Course:Abu Nawwas
Abu Nawwas was an 8th-9th century Iraqi poet and served to offer themselves as evidence to challenge perspectives of what/who can and cannot be at this time of history and space in geography past or modern.
He is well known for his poems that Center themes of pleasure, sin, sexuality (especially homosexuality) and his wine poems (khamriyyat). “Woe to those who pray” is a direct quote from the Quran and is his form of mockery of critiques of sin and seeking pleasure.
دع المساجد للــعباد تسكنها
وطف بنا حول خمار ليسقينا
ما قال ربك ويل للذين سكروا
ولكن قال ويل للمـصلين
Leave the mosques for the worshipers to inhabit.
And circumambulate us among a cup-bearer to pour our drinks
Your Lord did not say, “Woe to those who are drunk.”
But He said, “Woe to those who pray.”
His poems are full of homoerotic overtones and loud mockery of farther and religion. Perhaps what inspires me the most is not his audacity just the sheer notion that he remains to be a noted Islamic poet.
I recently found out that the Egyptian Ministry of Culture burned around 6000 books of Abu Nawwas’s poetry due to their homoerotic nature. Months later, on May 11, 2001 the Egyptian Police arrested 52 men at a queer party on a docked boat titled “The Queen Boat”, I was 12 then.
For me Nawwas serves as a testament to attempts and failures to erase queer history. But also his humorous and audacious lyrics often bring me comfort. It is hard to imagine that this was written more than a millennium ago.
| CRWR 501P 003 |
|---|
 |
| Advanced Writing of Poetry |
|
| Important Course Pages |
| Categories |
Categories
Add categories here