Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

304 A.H., al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī has documented that he said the following to a
person who was accused of being a Rāfiḍī:
لو أخذت معاوية على كتفك لقال الناس رافضي،‏ ولو أخذت عليا على كتفي لقال الناس ناصبي
If you carry Muʿāwiyah on your shoulder people would say, ‘He is a Rāfiḍī’.
And if I carry ʿAlī on my shoulder they would say, “He is a Nāṣibī.” 1
In his words ‘the people would say’ and in bringing ‘Naṣb’ as an opposite of ‘Rafḍ’
there is indication that its usage was popular and its meaning was known.
In the fourth century its usage became even more rampant, to the extent that
even the poets started using it in their poetry. 2
Till now whatever has passed was regarding the history of its inception.
Henceforth we will be discussing the meaning and the definition thereof.
Naṣb literally means to erect something or target it. 3 It is said:
ناصب الرجل مناصبة
He opposed him and combatted him.
Likewise:
ناصبه الحرب أو العداوة
He declared war/enmity against him. 4
1 Tarīkh Baghdād 2/232. Interestingly what really draws ones attention is that all the scholars whose
quotes have been cited above were from Iraq, which is suggestive of the fact that the term Naṣb was
born in Iraq.
2 See: al-Mutanabbī, d. 354 A.H.: Dīwān al-Mutanabbī 1/269; the biography of al-Khāl al-Qarmaṭī, d.
291 A.H., in al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 7/79; Dīwān Ibn Hāniʾ al-Andalusī, killed in 362 A.H., p. 351; Dīwān Tamīm
ibn al-Muʿizz li Dīn Allah al-Fāṭimī, d. 374, p. 221; Dīwān Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamdānī, d. 398 A.H., p. 39; Dīwān
al-Waʾwāʾ al-Dimashqī , d. 385 A.H., p. 18.
3 Maqāyīs al-Lughah 5/434.
4 Al-ʿAyn 7/136; al-Muḥkam wa al-Muḥīṭ al-Aʿẓam 8/344; Lisān al-ʿArab 1/761; al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ p. 176
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