I wish she had stopped at (Al-Gidad)
By: Mohammed Abdel-Majid
Tayeb Salih, the genius of Arabic literature, once spoke musically in one of his writings. I, for one, consider his prose a melody. His writings captivate me like the mournful song of Shajn (Othman Hussein), the song Why Do You Ask About Me Again (Ibrahim Awad), and the song Afraid of God (Mohammed Wardi), even as we find ourselves in those circumstances where we only hear the sound of gunfire.
Tayeb said, When I asked the Indian writer (Arundhati Roy) about winning the Booker Prize, the grand literary award in Britain for the best novel, not the best writer, which is equivalent to the Prix Goncourt in France and the Pulitzer Prize in America, and is dedicated to English-language writers from Britain and the Commonwealth, she said, For me, this award is about the past, not the future. I dont deny that Im happy about winning, but awards and critics praise are more about the readers than the writer.
When the correspondent asked her what she would do with the monetary value of the prize, she said, The matter of money is a complicated matter, especially in India. It puts a great responsibility on me. But I wont do anything with it, just to alleviate my guilt.
Strange indeed is this Indian writer. The strangeness lies in the fact that winning a major award meant nothing to her. She sees her award as belonging to the past, while it signifies the future for her.
Arundhati Roy doesnt know that in Sudan, we still rejoice over the victory of our national team in the African Cup of Nations in 1970. As fans of Al-Hilal, our greatest achievement to be proud of is Al-Hilal reaching the African final in 1987, even though the Egyptian Al-Ahly, which was the rival to Al-Hilal in that match, had won the title once before that final. Afterward, Al-Ahly won the title nine more times, while Al-Hilal settled with reaching the final once against Wydad Casablanca in 1992.
As for Al-Merrikhab fans, they still celebrate their victory in the African Cup Winners Cup in 1989. Nevertheless, they nickname their multiple-trophy-winning team as the Airborne Team, even though the teams greatest accomplishment was the African Cup Winners Cup, known as the CAF Cup.
Tell the Indian writer Arundhati Roy that when the Qatari national team won the Asian Cup, we in Sudan celebrated and were pleased with their victory, considering it an achievement for us, as the Qatari team had 7 players of Sudanese origin.
Enough of this pride! This is the height of humility.
However, I dont agree with Arundhati Roy in belittling history to such an extent. The future derives its motivations from the past, drawing closer to or distancing itself from historical background. The greater your history, the more motivating it becomes for greater success in the future or at least for preserving what has been achieved in the past.
In fact, history is a reading of the future. Your weight, evaluation, and grades in boxing, tennis, and football are derived from your history. What is the experience required in applying for a job, joining a field, or getting promoted, other than a history of your work experience? In the end, a history is your identity.
A person is a history; we dont possess the future, and we dont know the present. Thats the real history, which reveals your position and where you are now. In essence, the future is an extension of history.
Yet what amazed me about Arundhati Roy was her refusal to enjoy the monetary value of her award out of respect for the poverty of the Indian people. She talks about the award, saying, I wont do anything with it, just to alleviate my guilt. That means she wont spend the money from the award and enjoy it while her people suffer. She feels guilty because she won a valuable prize, and she feels that theres guilt in that. So, she tries to alleviate her guilt by refusing to enjoy the financial value of her prize.
Sometimes, if you cant alleviate or lessen others suffering, you have to live with their suffering!
I know a wealthy man who could travel with his small family and leave Khartoum like many others, living in the finest neighborhoods in the state capitals. He could emigrate and travel abroad, and his financial capacity would allow him to do so. However, this man, as I sensed from him, preferred to stay in Khartoum with his brothers, sisters, and their families because they didnt have the ability to leave Khartoum. The weakest of faith is to remain with them, and death with the community is a wedding.
This man resembles Arundhati Roy, who refused to enjoy her wealth, while others suffer in need and isolation.
In one agricultural season, poet Mohammed Al-Hassan Salim Hameed put all his money and effort into planting his land in Nuri with wheat. After planting his land himself, the flood came and destroyed his crop. That land owned by Hameed, where he planted it with his own hands, was submerged by the flood, and we visited it with our feet along with Adil Idris and the caricaturist Nezar Hassan and the wonderful artist Abu Bakr Sidi Ahmed. Hameed told us about his regret over losing his crop and the great losses he incurred due to the flood, which was devastating that year. This led Hameed to write the poem You Should Have Raised Chickens, indicating that if he had invested his money in raising chickens, it would have been better for him. This may have been Hameeds pride, as he loves the land and is passionate about farming. Even if he loses a million times, he will not abandon it. He also said, From the day I grew up, I havent harvested Siedabi crop. Siedab is a straw dish or plate that is made from palm fronds and is used to carry the harvest.
