The Unimaginative Symbols of Salim Barakat

Abstract

Kurdish poet Salim Barakat (b. 1951, Qamishli, Syria) in 1986published a philosophical poem entitled Haza‟in Manhuba (Glimpsesof Spoliation), the whole of which I have translated from the originalArabic and included as annotated appendix. Barakat writes modernsecular poetry in a genre I describe as modern Islamic literature, a genre that findsits roots in the Turkic poetry of Shah Isma‟il I who founded the Safavid dynastyin Persia. Barakat‟s theoretical model for his philosophical poem within theaforementioned genre, and his use of meaning-making techniques of repetition isto be found in the arena of ancient Greek literature. It is, however, essentially hisconcept of history that affords him space to include these meaning-making poetictechniques as he strives to present to his readership an exact description of therevolts, uprisings and insurgencies that have been ongoing since the Abbasidcaliphate. He explains the why and how of the wrongdoing, and the consequenceson the Day of Judgment, the divine sphere of action functioning as part of hishistorical narrative. His symbols, in this particular poem, lean less on the Persianand Arabic Sufi poets. He rather creates symbols of his own, symbols that providean aura of the scientific, and are as “unimaginative” as possible – being symbolsof the most basic kind. As usual, his extraordinarily skilled and extensive use ofdevices of repetition reflect his Kurdish heritage.