Translations:Manāyā/1/en

Manāyā (منايا destiny) is more about individual fate or the preordained death of each individual while dahr or zamān is universal fate, or the impersonal fate of everyone. Dahr is fate-as-time that changes and wears things down while manāyā is fate-as-death. In poetry, manāyā is presented as a ruthless force that dooms humans, its indiscriminate and inevitable. From Zuhayr's Mu'allaqa: I regard Fate like the blows of a nearly blind she-camel, whomsoever it strikes, dies but whom it misses, lives on and ages. Fate worries people and the occasions of relief are few and fleeting. This mood is captured well by the poet 'Adi ibn Zayd who said: They lived a good life for a time, trusting restfully in their lot. Then Fate turned against them in the same manner that it destroys mountains. Thus Fate fires at the man in quest of livelihood circumstance after circumstance.