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Salīm Barakāt as Arbiter between Good and Evil: According to His Long Poem al-Mu‘jam (The Obscure)

Year 2020, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 52 - 69, 25.01.2020
https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks.641719

Abstract

Salīm Barakāt, Syrian
Kurdish poet, completed his thirty-page poem al-Mu‘jam (The Obscure) in
2004
.[1]
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.













 



[1]
Salīm
Barakāt. (2007).
al-Aʽmāl al-Shi
riyyah Salīm Barakāt (The Poetry Works of Salīm Barakāt), pp. 559-592.
Barakat wrote his poem al-Mu
jam
(The Obscure) between January 2003 and August 2004. I will include my
translation of the entire poem in my forthcoming book Creativity Itself:
According to Salim Barakat and Mahmud Darwish.



 





References

  • Adonis (2003). An Introduction to Arab Poetics. (trans. Catherine Cobham) London: Saqi. First published as Adūnīs (1985), Introduction à la poétique arabe (Beirut: Dar al- Saqi).
  • Adonis (2005). Sufism and Surrealism. (trans. Judith Cumberbach). London: Saqi. First published as Adūnīs (1995), al-Sufiyya wal Surriyaliyya (Beirut: Dar al-Saqi).
  • Adūnīs (1998). Fihris Li-A‘māl al-Rīh [Index to the Acts of the Wind]. Beirut: Dar al-Nihar lil-Nashr.
  • Avesta. http://www.avesta.org/
  • Barakāt, Salīm (2007), al-Amāl al-Shi‘riyyah Salīm Barakāt [The Poetry Works of Salīm Barakāt]. Beirut: al-Mu‘assash lil-Dirasat wa-Nashr (The Foundation for Studies and Publishing).
  • Blanchot, Maurice (1955), trans. Ann Smock. (1982). The Space of Literature. University of Nebraska Press.
  • Butt, Aviva. (2019). Salīm Barakāt’s Intermediary Existence: His Poem Mahmūd Darwīsh. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 5 (1), 328 – 358. http://ijoks.com/ DOI: 10.21600/ ijoks.516511
  • Butt, Aviva. (2018). The Unimaginative Symbols of Salīm Barakāt. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 4 (1), 44 – 69 (August 2018). http://ijoks.com/ DOI: 10.21600/ijoks.383376
  • Butt, Aviva. (2018). Empire, Split Ethnicities, and an Explosion of Poetry. International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Volume 4 - Issue 1 - Jan 2018. http://ijoks.com/ DOI: 10.21600/ijoks.383376
  • Butt, Aviva (2018). Sacred Texts and the Arabic Poetry of Mahmud Darwish published by the Oriental Institute (CAS), Prague, Issue 86.1 – ISSN 0044-8699. ArOr (Archiv Orientální): http://aror.orient.cas.cz/ No free access for 2 years from date of publication (May 2018).
  • Chyet, Michael L. (1999). Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Online: https://www.scribd.com/document/302602640/ingilizikurdi [accessed 18 March 2019].
  • Douglas-Klotz, Neil (2002). Re-hearing Quran in Open Translation: Ta’wil, Postmodern Inquiry and a Hermeneutics of Indeterminacy. Online: http://abwoon.org [Accessed 24 July 2018].
  • Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic: Arabic – English. Edited by J.Milton Cowan, Fourth Edition (1994), compact edition published by Spoken Language Services, Inc., Ithaca, New York.
  • Hintze, Almut (2000). Fraso.Kereti. In: Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. X, fasc.2, pp. 190-192. Online: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/frasokrti (updated 31 Jan 2012).
  • Imam Shah Karim al-Husayni Aga Khan IV (2015). Esoteric Interpretations of the Qur’ān: The Foundations of Shia-Ismaili Tā’wīl. (posted by Ismaili Gnostic). Online: https://ismailignosis.com/2015/12/28/esoteric-interpretations-of-the-quran-the-foundations-of-shia-ismaili-tā’wīl/ [Accessed 1 October 2018].
  • Islamic HelpLine: http://www.islamhelpline.net/node/1491 [Accessed 27 February, 2019]
