Abu Khalil was a well-known author, composer, singer, dancer, actor, and poet who was strongly influenced by Western theater. Kabbani may also have been influenced by his father’s uncle, Abu Khalil al-Kabbani, who was an unusual and gifted nineteenth-century Syrian figure. The example set by his father, who was willing to sacrifice for political and social freedom, laid the foundation for Kabbani’s later work and influenced his poetic development. Early one morning when Nizar was ten, French soldiers entered the house and arrested his father, imprisoning him for a time in the Syrian desert outside Palmyra. There were calls for revolution and freedom, and plans for strikes and demonstrations were often completed in the Kabbani home. The spacious Kabbani house, located in Al-Shaghur, the most conservative section of the city, was used for secret resistance meetings, and the child Nizar would sit in the huge courtyard near fountains and flowers listening to political leaders speak out against the French occupation. Along with the other merchants and professionals, his father, Tawfiq Kabbani, a respected national figure, helped finance the national movement and was one of its leaders. During his youth, the resistance movement against the French mandate was mobilizing the population, and the modern nation of Syria was in the process of being born. He was the second of six children-two girls and four boys. Kabbani was born in Damascus, Syria, on March 21, 1923, to a traditional well-to-do family. He also strived to change the repressive relationship between the two sexes to one of openness. He asserted that freedom of the body was a path to freedom of the spirit for everyone, thereby helping the new generation to erase the guilt, fear, and embarrassment that had been associated with sex. A proponent of women’s liberation, he initiated a change in attitudes about sexuality, erotic freedom, and the right of women to celebrate ecstasy. He was a champion of women’s rights, urging women to take control of their lives, bodies, and destinies. During a career that produced fifty volumes of poetry, Kabbani became the Arab world’s greatest love poet. NIZAR KABBANI, THE MOST INFLUENTIAL AND BEST-KNOWN Arab poet in modern times, penetrated and captured the hearts and souls of millions of Arabs. Used with permission of Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. From Arabian Love Poems by Nizar Kabbani, translated by Bassam K.

Nizar kabbani arabian love poems