نزار قباني
Nizar Qabbani
في بلاد يغتال فيها المفكرون، ويكفر الكاتب
وتحرق الكتب، في مجتمعات ترفض الآخر، وتفرض الصمت على الافواه والحجر على الافكار،
وتكفر اي سؤال، كان لابد ان استأذنكم ان تسمحوا لي..
In a country where thinkers are assassinated, and writers are considered infidels and books are burnt, in societies that refuse the other, and force silence on mouths and thoughts forbidden, and to question is a sin, I must beg your pardon, would you permit me?
فهل تسمحون لي
ان اربي اطفالي كما اريد، وألا تملوا علي
اهواءكم واوامركم؟
Would you permit me to bring up my children as I want, and not to dictate on me your whims and orders?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اعلم اطفالي ان الدين لله اولا، وليس
للمشايخ والفقهاء والناس؟
Would you permit me to teach my children that the religion is first to God, and not for religious leaders or scholars or people?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اعلم صغيرتي ان الدين هو اخلاق وأدب وتهذيب
وامانة وصدق، قبل ان اعلمها بأي قدم تدخل الحمام وبأي يد تأ3ل؟
Would you permit me to teach my little one that religion is about good manners, good behaviour, good conduct, honesty and truthfulness, before I teach her with which foot to enter the bathroom or with which hand she should eat?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اعلم ابنتي ان الله محبة، وانها تستطيع ان
تحاوره وتسأله ما تشاء، بعيدا عن تعاليم أي أحد؟
Would you permit me to teach my daughter that God is about love, and she can dialogue with Him and ask Him anything she wants, far away from the teachings of anyone?
·
هل تسمحون لي الا اذكر عذاب القبر لاولادي،
الذين لم يعرفوا ما هو الموت بعد؟
Would you permit me not to mention the torture of the grave to my children, who do not know about death yet?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اعلم ابنتي اصول الدين وادبه واخلاقه، قبل
ان افرض عليها الحجاب؟
Would you permit me to teach my daughter the tenets of the religion and its culture and manners, before I force on her the 'Hijab' (the veil)?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اقول لابني الشاب ان ايذاء الناس وتحقيرهم
لجنسيتهم ولونهم ودينهم، هو ذنب كبير عند الله؟
Would you permit me to tell my young son that hurting people and degrading them because of their nationality, colour or religion, is considered a big sin by God?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اقول لابنتي ان مراجعة دروسها والاهتمام بتعليمها
انفع واهم عند الله من حفظ آيات القرآن عن ظهر قلب دون تدبر معانيها؟
Would you permit me to tell my daughter to revising her homework and paying attention to her learning is considered by God as more useful and important than learning by heart Ayahs from the Quran without knowing their meaning?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اعلم ابني ان الاقتداء بالرسول الكريم يبدأ
بنزاهته وامانته وصدقه، قبل لحيته وقصر ثوبه؟
Would you permit me to teach my son that following the footsteps of the Honourable Prophet begins with his honesty, loyalty and truthfulness, before his beard or how short his thobe (long shirt/dress) is?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اقول ل7بنتي ان صديقتها المسيحية ليست
كافرة، والا تبكي خوفا عليها من دخول النار؟
Would you permit me to tell my daughter that her Christian friend is not an infidel, and ask her not to cry fearing her friend will go to Hell?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اجاهر، ان الله لم يوكل احدا في الارض بعد الرسول لان يتحدث باسمه
ولم يخول احدا بمنح 'صكوك الغفران' للناس؟
Would you permit me to argue, that God did not authorize anyone on earth after the Prophet to speak in his name nor did he vest any powers in anyone to issue 'deeds of forgiveness' to people?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اقول، ان الله حرم قتل النفس البشرية، وان
من قتل نفسا بغير حق كأنما قتل الناس جميعا، وانه لا يحق لمسلم ان يروع مسلما؟
Would you permit me to say, that God has forbidden killing the human spirit, and who kills wrongly a human being is as if he killed all human kind, and no Moslem has the right to frighten another Moslem?
·
هل تسمحون لي
ان اعلم اولادي ان الله اكبر واعدل وارحم من
كل فقهاء الارض مجتمعين؟ وان مقاييسه تختلف عن مقاييس المتاجرين بالدين، وان
حساباته أحن وارحم؟
Would you permit me to teach my children that God is greater, more just, and more merciful than all the (religious) scholars on earth combined? And that his standards are different from the standards of those trading the religion, and that his accountability is kinder and more merciful?
هل تسمحون لي
Would you permit me?
نزار قباني
Nizar Qabbani
"The bird returns to its nest and the child to its mother's breast" -- words from Nizar Qabbani's last testament. Qabbani, who died at the age of 75 and was buried in his native Damascus, achieved unprecedented fame as an Arab poet, commanding a mass audience. The political stands struck in his later work fanned the flames of controversy to which Qabbani was never a stranger. Outspoken, never shying away from taboos, Qabbani nonetheless maintained a popularity that allowed him to abandon his career as a diplomat and concentrate full-time on his writing.
Before him, Arabic poetry was formal and grand. He inserted it into the language of everyday, modern life, thus making poetry a common property. His poetry accompanied kitchen utensils and became a fluid expression of the normal, the familiar and the simple in life, politics and sentiment. The reconciliation he effected was between poetry, on the one hand, and young students, housewives, clerks, professionals and heads of state, on the other.
He never paid attention to criticism. He broke away from the conventional and traditional structures of Arabic poetry without paying the least attention to what a modernist poet should aim to be or to related intellectual questions.
Qabbani was known and loved by those who do not read poetry -- even by those who do not read at all. There were elements other than love of poetry involved in knowing and loving Nizar Qabbani. One such element was the need to fantasise, to create an idol corresponding to fantasies that may have very little to do with the reality of the man idolised.
It was rebellious poetry which directly and bravely attacked all taboos. His extreme popularity lent him immunity from the suppressive arm of the authorities offended by his denunciations. Add to this the fact that popular stars like Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, Um Kulthum, Abdel-Halim Hafiz and Nagat El-Saghira competed to put music to and sing words written by him, and you get a glory never attained before by any other Arab poet.
He acquired a fame which even Ahmed Shawqi, dubbed Prince of Poets, was unable to attain and this despite the fact that people's evaluation of Qabbani's poetic ability varied while that of Ahmed Shawqi was unanimously recognised by his contemporaries.
Qabbani is a confusing poet. Most of his readers do not pause before the questions his poetry raises though there are some who do and insist on an answer. His poetry seems, more often than not, very simple. His vocabulary is not unusual, his syntax is mundane and his rhyme schemes are not complex. In short, there is nothing philosophical about his poetry. This lack of philosophising is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it gives his poetry an attractive spontaneity. This very spontaneity, however, dilutes its character since it becomes merely a reaction to, rather than an act of critical engagement with, life.
The simplicity of Qabbani's poetry does not mean that it is without value. It is true Qabbani can be read with great ease, but this does not mean that his poetry was written with the same degree of ease. He took great care to write in a way accessible to anyone and because of this his poetry will remain rich material for critics to analyse.
Each of us has his own Nizar Qabbani: discovering Qabbani is a part of the process of self-discovery during youth. Collections like "The Dark One Told Me" or "Childhood of a Breast" or "You are for Me" inserted us right into the heart of our youth. Without them we would not have realized that youth has a language proper to itself or that adolescent longing and anxiety have a place in writing.
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