Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

Ali Ahmed Bakatheer, a Yemeni author born in 1910 in Indonesia, received his initial education in Yemen at his uncle’s madrasa, which provided classical education, and later assumed the position of a teacher at the same institution. Marrying in 1927, Bakatheer lost his wife and child four years later, prompting him to leave Yemen. He subsequently traveled to Aden, Somalia, and Saudi Arabia before finally settling in Egypt for university education. Feeling proficient in Arabic, Bakatheer pursued studies in English Language and Literature at Cairo University. After completing his training, he served as a teacher for a total of 15 years in Mansura and Cairo. While residing in Mansura in 1943, Bakatheer married a woman named Hacer for the second time and shared a room with the literary figure Naguib Mahfouz at the Maslahat al-funun Institution affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Guidance. Bakatheer participated in numerous literary commissions at the institution where he worked and received various awards such as the Arts, Literature, and Social Sciences High Council award and the State Incentive award for his plays. Towards the end of his life, Bakatheer intended to write a historical play based on the conquest of Istanbul but passed away due to a heart attack in 1969. Ali Ahmed Bakatheer engaged in various literary fields such as poetry and novels. His most famous novels include Sallamat al-Kays, Wa İslamah!, Laylat al-nahr, eth-thaar’er al-Ahmer, Sirat-Shuja, and al-Fâris al-Jamil. Bakatheer’s interest in theater dates back to his university years. When his English teacher stated in a class that the structure of the Arabic language was unsuitable for opera (poetic theater), Bakatheer translated Shakespeare’s immortal work “Romeo and Juliet” into Arabic using a writing style specific to English called Running Blank Verse (free verse). Bakatheer, who always considered the Islamic creed in his poetry, novels, and plays, fought against a segment of writers aiming to distance Egyptian society from Islam or Arabism through his works. Therefore, he often chose the plots of his works from Islamic history to lift the dead weight off the Muslims of his time. In his plays based on Ancient Egyptian history, characters are portrayed with a proto-Muslim perspective. Continuing his theater writing with the play “Humam fi Bilad al-Ahqaf” in 1933, Ali Ahmad, inspired by Ahmad Shawqi, the most important representative of poetic theater in the Arab world, wrote this play. In the following years, Bakatheer reinterpreted some literary works of Western origin, particularly those of William Shakespeare, from an Eastern perspective. Anticipating the establishment of a Zionist state in Palestinian territories, the author drew attention to this issue about three years before the establishment of the state of Israel (1945) with his play “Shayluk al-Jadid”, inspired by Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice”. This play is the first theater written about the Palestine issue in the Arab world. The author, aiming to raise awareness in Western public opinion, translated his highly acclaimed play into English. Addressing daily societal issues such as family, gender inequality, communism, and Zionism in his works, he frequently wielded his pen on these matters. Particularly, he has presented a total of eight plays directly or indirectly against Zionism. Considering the almost identical form and intended messages between his first prose work, “Shayluk al-Jadid” and his later plays such as “at-Tawrāh al-daʼiʻah” it can be argued that there is no inconsistency in his theatrical endeavors. Some critics, like Sayyid Qutb, find the author’s solutions against Zionism romantic, attributing his intention to draw attention to the oppressed Palestinian people in Western public opinion. However, as a literary figure, Ali Ahmed Bakatheer is considered one of the boldest author of his time due to his foresight, courage, and rationality.