  • Kappagoda, Astika Kautilya (July 2004). Semiosis as the Sixth Sense: Theorising the Unperceived in Ancient Greek (doctoral dissertation, 647 pp.). Sydney Australia: Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University. [Online] Available at: http://www.isfla.org/Systemics/Theses [Accessed 20 Jan 2018].
  • Karacan, H. (2020). Kurmanji and Zazaki Dialects: Comparative Study on their Phonetics. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 6 (1), 35 – 51 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks. 653812
  • Karacan, H , Khalid, H . (2016). Adjectives in Kurdish language: Comparison between dialects. International Journal of Kurdish Studies , 2 (2) , 0-0 . DOI: 10.21600/ijks.76230
  • Karami, Mahnaz and Kazerouni, Seyyed Ahmad Housseini Dr. (2016). The Psychology of Obedience and Insurgence in Quranic Verses (S. 26 al-Shu‘ara: 125-126). In the form of a fixed Special Issue February 2016, International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies ISBN2356-5926. Online: http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2785 [Accessed 8 July 2018].
  • Kitāb Asās al-Tā’wīl (2018). Syria: Dār al-Ghadīr Sūrīya – Salamīya. (Foundation Tā’wīl )
  • KurdishAcademy.org/2011/04/10/the-history-of-kurdish-language/ The History of the Kurdish Language,[Accessed 15 March, 2019].
  • Kamal, Abdel-Malek, and Hallaq,Wael B. edited by (2000). 6.1 Salīm Barakāt and the Rise of a Kurdish Literary Discourse (ISBN 90 04 117636). Tradition, Modernity,and Postmodernity in Arabic Literature: Essays in Honor of Professor Issa J. Boullata, pp. 349-350. Leiden, The Netherlands, Koninklijke Brill NV.
  • McDowell, David. (2004). A Modern History of the Kurds Third Edition. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.
  • Minorsky, Vladimir and Shah Ismail I (1942). The Poetry of Shah Ismail I. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies.
  • Moreh, S. (1976). Modern Arabic Poetry 1800-1970. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
  • Meyerhoff, Hans (1960). Time in Literature. Berkeley and Los Angelos.
  • Pfannkuchen, Antje and Weatherby, Leif (2017). Wrting Polarities: Romanticism and the Dynamic Unity of Poetry and Science. Online: https://doi.org /10.1080/00168890.2017.1370941 [Accessed 21 March 2019].
  • Qur’ān. (2018). Tanzīl min Rabi-l-‘Ālamīn. Diyarbakir Turkey:
  • al-Ramahi, Aseel. Sulh: A Crucial Part of Islamic Arbitration. December 2008. London School of Economics and Political Science. Online: http://www.lse.ac.uk/law/working-paper-series/2007-08/WPS2008-12-Al-Ramahi.pdf [Accessed 8 February 2019].
  • Sa‘īd Nursī , Bediuzzaman (aka al-Kurdi). Risale i-Nur. Online English translation: http://lh4h.org/ . Risale-i Nūr. [Accessed 23 February, 2019]. Skjaervo, Prods Oktor, introduced, translated, and edited by (2011). The Spirit of Zoroastrianism. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
  • Snir, Reuven (2003-2004). Modern Arabic Literature and Islamist Discourse: “Don’t Be Coolness, Don’t Flutter Safety.” Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 5, edited by Lutz E. Edzard and Stephan Guth. Norway: University of Oslo, pp. 78 – 123. Online: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/jais/volume/docs/vol5/5_Snir.pdf [Accessed 27 March 2018].
  • Snir, Reuven (2013). “I saw my God in the eye of my heart”: Mysticism, Poetry and the Creative Process in Modern Secular Arabic Literary Culture. Branches of the Goodly Tree: Studies in Honor of George Kanazi, edited by Ali Ahmad Hussein (book). Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrasowitz Verlag, pp. 194 – 229.
Year 2020, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 52 - 69, 25.01.2020
https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks.641719

