Mustapha Wahbi |
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Collection title
One hundred outstanding books
First broadcast date
2002
Abstract
This episode deals with the life of the Jordanian poet Mustapha wahbi Altal who was born in 1889 and died in 1949. He starts talking about his social life, then his professional life as a lawyer and his writings among them many collections of poems, including “ afternoons in the dry Valley”.
Interview with the writer Fakhri Kawar to talks about Wahby who studied in Damascus and was very active as a student before he was exiled to Beirut and Alep. Later, he was a teacher in Jordan and wrote articles which were politically sensitive which led him tothe court of justice and to prison.
After he had been released he resumed his job as a lawyer. Mustapha Wahbi Altal spoke Arabic, Persian and Turkish.
Production companies
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Television - Own production
Broadcaster
JRTV - Jordan Television
Audiovisual form
Documentary
Primary theme
Languages and literatures
Secondary themes
- Art, Culture and Knowledge
- Tourism and cultural sites / Tourist sites
- Art, Culture and Knowledge / Science / Human and social sciences
Credits / Cast
- Attia Rabi - Author of original work
- Attia Rabi - Director
Map locations
- Jordan - Transjordan Plateau - Irbid
Additional information
Beirut - Alep - Amman - photos of the late Arar
Context
Mustafâ Wahbî (‘Arâr)
NorigNeveu
This documentary is part of a series about great Jordanian writers, and, through an interview with the writer Qa'wâr Fakhri, this episode presents the most famous Jordanian poet, Mustafa Wahbi al-Tall, known under his pen-name of 'Arar.
Mustafa Wahbi al-Tall was born in 1897, in Irbid, a town in the north of present-day Jordan in a family of local notables. He went to school in the recently established Ottoman primary and secondary schools. Indeed, from the second half of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire began an administrative reinvestment in southern Bilad al-Sham (Greater Syria) to which Jordan belonged. He was then sent to the Anbar school in Damascus, where the Empire's future administrators were educated. As part of his studies he also lived for a while in Istanbul, just before the fall of the Empire in 1923.
From 1917 he was known for his political activism alongside Arab nationalists, despite his education deeply within the Ottoman system. Arab nationalism was growing in importance in Damascus in the early twentieth century, especially among some students at the Anbar school, including Muhammad Kurd Ali. Arar adopted these ideas and through his poetry became the spokesman for Jordanian patriotism, especially after the creation of the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921. From that date, he became a reference in the movement against the British Mandate.
When he completed his studies he began a troubled career as a teacher of literature in several Jordanian towns such as Karak, Ma'an Aqaba. He then became involved in political life as the governor of Shubak Wadi Musa (1929) and Aqaba (1931). In 1939, he was made the prosecutor of the district of Salt. His turbulent political life was, on many occasions, interrupted by terms in prison because of his political commitment to anti-colonialism and his demands for a reform of the political system. His reformist beliefs earned him 90 days behind bars in 1941. After that particular stay in prison he became a lawyer in Amman, thanks to a law degree he had passed in 1930.
His poetry is heavily influenced by his political commitment, but he is also the author of many love poems. He was the first to use colloquial Jordanian Arabic in literature, and his poetry created a new Jordanian literary style.
'Arar remains today one of the best known literary and political figures in Jordan. His son, Wasfi al-Tall, became a prominent politician and Prime Minister of Jordan. He gave his name to a poetry festival held annually in Irbid.
Bibliography :
Ya’qûb al-‘Ûdat al-Badawî al-Multham, Arar, poet of Jordan (‘Arâr, sha’îr al-Urdun), Dar al-Qalam, Beyrouth, 1958.
Mahmoud Obeidat, Biography of Poet and Activist, Mustafa Wahbi At-Tull (‘Arar) 1897-1949, Amman, Ministry of Culture, 1996.
Mustafâ Wahbî al-Tall, Mustafa's Journey: A Verse of Arar, Poet of Jordan, Irbid, Yarmouk University Publications, 1988.
