Faces and TracesZaid Ali Al-Mushiki, a defiant knight in satirical and political poetry [Archives:2008/1118/Culture]

Prepared by Eyad N. Al-Samman
Faces & Traces is a cultural series of concise biographies of local or international famous and obscure personalities in fields such as literature, arts, culture and religion in which these individuals contribute affirmatively. It is a short journey in contemporary history, attempting to tackle numerous effective characters in human civilization.

Zaid Ali Al-Mushiki was a Yemeni jurist, poet, critic, politician and revolutionist. Born in 1910 in Hajjah governorate's Shaharah city, where he did his primary studies, at age 15, Al-Mushiki moved around to several villages and cities, including Al-Dhafeer, Hajjah and Al-Dhalei to study the Qur'an and prophetic traditions.

During his adolescence, Al-Mushiki moved to Dhamar city – where his lineage is traced back to – attending Al-Shamsiah School, where he continued studying jurisprudence and Arabic language sciences.

At the end of the 1920s, Al-Mushiki enrolled in the House of Sciences in Sana'a, eventually obtaining a higher academic degree called “Al-Ghayah.”

Because of his academic intelligence and his fame for being articulate and polite among his colleagues, Imam Yahya entrusted him with instructing his sons. Thus, Al-Mushiki spent part of his life teaching, at the same time frequenting the Great Mosque Library in Sana'a to read the books and references there.

Al-Mushiki subsequently moved to Taiz governorate when heir apparent Imam Ahmed appointed him governor of several districts there and then ruler of the imam's residence in Taiz.

Due to the dire economic, social, cultural and other situations Yemen was experiencing under imamate reign, Al-Mushiki involved himself in political activities, criticizing such situations satirically in his poetry and prose.

This caused Imam Yahya to threaten Al-Mushiki and other free Yemenis with death. Consequently, some of them, including Al-Mushiki, fled to South Yemen in 1944, staying in the city of Aden, which still was under British colonization.

Al-Mushiki remained in Aden for nearly a year, during which he wholeheartedly and enthusiastically devoted himself to reading and acquiring knowledge at Queen Victoria Public Library.

During this time, he contributed positively to numerous revolutionary and nationalist activities, including establishing with his peers the Free Yemeni Movement in 1944 and being elected its vice president.

His political activities further included calls regarding the necessity of national unity and revolution against imamate tyranny in North Yemen and British colonization in the south.

Because of his defiant opposition against Imam Yahya, in 1944, the latter ordered Al-Mushiki's house in Dhamar demolished and his other properties confiscated.

Opposition by the Free Yemenis in Aden increased against Imam Yahya and his son. Fearing such “modernists,” as he dubbed them, who were calling for political change, Imam Yahya sent a delegate [meaning one individual or should this be a delegation?] to negotiate with the new movement, as well as submit his official objection to the British mandate in Aden.

Because they suffered greatly and due to other internal disagreements within the movement, the Free Yemenis agreed to the imam's requests and other enticements to return to North Yemen.

Resettling in Taiz in 1946, Al-Mushiki continued his political activities, participating with Abdullah Al-Wazeer and Hussein Al-Kibsi – two other Free Yemenis – in issuing and endorsing their well-known religious fatwa, a legal opinion, which allowed any Yemeni to kill Imam Yahya, as they considered him a tyrant and a conspirator in starving and humiliating the Yemeni people.

Al-Mushiki's was among many voices calling for a constitution ensuring consultation, , freedom and equality . He helped draft a new constitution known as the Holy National Pact and and assisted in the Arab League's authorization of it.

While Al-Mushiki's literary works in poetry, prose and critique were diverse, most were confiscated and ruined by the actions of Imam Yahya and his heir apparent, Ahmed. His house was demolished a second time in 1948 and all of his works confiscated by guards.

Al-Mushiki began his literary career as a poet, composing poems for various religious and social occasions. His poetry included significant aspects of his revolutionary and thoughts of struggle, as characterized by their truthfulness, defiance, simplicity and group expression.

Publishing some of his prose writings himself in Al-Hikmah Al-Yamaniah (The Yemeni Wisdom) magazine and Al-Bareed Al-Adabi (The Literary Post) newspaper, some of his other prose works were published during his sojourn in Aden.

As a critic, Al-Mushiki published a critique of Arab poet Abu Tayyib Ahmad Ibn Al-Hussein Al-Mutanabbi in The Literary Post newspaper and it was one of the most important critiques he ever penned.

While his diverse body of work hasn't been collected and published, the most prominent book about his life, which contains some of his works, is 1984's “Zaid Al-Mushiki: A Poet and Martyr,” published by the Yemeni Center for Study and Research.

The outbreak of the first revolution against Yemen's imamate on February 17, 1948 ended Imam Yahya's rule by killing him. Following the failed March 1948 Constitutional Revolution and Imam Ahmed's sudden return to Sana'a, Al-Mushiki was arrested and banished to Hajjah city, where he was imprisoned in the horrible Al-Qahirah, or Castle, Prison.

Within the first few days of April 1948, Al-Mushiki was beaten and tortured and then beheaded by guards at Hajjah's Castle Prison. However, his life was witness to his great role in and the wonderful place he occupied amid the galaxy of Yemen's other heroic nationalists and revolutionists.
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