Al-Ahram:
A Diwan of contemporary life (410)
Egyptian society has been conducive to producing some of the biggest names in the Arab world in the arts, literature and music. Geography, a centralised government, secular education, modern press concepts and a capitalist economy were all historical factors which contributed to Egypt's shaping of Arabic culture. And they were all instrumental in creating one of Egypt's and the Arab world's most distinguished modern poets, Ahmed Shawqi. Shawqi's pen resonated throughout the Arab world and the acclaim culminated in a gala of Egyptian and other Arab luminaries honouring his work and life. Professor Yunan Labib Rizk* profiles the "Prince of Poets."Crowning of a prince
The Prince of Poets, the Dean of Arabic Literature, the Star of the East -- all these are epithets conferred upon Egyptians, indicating the central role their country has played in shaping Arabic culture. Whether this role has been a source of pride for Egyptians or an object of envy for others it needs to be explained.
There is no one single explanation for this phenomenon. Sweeping assertions that it is the natural product of a 7,000-year-old civilisation and the like beg too many questions. The fact is, there are objective circumstances that combined to create Egypt's unique cultural status, some of them as old as history, others quite modern, albeit connected to the old.
Geographical and demographic conditions were, of course, a major factor. A river valley that fosters sedentary life and the natural barriers of desert to the east and west and the sea to the north formed the perfect cradle for stability and growth of the oldest of mankind's civilisations. These same factors ensured that foreigners attracted to Egypt would arrive from across the deserts or the sea, merge into its melting pot and, through a process of a mutual amalgamation of influences, become part of its distinctive mould.
         From the top: Ahmed Shawqi; Ahmed Lutfi El-Sayed; Mohamed Abdel-Wahab; Mahmoud Abul-Fath; Naguib El-Hilali; Ali Ibrahim; Mohamed Hussein Heikal; Rashid Rida and Khalil Motran |
The modern conditions for Egypt's cultural centrality have their roots in the 19th century. It was in the first half of this century that Mohamed Ali established the first centralised government in the Middle East, while the remainder of the region remained until the beginning of the 20th century part of the Ottoman Empire which, in turn, remained steadfastly ensconced in the Middle Ages despite the facelifts effected under European pressures.
Centralised government inherently generates the nation state, for under such a government national identity supplants clan, tribal and sectarian affiliations as was the case in other Ottoman-ruled regions. The phenomenon of distinction in a national society is qualitatively different from that in a feudal society, for such distinction is created by and contributes to shaping tastes, aspirations and a sense of identity that supersede narrower affiliations. Indeed, the very notion of a public figure is intrinsically associated with the nation state.
In addition, nation states develop institutions that have as profound an impact on national culture as they do on the management of government and economy. Egypt was the first country in the region to begin to secularise education. Under Mohamed Ali, modernised systems of education were introduced with the primary purpose of developing the military, but by the second half of the 19th century, they acquired civilian garb. Modern state education received its initial impetus under Khedive Ismail. However, following the British occupation and its control of educational allocations, the initiative passed over to the private sector. It was not surprising, therefore, that Egypt's first national university, founded in 1908, was the fruit of a popular initiative, a development that is unlikely to have occurred in any of Egypt's neighbouring countries.
The modernisation of education was intrinsically bound with the development of other cultural institutions. Publication was another field of activity that began as an exclusively government concern and proliferated in the private sector in the second half of the 19th century. Few are aware, for example, that the first educational mission Mohamed Ali sent abroad, to Italy in 1813, was sent to learn the art of typesetting. Egypt's emergence from the age of the manuscript into the age of the printing press gave additional impetus to a rapidly developing intellectual base and its creative output.
Undoubtedly, the major manifestation of this activity was the development of the national press, by which we are referring, not to the official Gazette that began publication in the 1820s, but to the privately run newspapers that began to proliferate in the second half of the 19th century. It is testimony to Egypt's stability that the newspapers founded in Egypt by immigrants from Lebanon proved to have greater longevity and wider circulation than newspapers which existed in Lebanon itself. The press, moreover, played a central role in the making of the intellectual star at the national level. Indeed, it is difficult to find a single example of an intellectual luminary who was not an active contributor to, if not directly involved in, one or more of the nation's newspapers.
The early transition to a capitalist economy was another factor that contributed to the generation of an identity that transcended kinship, denominational and regional affiliations in Egypt. Egypt was the first country in the region to introduce a capitalist system. True, under Mohamed Ali, the economy could best be described as "state capitalism." However, with the introduction of cash crops in the second half of the 19th century and Egypt's entrance into international markets, land, once a government monopoly, began to devolve into private hands, leading by the end of that century to the rise of a formidable class of landed gentry, or rural "notables."
This class, along with the growing mercantile class of the cities, produced, whether directly and indirectly, the nation's intellectual and cultural luminaries. It was their sons who were sent abroad for a European education and who returned to invest their educational and cultural experience at home. This, too, was the elite that made the major financial outlays in cultural institutions and schools, universities and various academies, thus generating the appropriate climate to nurture intellectual and artistic talent. These classes also established the traditions of artistic patronage and the literary salons which formed the primary venues in which stars were born.
The circumstances were all instrumental in the creation of one of Egypt's and the Arab world's most illustrious modern poets, Ahmed Shawqi. Shawqi was the product of a sense of patriotism which inspired much of the corpus of his poetry. Not only was he a member of the rising socio-economic force but was also a close friend of its most important symbol: the khedive of Egypt. In fact, because of his connections to both Tawfiq and Abbas he was first known as "The Poet of the Prince." He was the product of and eventually a leading figure in many of the cultural institutions that contributed to his rise to fame, as we learn from Al-Ahram in April 1927, when Shawqi was formally crowned "The Prince of Poets."
Shawqi had acquired this title well before then. In the spring of 1926, the first edition of Shawqiyat -- a collection of Shawqi's works -- appeared. Such was the importance of this anthology that on 9 May Al-Ahram devoted its lead article to "Why Shawqi has been dubbed the Prince of Poets." According to the author, it was Al-Ahram that first bestowed this title upon Shawqi a quarter of a century earlier, after which it was quickly accepted by his fellow poets, then the public. "This was no mere act of generosity towards the poet and his works, even if people are naturally given to conferring such titles and epithets. Rather, it was a debt of gratitude owed to its recipient," the article said. The author goes on to explain that Shawqi had brought the art of poetry to its zenith and that customary expressions of praise would fail to do justice to his talents.
In fact, it appeared that Shawqi had already become an institution only awaiting the official seal that befitted his stature. Under the headline, "Shawqi's poetry in school," Al-Ahramreported on 12 May 1926 that when students were asked to recite excerpts of eloquent poetry for the examinations, Shawqi was their choice. The newspaper went on to observe, "This is proof of the high standards of the students, whom Shawqi had in mind when he penned many of his edifying moral insights and put to verse historical events from all phases of Egyptian life."
Soon afterwards, Al-Ahram announced that the Ministry of Education had formed a committee to select poems from Shawqi's anthology for inclusion in the educational curriculum. "A reliable source has informed us that the decision to include these poems in the curriculum was inspired by advice from Saad Zaghlul Pasha." The article added, "This is indubitably a great favour the speaker of the house has bestowed upon our nation's youth, adding to his many good deeds."
