Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawahiri

Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawahiri Poems

Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawahiri Biography

Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawahiri (Arabic: محمد مهدي الجواهري ‎) (26 July 1899 - 1 January 1997) was an Iraqi poet.[1] Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawahiri was born in 1899 in Najaf in Iraq. His father, 'Abd al-Husayn was a religious scholar among the clergy in Najaf who wanted his son to be a cleric as well. So he dressed him in an cleric's 'Abaya and turban at the age of ten. The origin of “Al-Jawahiri” goes back to his Najafi, Iraqi family. Since the 11th century Hijri (15th century CE), the most famous people have inhabited Najaf, and individuals named al-Najafi have earned the title “Bejeweled” (or al-Jawahiri) for their relationship to the book of fiqh values (religious scholarship) which one of his family's ancestors Shaykh Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi had written. The books were referred to as the “the jewel of speech in explaining the laws of Islam” and was composed of 44 volumes. Afterwards he was known as the “owner of the jewels,” and his family came to be called “bejeweled” (al-Jawahiri). Muhammad Mahdi read the holy Qur'an and did not memorize it at an early age. Then his father sent him to great teachers to teach him reading, writing, grammar, rhetoric and jurisprudence . His father and others planned for him to learn speech from Nahj al-Balagha and poetry from the works of Abu Tayyib al-Mutanabi. Learning was organized at an early age and even in his childhood he displayed an inclination for literature. He began to read the Book of Eloquence and Demonstration by Al-Jahiz and the Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldun, and collections of poetry. It was early in his life when he first wore the clothing of a religious man and he participated in the 1920 revolution against the British authorities. In 1928, he published the volume "Between Feelings and Emotions" his first poetry collection which he had been preparing since 1924 to distribute under the title "The Dangers of Poetry in Love, Nation and Ode." Then he worked for a short period in the court of King Faysal I when he was crowned king of Iraq and when he was still wearing the turban of a cleric. Then he left the clergy just as he left work in Faysal's court. After he left Najaf for Baghdad, he went to work in the press, and put out a group of papers – among them Al-Furat (The Euphrates), Al-Inqilab (The Coup), and Al-Ra'i al-'Am (The Common View). Several times he was elected head of the union of Iraqi writers.)

The Best Poem Of Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawahiri

Lullaby For The Hungry

Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!
The gods of food watch over you.
Sleep, if you are not satiated
By wakefulness, then sleep shall fill you.
Sleep, with thoughts of smooth-as butter-promises,
Mingled with words as sweet as honey.
Sleep, and enjoy the best of health.
What a fine thing is sleep for the wretched!
Sleep till the resurrection morning
Then it will be time enough to rise.
Sleep in the swamps
Surging with silty waters.
Sleep to the tune of mosquitoes humming
As if it were the crooning of doves.
Sleep to the echo of long speechifyings
By great and eminent power politicians.
Sleep, You hungry people sleep!
For sleep is one of the blessings of peace.
It is stupid for you to rise,
Sowing discord where harmony reigns.
Sleep, for the reform of corruption
Simply consists in your sleeping on.
Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!
Don't cut off others' livelihood.
Sleep, your skin cannot endure
The shower of sharp arrows when you wake.
Sleep, for the yards of jail houses
Are all teeming with violent death,
And you are the more in need of rest
After the harshness of oppression.
Sleep, and the leaders will find ease
From a sickness that has no cure.
Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!
For sleep is more likely to protect your rights
And it is sleep that is most conducive
To stability and discipline.
Sleep, I send my greetings to you;
I send you peace, as you sleep on.
Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!
The gods of food watch over you.
Sleep, You hungry people, sleep!
The gods of food watch over you.

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