#War. An ancient Arab poet by the name of Imri'ul Qays once described the tragic allure of war and its painful consequences through an elegant metaphor .... الحَرْبُ أَوَّلُ ما تكونُ فَتِيَّةً تَسْعَى بِزِيْنَتِها لكلِّ جَهُولِ حتى إذا اسْتَعَرَتْ وَشَبَّ ضِرَامُها عَادَتْ عَجُوزًا غيرَ ذاتِ خَلِيلِ شَمْطَاءَ جَزَّتْ رَأْسَهَا وَتَنَكَّرَتْ مَكْرُوهَةً لِلشَّمِّ والتَّقْبِيلِ [a close translation]..... War, at its first arising, is a maiden in her youth— She hastens forth adorned, enticing every fool. But when her fire is kindled and her flames rage high, She turns an aged crone, bereft of any lover. Grey-haired, her head shorn bare, her form transformed— Repellent now to smell, abhorrent to embrace. Fools seek/welcome/invite war because they do not understand the consequences. But as the hours turns to days, the days to weeks and the weeks to months and then years, war becomes a dirty word, something to be forgotten or buried. Until one day, the party that started it simply stops. But by then, countless lives were ended, livelihoods destroyed, homes reduced to rubbles, children orphaned, parents bereaved and untold misery had been wrought onto the world. Once bright futures are dimmed for eternity. All because some [usually] old men were seduced by the notion that there is glory in violence. Praying that this war be brought to a quick end, that the nations of the world come to see that we cannot continue like this.
Amen 🙏
Ameen