“Beautiful Helwan passes by… like a dream in slumber\u2014Helwan, the Nile I adore, and the palms crowned with doves. Helwan, where gentle days sped past me like drifting clouds; my father, the stable of steeds, and my tender father. I draw near… and the kick of a spirited colt lands upon my brow; I slip into darkness for a time, then the clamor of laborers wakes me. My father tends my wound and whispers: ‘If *you* are Al-Ashaj, then what fortune is yours! What fortune for the Umayyads! What fortune for all the world! Are *you* Al-Ashaj?’ Then Helwan vanishes, and the deathbed claims me; I touch a gash\u2014hot as an ember\u2014searing my forehead. There goes Al-Ashaj, trotting toward the Prophet\u2019s Mosque; in his eyes, a radiant light; on his lips, the burning thirst of the parched. There goes Al-Ashaj, drinking deep from the spring yet never sated; the noble masters\u2014learned sheikhs\u2014teach him and learn from him, and the devout bearing of the pious shines from his face. When evening falls, melodies echo through the palace, their refrain carried by a deep, hidden longing. Who chose the poem? Who clothed it in melody? Who captivated the hearts of lovers? Who walks with such proud grace, followed by maidens with smiles of adoration? Whose garments are heavy with the weight of precious musk? Who is it? Who is it? Oh, Al-Ashaj! Wrestling with passions\u2014conquered by them, yet conquering them in turn\u2014with light in his eyes and the burning thirst of the parched upon his lips. The Caliph has died! …He lives! …He died and lived! …He died! …Yet the injustices remain unchanged; the landscape is unaltered, O God of the patient! In every inch, the tyranny of the arrogant… the Caliph\u2019s sins, renewed… Al-Ashaj has died! And…” Injustice continues to spawn ever more inventive tyrants; Al-Ashaj is dead, yet injustice pulses with life, looming over the heads of rulers. You fought alone in the teeth of the gale, dreaming of justice\u2014O Prince of the Wretched\u2014and you walked alone in the wind, dreaming of justice\u2014O Prince of Dreamers!
\nGhazi Al-Gosaibi\u2019s words resonate with a musicality that echoes through history, recounting the tale of the Caliph Al-Ashaj. Here, meaning and melody intertwine, bringing to vivid life the details chronicled in history books: the town of Hulwan, the prince, the stable, the kick that bloodied a brow, and the scarred prince who would become the fifth of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. It is a biography distilled into Al-Gosaibi\u2019s poem\u2014a verse that stirs a torrent of emotion in the reader, sweeping them across time and space, piercing the barriers of feeling, and immersing them in the experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A poetic epic that evokes the life of Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, exploring key moments of his journey and the values \u200b\u200bof justice, asceticism, and faith associated with him, all through a poetic style that blends narrative, contemplation, and historical imagery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_cat":[940,2470,923,839],"product_tag":[1072,2687,1086,1343],"class_list":["post-32465","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-arabic-literature","product_cat-poetry","product_cat-literary-articles","product_cat-history-and-geography","product_tag-history","product_tag-islam","product_tag-poetry","product_tag-thought","pa_book-author-ghazi-abdul-rahman-al-gosaibi","first","onbackorder","sale","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awraqonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/32465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awraqonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awraqonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awraqonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awraqonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awraqonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awraqonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=32465"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awraqonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=32465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}