Page 105 - Arabian Studies (V)

The Yemeni Poet Al-Zubayrl 95

no acceptance but for the “Army action”, then the interference
with fire and sword on the part of the “Egyptians”, on the 26th
September, 1962.’ Both al-Mu‘allimi and Zubayri, al-Shaml told
me with a naughty chuckle, are ‘Adnani by descent, the Zubayri
family claiming descent from al-Zubayr b. al-‘Awwam, a
Companion of the Prophet! He also alludes to the scurrilous anti-
Hashimite propaganda of ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Baydanl on the radio,
later reproduced in book form!11 Al-Baydani’s allegations against
Imam Ahmad which, or so I am told, used to arouse him to fury,
are without substantiation—plainly lying invention. Moreover he
had been expelled from the Liberals led by al-Zubayri and the
‘Ustadh* ‘Ahmad Nu‘man in Cairo. Though he takes up the anti-
Hashimite ideas of the Liberals about this time, he does not repre­
sent them in any way. Indeed ‘Abdullah Juzaylan who directed the
officer attack on al-Badr’s mansion, Dar al-Basha’ir, says12 that ‘Dr*
‘Abd al-Rahman al-Baydani broadcasting from Sawt al-‘Arab,
‘attacked the Hashimites violently without any justification, not
realising that nearly 80 per cent of the officers of the revolution
were Hashimites (as also were a large number in the prisons) as a
punishment for their open disobedience and revolt against the
Hamid al-DIn family ruling in San‘aV Juzaylan got in touch with
Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahid of the Egyptian Embassy informing
him of the highly unfavourable reactions produced by ‘Dr’
Baydanl’s ‘ignorance of Yemeni society’, and Cairo put a stop to
his talks.
Zubayri, though he had a background of the traditional Zaydi
learning before going to Cairo, was clearly a poet and in no sense
an objective scholarly historian. Insofar as can be judged he was
unacquainted with western scholarship, and it is likely that he did
not even read very widely. At the time he wrote his attack on the
Imamate he was spokesman of the Yemeni Union (al-Ittihad al-
Yamanl) in Cairo. Though a good speaker, honest and sincere,
regarded with affection and respect, his argument in the pamphlet
translated here could, without difficulty, be demolished by the
highly intelligent aristocratic 'ulama* of the Zaydi Sayyids or
Qadls. Since the nominal unity between Egypt and the Yemen, into
which Imam Ahmad had adroitly inveigled Nasser, their agreement
had resulted in Nasser’s muzzling the Yemeni Liberals in Cairo—so
the pamphlet had to be published in Beirut—naturally the Liberals
were turned on again when Imam Ahmad’s celebrated anti-
nationalisation’ poem brought about the break with Nasser.
Nu‘man pere (‘al-Ustadh* Ahmad Nu‘man) said that, from the
point of view of the Yemeni Liberals, the great advantage of
Zubayri’s pamphlet attacking the Imamate was that it should have