Abstract

References

  • Adonis (2003). An Introduction to Arab Poetics. (trans. Catherine Cobham) London: Saqi. First published as Adūnīs (1985), Introduction à la poétique arabe (Beirut: Dar al- Saqi).
  • Adonis (2005). Sufism and Surrealism. (trans. Judith Cumberbach). London: Saqi. First published as Adūnīs (1995), al-Sufiyya wal Surriyaliyya (Beirut: Dar al-Saqi).
  • Adūnīs (1998). Fihris Li-A‘māl al-Rīh [Index to the Acts of the Wind]. Beirut: Dar al-Nihar lil-Nashr.
  • Avesta. http://www.avesta.org/
  • Barakāt, Salīm (2007), al-Amāl al-Shi‘riyyah Salīm Barakāt [The Poetry Works of Salīm Barakāt]. Beirut: al-Mu‘assash lil-Dirasat wa-Nashr (The Foundation for Studies and Publishing).
  • Blanchot, Maurice (1955), trans. Ann Smock. (1982). The Space of Literature. University of Nebraska Press.
  • Butt, Aviva. (2019). Salīm Barakāt’s Intermediary Existence: His Poem Mahmūd Darwīsh. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 5 (1), 328 – 358. http://ijoks.com/ DOI: 10.21600/ ijoks.516511
  • Butt, Aviva. (2018). The Unimaginative Symbols of Salīm Barakāt. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 4 (1), 44 – 69 (August 2018). http://ijoks.com/ DOI: 10.21600/ijoks.383376
  • Butt, Aviva. (2018). Empire, Split Ethnicities, and an Explosion of Poetry. International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Volume 4 - Issue 1 - Jan 2018. http://ijoks.com/ DOI: 10.21600/ijoks.383376
  • Butt, Aviva (2018). Sacred Texts and the Arabic Poetry of Mahmud Darwish published by the Oriental Institute (CAS), Prague, Issue 86.1 – ISSN 0044-8699. ArOr (Archiv Orientální): http://aror.orient.cas.cz/ No free access for 2 years from date of publication (May 2018).
  • Chyet, Michael L. (1999). Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Online: https://www.scribd.com/document/302602640/ingilizikurdi [accessed 18 March 2019].
  • Douglas-Klotz, Neil (2002). Re-hearing Quran in Open Translation: Ta’wil, Postmodern Inquiry and a Hermeneutics of Indeterminacy. Online: http://abwoon.org [Accessed 24 July 2018].
  • Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic: Arabic – English. Edited by J.Milton Cowan, Fourth Edition (1994), compact edition published by Spoken Language Services, Inc., Ithaca, New York.
  • Hintze, Almut (2000). Fraso.Kereti. In: Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. X, fasc.2, pp. 190-192. Online: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/frasokrti (updated 31 Jan 2012).
  • Imam Shah Karim al-Husayni Aga Khan IV (2015). Esoteric Interpretations of the Qur’ān: The Foundations of Shia-Ismaili Tā’wīl. (posted by Ismaili Gnostic). Online: https://ismailignosis.com/2015/12/28/esoteric-interpretations-of-the-quran-the-foundations-of-shia-ismaili-tā’wīl/ [Accessed 1 October 2018].
  • Islamic HelpLine: http://www.islamhelpline.net/node/1491 [Accessed 27 February, 2019]
  • Kappagoda, Astika Kautilya (July 2004). Semiosis as the Sixth Sense: Theorising the Unperceived in Ancient Greek (doctoral dissertation, 647 pp.). Sydney Australia: Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University. [Online] Available at: http://www.isfla.org/Systemics/Theses [Accessed 20 Jan 2018].
  • Karacan, H. (2020). Kurmanji and Zazaki Dialects: Comparative Study on their Phonetics. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 6 (1), 35 – 51 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks. 653812
  • Karacan, H , Khalid, H . (2016). Adjectives in Kurdish language: Comparison between dialects. International Journal of Kurdish Studies , 2 (2) , 0-0 . DOI: 10.21600/ijks.76230
