Page 55 - Arabian Studies (II)

Yemeni Literature in Hajjah Prisons 1367/1948-137411955 45

alluded in my book al-lmam Afjmad; which reasons, among other
things, hastened the outbreak of the revolt.
The motives, already burning in the hearts of these leaders and
young men, were further inflamed by the speeches and discourses of
the Algerian scholar al-Sayyid al-Futfayl al-Wartalanl, whom I
accompanied like his own shadow when he was in Yemen during
1947. Between the two of us there grew up bonds of friendship and
respect.
It was al-Wartalanl who laid down the outline of the main articles
of the Sacred National Charter — the charter of the revolt — which I
wrote with my own hand and of which I was the custodian, it being
signed by all those who pledged themselves to carry it out and act
according to it.
Al-Mithaq al-WatanTal- Muqaddas (The Sacred National Charter)
was printed for the first time in Aden after it had been approved in
its final form by those who put their signatures to it. It was
published by the two newspapers, Sawt al-Yaman in Aden and
Al-Ikhwan al- Muslimun in Egypt, when it was rumoured that Imam
Yahya was dead. That was one month before the Revolt, i.e. about
16 January 1948. But the rumour was a false one, emanating from
Aden and Hudaydah. Another widely circulating rumour was that
al-WazTr had received the Imamate by the legal promise of allegiance,
and that the Dustur Government had been formed, giving the names
of its members just as they were to be published again on 18
February 1948 when the Revolt actually took place. These rumours,
together with the publication of the Mithaq and the names, con­
stituted one of the major factors which hastened the Revolt, because
those involved feared that it might be nipped in the bud.
It would be appropriate here to mention that I heard al-Fudayl
al-Wartalanl say, at a meeting at which some of the people
mentioned above, were present, to inspire and guide them, ‘Rise up
in rebellion, oh 'ulama before the ignorant do!’ (Thuru ayyuha
'l-ulama' qabla an yathura 'l-juhhal). At the same time he pointed
out the differences between the two sorts of rebellion as though he
foresaw what was still in the womb of the future. I say this not as a
politician, nor taking up the position of apportioning praise or
blame, nor judging what happened to be right or wrong — in no way
at all! But it is unavoidable that I should mention the reason for
dragging off poets and men of letters to the prisons of Hajjah and the
justifications given for their being held there.
Thus the rebellion of 1948 was a rebellion of the *ulama\
intellectuals, poets and men of letters. No sooner had it failed than
all of these were herded into the prisons. Almost all, indeed every