Against the backdrop of this laudatory campaign in Al-Ahram and other Egyptian newspapers, Chief of the Royal Cabinet Ahmed Shafiq Pasha announced his intention to invite "a group of scholars and men of letters" to his home to "honour the eminent Arab poet, Ahmed Shawqi, on the occasion of the first volume of his anthology." The 30-member committee selected to organise the affair included many prominent public figures: the Islamic revivalist Rashid Rida, five members of the Chamber of Deputies, one Senate member and three leading figures of economy and finance -- Fouad Sultan, Mohamed Talaat Harb and Naguib Mansour Shakour. It also included an impressive array of eminent literary and intellectual luminaries rarely seen together in one place: the writer and "mentor of the new generation" Ahmed Lutfi El-Sayed; the famous legal scholar Abdel-Hamid Badawi; Ahmed Amin and Taha Hussein, then professors in the Faculty of Letters; Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education Naguib El-Hilali; the noted surgeon Ali Ibrahim; and Al-Siyasa Editor-in Chief Mohamed Hussein Heikal.
Since conferring a "princedom" in Arabic poetry required a reasonable presence of representatives from other Arab countries, the committee sent a "call" to honour Shawqi "to the noble Arab world." Published in Al-Ahram of 14 December 1926, the writers observed that "time has separated the Arabs from their language, so much so that now men are of two sorts: those who strive to clarify their needs in languages other than their own and those who use their language to express anything but their needs." Ahmed Shawqi, they wrote, was unique in his capacity to reconcile the eloquence of classical Arabic with the demands of contemporary life. They went on to laud Shawqi's literary eminence in the Arab world. Such was his effect on Arabic poetry, the story suggested, that his influence resonated throughout the Arab world, "as though he is the singing bird and others are the echo." Thus, when an "elite group of Orientals living in Egypt" decided to honour Shawqi, it felt that "to undertake this duty alone would be to appropriate a right that belonged to all Arabs and to monopolise their common property." Therefore, "it is the hope of the committee that all Arab peoples lift their voice in this commemorative celebration."
The committee members recognised that many cultural representatives from other Arab countries would be unable to attend. Therefore, it also urged them to send in their studies "on Shawqi and his poetry, or on Arabic language and poetry in general, in order to benefit this happy occasion even more."
The first response to the invitation came from Lebanon where the journalists syndicate called upon "the sons of Lebanon" to meet in order to elect representatives "to the distinguished ceremony the people of Egypt have decided to host in honour of the Prince of Poets, Ahmed Shawqi." Subsequent news said Lebanon would be represented by Shibli Malat Bek and Elias Fayyad besides "a large number of other Lebanese literati who intend to visit the Nile Valley to attend this glorious ceremony."
Shortly before the celebration began, Al-Ahram assigned its top correspondent, Mahmoud Abul-Fath, to interview Shawqi. The renowned poet told Abul-Fath that his first venture into poetry began when he had to return a book of poetry he had borrowed from a neighbour. He had become very attached to the book and his regret at having to return it inspired him to write his first two verses. In spite of the flaws in these initial attempts, he confesses, they were greatly admired by his school peers and it was not long before "they were cited from one salon to the next." Shawqi also admitted that his career as a poet began as the "Poet of the Prince" before he became the "Prince of Poets." His first works were eulogies to Khedive Tawfiq, who "would always ask about me until eventually he graced me with a court appointment."
Shawqi told Abul-Fath that his favourite writers were the classical Arab poet Al-Mutanabbi, Victor Hugo and Sheikh Hussein Al-Marsafi, his "mentor in language and literature." He held that the names of scientific inventions and discoveries should be preserved in their original languages, and counselled all involved in literature to simultaneously preserve Arabic stylistic traditions and address the contemporary world.
The ceremony honouring Shawqi began at 5.00pm on Friday, 29 April 1927, in the Royal Opera House. On hand for "the Arab countries' declaration of homage" was Al-Ahram's editor-in-chief who wrote, "Egypt has long held the seat of and sanctuary for Arabic literary traditions. It then transferred its title to the standard-bearer of linguistic eloquence, Shawqi Bek, placed its sceptre in his right hand and set on his head the crown."
