In his new book, Saudi writer and journalist Ali Makki revisits a collection of interviews he conducted with numerous Arab writers, poets, and intellectuals over more than three decades. There are over 20 conversations in Secularists and Islamists – Debates in Arab Culture. They go back to his early career in 1990 at the daily newspaper Okaz and run up to the present day, covering literature, art, politics, and religion in engaging and thought-provoking discussions.
Some interviews are shocking, including a fierce encounter with Syrian writer and critic Kamal Abu Deeb, who declared: “I am not humble; what you say is nonsense, and I will obliterate history.” For his part, Bahraini intellectual Mohammed Jaber Al-Ansari, a professor of Islamic civilisation studies and contemporary thought, told Makki that “ideologies detached from reality will perish.” And about a year before his passing, Palestinian translator Saleh Almani reminisced about his early passion and shared his dream of establishing a translation institute.
Makki also revisits interviews with prominent Arab journalists— such as Lebanese writer Samir Atallah, dubbed “the last guardian of the daily column"—as well as novelists and poets. Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi shares his experiences with writing, life, imprisonment, and Gulf and Nabati poetry. Egyptian novelist Ibrahim Abdel Meguid, an interviewee in the book, also attended a discussion inspired by it held in Cairo.
Makki, a media professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, has had a passion for writing since high school, where he used to write sports articles for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Riyadiyah newspaper—his first article was published in 1988. He has worked at several Saudi and Arab newspapers and magazines throughout his career, but he considers Okaz his first home. In a wide-ranging interview with Al Majalla, he talks about his book and shares his insights about culture, art and current affairs in Saudi Arabia. Below is the full interview:
Your book prominently features poets. Does this suggest there is a fledging poet inside of you, as the famous poet Mahmoud Darwish once suggested?
This focus was unintentional. It just so happened that I attended two back-to-back Arab poetry festivals in 1997 and 1998 in Cairo and Tunis. Most attendees were poets, along with a select group of critics, intellectuals, and Arab thinkers. I won’t deny that poetry has captivated me since childhood. I grew up immersed in The Mu’allaqat during my school years and was deeply enamoured with Al-Mutanabbi.
But chance played a role, as the poet Ibrahim Zawli was our close neighbour, and our house was practically adjacent to his. Despite him being several years older, we became friends, and this fuelled my interest in and exposure to poetry.
Through his library, I read the works of Al-Bardouni, Elia Abu Madi, Omar Abu Risha, Mahmoud Darwish, Samih Al-Qasim and many others—may they all rest in peace. I am forever grateful to Zawli for acquainting me with the world of culture and literature and for his unwavering support.
As for Mahmoud Darwish’s comment about seeing a poet in me, it was such a compliment! I won’t deny that I’ve dabbled in both classical and colloquial poetry, but those attempts remain confined to a private notebook that only a handful of close friends have seen.
