[4] In classical Arabic lyrical poetry, the wind is highly praised and plays a role similar to the Zephyrus of the Greco-Roman world.
[7][8] According to the Arabic encyclopedist al-Nuwayri, the Ṣabā wind is said to be named so because the people are fond of it due to its pleasant breeze and air (taṣbū ilaihā).
In his Muʿallaqat, he reminisces about the journey of two former lovers with the words: إِذَا قَامَتَا تَضَوَّعَ المِسْكُ مِنْهُمَـا نَسِيْمَ الصَّبَا جَاءَتْ بِرَيَّا القَرَنْفُلِ Iḏā qāmatā taḍauwaʿa l-misku minhumā Nasīm aṣ-Ṣabā ǧāʾat bi-raiyā l-qurunful[10] When they rose, musk fragrance emanated from them, Just as the Ṣabā breeze carries the scent of cloves.
ʿAlī ibn al-Djahm, the courtly poet of Baghdad, maintains the image of Ṣabā as a rain- and fertility-bestowing wind, comparing it to an old woman who brings the poet a young woman: وَسارِيَةٍ تَرتادُ أَرضاً تَجودُها شَغَلتُ بِها عَيناً قَليلاً هُجودُها أَتَتنا بِها ريحُ الصَبا وَكَأَنَّها فَتاةٌ تُزَجّيها عَجوزٌ تَقودُها Wa-sāriyatin tartādu arḍan taǧūduhā Šaġaltu bihā ʿainan qalīlan huǧūduhā Atatnā bihā rīḥ aṣ-Ṣabā Fatātun tuzaǧǧīhā ʿaǧūzun taqūduhā[14] A night cloud searching for a land to bestow its rain upon, With it, I occupied my sleepless eyes, The Ṣabā wind brought it, as if it were A young maiden, propelled and guided by an old woman.
As-Sanaubarī, a librarian and poet at the court of Sayf al-Dawla, in one of his poems, compares the cypresses in the nightly garden, moved by the Ṣabā wind, to playful girls: وكأنَّ إِحداهنَّ من نفح الصَّبَا خودٌ تلاعبُ مَوْهِناً أترابَها والنهرُ قد هَزَّتْهُ أرواحُ الصَّبَا طرباً وَجَرَّتْ فَوْقَه أهدابَها Wa-ka-anna iḥdāhunna min nafḥi ṣ-Ṣabā Ḫūdun tulāʿibu mauhinan atrābahā Wa-n-nahru qad hazzathu arwāḥu ṣ-Ṣabā ṭaraban wa-ǧarrat fauqahū ahdābahā[15] As if each of them, moved by the breath of Ṣabā, were a young girl, playing at night with her peers.
Thus, Sayyid Shaykh al-Hadi in his love novel 'Hikayat Faridah Hanom' employs this motif when describing the first night's encounter of the lovers, writing that Faridah Hanom hurried there "like an Ashoka branch blown by the Ṣabā wind" (seumpama dahan angsoka yang ditiup oleh angin rih al-saba).
[3] An-Nuwairī quotes a tradition stating that no prophet was ever called without the support of the Ṣabā (mā buʿiṯa nabīy illā waṣ-Ṣabā maʿahū).