As hoped, there was a strong literary presence. On hand were the famous poets Khalil Motran, Shibli Malat and Hafez Ibrahim; guest speakers Ahmed Hafez Awad and Mohamed Kurd Ali, along with "an elite of eminent talents from the Maghreb, among them Sidi Abrit, the master of ceremonies of the Sultan of Marrakech." The full weight of Egyptian solidarity behind the crowning of Shawqi was manifested in the presence of an official representative of King Fouad, a large turnout of members of the royal family, prominent among whom was Prince Omar Touson and his sons. Saad Zaghlul was there, too -- in spirit. His health had been deteriorating and he would die less than four months later. His short address, delivered on his behalf by his nephew, was noteworthy not only because of its significance with regard to the occasion at hand, but because Zaghlul was said to have a low regard for the idea of Arab unity. Published in Al-Ahram the following day, it read:
"Ill health has prevented me from presiding over this celebration and I have, therefore, delegated the distinguished Mohamed Fathallah Barakat Pasha to convey to you my greetings and my esteem, and to pay my special respects to the delegations from other Arab countries who have undertaken the arduous journey to join you in this tribute. I welcome them and I wish your assembly the fullest success in the hopes that it will serve as a means to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and friendship among the speakers of the great Arabic language in all Arab countries and Oriental capitals."
Naturally, such a gathering occasioned recitals by the poetic luminaries there to pay homage to Shawqi and it was also natural that the first to have that honour was Hafez Ibrahim, dubbed the "Poet of the Nile." He urged "My country, the Nile Valley in the East" to "sing to the poetry of the Prince of the Two Nations (Upper and Lower Egypt)." Equally important were the contributions of the famous poets Shibli Malat, Khalil Motran and Shukeib Arsilan. Their poems, exceeding 100 verses in length, opened with such diverse verses as: "The memory of youth and the playgrounds of lovers revived my youthful yearnings," "An ember glimmered from the desert. Has the age of revelation returned to the Sinai?" and "Summon your gifts to your utmost ability; for all rights require that you assert them." They all paid tribute through direct and indirect references to Shawqi as an extraordinary talent and a source of inspiration.
Other highlights of the evening included a poem written for the occasion by Prince Saleh Bin Saad Bin Salem of Aden and the speeches delivered by the deputy of Damascus, Kurd Ali, and Isaaf Al-Nashashibi, "inspector for the Ministry of Education in Palestine and member of the Arab Scientific Academy in Syria." The latter speech was of particular importance because it addressed what was then a controversial issue: whether Arabic could keep pace with modern developments or whether a European language would have to be adapted to the Arabic world for that purpose. Al-Nashashibi proclaimed that the Prince of Poets had furnished the conclusive answer to that question.
The celebration proved an occasion to reaffirm the role of the national institutions that nourished public figures of Shawqi's stature. This was apparent not only in the many officials who participated in the celebration but in the programme for what Al-Ahram termed "the Week of Shawqi." This included, on 30 April, a visit by the foreign delegations to the National Library, the oldest public library in the Arab world, founded in 1870. On the same day, they visited one of the oldest scientific academies, the Royal Geographic Society, founded in 1875 and which, for the occasion, organised a reading of the works composed by "Egypt's guests and contributors from overseas."
Another national institution to take part in the event was the Royal Society for Economy and Legislation which hosted festivities that concluded with a gala evening in the Music Club which featured the famous singer and composer Mohamed Abdel-Wahab. Other items in the programme included a visit to the Egyptian museum and a lecture at the Egyptian University, "attended by a large gathering of men of science and letters, foremost among them the distinguished visiting delegates from the Arab world."
The notables who played such an important role as patrons of the arts and letters also participated in the activities. Many, such as Hamed El-Basel Pasha and the El-Khatib family in Tanta, hosted huge banquets for the participants. So, too, did Ahmed Shawqi, who hosted the last evening's banquet in his own home, which had now become the residence of a prince after it had once been the humble home of a poet.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/554/chrncls.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment