The biblical poem entitled Shir Ha-Shirim (The Song of Songs) composed by Shlomo, the third King ... more The biblical poem entitled Shir Ha-Shirim (The Song of Songs) composed by Shlomo, the third King of the united tribes of Israel about 1,000 years before the Common Era was composed in Hebrew. However, it was also translated and sung by numerous bards in ancient Arabic dialects, as well as being translated to Kurmanji Kurdish. The King composed this poem to substantiate the primeval identity of his kingdom and its connection to the expanses leading up to Jerusalem and the mountain range surrounding Jerusalem. The poem's underlying meaning leans on the King's knowledge of the ancient science of Kabbalah. The eight chapters included in the Hebrew Bible as debated in the first century CE, and recorded by the mishnaic Sages of Tiberias in the second century CE, now constitute what we have on record of the Song of Songs. The external shell of the poem, the first chapter of which mentions apple-wine and love, and tribal ethics, symbolizes and reminds of the first moment of love's intoxication and knowledge. The King is mentioned in the Qur'an as prophet Suleimān, and is known in English as King Solomon. This study ends with an original translation of the Song of Songs with Notes.
The present study brings to light some of the original novelistic writing techniques that Salim B... more The present study brings to light some of the original novelistic writing techniques that Salim Barakat evolved in his f rst novel ent tled Fuq h ' l-l m S ges of D rkness W th th s novel the uthor l d the found t on for techniques to be used in his subsequent novels. In the absence of an established Middle Eastern or Kurdish tradition of novel writing, Barakat had ample space to develop his own original techniques. He first published Sages of Darkness in 1985 in Nicosia Cyprus, and later published a second edition in Baghdad in 1994-with a further overlay of cinematic imagery and use of his own poetics and vocabulary as in his poems of the intervening period. An nthology of B r k t's poems in the origin l Ar bic c n now be re d online And there re lso English tr nsl tions in the Anthology of Aviv Butt's book of 20 September 2021 see the References t the end of this article). A previous article on Sages of Darkness published in IJOKS 7 (1) (2022) attempted to establish the genre of B r k t's novel s psychologic l re lism with philosophic l nd f nt stic l elements-the first 50 pages were examined. In this study, I will mention the frequent symbolic relationship of the environment to Kurdish life-as seen in the first approximately 120 pages. A completed English translation of Sages of Darkness, including the remaining 90 pages underway, will hopefully be published by early next year.
Abstract
In his novel Sages of Darkness (Fuqahā’ al-Ẓalām), we encounter Salim Barakat as a writ... more Abstract
In his novel Sages of Darkness (Fuqahā’ al-Ẓalām), we encounter Salim Barakat as a writer of psychological realism, which this paper attempts to show by a comparison to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ground-breaking novel Crime and Punishment (1866). Barakat’s main protagonist is a Kurdish Sufi Mullah, a protector of his rural community in al-Qamishli, Jazira in Ottoman times. With the sudden appearance of ―dried up fields,‖ Mullah Benav carries on with his undertone of murmured prayer and reliance on the techniques of Kurdish Sufi practice (somewhat similar to Jewish Kabbalistic practice) to solve the problem. And then, lo and behold, a fantastical event occurs with the birth of a baby son whom the Mullah calls ―Bekas.‖ Sages of Darkness has five long chapters of approximately fifty pages each, comparable to the original serial publication of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. It introduces an aside on the psychological cause and result of child molestation by respected personages within the society and especially within the education system. The present paper uses quotations from the first fifty pages of Sages of Darkness. Long passages from the book are quoted because no English translation has as yet been published. I anticipate completing the translation in about 7 months.
The academic monograph The Kizilbash/Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia recently published in the Edinbur... more The academic monograph The Kizilbash/Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia recently published in the Edinburgh University Press series “Edinburgh Studies on the Ottoman Empire,” has all of 400 pages. The book’s Turkish-born author Ayfer Karakaya-Stump is at present a university professor at William and Mary University, Williamsburg Virginia, USA. It is apparent from her book that she has meantime visited Turkey in her quest to understand the current beliefs and ritual of the Alevi Turkish community in the now secularized state of Turkey. She attempts to trace the origins of the Alevis and why they are currently known as “Alevi” (followers of Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law), but were earlier on known as “Kizilbash.” She ultimately describes the Kizilbash as “followers of Shah Ismail.”
170 MOTTO The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purp... more 170 MOTTO The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
PR&TAOE My thesis "The Impact of the Old Testament on Modern Hebrew Poetry in Israel" deals with ... more PR&TAOE My thesis "The Impact of the Old Testament on Modern Hebrew Poetry in Israel" deals with representative Younger Poets of the Generation of the Fifties, as well as with two poets who first published their work in the 194-0's prior to the Israeli War of Independence of 194-8-9. The latter are poets who, in the case of Amir Gilboa represent the transition to the poets of the 1950's, or, in the case of Haim Gury, have since changed their style in keeping with post-independence trends. Thus, although in the narrowest sense, a "younger poet" is a poet who first published his work during or after the War of Independence, the poets of the Generation of the Forties discussed in my thesis are usually classed as Younger Poets. The layout of this thesis is very easy to follow. Each chapter focusses on one poet, and analyzes one or more of his poems. However, in chapter four, although the poet under discussion is basically Natan Zach, for purposes of comparison, I have also analyzed a poem by Natan Alterman, a poet of the Generation of the Twenties, who has been called the "father" of the Younger Poets. Appendix II, which consists of the poems analyzed in the body of the thesis, and Appendix III (English translations of the poems) do not include poems from which I have quoted only a few lines for discussion purposes. Unless otherwise acknowledged, quotations from poems or reference works are translated by myself. The poems in the appendices which I have translated are as follows: An Initiation of a Prophet in an Army Camp A Sort of End of Days King Saul and I An Exact Account of the Music the Biblical Saul Heard Behold a Day of Battle and Its Eve Have Ended Another Poem about Absalom Gifts from Kings Where Hebrew words or proper names have already been accepted into the English language with a conventional spelling (e.g., Saul, Al.^alom, k-iHHutz, and so on), I have kept that spelling. With the poets' names, I have followed previously published transcriptions. Where there are variations (e.g., Qu/iy or Qou/ii, Amickai or Amikai, Sack or Zack, and so on), I have chosen what seemed to me to be the personal preference of the poet himself. At times, it has seemed appropriate to romanize isolated Hebrew words or phrases, both within the main text and in the footnotes, especially in discussions on poetics. These words have been rendered, for the purpose of maximum simplicity, in a system of transcription that indicates minimum phonemic contrasts. In other words, where Israeli speakers make a variety of additional distinctions in their speech, and where these distinctions are optional (e.g., between k and y ; o and n ; 3 and p ' ; 1.. [all c], and so on), Chapter One Much can be learned about the way in which modern Israeli verse deals with biblical themes by reference to Erich Auerbach's discussion of European literary traditions in his oft translated book Mimesis. The biblical narrative, he says, omits descriptive details. He summarizes the reason for this as follows: 1 tie world o/ the Scripture stories is not sat is-fLied with claiming to He a historically t/me reality-it insists that it is the only real world, is destined lor autocracy. All other scenes, issues, and ordinances have no right to appear independently o/ it, and it is promised that all ol them, the history ol all mankind, will He given their due place within its Irame, will He suHord inated to it. 7 he Scripture stories do not, like homer* s , court our flavor, they do not flatter us that they may please us and enchant us-they seek to suHject us, and il we refuse to He suHjected we are reHels. Let no one oHject that this goes too lar, that not the stories, Hut the /religious doctrine, raises the claim to aHsolute authority' , Hecause the stories are not, like homer's, simply narrated "reality." doctrine and promise are incarnate in them and inseparaHle-fLrom them' ,-lor that very reason they are Iraught with "Hackground" and mysterious, containing a second, concealed meaning. In the story ol [the Binding] ol Isaac, it is not only Qod's intervention at the Heginning and the end, Hut even the factual and psycho log ical elements which come Hetween, that are mysterious, merely touched upon, Inaught with Hackground; and thene-fLone they require suHtle investigation and interpretation, they demand them. Since so much in the story is dark and incomplete, and since the reader knows that Qod is a hidden Qod, his ellort to interpret it constantly linds something new to leed upon.1
The biblical Book of Naḥūm explains the way HaShem (The Name) deals with Evil. An inner biblical... more The biblical Book of Naḥūm explains the way HaShem (The Name) deals with Evil. An inner biblical interpretive technique is used to reach this meaning, a technique inconsistent with the method of the rest of the Hebrew Bible. As a prophetic song, the Book of Naḥūm rightly prophesies the pending downfall of the Assyrian Empire. In the light of the story of the Jews of Kurdistan together with a careful reading of Naḥūm’s book, there is enough evidence to assert that the Book has passed through oral translations and various oral recitations. Thus, as oral literature, Naḥūm’s “book,” in actuality a long poem in three sections has been transmitted not only in the original Hebrew but also through Kurmanji Kurdish and neo-Aramaic translations before the final Hebrew redaction took place. Accordingly, the biblical text throws light on not only an episode in ancient history, but also on the antiquity of the Kurmanji dialect and its vernaculars.
Salīm Barakāt and Maḥmūd Darwīsh, the Kurdish and Palestinian Similitude
With Anthology of Poems... more Salīm Barakāt and Maḥmūd Darwīsh, the Kurdish and Palestinian Similitude With Anthology of Poems
Abstract Qamishli Extended is an academic monograph in two parts. Part I is a critique of some outstanding and characteristic poems by two poets who were close friends. Part II is an Anthology of relevant poems. The Kurdish poet Salīm Barakāt (Selîm Berekat in Kurdish), was born in Qamishli Syria in 1951 and at present lives in Sweden. His friend, the Palestinian National Poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh was born in 1941 and died in 2008. Barakāt only occasionally writes in Kurdish; he usually writes in Arabic. As an Arabic poet, he ranks with the poet and critic Adūnīs (b. 1 January 1930 in Latakia, French Syria); these two poets are the greatest living poets in Arabic mainstream poetry (al-shi‘ir al-ḥadīth). However, it seems that Barakāt’s status will not be recognized and his poetry marginalized until the Kurdish role in Iranian civilization is cknowledged. Barakāt’s friendship with the older poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh brought about a new level of achievement in literary Sufism, and when Adūnīs took up the new genre (that was based in Kurdish Shāhnāma), the inception of a trend appeared on the horizon.
The academic monograph The Kizilbash/Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia recently published in the Edinbur... more The academic monograph The Kizilbash/Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia recently published in the Edinburgh University Press series "Edinburgh Studies on the Ottoman Empire," has all of 400 pages. The book"s Turkishborn author Ayfer Karakaya-Stump is at present a university professor at
Salīm Barakāt, Syrian Kurdish poet, completed his thirty-page poem al-Mu‘jam (The Obscure) in 200... more Salīm Barakāt, Syrian Kurdish poet, completed his thirty-page poem al-Mu‘jam (The Obscure) in 2004. The poem deals with the relationship between the poet and Evil, the relationship of Evil to Good, and the failure of Good to persuade in the face of Evil’s deceptive ways. We see the poet as a failed arbiter between Evil and Good. Reason and rationality do not prevail. Consequently, there is a need for an intercessor on the Day of Judgment. The poet is convinced that remorse will win an acceptable intercessor, the Mercy of Allah. The poem throughout is a journey through the Qur’ān from beginning to end. It is also the poet’s journey towards the Sufi goal.
In January this year, with my first article on Salīm Barakāt, Empire, Split Ethnicities, and an... more In January this year, with my first article on Salīm Barakāt, Empire, Split Ethnicities, and an Explosion of Poetry, I introduced Barakāt’s early writings saying that guidelines to understanding the poetry of the Kurdish poet Salīm Barakāt (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) are to be found in a poem by his friend, Palestinian poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh (b. 1941, al-Birweh, Palestine – d. 2008). I now present guidelines to understanding the mature output of both these poets guided by Barakāt’s poem “Maḥmūd Darwīsh” (1984 – 2002). Barakāt’s multi-layered substantially surrealistic poem also serves as an ‘index to the acts of the wind.’ In the same period, Syrian Alevi poet Adūnīs (Ali Ahmad Said Esber, b. 1930) published his book al-Sūfiyya wal Surriyāliyya (Sufism and Surrealism) (Dar al-Saqi, 1995), and then his poem Fihris li-A‘māl al-Rīḥ (Index to the Acts of the Wind) (1998) exemplifying the theories of the book. I have included translations of salient whole poems.
Abstract
Kurdish poet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) in 1986 published a philosophical ... more Abstract Kurdish poet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) in 1986 published a philosophical poem entitled Haza‟in Manhuba (Glimpses of Spoliation), the whole of which I have translated from the original Arabic and included as annotated appendix. Barakat writes modern secular poetry in a genre I describe as modern Islamic literature, a genre that finds its roots in the Turkic poetry of Shah Isma‟il I who founded the Safavid dynasty in Persia. Barakat‟s theoretical model for his philosophical poem within the aforementioned genre, and his use of meaning-making techniques of repetition is to be found in the arena of ancient Greek literature. It is, however, essentially his concept of history that affords him space to include these meaning-making poetic techniques as he strives to present to his readership an exact description of the revolts, uprisings and insurgencies that have been ongoing since the Abbasid caliphate. He explains the why and how of the wrongdoing, and the consequences on the Day of Judgment, the divine sphere of action functioning as part of his historical narrative. His symbols, in this particular poem, lean less on the Persian and Arabic Sufi poets. He rather creates symbols of his own, symbols that provide an aura of the scientific, and are as “unimaginative” as possible – being symbols of the most basic kind. As usual, his extraordinarily skilled and extensive use of devices of repetition reflect his Kurdish heritage. Keywords: Salim Barakat, Unimaginative Symbols, Kurdish, Kurdish heritage, Haza‟in Manhuba
Abstract
Guidelines to understanding the poetry of the Kurdish poet-prophet Salim Barakat (b. 195... more Abstract Guidelines to understanding the poetry of the Kurdish poet-prophet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) are to be found in a poem by his friend, the Palestinian poet-prophet Mahmud Darwish (b. 1941, al-Birweh, Palestine – d. 2008) – Laisa lil-Kurdi ila al-Rih [Ila: Salim Barakat] (The Kurd Has Only the Wind [For Salim Barakat]) ( (2004). For the benefit of the English-speaking reader, as Darwish‘s poem and Barakat‘s poetry (also in Arabic) have not previously been translated to English, I have included, in the body of this study, my translation of Darwish‘s aforementioned poem and various of Barakat‘s poems, namely: Niqabat al-Ansab (Lineage) (1970); Kama‟in fi al-Mun„atafat Killiha / Htam ma – Sihm (Ambushes at Turns / Conclusion – A Sort of Arrow) (1985). I have appended the whole of Barakat‘s long poem Surya (Syria) (2014). The techniques Barakat introduces into the art of writing modern Arabic poetry come from modern mainstream poetry, as well as from his Kurdish and Persian background. Altogether his concept of history, which puts into sharp outline the norm of the ancient and medieval world of empire, enters the poem-of-his-being, the ―work‖ as Maurice Blanchot describes it – and makes his chronicling unique. Discussion of the selected poems clarifies as to how Barakat became a poet-prophet, and describes the commitment he took on not only to the Kurdish nation, but also to the entire Middle East. Keywords: Salim Barakat, Kurdish poet, Zoroastrianism, modern Arabic poetry, Mahmud Darwish
The biblical poem entitled Shir Ha-Shirim (The Song of Songs) composed by Shlomo, the third King ... more The biblical poem entitled Shir Ha-Shirim (The Song of Songs) composed by Shlomo, the third King of the united tribes of Israel about 1,000 years before the Common Era was composed in Hebrew. However, it was also translated and sung by numerous bards in ancient Arabic dialects, as well as being translated to Kurmanji Kurdish. The King composed this poem to substantiate the primeval identity of his kingdom and its connection to the expanses leading up to Jerusalem and the mountain range surrounding Jerusalem. The poem's underlying meaning leans on the King's knowledge of the ancient science of Kabbalah. The eight chapters included in the Hebrew Bible as debated in the first century CE, and recorded by the mishnaic Sages of Tiberias in the second century CE, now constitute what we have on record of the Song of Songs. The external shell of the poem, the first chapter of which mentions apple-wine and love, and tribal ethics, symbolizes and reminds of the first moment of love's intoxication and knowledge. The King is mentioned in the Qur'an as prophet Suleimān, and is known in English as King Solomon. This study ends with an original translation of the Song of Songs with Notes.
The present study brings to light some of the original novelistic writing techniques that Salim B... more The present study brings to light some of the original novelistic writing techniques that Salim Barakat evolved in his f rst novel ent tled Fuq h ' l-l m S ges of D rkness W th th s novel the uthor l d the found t on for techniques to be used in his subsequent novels. In the absence of an established Middle Eastern or Kurdish tradition of novel writing, Barakat had ample space to develop his own original techniques. He first published Sages of Darkness in 1985 in Nicosia Cyprus, and later published a second edition in Baghdad in 1994-with a further overlay of cinematic imagery and use of his own poetics and vocabulary as in his poems of the intervening period. An nthology of B r k t's poems in the origin l Ar bic c n now be re d online And there re lso English tr nsl tions in the Anthology of Aviv Butt's book of 20 September 2021 see the References t the end of this article). A previous article on Sages of Darkness published in IJOKS 7 (1) (2022) attempted to establish the genre of B r k t's novel s psychologic l re lism with philosophic l nd f nt stic l elements-the first 50 pages were examined. In this study, I will mention the frequent symbolic relationship of the environment to Kurdish life-as seen in the first approximately 120 pages. A completed English translation of Sages of Darkness, including the remaining 90 pages underway, will hopefully be published by early next year.
Abstract
In his novel Sages of Darkness (Fuqahā’ al-Ẓalām), we encounter Salim Barakat as a writ... more Abstract
In his novel Sages of Darkness (Fuqahā’ al-Ẓalām), we encounter Salim Barakat as a writer of psychological realism, which this paper attempts to show by a comparison to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ground-breaking novel Crime and Punishment (1866). Barakat’s main protagonist is a Kurdish Sufi Mullah, a protector of his rural community in al-Qamishli, Jazira in Ottoman times. With the sudden appearance of ―dried up fields,‖ Mullah Benav carries on with his undertone of murmured prayer and reliance on the techniques of Kurdish Sufi practice (somewhat similar to Jewish Kabbalistic practice) to solve the problem. And then, lo and behold, a fantastical event occurs with the birth of a baby son whom the Mullah calls ―Bekas.‖ Sages of Darkness has five long chapters of approximately fifty pages each, comparable to the original serial publication of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. It introduces an aside on the psychological cause and result of child molestation by respected personages within the society and especially within the education system. The present paper uses quotations from the first fifty pages of Sages of Darkness. Long passages from the book are quoted because no English translation has as yet been published. I anticipate completing the translation in about 7 months.
The academic monograph The Kizilbash/Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia recently published in the Edinbur... more The academic monograph The Kizilbash/Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia recently published in the Edinburgh University Press series “Edinburgh Studies on the Ottoman Empire,” has all of 400 pages. The book’s Turkish-born author Ayfer Karakaya-Stump is at present a university professor at William and Mary University, Williamsburg Virginia, USA. It is apparent from her book that she has meantime visited Turkey in her quest to understand the current beliefs and ritual of the Alevi Turkish community in the now secularized state of Turkey. She attempts to trace the origins of the Alevis and why they are currently known as “Alevi” (followers of Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law), but were earlier on known as “Kizilbash.” She ultimately describes the Kizilbash as “followers of Shah Ismail.”
