Is it valid for orators to describe Imam ʿAli (a) as (yakhuru fi damih) in their description of him after Ibn Muljam’s blow?
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful
And blessings and peace be upon the noblest of the messengers
Some scholars have mentioned that this is inappropriate and that this expression does not befit the station of the Imam (a), on the grounds that khuwar is the sound of a bull (lowing). There is no doubt that this view is sound if the expression is meant as a likening to the sound that came from the Imam, the Commander of the Faithful (a), after the blow of the accursed one.
However, the expression yakhuru fi damih has another meaning besides what was mentioned—while stressing that this expression is from the description of the historians, and that it also occurs in the description of al-Qasim ibn al-Hasan (a) when he fell at Karbala.
The other interpretation is that the expression is not a likening to a sound but a description of the state the Imam (a) was in, because among the meanings of the word khara is weakness. The word (khawr) denotes a sound or weakness, according to the lexicon Muʿjam Maqayis al-Lugha; that is why one who is exhausted and fatigued, whose strength has weakened, is said to be (khaʾir al-quwa, “drained of strength”).
So the more likely view is that describing the Commander of the Faithful after the blow in the mihrab as yakhuru fi damih is an expression of the weakening of his strength after the sword blow; that is why the Muslims tried to help him stand so that he could lead them in congregational prayer, but they were unable.
Imam ʿAli (a) was speaking, but in a faint voice. Moreover, the blow was not to the throat, such that some might think the expression came as a likening of the sound of the throat, with blood gushing from it, to khuwar; that is far-fetched. The same applies to the expression about al-Qasim ibn al-Hasan (a), since he was speaking to Imam al-Husayn (a) after he was struck.
Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi