Al-Mutanabbi in the light of drama

Mamdouh Adwan

Is there anything left to add about Al-Mutanabbi, the man who filled the world and occupied people's minds throughout the centuries that have extended from his birth until now? Is there any aspect of him that has not been studied, scrutinized, and examined in more than one way, and has not been subjected to discussion and debate between the lovers of this great poet and his critics and haters? Al-Mutanabbi is a unique figure in our literary heritage. His fans, readers, and memorizers of his poems are too numerous to count, and too dangerous to engage with without prior preparation and readiness. They have extensive knowledge of his poetry and many of the stages and details of his life. Their zeal in defending or attacking him is immeasurable. Consequently, the preconceived image of him is more compelling. The imagined image they have painted of him is too attached to the imagination to be discussed. His relationship with national identity is more deeply rooted and dangerous. This is what makes attacking him, for many, an attack on one of the "values ​​and symbols of the nation." But I'm writing about Al-Mutanabbi after spending two full years reading and analyzing his poetry and studying the details of his life in order to write a television series about him. Dramatic writing requires its author to penetrate as much as he can into the souls of his heroes in order to understand them, to imagine them in the situations that humans might find themselves in, and to depict their reactions, with dramatic logic, as human reactions might be. All of this is within the framework of documented historical information.