170 MOTTO The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purp... more 170 MOTTO The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
PR&TAOE My thesis "The Impact of the Old Testament on Modern Hebrew Poetry in Israel" deals with ... more PR&TAOE My thesis "The Impact of the Old Testament on Modern Hebrew Poetry in Israel" deals with representative Younger Poets of the Generation of the Fifties, as well as with two poets who first published their work in the 194-0's prior to the Israeli War of Independence of 194-8-9. The latter are poets who, in the case of Amir Gilboa represent the transition to the poets of the 1950's, or, in the case of Haim Gury, have since changed their style in keeping with post-independence trends. Thus, although in the narrowest sense, a "younger poet" is a poet who first published his work during or after the War of Independence, the poets of the Generation of the Forties discussed in my thesis are usually classed as Younger Poets. The layout of this thesis is very easy to follow. Each chapter focusses on one poet, and analyzes one or more of his poems. However, in chapter four, although the poet under discussion is basically Natan Zach, for purposes of comparison, I have also analyzed a poem by Natan Alterman, a poet of the Generation of the Twenties, who has been called the "father" of the Younger Poets. Appendix II, which consists of the poems analyzed in the body of the thesis, and Appendix III (English translations of the poems) do not include poems from which I have quoted only a few lines for discussion purposes. Unless otherwise acknowledged, quotations from poems or reference works are translated by myself. The poems in the appendices which I have translated are as follows: An Initiation of a Prophet in an Army Camp A Sort of End of Days King Saul and I An Exact Account of the Music the Biblical Saul Heard Behold a Day of Battle and Its Eve Have Ended Another Poem about Absalom Gifts from Kings Where Hebrew words or proper names have already been accepted into the English language with a conventional spelling (e.g., Saul, Al.^alom, k-iHHutz, and so on), I have kept that spelling. With the poets' names, I have followed previously published transcriptions. Where there are variations (e.g., Qu/iy or Qou/ii, Amickai or Amikai, Sack or Zack, and so on), I have chosen what seemed to me to be the personal preference of the poet himself. At times, it has seemed appropriate to romanize isolated Hebrew words or phrases, both within the main text and in the footnotes, especially in discussions on poetics. These words have been rendered, for the purpose of maximum simplicity, in a system of transcription that indicates minimum phonemic contrasts. In other words, where Israeli speakers make a variety of additional distinctions in their speech, and where these distinctions are optional (e.g., between k and y ; o and n ; 3 and p ' ; 1.. [all c], and so on), Chapter One Much can be learned about the way in which modern Israeli verse deals with biblical themes by reference to Erich Auerbach's discussion of European literary traditions in his oft translated book Mimesis. The biblical narrative, he says, omits descriptive details. He summarizes the reason for this as follows: 1 tie world o/ the Scripture stories is not sat is-fLied with claiming to He a historically t/me reality-it insists that it is the only real world, is destined lor autocracy. All other scenes, issues, and ordinances have no right to appear independently o/ it, and it is promised that all ol them, the history ol all mankind, will He given their due place within its Irame, will He suHord inated to it. 7 he Scripture stories do not, like homer* s , court our flavor, they do not flatter us that they may please us and enchant us-they seek to suHject us, and il we refuse to He suHjected we are reHels. Let no one oHject that this goes too lar, that not the stories, Hut the /religious doctrine, raises the claim to aHsolute authority' , Hecause the stories are not, like homer's, simply narrated "reality." doctrine and promise are incarnate in them and inseparaHle-fLrom them' ,-lor that very reason they are Iraught with "Hackground" and mysterious, containing a second, concealed meaning. In the story ol [the Binding] ol Isaac, it is not only Qod's intervention at the Heginning and the end, Hut even the factual and psycho log ical elements which come Hetween, that are mysterious, merely touched upon, Inaught with Hackground; and thene-fLone they require suHtle investigation and interpretation, they demand them. Since so much in the story is dark and incomplete, and since the reader knows that Qod is a hidden Qod, his ellort to interpret it constantly linds something new to leed upon.1
The biblical Book of Naḥūm explains the way HaShem (The Name) deals with Evil. An inner biblical... more The biblical Book of Naḥūm explains the way HaShem (The Name) deals with Evil. An inner biblical interpretive technique is used to reach this meaning, a technique inconsistent with the method of the rest of the Hebrew Bible. As a prophetic song, the Book of Naḥūm rightly prophesies the pending downfall of the Assyrian Empire. In the light of the story of the Jews of Kurdistan together with a careful reading of Naḥūm’s book, there is enough evidence to assert that the Book has passed through oral translations and various oral recitations. Thus, as oral literature, Naḥūm’s “book,” in actuality a long poem in three sections has been transmitted not only in the original Hebrew but also through Kurmanji Kurdish and neo-Aramaic translations before the final Hebrew redaction took place. Accordingly, the biblical text throws light on not only an episode in ancient history, but also on the antiquity of the Kurmanji dialect and its vernaculars.
Salīm Barakāt and Maḥmūd Darwīsh, the Kurdish and Palestinian Similitude
With Anthology of Poems... more Salīm Barakāt and Maḥmūd Darwīsh, the Kurdish and Palestinian Similitude With Anthology of Poems
Abstract Qamishli Extended is an academic monograph in two parts. Part I is a critique of some outstanding and characteristic poems by two poets who were close friends. Part II is an Anthology of relevant poems. The Kurdish poet Salīm Barakāt (Selîm Berekat in Kurdish), was born in Qamishli Syria in 1951 and at present lives in Sweden. His friend, the Palestinian National Poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh was born in 1941 and died in 2008. Barakāt only occasionally writes in Kurdish; he usually writes in Arabic. As an Arabic poet, he ranks with the poet and critic Adūnīs (b. 1 January 1930 in Latakia, French Syria); these two poets are the greatest living poets in Arabic mainstream poetry (al-shi‘ir al-ḥadīth). However, it seems that Barakāt’s status will not be recognized and his poetry marginalized until the Kurdish role in Iranian civilization is cknowledged. Barakāt’s friendship with the older poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh brought about a new level of achievement in literary Sufism, and when Adūnīs took up the new genre (that was based in Kurdish Shāhnāma), the inception of a trend appeared on the horizon.
