Nizar Qabbani

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Nizar Qabbani (born March 21, 1923 in Damascus , † April 30, 1998 in London ; Arabic نزار قباني, DMG Nizār Qabbānī ) was a Syrian poet and diplomat.

Nizar Qabbani (1998)

Life

When Qabbani was 15 years old, his 25-year-old sister committed suicide because she could not marry her great love. During the funeral, he developed a will to fight the social injustices that had led to his sister's death. Qabbani studied law at Damascus University and graduated in 1945. He then embarked on a diplomatic career and became his country's ambassador in Beirut , Cairo , Madrid and London. He resigned from the diplomatic service in 1966.

Nizar Qabbani wrote over 30 songs for the Iraqi singer Kazim as-Sahir and he used several of Qabbani’s poems as lyrics for his songs. The Lebanese singer Majida ar-Roumy also sang several of his poems, including “Kalimat” (words), “Ma'a Jarida” (With a newspaper) and “Tawq al-Yasmin” (necklace made of jasmine).

Nizar Qabbani first married his cousin Zahra; the marriage produced a son and a daughter. His second marriage was to the Iraqi Balqis, who was killed in a bomb attack in Beirut on December 15, 1982. He dedicated his famous poem Balqis to her . He also had two children with her. Qabbani no longer felt at ease in Beirut after this severe blow of fate. From then on he lived in Europe and commuted between Paris and Geneva. Eventually he settled in London, where he spent the last 15 years of his life. His poetry was now more focused on political issues. The Lebanese civil war, to which he dedicated numerous poems, was of particular importance. The Lebanese capital Beirut was often the setting for his work. In the same way, his poems were about Damascus , Baghdad and Jerusalem .

Qabbani died of a heart attack in London on April 30, 1998. At his funeral, Islamic fundamentalists used force to prevent his coffin - as that of an alleged “unbeliever” - from being carried to prayer in London's Regent's Park Mosque .

Works

Poems and volumes of poetry
  • Childhood of a Breast (1948)
  • Samba (1949)
  • You are mine (1950)
  • Poems (1956)
  • My Beloved (1961)
  • Book of Love (1970)
  • 100 love letters (1970)
  • Poems Against the Law (1972)
  • Words
  • Jasmine necklace
  • With a newspaper
  • Dictionary for a Lover (1981)
  • Love Doesn't Stop Red (1985)
  • Beirut is on fire and I love you
  • Granada
  • A gold ornament on a Damascus sword
  • I, my confidante, am weary of being an Arab
  • Aside from the diary of a defeat
  • Letter from a stupid woman
  • Qana's face
  • I am for terrorism
translation to German
  • The clocks of the world go after your eyes. Selected poems by Nizar Qabbani, translated by Alya Krupp al-Shamma. Norderstedt, 2004. ISBN 978-3833434778

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the description of this incident including the source (the Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat ) in Bassam Tibi : "Europe without identity?", Munich 1998/2001, p. 348.
personal data
SURNAME Qabbani, Nizar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES نزار قباني (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Syrian poet and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH March 21, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Damascus
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1998
Place of death London