Page 56 - Arabian Studies (II)

46 Arabian Studies II

one who wore a turban — the ‘imdmah which is the headgear of the
'ulania' in the Yemen — every writer, scholar (alini) and faqlh was
carried off to prison. One leader in fact coined the slogan, ‘Imprison
every wearer of a turban (mu'ammam) and Allah will find a way out
for the innocent’. Every prison in the Yemen was crammed with
‘turban-wearers’ and no innocent persons were released until the
suspects had been singled out from among them. Branded as suspects
were those who read newspapers and modern books: they were
derisively called ‘modernists’, ‘constitutionalists’ and ‘brothers of the
Christians [Na$ara]’.3
In Nafi‘ prison, to which I was dragged from §an‘a’ as a member of
this sad caravan, 1 met my fellow-poets Ibrahim al-Hadranl,4 Ahmad
al-Marwanl, ‘Abdullah al-Shammahl, ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Iryanl,
Ahmad al-Mu‘allimI, Zayd al-Mawshikl, Muhammad b. ‘AIT al-Muta‘,
Muhammad Sabrah, Muhammad al-Sayaghl. and Muhammad
al-Masmarl. I also met there some friends who were scholars and men
of letters — ‘All ‘Aqabat, ‘AIT Nasir al-‘AnsI, Ahmad al-Muta‘, Husain
al-KibsT, Muhyl al-DTn al-‘AnsT, Ahmad al-Hawrash, Isma‘11 al-Akwa‘
and his brother Muhammad, Ahmad Muhammad Nu‘man and others.
The prisons of al-Mansurah and al-Qahirah were also packed with
another batch of ‘ulama* and poets.
The afore-going should give the reader a vivid picture of how
impossible it was for a group of men such as these, robbed by fate of
everything except their thoughts, tongues, imagination and literary
talent, to meet in one place — the dreaded Nafi‘ jail — and not to
indulge in literary activity. But how was this activity going to be
achieved and in what manner and to what purpose? The sword of the
victor hovered menacingly above their necks. Chains and fetters
weighed down their bodies, sapping their strength and making life
unbearable. Then there were the appalling conditions of the place
itself — filth, overcrowding, vermin and bad food — conditions no
different from a stinking sewer teeming with worms. It was an
atmosphere of overwhelming despair which made death seem
preferable to staying alive. None had an inkling of what had
happened to those they had left behind at §an‘a’, Dhamar,
Hudaydah, Ta‘izz, Ibb or Iryan, after their houses had been
destroyed, their possessions plundered, and their sons, daughters,
mothers and wives made homeless refugees.
Because of all this, Nafi‘ was at first engulfed in fearful silence:
minds wandered and looks were distraught - nobody wanted to talk
to anyone else — there was nothing but the murmuring of prayers,
invocations and verses of the Qur’an.
But Man, this stout-hearted, adaptable, resourceful and cunning
being, especially if he be a writer, scholar or poet, was gradually able