blood will smell like musk on Resurrection Day.

The martyr slumbering with a smile, eternally dreaming with sweet visions, is the direct outcome of consummating death. The smile mocks this world, as it is seen as lesser than the hereafterly abode so heavily emphasised in Islamic tradition. The martyr is glad to be with his Lord in the hereafter, and is at peace even as he dies. There is an echo of the famous traditions indicating how martyrs will ask God to revive them so that they may be slain again in the same way, ten times, repeatedly.

The speaker then reiterates the hastiness and ardent desire for martyrdom, impatient to the plotting of his enemies and the scars of battle, before declaring how he will fight against every enemy and strike them in defense of his people and sanctities.