Homeland and Independence in The Poetry of The Iraiı Abdulmuhsin Al-Kâzımî
Fuat DaşAbdulmuhsin al-Kâzimî is one of the leading poets of modern Iraqi poetry. He had lived in Iraq in his youth until he had to immigrate to Egypt due to his oppositional thoughts to the government of the time. During his time in Egypt, he established friendships with many politicians, writers, and poets and managed to become one of the leading poets of the period. He wrote many politically and socially themed poems in which he examined the problems of the Arab society and expressed the problems experienced by all Arab peoples, especially Iraqis. This article discusses Kâzimî’s poems that contain the themes of homeland and independence and provides information about his life and poetry. Th article examines his poems containing the theme of homeland in terms of longing for the homeland and being a martyr for the sake of the homeland. In these poems, Kâzimî expressed his longing for Iraq and his friends and family that he had to leave at a young age, reflecting his homesickness with sad verses. The article then evaluates his poems about independence through the themes of struggle for independence and unity against colonial powers. He also encouraged martyrdom for the sake of the homeland in the struggle for independence and glorified the concepts of martyrdom and sacrifice. In fact, the poet called upon the Arab peoples who’d been exploited under the guise of the mandate to fight for independence in these poems and stated that independence can be gained by struggling in unity. Kâzimî became prominent for his nationalist identity and made arguing for the need for all Arabs to gather under one homeland and one flag his aim, and the literary world of the period gave him the title of Şâʿiru’l-ʿArab [Poet of the Arabs] for this.
Iraklı Şair Abdulmuhsin El-Kâzımî’nin Şiirlerinde Vatan ve Bağımsızlık
Fuat DaşAbdulmuhsin el-Kâzımî modern Irak şiirinin önde gelen şairleri arasındadır. Gençlik yıllarına kadar Irak’ta yaşamış, mevcut hükümete yönelik muhalif düşüncelerinden dolayı Mısır’a göç etmek zorunda kalmıştır. Mısır’da yaşadığı süre boyunca birçok siyaset adamıyla, yazar ve şairle dostluklar kurmuş ve dönemin önde gelen şairleri arasına girmeyi başarmıştır. Yaşadığı dönemde Arap toplumunun sorunlarını irdelediği birçok siyasî ve toplumsal temalı şiirler kaleme almış, başta Irak halkı olmak üzere bütün Arap halklarının yaşadığı problemleri dile getirmiştir. Bu makalede; Kâzımî’nın vatan ve bağımsızlık temalı şiirleri ele alınmış, hayatı, şairliği ve şiirleri hakkında bilgiler verilmiştir. Vatan temalı şiirleri yapılan incelemeler neticesinde vatana özlem ve vatan uğrunda şehit olmak açısından incelenmiştir. Kâzımî bu şiirlerinde genç yaşta ayrılmak zorunda kaldığı Irak’a, dostlarına, ailesine özlemini dile getirmiş, vatan hasretini hüzün dolu beyitlerle yansıtmıştır. Bağımsızlık hakkında söylediği şiirleri ise bağımsızlık için mücadele ve sömürge güçlerine karşı birlik olma açısından ele alınmıştır. Bağımsızlık mücadelesinde vatan uğruna şehit olmayı teşvik etmiş, şehitlik ve şehadet kavramlarını yüceltmiştir. Nitekim şair, bu şiirlerinde manda yönetimleri kisvesi altında sömürülen Arap halklarını bağımsızlık mücadelesi vermeye çağırmış, birlik içinde verilen mücadeleyle bağımsızlığın kazanılabileceğini dile getirmiştir. Milliyetçi kimliğiyle ön plana çıkan Kâzımî, bütün Arapların tek vatan ve tek bayrak altında toplanması gerektiği savını kendisine gaye edinmiştir. Bundan dolayı dönemin yazın dünyasında kendisine Şâʿiru’l-ʿArab (Arapların Şairi) unvanı verilmiştir.
Abdulmuhsin al-Kâzimî is one of the pioneers of modern Iraqi poetry. Kâzimî grew up in a wealthy family. Although his father directed him toward trade as his ancestral profession, Kâzimî was more interested in literature from an early age. He participated in the poetry assemblies of the leading poets of the period and had his first poetic experiences with the poems he sang there. In his early years of poetry, he did not go beyond traditional subjects and themes with the influence of the poets around him as well as the Arab poets of old. His first poetic outputs were the ghazals he sang in the form of long odes, the elegies he composed for the scholars of the period, and the eulogies he wrote for his friends. However, after meeting Jamal al-Din Afghānî (1838-1897), one of the 20th-century intellectuals and politicians who’d come to Baghdad as an exile and affected the Islamic awakening, Kâzimî became influenced by his thoughts and then began to examine social problems through his poetry. He adopted dissenting opinions toward the current government of the time and criticized the policies of the Iraqi government. As a result, he was forced to leave to Egypt. Through the effect of the social and intellectual atmosphere in Egypt, he started to make a name for himself in the Arab world, in particular attracting the attention of the leading poets of the period with his poems in which he touched on the social and political problems of Arab society and succeeding in being counted among them. As a result of all of this, he used his politically themed poems to invite the Arab peoples to fight against all kinds of colonies and to unite under one homeland and one flag. Like many of his contemporary poets, he expressed the problems experienced by all Arab peoples, especially the Iraqi people, with the politically and socially themed poems he’d written during Arab’s most turbulent times. He sang poems supporting every nation to fight for independence against Western colonization and encouraged these countries to become independent. He also participated in congresses that were held in this direction, conveying his ideas and thoughts before them with the odes he sang. In fact,Kâzimî would become known as Şâ’iru’l-ʿArab [Poet of the Arabs] in the literary world of the period due to his populist and nationalist identity and his attitude and love for Arab peoples. This study discusses Kâzimî’s poems containing the themes of homeland and independence and presents information about his life and poetry. The article examines his poems involving the theme of homeland in terms of longing for homeland and being a martyr for the sake of the homeland. The results of the research on his poems of longing for homeland show Kâzimî to tell about love of homeland and the sadness that befell his heart as soon as he’d left his homeland and to express his feelings of longing for his childhood years, friends, and family. In his poems involving the theme of martyrdom for the sake of the country, he is seen to encourage martyrdom for the sake of the homeland in the struggle for independence and to glorify the concepts of martyrdom and sacrifice, for according to him, to die for the sake of one’s country is better than being exploited by someone else or living under their yoke. In addition, he criticized those who had not sacrificed for their homeland during the war and displayed contemptuous behaviors and attitudes toward them. All these things are reflected in the couplets of his poetry as a result of his love for nation and country. Kâzimî’s poems about the homeland generally take place around these two themes. The article evaluates his poems about independence through the themes of fighting for independence and being united against colonial powers. As a matter of fact, the poet called upon the Arab peoples who’d been exploited under the guise of the mandate to fight for independence in these poems and stated that independence can be gained by struggling in unity. Although Kâzimî called on the Arabs, he was actually calling on all peoples under colonial rule to unite. He realistically reflected in these poems the difficulties experienced by the Arabs in particular and the Eastern peoples under colonial rule in general, as well as the sociological and psychological destruction their exploitation caused. He had actually been to many countries such as India, Iran, and Egypt and witnessed the destruction of colonial powers in these lands first hand.