  • Karami, Mahnaz and Kazerouni, Seyyed Ahmad Housseini Dr. (2016). The Psychology of Obedience and Insurgence in Quranic Verses (S. 26 al-Shu‘ara: 125-126). In the form of a fixed Special Issue February 2016, International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies ISBN2356-5926. Online: http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/index Page 2785 [Accessed 8 July 2018].
  • Kitāb Asās al-Tā’wīl (2018). Syria: Dār al-Ghadīr Sūrīya – Salamīya. (Foundation Tā’wīl )
  • KurdishAcademy.org/2011/04/10/the-history-of-kurdish-language/ The History of the Kurdish Language,[Accessed 15 March, 2019].
  • Kamal, Abdel-Malek, and Hallaq,Wael B. edited by (2000). 6.1 Salīm Barakāt and the Rise of a Kurdish Literary Discourse (ISBN 90 04 117636). Tradition, Modernity,and Postmodernity in Arabic Literature: Essays in Honor of Professor Issa J. Boullata, pp. 349-350. Leiden, The Netherlands, Koninklijke Brill NV.
  • McDowell, David. (2004). A Modern History of the Kurds Third Edition. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.
  • Minorsky, Vladimir and Shah Ismail I (1942). The Poetry of Shah Ismail I. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies.
  • Moreh, S. (1976). Modern Arabic Poetry 1800-1970. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
  • Meyerhoff, Hans (1960). Time in Literature. Berkeley and Los Angelos.
  • Pfannkuchen, Antje and Weatherby, Leif (2017). Wrting Polarities: Romanticism and the Dynamic Unity of Poetry and Science. Online: https://doi.org /10.1080/00168890.2017.1370941 [Accessed 21 March 2019].
  • Qur’ān. (2018). Tanzīl min Rabi-l-‘Ālamīn. Diyarbakir Turkey:
  • al-Ramahi, Aseel. Sulh: A Crucial Part of Islamic Arbitration. December 2008. London School of Economics and Political Science. Online: http://www.lse.ac.uk/law/working-paper-series/2007-08/WPS2008-12-Al-Ramahi.pdf [Accessed 8 February 2019].
  • Sa‘īd Nursī , Bediuzzaman (aka al-Kurdi). Risale i-Nur. Online English translation: http://lh4h.org/ . Risale-i Nūr. [Accessed 23 February, 2019]. Skjaervo, Prods Oktor, introduced, translated, and edited by (2011). The Spirit of Zoroastrianism. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
  • Snir, Reuven (2003-2004). Modern Arabic Literature and Islamist Discourse: “Don’t Be Coolness, Don’t Flutter Safety.” Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 5, edited by Lutz E. Edzard and Stephan Guth. Norway: University of Oslo, pp. 78 – 123. Online: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/jais/volume/docs/vol5/5_Snir.pdf [Accessed 27 March 2018].
  • Snir, Reuven (2013). “I saw my God in the eye of my heart”: Mysticism, Poetry and the Creative Process in Modern Secular Arabic Literary Culture. Branches of the Goodly Tree: Studies in Honor of George Kanazi, edited by Ali Ahmad Hussein (book). Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrasowitz Verlag, pp. 194 – 229.
There are 33 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Makaleler
Authors

Aviva Butt

Publication Date January 25, 2020
Submission Date November 1, 2019
Published in Issue Year 2020Volume: 6 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Butt, A. (2020). Salīm Barakāt as Arbiter between Good and Evil: According to His Long Poem al-Mu‘jam (The Obscure). International Journal of Kurdish Studies, 6(1), 52-69. https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks.641719


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