Renowned Iraqi poet Muzaffar al-Nawab dies
The death of revered Iraqi poet Muzaffar al-Nawab, has stirred controversy in the Iraqi street between the admirers of his poetry and the critics of his alleged 'immoral' stances.
BAGHDAD — Iraq bid farewell on May 20 to Muzaffar Abdul Majeed Al-Nawab, nicknamed the “revolutionary poet” for decrying some corrupt regimes across the Arab world.
Nawab passed away at University Hospital Sharjah in the UAE after a long illness at the age of 88 years. His body was brought back to Iraq by and met by the prime minister and other prominent officials.
Nawab’s popular and eloquent poetry earned him a prominent position at the forefront of modern Arabic literature. His poems were filled with revolutionary fervor, social anger, satire, and rebellion against injustice and corruption by Arab dictators. Some of his poetry composed in the spoken dialect were sung by some of the most renowned Iraqi singers, such as Yas Khoder. These include the poems called “Oh, Basil” [Ya Rihan], “Al-Rayl and Hamad,” and “The Night of Violet.”
Syrian writer Aws Daoud Yaqoub described Nawab in a book dedicated to his poetry as the poet of “revolutions and sorrow.”
