Perhaps the Syrian poet and thinker Ali Ahmed Saeed (Adonis) adopted the phrase of the modernist symbol, the legal predecessor of the Arabic prose poem, Muhammad Abdul Jabbar al-Nafari, “The broader the vision, the narrower the phrase.” During his visit to the Kingdom these days, he contented himself with saying: “I am so happy, that I do not know how to describe this Happiness.” And it seems that he adopted the words of Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi in his well-known house: (I sleep to fill my eyes from their strays, and people watch over them and quarrel).
Adonis was a guest at the Literature, Publishing and Translation Authority, in partnership with the Arab Poetry Academy, in the month of poetry and its international day, March 21, and in the year of Arab poetry, which was named by the Saudi Council of Ministers, in celebration of the pivotal value of poetry in Arab culture, throughout the history of the Arabs, and based on the impact of The Arabian Peninsula, which was and still is home to poetry and poets, and a source of literary masterpieces with a well-established position in human civilization, as confirmed by the Minister of Culture, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan.
There is no dispute that our kingdom today has reaped its bet on awareness, and the gains of intellect, culture and the arts have continued, by virtue of being the most welcoming circles of communication between nations and peoples, which reinforces the impression that our country has become a destination for dozens of thinkers, poets and artists, not the last of whom is (Adonis) and he will be guests throughout the year and the coming years. And the people of Dar are among the elites who are delighted with what we are today in terms of transformations, and the adoption of tolerant climates that reset our compass) in the right direction of the movement of history, as expressed by one of the Arab media professionals.
Adonis' visit to the Kingdom became an event that was followed by the channels, covered by news bulletins, and sparked controversy in the communication sites between a sharp current in its criticism and denunciation of the visit, and a second praising and praising the idea and those behind it, and a third calm and objective, affirming that Saudi Arabia has opened up to all spectra with love and generosity, and transcends all The past, even if she does not forget it, but sublimation and looking forward are the habits of adults.
The attempts of some to politicize the call did not succeed, since receiving Adonis and his visits to Riyadh, Al-Ula, Taif, and Jeddah did not deviate an inch from its cultural and creative framework. The kingdom that opened its cities and villages to all symbols of human giving without discrimination or categorization, nor crying over the ruins of the past, but rather smiling in the face of the present and the future.
Of course, no one disagrees that the owner of (the constant and the transformation) is a controversial figure, and renewable in its data, which radically intersects with the stage that the Kingdom is going through. The radical transformation of our country is neither formal nor arbitrary; Rather, it stems from the pillars that establish communication and human interaction, and this was confirmed by the elite whose halls were filled with interaction with the name, thought and creativity of (Adonis), who, although we disagree with some or more of his theses and alignments, but he remains a cultural symbol and a universal landmark, without a free fetishization that he rejects (singular in the form Plural).
The Bahraini poet Qassim Haddad expressed his great satisfaction at meeting Adonis in the capital of poetry (Taif), and said that this is the beginning of Adonis' communication with his fans in Riyadh, Taif and Jeddah, and he promised him a beautiful and positive meeting, which paves the way for the meeting in other regions, and he did not hide his happiness by participating in an effective evening moderated by the poet Mohammed Al-Herz, and Haddad said, “There is no doubt that the Academy has achieved a great achievement in this season in celebrating the Day of Poetry, and aspires that the invitation of the elites will be an affirmation of the civilized role adopted by the Kingdom’s institutions to raise the status of cultural affairs.”
While the critic Dr. Saeed Al-Suraihi welcomed Adonis, saying: “When we place Adonis’s visit, a poet and researcher, to the Kingdom in the context of our openness to the world, an openness supported by our self-confidence and reinforced by our desire for dialogue and based on recognizing the other’s right to difference, we realize the important symbolic dimension of this invitation and visit.”
The poet Hashim al-Jahdali, the constant and the transformed, considered Adonis' visit to the Kingdom a wave of love, and aspired that it would bear fruit in cultural projects that would be the birthplace of the Kingdom, in which Adonis would participate with many, which means that our country will be a source of cultural product, and a meeting point for the world's cultures, following our shift to production. Our role is no longer just financing.
Ali Al-Rubai (Al-Baha) @Al_ARobai