The academic monograph The Kizilbash/Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia recently published in the Edinbur... more The academic monograph The Kizilbash/Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia recently published in the Edinburgh University Press series "Edinburgh Studies on the Ottoman Empire," has all of 400 pages. The book"s Turkishborn author Ayfer Karakaya-Stump is at present a university professor at
Salīm Barakāt, Syrian Kurdish poet, completed his thirty-page poem al-Mu‘jam (The Obscure) in 200... more Salīm Barakāt, Syrian Kurdish poet, completed his thirty-page poem al-Mu‘jam (The Obscure) in 2004. The poem deals with the relationship between the poet and Evil, the relationship of Evil to Good, and the failure of Good to persuade in the face of Evil’s deceptive ways. We see the poet as a failed arbiter between Evil and Good. Reason and rationality do not prevail. Consequently, there is a need for an intercessor on the Day of Judgment. The poet is convinced that remorse will win an acceptable intercessor, the Mercy of Allah. The poem throughout is a journey through the Qur’ān from beginning to end. It is also the poet’s journey towards the Sufi goal.
In January this year, with my first article on Salīm Barakāt, Empire, Split Ethnicities, and an... more In January this year, with my first article on Salīm Barakāt, Empire, Split Ethnicities, and an Explosion of Poetry, I introduced Barakāt’s early writings saying that guidelines to understanding the poetry of the Kurdish poet Salīm Barakāt (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) are to be found in a poem by his friend, Palestinian poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh (b. 1941, al-Birweh, Palestine – d. 2008). I now present guidelines to understanding the mature output of both these poets guided by Barakāt’s poem “Maḥmūd Darwīsh” (1984 – 2002). Barakāt’s multi-layered substantially surrealistic poem also serves as an ‘index to the acts of the wind.’ In the same period, Syrian Alevi poet Adūnīs (Ali Ahmad Said Esber, b. 1930) published his book al-Sūfiyya wal Surriyāliyya (Sufism and Surrealism) (Dar al-Saqi, 1995), and then his poem Fihris li-A‘māl al-Rīḥ (Index to the Acts of the Wind) (1998) exemplifying the theories of the book. I have included translations of salient whole poems.
Abstract
Kurdish poet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) in 1986 published a philosophical ... more Abstract Kurdish poet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) in 1986 published a philosophical poem entitled Haza‟in Manhuba (Glimpses of Spoliation), the whole of which I have translated from the original Arabic and included as annotated appendix. Barakat writes modern secular poetry in a genre I describe as modern Islamic literature, a genre that finds its roots in the Turkic poetry of Shah Isma‟il I who founded the Safavid dynasty in Persia. Barakat‟s theoretical model for his philosophical poem within the aforementioned genre, and his use of meaning-making techniques of repetition is to be found in the arena of ancient Greek literature. It is, however, essentially his concept of history that affords him space to include these meaning-making poetic techniques as he strives to present to his readership an exact description of the revolts, uprisings and insurgencies that have been ongoing since the Abbasid caliphate. He explains the why and how of the wrongdoing, and the consequences on the Day of Judgment, the divine sphere of action functioning as part of his historical narrative. His symbols, in this particular poem, lean less on the Persian and Arabic Sufi poets. He rather creates symbols of his own, symbols that provide an aura of the scientific, and are as “unimaginative” as possible – being symbols of the most basic kind. As usual, his extraordinarily skilled and extensive use of devices of repetition reflect his Kurdish heritage. Keywords: Salim Barakat, Unimaginative Symbols, Kurdish, Kurdish heritage, Haza‟in Manhuba
Abstract
Guidelines to understanding the poetry of the Kurdish poet-prophet Salim Barakat (b. 195... more Abstract Guidelines to understanding the poetry of the Kurdish poet-prophet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) are to be found in a poem by his friend, the Palestinian poet-prophet Mahmud Darwish (b. 1941, al-Birweh, Palestine – d. 2008) – Laisa lil-Kurdi ila al-Rih [Ila: Salim Barakat] (The Kurd Has Only the Wind [For Salim Barakat]) ( (2004). For the benefit of the English-speaking reader, as Darwish‘s poem and Barakat‘s poetry (also in Arabic) have not previously been translated to English, I have included, in the body of this study, my translation of Darwish‘s aforementioned poem and various of Barakat‘s poems, namely: Niqabat al-Ansab (Lineage) (1970); Kama‟in fi al-Mun„atafat Killiha / Htam ma – Sihm (Ambushes at Turns / Conclusion – A Sort of Arrow) (1985). I have appended the whole of Barakat‘s long poem Surya (Syria) (2014). The techniques Barakat introduces into the art of writing modern Arabic poetry come from modern mainstream poetry, as well as from his Kurdish and Persian background. Altogether his concept of history, which puts into sharp outline the norm of the ancient and medieval world of empire, enters the poem-of-his-being, the ―work‖ as Maurice Blanchot describes it – and makes his chronicling unique. Discussion of the selected poems clarifies as to how Barakat became a poet-prophet, and describes the commitment he took on not only to the Kurdish nation, but also to the entire Middle East. Keywords: Salim Barakat, Kurdish poet, Zoroastrianism, modern Arabic poetry, Mahmud Darwish
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Papers by Aviva Butt
In his novel Sages of Darkness (Fuqahā’ al-Ẓalām), we encounter Salim Barakat as a writer of psychological realism, which this paper attempts to show by a comparison to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ground-breaking novel Crime and Punishment (1866). Barakat’s main protagonist is a Kurdish Sufi Mullah, a protector of his rural community in al-Qamishli, Jazira in Ottoman times. With the sudden appearance of ―dried up fields,‖ Mullah Benav carries on with his undertone of murmured prayer and reliance on the techniques of Kurdish Sufi practice (somewhat similar to Jewish Kabbalistic practice) to solve the problem. And then, lo and behold, a fantastical event occurs with the birth of a baby son whom the Mullah calls ―Bekas.‖ Sages of Darkness has five long chapters of approximately fifty pages each, comparable to the original serial publication of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. It introduces an aside on the psychological cause and result of child molestation by respected personages within the society and especially within the education system. The present paper uses quotations from the first fifty pages of Sages of Darkness. Long passages from the book are quoted because no English translation has as yet been published. I anticipate completing the translation in about 7 months.