This is the situation Hamid has been in since he started; he plants and harvests for others. Meanwhile, we still reap from his poetry love, conviction, contentment, struggle, resilience, patriotism, and all noble and honorable values.
I wish Hamid were alive so I could tell him that even the chickens themselves wouldnt have been spared from the consequences of that cursed war that devastated everything.
How we long for Hamid, in his overflowing generosity and his turban, which he wraps with a unique artistic touch.
Thats Hamid with his words, carefully crafting each one with a touch of beautiful silence and thoughtfulness. When he speaks to you, each word emerges individually, pressed between his teeth. He does this as if weighing each word on a scale of gold. Hamid imparts judgments and proverbs, and his words originate from the depths of his soul or from the depths of profound understanding, though its hard to pinpoint exactly.
In the early days of the war, a video surfaced on social media featuring a businesswoman who owned a poultry farm. She lamented her luck, speaking about her losses, unpaid checks due to the war, power outages, water shortages, lack of feed, and the collapsing market.
Everyone sympathized with the businesswoman as she described the situation at the time. The video spread rapidly, making her the center of attention. She became a trending topic on social media, mourning her chickens and calling for an end to the war.
How innocent and naive we were then, thinking that the wars losses would be limited to the womans chickens!
I wish she had stopped at the chickens. The situation far exceeded that. Markets were burned down, banks were looted, stores were raided, factories were shut down, and peoples cars and homes were seized or destroyed. People suffered massive losses amounting to millions of dollars. But the losses didnt stop at financial damage; they extended to lives, bodies, infrastructure, hospitals, public facilities, and social fabric. The war marred the Sudanese identity, creating deep wounds within it.
The loss was a loss of the homeland. And this type of loss remains more valuable than money or lives. We were losing our homeland, and what victory can compensate for such a loss?
Yes, I wish she had stopped at the chickens – the burning market of Bahri and the looted homes and cars.
I wish she had stopped there.
And after all these losses, I hope she pauses here and reconsiders. We are hurtling towards catastrophe at the speed of a rocket.
A whole academic year is being wasted, with many university students having their studies disrupted, almost reaching mandatory retirement age while still being students.
Over five million refugees, including more than two million children, bear the brunt of this cursed war. Theyre Sudanese with no fault other than being Sudanese.
Private institutions have ceased operations; some have laid off employees, while others have granted indefinite unpaid leave to their staff. Meanwhile, salaries have stopped flowing, including those of public sector employees.
For nearly five months, employees and workers have gone without salaries except for those spared by divine mercy. And theres nothing on the face of the earth to eat.
The flow of refugees to the borders, fleeing the capital Khartoum and Darfur states, is heart-wrenching and painful. Those who didnt experience this situation firsthand felt the pain as if they were refugees themselves. The Sudanese body is now tormented by insomnia and fever, with even death collapsing itself. Theres nothing worse than seeing Sudanese people in such scenes and images!
Imagine the capital turning into chaos and plunging into it! Hospitals have turned into military barracks, schools into shelters, theaters into arms depots, factories openly looted – including their warehouses and equipment, both heavy and light. Even homes have become platforms for launching gunfire or targets for it!
Omdurman is lost! What was once a military barracks has become a battlefield.
This is whats happening in the capital and its central hub. As for Darfur states, their situation is even worse. Every minute of this war threatens to erase what cant be compensated for in years.
We fear that those who ignited the war might succeed in turning it into a civil war – thats their last plan, after all their previous schemes have failed. If they succeed, there will be no homeland left.
Realize the gravity of the situation, as the nation is heading towards destruction.
O God, protect Sudan and its people. Through prayer, we might achieve what they failed to do.
Relief will come, God willing, even if it takes time.
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Final note: O God, protect Sudan and its people.
Another violation by the Rapid Support Forces, as is typical and expected. They abducted Brigadier Maash Al-Sadiq Yusuf, a member of the Hilal FC board, from his home in Khartoum North, and hes now being held captive in an undisclosed location, according to a statement from the Hilal FC board.
This is how peoples lives are in Khartoum.
Belonging to the armed forces is an honor, not treason, as some may think about Brigadier Maash Al-Sadiq Yusuf. His only crime is that he was an officer in the army, and thats an honor he doesnt claim.
Beyond that, Brigadier Yusuf is a wonderful person, engaged in public volunteering, and finds his reward in that shameful manner.
These violations and transgressions must be stopped immediately.
Condolences also go to the son of Shendi, officer Muhammad Ali, whose young son Ali was killed by the same hands in the Samarab area.
The continuous events prevent us from commenting on many of them.
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Final Shield: O God, protect Sudan and its people.
