Haa’ Articles

Description

I don’t know where this idea came from, but it came.

The idea that there is meaning behind things—life, death, and everything in between—wisdom, significance, the subtle insight in the details… I like to think it exists. We all like that; we all prefer to believe that there is wisdom behind everything. It makes us feel less alone on this earth. You live your life imagining that you are searching for meaning, for the elusive essence in the heart of a rose with a thousand petals. You open the petals, one by one, penetrating the rose’s heart. You live believing that there is a rose, that the rose has a heart, that meaning is in the heart, that meaning already exists, its existence precedes yours, and all you have to do is search for it… With these words, the Kuwaiti writer Buthaina Al-Essa introduces her book (Haa’), which revolves around the search for meaning in four Haa’s: “Life,” “Love,” “Freedom,” and “Truth.” Reading, therefore, becomes a form of preparation for extracting possible and probable meanings, meanings that the reader finds justified in interpreting the text and explaining each of its words in their various facets, rearranging the letters and choosing the meaning that suits them. “Take the word ‘love,’ dissect it, and spell out its letters. The ‘H’ is tenderness, and the ‘B’ is strength. Do you understand love better now? Do you see its dual nature, the two conflicting forces within it, tenderness and strength? This is my own interpretation. And you might dissect ‘love’ into two different words: ‘H’ is war, and ‘B’ is oppression? (…) The word that will sprout from each letter is a word that belongs to you. A word that resembles you, a word that is your friend and your beloved, flowing beneath your skin and acting in your heart as if it were the mistress of the place…” In this sense, writing for the writer and reading for the reader—according to what has been said—is nothing more than a reproduction of meaning and a diversification of connotations, countless in number, and in accordance with the circumstances affecting the writing at times, and the reading and reception at others. The writing model that Buthaina presents Al-Essa’s writing here possesses a unique quality: it is multifaceted, connected to life, self, and experience—a style she has cultivated since her earliest works and continues to develop today. It is a model she did not inherit; she crafted it herself, refining every detail and appreciating its aesthetic and linguistic value, thus making it worthy of being read.

The book comprises articles by Buthaina Al-Essa, previously published in the Emirati magazine Al-Sada between 2012 and 2016. These articles are organized under the following main headings: 1- Life (seven articles), 2- Love (seven articles), 3- Freedom (twelve articles), and 4- Truth (fifteen articles).