In Eulogy for Al-Jazouli and Karar, We Lost the ``Calendar`` of Life and Its ``Inaccessible Simplicity``
Mohamed Abdelmajid
Nothing aches or burns my heart more than the departure of a creative person, so much so that I can almost smell the scent of the burning valve. This is why I always suffer from the phobia of news about the departure of a creative person. I usually receive such news like sudden lightning bolts without any forewarning from electronic websites or social media sites, making my heart ache randomly. What burns me about such news is that Sudan can hardly replace those creative individuals we are losing one after the other, like the light paths that disappear as we cling to their fading threads. And nothing hurts the heart more than the disappearance of candles and their light. When Osman Hussein passed away, the Nile overflowed with sorrow, and when Ali Mak passed away, Omdurman became like an orphaned girl who expects nothing as she stands confused at the door.
In a single week, we lost both the journalist and writer Hashem Karar, and the poet, lawyer, and writer Kamal Al-Jazouli. Even though the war has dulled our emotions, the tragedy of their departure was stronger for us than the bombs and bullets that fall on us every morning and evening, and from which we can only find protection when they launch their artillery and planes and bombard us indiscriminately, often hitting civilians!
Kamal left us with his deep philosophy that he expressed while telling us about Mayakovskys words ("I drag my hearts tails with me") and also in the asceticism known in Russian literature ("Watch your shoes, gentlemen, firefighters, hearts on fire must be handled gently"). In this situation, we say that our hearts are burning.
With his friendship that united him with the poet Abdel Rahim Abu Zakaria, who said, "My heart, on which I write: Let the noise subside.. My heart, which admits the wounded with their bandages, and the injured are placed on its stretchers." Kamal Al-Jazouli was faithful to his friend and paid for Abdel Rahim Abu Zakarias education and university, which made us feel that Abu Zakaria hasnt departed yet. Abu Zakaria was present in Al-Jazoulis writings, in his breaths, and in his movements.
Abu Zakaria said, "The planet is tired, it now sits, drenched in vomit and dust, wrapping a bandage around its heart and wrist, in front of it the stars move in their orbits with their pistols."
The late Kamal Al-Jazouli, may God have mercy on him, made Russian literature his philosophy, not only in writing but also in life in general. Russian literature is concerned with the human dimension and is always built on noble positions. Kamal Al-Jazouli, this name that I have always treated as an alien body that should not be approached. He is a planet that cannot be grasped, for those whom their high culture has placed in a place that cannot be seen by the eyes. We were content to learn from him from a distance.
The poet and fighter Hashem Siddiq described him as a "ferocious" fighter, and he was indeed like that with the rank of a warrior. He fights with his words, his pen, his positions, and his culture, wounding his opponents without shedding a single drop of blood. You can appreciate the magnitude and degree of this ferocity when its description comes from one of the most "ferocious" poets, and those who know about ferocity are best aware of its intricacies.
Kamal Al-Jazouli was an example that proved to us that (culture) is the most dangerous weapon that can be used to fight for democracy, freedom, peace, and the homeland. I am now pleased to describe him as a (strong) intellectual. Kamal Al-Jazouli proved to us that a creative person can be (elegant), paying attention to his appearance as much as to the words he writes. An intellectual can also be strong, overcoming bullets, militias, and tanks with his culture. His words could defeat a thousand bullets.
Just as Omdurman talks about the elegance of the artist Ibrahim Awad, it also talks about the elegance of the poet Kamal Al-Jazouli, who was a representative of the national dress and the vibrant and active intellectual youth. Omdurman never missed an appointment with him. Although Kamal Al-Jazouli passed away at the age of 76, he left us while still (young), full of strength, ambition, and vitality.
The intellectual has always been (in between) for us, a profession that teaches you how to hold the stick from the middle. Kamal Al-Jazouli was different, clear, strong, and straightforward. He was either bright white or dark black; his positions were based on this clarity, with no middle ground in his positions.
