Abdulaziz Al-Maqaleh

Abdul Aziz al-Maqaleh (Arabic: ; 1937 – 28 November 2022) was a Yemeni poet and writer. Primarily writing in free verse, al-Maqaleh has been described as Yemen's "best-known and most-laureled twentieth-century poet."

Life and career Al-Maqaleh was born in 1937 in the village of Maqaleh in Ibb Governorate.

As a young man, al-Maqaleh had Baathist sympathies, and was a supporter of the 1962 revolution that overthrew Yemen's Imamate. On 26 September 1962, he read a statement broadcast on Radio Sana'a announcing the revolution.

Al-Maqaleh graduated from university in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then received a master's in 1973 and a PhD in 1977, both from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. He was reportedly expelled from Egypt by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, after expressing opposition to the Camp David Accords. He spent the rest of his life in Sanaa, leaving the city just once between his return from Egypt in 1978 and his death in 2022.

From 1982 to 2001, al-Maqaleh served as the President of Sana'a University, and then as the head of the Yemeni Center for Research and Studies, Sanaa. He was associated with Yemeni political leaders including former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and former prime ministers Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani and Abd Al-Karim Al-Iryani, and frequently read his poetry at official ceremonies. In 2001, he was nominated to serve as the cultural adviser to the president, and played a key role in appointing ministers of education and culture, and university presidents.

In addition to his poetry, al-Maqaleh also wrote a weekly column for al-Thawra newspaper, and hosted a weekly literary salon.

Al-Maqaleh died in Sana'a on 28 November 2022, at the age of 85. He was regarded as being one of the first modernist Yemeni poets, and wrote in free verse. Previously, poetry in Yemen had been primarily oral and relied heavily on the themes and styles of ancient Arabic poetry.

His work was often criticized by religious radicals who accused him of atheism and tried to excommunicate him, citing a controversial line from one of his poems: "Allah has become silent ash, a terror in the hands of executioners, a field that sprouts prayer beads and turbans." The poet's defenders pointed to other poems he wrote, such as "A Letter on Allah" (1961), as evidence of his faith.

His 1998 book of poetry, The Alphabet of the Soul, contained Sufi themes, while his subsequent series of books (The Book of Friends, The Book of Sana'a, The Book of Cities, The Book of Mothers and The Book of Love) juxtaposed poetry and prose.

Several of his poems addressed Yemen's 2011 uprisings and the subsequent civil war. His 2011 poem, "The Betrayal," dealt with the Yemeni government's massacre of dozens of protesters in Sanaa on March 18, during the Arab Spring. According to Stephen Day, the poem expresses regret for "the younger generation’s betrayal by an older generation of revolutionary republican elites," such as al-Maqaleh himself. Later poems, "A Lamentation for 2016" and "War" (2017), described the effects of famine and conflict on Yemen.

List of works

Selected Poetry

Sana'a By All Means (Ar: لا بد من صنعاء), 1971 Marib Speaks (in collaboration with Ambassador Abdu Othman), 1972 A Letter to Saif bin Dhi Yazan, 1973 Yemeni Footnotes On the Alienation of Ibn Zreik al-Baghdadi, 1974 The Return of Waddah Yemen, 1976 Writing with the Rebellious Sword of Ali bin al-Fadl, 1978 Exit from the Circles of the Hour of Sulaiman, 1981 Papers of a Body Returning from Death, 1986 Alphabet of the Soul, 1998 The Book of Sana'a, 1999 The Book of the Village, 2000 The Book of Friends, 2002 The Book of Bilqis and Poems to the Waters of Grief, 2004 The Book of Cities, 2005 Literary and Intellectual Studies (translated), 2005 Near Tagore Garden, 2018

Selected literature studies and works of criticism A Reading of Contemporary Yemeni Literature, 1977 Colloquial Poetry in Yemen, 1978 Poets from Yemen Yemeni Diaries in Literature and Art Al-Zubairy: The Inner National and Cultural Voice of Yemen, 1980 Inscriptions of Marib Substantive and Technical Dimensions of the Contemporary Poetry Movement in Yemen Voices from the New Era A Reading of Zaidi and Mu'tazilite Books The Crisis of the Arabic Poem: A Project of Contemplation (1981) Abdul Nasser and Yemen: Chapters from Yemen's Revolution (Dar al-Hadatha, Beirut, 1986) Southern Beginnings (Dar al-Hadatha, Beirut, 1986) The Fundamentals of Literary Criticism in Yemen Theatre Beginnings in Yemen The Convergence of Parties: A Preliminary Reading of Literature from the Maghreb Studies on the Novel and Short Story in Yemen From the Stanza to the Poem: A Study of Yemen’s New Poetry A Study on Intifada Poems The Shock of Stones Poetry: Between Vision and Form From Whimpers to Revolution Writings on the Arab Winter of Literature

Awards Lotus Award, 1986