Sophie Gebeil

 

     The Book of Songs (Kitab al-Aghani) is a collection of poetry by Abu-al-Faraj Al-Asfahani, a Shi'ite Arab born in Isfahan (Persia) in 867 and died in Baghdad (Iraq) in 967. This period of the Abbassid caliphat (750-952) is considered as the Golden Age of Islamic civilisation. Despite the political difficulties of the 10th century, the Caliphs surrounded themselves with educated men and poets to increase their cultural prestige. In the 8th century the Caliph al-Mansur decided to create a new capital, Baghdad, in which he had built the "round town" around the royal palace.

In this prestigious setting Arabs were no longer the only writers and bards of the time. Arab culture made new converts and in particular Persians such as Abu-al-Faraj Al-Asfahani. The Caliphs themselves based their idea of power on the earlier Sassanids, only talking to people through a curtain, showing themselves only during the Friday prayers or to dispense Justice. The Persian poets quickly occupied an important place in the literary activity of the time. Thus Abu Nawas in the 9th century was particularly famous for his poems about love and wine. In the 9th century, the time of al-Faraj, the most famous poets were Abu Firas and al-Mutanabbi.

Religious leaders, the Abbassid caliphs were Sunni Muslims (the majority branch of Islam), using force to dominate the Shi'ites, who, at the death of Mohammed, had supported Ali, the Prophet's cousin and adopted son. The alliance between the Sunnites and the Turkish soldiers had contributed to the fall of the Abbassid caliphat in the 10th century. This Shi'a minority has kept going until our own times and are today mainly concentrated in Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Lebanon. This evocation of the poet of the Golden Age of the Arab civilisation is also an example of the important place given to culture in the Lebanon, which dominates the Arab market in printed books.

        Youssef Serhan also talks about the horrors endured by the Lebanese during the civil war (1975-1990) and the conflict in the southerrn part of the country, with the Israeli army fighting armed Lebanese Shi'ite militias (Hezbollah and Hamas), since the end of the civil war. The village of Kafarkella shown in the film in in south eastern Lebanon, on the borders with Israel. This region was hit particularly hard by the civil war, then it was occupied by the Israeli army until May 2000. Situated on one of the front lines during the civil war, the area was again hit by Israeli bombing in 2006. Today this zone is still not really pacified and remains in a difficult poltical, economic and social situation.

 

Kfar Kila or Kafarkela: http://g.co/maps/8ac5f

Beirut: http://g.co/maps/vj73b