Salah Jahin

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Salah Jaheen
)
Salah Jahin
Born(1930-12-25)December 25, 1930
Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt
DiedApril 21, 1986(1986-04-21) (aged 55)
Cairo, Egypt
OccupationPoet, lyricist, playwright and cartoonist
LanguageEgyptian Arabic
NationalityEgyptian
Years active1955-1986

Muhammad Salah Eldin Bahgat Ahmad Helmy (محمد صلاح الدين بهجت أحمد حلمى, IPA:

.

Life and career

Jaheen was born in Shobra district, Cairo in 1930 to a middle-class family. He studied law in Cairo University. In 1955, he started working for the Egyptian weekly magazine "Rose al-Yousef" as a cartoonist. A year later, he moved to the new magazine "Sabah el-Khair" for which he became the editor-in-chief, then he joined Al-Ahram.

Together with

folkloric and low art produced by and for the uneducated masses, while the term "Shi'r" (Arabic for poetry) was restricted to poetry written in Modern Standard Arabic (commonly known as "Fuṣḥā", meaning most eloquent).[1]

He wrote several plays for the

1952 Revolution and was sometimes known as the semiofficial poet of the revolution.[2] However, after Egypt's defeat in the 1967 war and Gamal Abdel Nasser death in 1970 he suffered from a severe depression. In one interview, he said that with the death of Nasser in 1970 and the sudden shift in political orientation he felt increasingly like Hamlet, with Sadat embodying the treacherous Claudius.[3]

In addition to political poetry, Jahin's poems frequently contain

philosophical themes, questioning the purpose of human life, the nature of good and evil, human and divine will and the limits of human pursuit of freedom and happiness.[1]

In 1965, Jaheen was awarded the Egyptian Order of Science and Arts of the First Class. He died in 1986 at the age of 55.

Works

As a poet

Ruba'iyat (Quatrains)

In 1963 Jaheen wrote his

rubaiyat in which he expressed his beliefs, emotions and views of life, existence, good and evil. Each verse ended with one ironic expression "Agabi" or "how strange !". Quatrains are sometimes argued as the greatest popular poetic achievement in Egypt in the last 50 years.[3]

In Egypt's Name

In 1971, Jaheen wrote "Ala Esm Masr" or "In Egypt's name", an

pharaoic era till present. Each verse ended with the same expression "Ala esm Masr" or "In Egypt's name" but each time holding a new meaning. In this poem Jaheen repeatedly expressed his love for his country. In one stanza
, he says:

"History may say what it wishes in Egypt’s name
Egypt, for me, is the most beloved and most beautiful of things.
I love her when she owns the earth, east and west.
And I love her when she is down, wounded in a battle.
I love her fiercely, gently and with modesty.
I hate her and curse her with the passion of the lovesick.
I leave her and flee down one path, and she remains in another .
She turns to find me beside her in misfortune.
My veins pulsating with a thousand tunes and rhythms.
In Egypt's name."
Other books

His other books of colloquial poetry include:

  • An al-qamar wa al-teen (1961).
  • Qasaqis Waraq, (1966).
  • Dawawin Salah Jahin, (1977).
  • Angham Siptambirriyah, (1984).

Song writer

Jaheen wrote the

Suad Husni
. 2010, The Egyptian Singer
Tony Kaldas composed a song from his lyrics and sang it in a new different style, in a classical way with Piano.

Political Cartoonist

'On the Soap Question', a wry Salah Jahin cartoon published in Al-Ahram in 1974

Jahin was a witty political cartoonist, where his sketches of everyday life over the course of four decades "made people laugh and cry at the same time."[4] His drawings were a mainstay of Al-Ahram's daily editions form the1960s until his death in 1986, and at least two volumes published collections of his work in 1986,[5] and 2013.[6] Jahin's original sketches have also been exhibited.[7]

Trivia

A Google Doodle on 25 December 2013 commemorated Jahin's 83rd birth anniversary.[8]

References

  1. ^ .
  2. . Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  3. ^ a b "April memories, April tunes". Al-Ahram Weekly. 2000-04-27. Archived from the original on 2006-03-13. Retrieved 2016-07-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ "سداسية صلاح جاهين الكاريكاتورية". الهلال. No. 4. 1988-04-01. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  5. ^ Jahine, Salah (1988). سداسية صلاح جاهين الكاريكاتورية (in Arabic). دار المستقبل العربي.
  6. ^ Jahine, Salah (2013). صلاح جاهين - الأعمال الكاريكاتيرية الجزء الأول 1956-1962 (in Arabic). القاهرة: الهيئة المصرية العامة للكتاب.
  7. ^ "رسوم كاريكاتير نادرة لصلاح جاهين في معرض بالقاهرة". اندبندنت عربية (in Arabic). 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  8. ^ "Salah Jahin's 83rd Birthday". Google. 25 December 2013.

General References

External links