Hossam Badrawi Official Website
Al-Mutanabi.. and Al-Akkad
Between wisdom and beauty of the word
By
Hossam Badrawi
I like to know the origins and definition of the phrases we say, and to analyze the words that are often debated about in society, and each one means different meanings. And I talk to young dreamers of tomorrow, and my friends in that. In one of these dialogues, phrases and wisdom were repeated, genius summarizing matters of life, and explaining in lines what others might write about in pages, and people do not know where it came from. Sentences we say that we do not know the origin of, such as:
“The winds flow with what ships do not desire” and “The misfortunes of a people have benefits for a people” and many other phrases that we use in our daily lives without most of us realizing that they are parts of poetic verses in the first place, and the product of works respectable literature.
Dozens of Al-Mutanabbi’s verses in particular became, with time, proverbs and wisdom used by the knowledgeable and the ignorant alike. And I share with you some of the verses of Al-Mutanabbi’s poetry, behind each of which there is a story and a lesson that hides and casts a shadow over our present.
The immortal phrase, “O nation, the nations laughed at its ignorance” is nothing more than a part of a poem by Al-Mutanabbi that was addressed to the ruler of Egypt during his era, satirizing the situation of the Arab nation a thousand years ago, but as if it is being said today…
“The purpose of religion is to trim your mustaches, oh nation, nations laughed at their ignorance.”
The following are some verses that contain golden lines that we all know and most of us do not know that they are the sayings of Al-Mutanabbi, such as:
All that one desires, he realizes. The winds blow what ships do not desire.
And from other poems we find him:
High honor does not escape harm
until blood is spilled on its sides.”
And verses from the wisdom of life, such as:
“If my reprimand comes to you from the imperfect, then it is my testimony that I am perfect.”
“He who did not die by the sword died by something else. The causes are many, and death is one.”
“A man of intellect is miserable in bliss with his mind, and a brother of ignorance enjoys misery in misery.”
,
“This is how the days passed between its people, the misfortunes of a people with the benefits of a people”
And from a poem addressing the ruler of the country, he says:
“Oh, the most just of people, except in my dealings, in you is the dispute, and you are the opponent and the judge.”
It is as if he is talking about the separation of powers that we are calling for today.
He expresses his wisdom by saying:
“If you leave a people and they are destined…..you will not leave them, then the departed are the same.”
“O you who are dear to us to be separated from our conscience, everything after you is nothingness”
Perhaps Al-Mutanabbi knew that he would be remembered more than a thousand and fifty years after his death, and perhaps forever, when he said and we repeat:
“If you honor the generous, his queen
And if you honor the mean, rebellion.”
He expresses his pride, self-esteem and confidence when he says:
And time is only one of the narrators of my poems, if I say poetry, time becomes chanting
I sleep filling my eyelids from their strays, and the creatures stay awake and quarrel.”
He says with the intelligence of the life expert:
“If you see a lion’s fangs sticking out, do not think that the lion is smiling.”
And he says:
“If you venture into the honor of Marum, do not be satisfied with what is below the stars.
The taste of death in a small matter is like the taste of death in a great matter.”
Al-Mutanabbi sings:
“If generosity is not provided as a way out of harm, then praise is not earned, and money is not kept.”
And he says:
“All swords are decisive if they are unsheathed, and Hussam cuts your luck in its sheath”
Commenting on the dialogue, my friend, Dr. Mahmoud Hamza, the knowledgeable in language, passionate about literature and poetry, and my partner in working with students and youth in education first, participating, saying:
Al-Mutanabbi was nothing but a vivid expression of the situation of Arab society in the fourth century AH, with all its fragmentation, division, and religious falsehood that we may suffer from until now. Arabic in a precise and expressive language, so his poetry deserved to fill the world and occupy people
And he adds, “The rule of Al-Mutanabbi was the epitome of a living, burning experience that never stopped struggling for existence, and his poetry was a piece of itself, and the Arab society did not find more accurate than these verses to express the epitome of the human experience in every time and in every era.”
And because I believe that Akkad is one of the most thinkers and writers able to understand the insinuations of the greats and heroes, possess the keys to their personality, write about them, and translate their lives with great skill that combines the taste of bees in selection, and the patience of ants in analysis, rebuilding, drawing and highlighting the components and traits of personality, I searched About his opinion of Al-Mutanabbi and what he wrote about him
Professor Akkad says, and I share with him, “Life itself is an artistic work formulated by the hand of divine art, and it is governed by the same artistic principles that govern the verse, the musical melody, and the painter’s image. The ultimate goal of this life is beauty and freedom from ugliness.”
And I found that each of them, “Al-Mutanabbi and Al-Aqqad,” possesses a mighty anxious mind, great self-confidence, and excessive pride in himself, his talents, and his abilities, just as each of them was a distinctive sign in his era, and occupied people after him with his personality, life, and deeds.
“Al-Mutanabbi was not a king, nor a prince, nor a leader, nor a companion of prestige, but he was the pride of the Arabs and the interpreter of their wisdom.
Al-Mutanabbi, as well as Al-Akkad, with his thought and literature dispensed with every position, prestige, and every authority, so they lived and died great in themselves and among the people of their era.
Al-Akkad used to call Al-Mutanabbi the great poet or the individual man who organized in his Diwan the trials weighed by life. ,
A young dreamer said: Why is Mr. Akkad as you like to call him?
I said: Because he was an inspiration to me with his strength in the truth, his pride in his dignity, his strong style, and his encyclopedic knowledge, and he was the one who did not complete his education except for the elementary stage..
The professor was the owner of thoughts and positions, his Arabic language is lofty, his argument is powerful, and his mental abilities are comprehensive.
And just as he was a great writer, he was a unique poet, and I had read his poem Translating Satan, and I was impressed by his incorporation of philosophical thought into poetry with this genius, and after that I got to know his romanticism in poetry, as if this strong mountain had a sensitive soul behind it, and that made me open to the marriage of strength with softness Sharpness with love, wisdom with simplicity when he says
“People are irritated by the advantages that are unique to you, and not by the shortcomings that make us angry… They hate what makes them small, not what makes you small.”
And he says, “Do not be envious of a rich man in his affluence, for he may have an abundance of money coupled with trouble.”
The springs are clear when their resources are low, and the Nile becomes cloudy when the water increases.”
I receive Dr. Zaki Naguib Mahmoud said: “The poetry of Al-Akkad is the vision that inspires insight, the sense that drives the power of imagination, and the limited that ends to the unlimited. This is the poetry of Al-Akkad.”
Akkad’s poetry is the closest thing to the art of architecture and sculpture. The major poem of his poems is closer to the pyramid of Giza or the Karnak Temple than to Venus or the water table, and that is the eternal characteristic of Egyptian art. I knew that in Al-Aqqad’s solid, strong and solid poetry, an aspect is directly related to the roots of the original art in Egypt.
Al-Akkad and Al-Mutanabbi enrich the mind and conscience with pride, the beauty of the word, the mastery of the language, the smoothness of logic, and the wisdom that says in lines what others say in pages.
