Bani Adam (part two)

Kindness, chivalry, guidance and humility
were born the day Jesus was born.

waz-dahel kaunu bil-walidi wa-da-ät
bih-sa-nä-hi mina ferel ar-ja-hu (er-ja-hu)

His coming brightened the world,
His light illumined it.

wa-sa-rat ayatul Masihi kama
yeh-seh-ri minel fejari fil-wu-judi dai-a-u

Like the light of dawn flowing through the universe,
So did the sign of Jesus (the Messiah) flow.

tam-la-ul or-da wala awali-ma nuran
fal theh-ra mä i-jan bi-ha wa-da-u

He filled the world with light,
Making the earth shine with its brightness.

la wa-i-dun, la sau-la-tun, la in-ti-ka-mun
la hu-sä-mun, la raz-wa-tun, la di-mä-u

No threat, no tyranny, no revenge,
no sword, no raids, no bloodshed
(did He use in His call to the new faith.)

many thanks to my brother, Dr. Gordon Nickel for finding this poem
Gordon teaches Quranic Arabic at T.W.U.


Gord and his wife, Gwen, conversing with Muslims at the Charminar in Hyderabad, India.

*Biography of Ahmad Shawqi

Ahmad Shawqi is perhaps one of the most prominent figures in recent Arabic history. He is most known as a great poet, but the fact is that he was also a leader of the people. His poetry revolutionized the major genres and themes of modern Arabic poetry. He was named “The prince of Poets.” The irony is that it was not because of his marvelous abilities was he given that name, but because of the royal descent.

Ahmad Shawqi was born in Cairo in 1868 to a middle class family which was related to the royal family. He was raised by his grandmother since his infancy and until he reached the age of 14. As soon as Ahmad Shawqi graduated from secondary school, Khediv Abbas - the prince of Egypt - employed him in his Royal Bureau. After working for a year, Khdiv decided that Shawqi should be sent to attend Law School for three years in Paris, France. It is then when his gift in composing poetry first became apparent. He graduated on the 18th of July, 1893. He stayed in Paris an additional six months after he graduated to explore the French art and literature.

Shawqi returned to Egypt and started a career as a poet. The first collection of his poems was published in a printed format in the year 1898. It was meant to be the first part of a collection named “Al-Shawqiyat.”

After the break of the First World War, Shawqi was exiled to Barcelona, Spain because of his popularity and his weight to the Egyptian population; he opposed the English colonialism of Egypt. His poems of that were directed against the English had sound and clear effects.

All through the five years of his exile, Shawqi was singing the praise of his home country and Arab civilization. It was during this period that he wrote his reputed Andalusian nostalgic poems expressing his deep longing for home. He wrote hundreds of poems, innovative and unprecedented. He is most famous for his poems that are narrated through animal figures. His poems spoke of freedom and slavery; of nationality and society; of strength and weakness; of unity and disorder; of love and hate. Such poems alluded to facts and figures of the life he lived. In addition, he wrote poems of satire, appraise, and elegy. Furthermore, he was the first to initiate the art of poetical theatre. Again, most characters were portrayed as animals.

When he returned from exile, he was warmly and passionately welcomed by masses of people in Alexandria and later in Cairo. He was deeply impressed by this welcome. He became closer and closer to popular feelings and more concerned and involved in the causes and problems of the people. He thus truly deserved to be known as the "Poet of Arabism and Islam".

Upon the publication of the second edition of Shawki's collection "Al-Shawkiyat", a celebration was held in his honor on April 2, 1927, where Shawki was named as Poet- Laureate. Envoyees from various Arab and Islamic countries came to congradulate and response to a call addressed by a committee representing the Arab nation, expounding the favorable impact of Shawki's poetic achievements on the rejuvenation of the Arabic language, which constitutes a strong common linking bond for all Arab countries.

The call also pointed out that Shawki's production of poetry has never been forced out, but rather came as a free and spontaneous expression of his own innermost feelings as affected by events in the Arab World. As an evidence, much of his poetry had been circulated far and wide and frequently recited by all Arabic-speaking people. He, thus, well deserved to be crowned as the prince of poetry and poets (Poet-Laureate).

Shawqi passed away on the 14 of October, 1932. To many, he was the single greatest recent poets. His contribution and work will forever impact the Arabic literacy and his memory will remain in the hearts of the entire Arab world.


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