With Anthology of Poems
Abstract
Qamishli Extended is an academic monograph in two parts. Part I is a critique of some outstanding and characteristic poems by two poets who were close friends. Part II is an Anthology of relevant poems. The Kurdish poet Salīm Barakāt (Selîm Berekat in Kurdish), was born in Qamishli Syria in 1951 and at present lives in Sweden. His friend, the Palestinian National Poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh was born in 1941 and died in 2008. Barakāt only occasionally writes in Kurdish; he usually writes in Arabic. As an Arabic poet, he ranks with the poet and critic Adūnīs (b. 1 January 1930 in Latakia, French Syria); these two poets are the greatest living poets in Arabic mainstream poetry (al-shi‘ir al-ḥadīth). However, it seems that Barakāt’s status will not be recognized and his poetry marginalized until the Kurdish role in Iranian civilization is cknowledged. Barakāt’s friendship with the older poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh brought about a new level of achievement in literary Sufism, and when Adūnīs took up the new genre (that was based in Kurdish Shāhnāma), the inception of a trend appeared on the horizon.
Keywords: Salīm Barakāt, Maḥmūd Darwīsh, Adūnīs, Modern Arabic Poetry, Sufism, Surrealism
Kurdish poet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) in 1986 published a philosophical poem entitled Haza‟in Manhuba (Glimpses of Spoliation), the whole of which I have translated from the original Arabic and included as annotated appendix. Barakat writes modern secular poetry in a genre I describe as modern Islamic literature, a genre that finds its roots in the Turkic poetry of Shah Isma‟il I who founded the Safavid dynasty in Persia. Barakat‟s theoretical model for his philosophical poem within the aforementioned genre, and his use of meaning-making techniques of repetition is to be found in the arena of ancient Greek literature. It is, however, essentially his concept of history that affords him space to include these meaning-making poetic techniques as he strives to present to his readership an exact description of the revolts, uprisings and insurgencies that have been ongoing since the Abbasid caliphate. He explains the why and how of the wrongdoing, and the consequences on the Day of Judgment, the divine sphere of action functioning as part of his historical narrative. His symbols, in this particular poem, lean less on the Persian and Arabic Sufi poets. He rather creates symbols of his own, symbols that provide an aura of the scientific, and are as “unimaginative” as possible – being symbols of the most basic kind. As usual, his extraordinarily skilled and extensive use of devices of repetition reflect his Kurdish heritage.
Keywords: Salim Barakat, Unimaginative Symbols, Kurdish, Kurdish heritage, Haza‟in Manhuba
Guidelines to understanding the poetry of the Kurdish poet-prophet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) are
to be found in a poem by his friend, the Palestinian poet-prophet Mahmud Darwish (b. 1941, al-Birweh,
Palestine – d. 2008) – Laisa lil-Kurdi ila al-Rih [Ila: Salim Barakat] (The Kurd Has Only the Wind [For Salim
Barakat]) ( (2004). For the benefit of the English-speaking reader, as Darwish‘s poem and Barakat‘s poetry (also
in Arabic) have not previously been translated to English, I have included, in the body of this study, my
translation of Darwish‘s aforementioned poem and various of Barakat‘s poems, namely: Niqabat al-Ansab
(Lineage) (1970); Kama‟in fi al-Mun„atafat Killiha / Htam ma – Sihm (Ambushes at Turns / Conclusion – A
Sort of Arrow) (1985). I have appended the whole of Barakat‘s long poem Surya (Syria) (2014). The techniques
Barakat introduces into the art of writing modern Arabic poetry come from modern mainstream poetry, as well
as from his Kurdish and Persian background. Altogether his concept of history, which puts into sharp outline the
norm of the ancient and medieval world of empire, enters the poem-of-his-being, the ―work‖ as Maurice
Blanchot describes it – and makes his chronicling unique. Discussion of the selected poems clarifies as to how
Barakat became a poet-prophet, and describes the commitment he took on not only to the Kurdish nation, but
also to the entire Middle East.
Keywords: Salim Barakat, Kurdish poet, Zoroastrianism, modern Arabic poetry, Mahmud Darwish
In his novel Sages of Darkness (Fuqahā’ al-Ẓalām), we encounter Salim Barakat as a writer of psychological realism, which this paper attempts to show by a comparison to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ground-breaking novel Crime and Punishment (1866). Barakat’s main protagonist is a Kurdish Sufi Mullah, a protector of his rural community in al-Qamishli, Jazira in Ottoman times. With the sudden appearance of ―dried up fields,‖ Mullah Benav carries on with his undertone of murmured prayer and reliance on the techniques of Kurdish Sufi practice (somewhat similar to Jewish Kabbalistic practice) to solve the problem. And then, lo and behold, a fantastical event occurs with the birth of a baby son whom the Mullah calls ―Bekas.‖ Sages of Darkness has five long chapters of approximately fifty pages each, comparable to the original serial publication of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. It introduces an aside on the psychological cause and result of child molestation by respected personages within the society and especially within the education system. The present paper uses quotations from the first fifty pages of Sages of Darkness. Long passages from the book are quoted because no English translation has as yet been published. I anticipate completing the translation in about 7 months.
With Anthology of Poems
Abstract
Qamishli Extended is an academic monograph in two parts. Part I is a critique of some outstanding and characteristic poems by two poets who were close friends. Part II is an Anthology of relevant poems. The Kurdish poet Salīm Barakāt (Selîm Berekat in Kurdish), was born in Qamishli Syria in 1951 and at present lives in Sweden. His friend, the Palestinian National Poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh was born in 1941 and died in 2008. Barakāt only occasionally writes in Kurdish; he usually writes in Arabic. As an Arabic poet, he ranks with the poet and critic Adūnīs (b. 1 January 1930 in Latakia, French Syria); these two poets are the greatest living poets in Arabic mainstream poetry (al-shi‘ir al-ḥadīth). However, it seems that Barakāt’s status will not be recognized and his poetry marginalized until the Kurdish role in Iranian civilization is cknowledged. Barakāt’s friendship with the older poet Maḥmūd Darwīsh brought about a new level of achievement in literary Sufism, and when Adūnīs took up the new genre (that was based in Kurdish Shāhnāma), the inception of a trend appeared on the horizon.
Keywords: Salīm Barakāt, Maḥmūd Darwīsh, Adūnīs, Modern Arabic Poetry, Sufism, Surrealism
Kurdish poet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) in 1986 published a philosophical poem entitled Haza‟in Manhuba (Glimpses of Spoliation), the whole of which I have translated from the original Arabic and included as annotated appendix. Barakat writes modern secular poetry in a genre I describe as modern Islamic literature, a genre that finds its roots in the Turkic poetry of Shah Isma‟il I who founded the Safavid dynasty in Persia. Barakat‟s theoretical model for his philosophical poem within the aforementioned genre, and his use of meaning-making techniques of repetition is to be found in the arena of ancient Greek literature. It is, however, essentially his concept of history that affords him space to include these meaning-making poetic techniques as he strives to present to his readership an exact description of the revolts, uprisings and insurgencies that have been ongoing since the Abbasid caliphate. He explains the why and how of the wrongdoing, and the consequences on the Day of Judgment, the divine sphere of action functioning as part of his historical narrative. His symbols, in this particular poem, lean less on the Persian and Arabic Sufi poets. He rather creates symbols of his own, symbols that provide an aura of the scientific, and are as “unimaginative” as possible – being symbols of the most basic kind. As usual, his extraordinarily skilled and extensive use of devices of repetition reflect his Kurdish heritage.
Keywords: Salim Barakat, Unimaginative Symbols, Kurdish, Kurdish heritage, Haza‟in Manhuba
Guidelines to understanding the poetry of the Kurdish poet-prophet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) are
to be found in a poem by his friend, the Palestinian poet-prophet Mahmud Darwish (b. 1941, al-Birweh,
Palestine – d. 2008) – Laisa lil-Kurdi ila al-Rih [Ila: Salim Barakat] (The Kurd Has Only the Wind [For Salim
Barakat]) ( (2004). For the benefit of the English-speaking reader, as Darwish‘s poem and Barakat‘s poetry (also
in Arabic) have not previously been translated to English, I have included, in the body of this study, my
translation of Darwish‘s aforementioned poem and various of Barakat‘s poems, namely: Niqabat al-Ansab
(Lineage) (1970); Kama‟in fi al-Mun„atafat Killiha / Htam ma – Sihm (Ambushes at Turns / Conclusion – A
Sort of Arrow) (1985). I have appended the whole of Barakat‘s long poem Surya (Syria) (2014). The techniques
Barakat introduces into the art of writing modern Arabic poetry come from modern mainstream poetry, as well
as from his Kurdish and Persian background. Altogether his concept of history, which puts into sharp outline the
norm of the ancient and medieval world of empire, enters the poem-of-his-being, the ―work‖ as Maurice
Blanchot describes it – and makes his chronicling unique. Discussion of the selected poems clarifies as to how
Barakat became a poet-prophet, and describes the commitment he took on not only to the Kurdish nation, but
also to the entire Middle East.
Keywords: Salim Barakat, Kurdish poet, Zoroastrianism, modern Arabic poetry, Mahmud Darwish