Al-Jazouli was a (king) in his field, with authority, influence, and strength; he was the sultan of his time in culture and knowledge. One of the most prominent features of Kamal Al-Jazouli, as described by Hashem Siddiq, is that he was a fierce fighter. He had an aura, and in him was a radiance and strength that forced everyone to respect and appreciate him, even those with whom he disagreed. Kamal Al-Jazouli was not like the nature of the leftists who close all the doors that could lead to a path that doesnt end on the left. Despite his fierce character, Al-Jazouli created relationships and friendships with all political currents; (culture) was the main criterion for him.
Although the relationship between the Communist Party and the Umma Party is a lukewarm one, or a relationship characterized by constant rivalry and old enmity, the Umma Party mourned the poet, writer, and intellectual Kamal Al-Jazouli with heartfelt words. The Umma Party talked about the relationship between Imam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi and Kamal Al-Jazouli, which the late Imam framed in beautiful writings about Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, may God have mercy on them both.
There were also strong relationships between Kamal Al-Jazouli and many Islamists. Kamal Al-Jazouli wrote in their newspapers, appeared on their television channels, and participated in their seminars with the fierceness he was known for, without compromising, flattering, or being hypocritical.
Fadhili Jamma in his eulogy for Kamal Al-Jazouli talked about his first impression of Kamal Al-Jazouli, an impression shared by all those who did not know Kamal Al-Jazouli. Fadhili Jamma wrote: (My first impression was not comfortable about the elegant young man from Omdurman, who seemed to me arrogant and harsh in some seminars that brought us together... Maybe the Bedouin nature in me at the time was what kept me from approaching him). From the first glance, you see sternness and arrogance.
The language in which Kamal Al-Jazouli wrote and spoke, and the elegance he was known for, and his affiliation with Omdurman, created in the minds of those who did not know him this impression that many people hold about Kamal Al-Jazouli.
Fadhili Jamma wrote: (I bear witness that I learned a lot from Kamal Al-Jazouli. The true writer and artist is the one who stands up for the simple and the destitute and makes their lives ink for his writing. In many of our gatherings, Kamal Al-Jazouli used to tell me about things that came from his heart as a delicate poet and artist, far from the volcanoes of politics, its rise, and fall).
Jamma also talked about a characteristic that Kamal Al-Jazouli had, which is something that must be highlighted, where Jamma says: (The poet and writer Kamal Al-Jazouli had an advanced critical sense. He reads a books draft and chooses a much better title for it than what you, the books author, would have thought of. This happened with the creative novelist Abdel Aziz Baraka Sakin, who sent him his famous novel (The Jungo) before sending it to the publisher. The novel did not have this title. After Kamal read the draft, he said to Baraka Sakin: The title of this wonderful novel is (The Jungo: Nails of the Earth)! And so it was. It happened that he read a draft of a poetry collection I was preparing for publication - I had given it a title, and Kamal suggested a title for the collection that I couldnt find better. He named it (A Street in Al-Quba Neighborhood). The title carries the name of the main poem in the collection, which he loved more than anything else I wrote).
How can Omdurmans streets find comfort after Kamal Al-Jazouli? We will suffer from alienation in Omdurman after the departure of Kamal Al-Jazouli. Before Kamal Al-Jazouli, Hashem Karar, the man who defeated illness with sarcasm, had passed away. Cancer, with all its struggles and pains as it fought within his body, did not strip him of his smile. We envied Hashem Karar for this strength, resilience, faith, and certainty.
Hashem, the kind man whose kindness you could feel even with the disease that was gnawing at his bones, health, and well-being. Every time Hashem Karars body weakened and his hair fell out, he became stronger and more steadfast, and his family around him shared his pain in harmony and cooperation that made us wonder who among them was suffering?
Hashem Karar, with his "inaccessible simplicity" in writing and journalism, did not abandon this style even in the most painful moments. Hashem Karar practiced "inaccessible simplicity" even with cancer. Now, after the departure of Hashem Karar, we say that he defeated the disease, and the lessons he gave us help us in the difficulties and troubles of life.
We ask Allah Almighty for mercy and forgiveness for Hashem Karar and Kamal Al-Jazouli.
And there is no power and no strength except with Allah.
The end
Abu Ibrahim
