Uncle Abdur-Raheem 2/3
Above, a tea stall on Tuti Island, pre-war.
Background to This Week’s Text
This week we explore the second section of the iconic Sudanese poem Abdur-Raheem. Before tackling this section, make sure you have worked through section one, discussed and annotated in Uncle Abdur-Raheem 1/3. There you can also find external links offering greater orientation on the poem and its dramatization in English.
The second section of the poem contains some of the most well known and poignant verses in modern Sudanese poetry and reveals much of the poet’s political and humanistic philosophy. For many, these verses encapsulate the social and political challenges facing Sudan and their impact on the most vulnerable.
Muna Zaki has very kindly provided a full transcript of the poem, which corrects errors in the Poetry Translation text referenced in the first section, and coheres with the most widely known version, which is sung below. Remember there are multiple versions of the poem in popular culture.
This series of posts would not be possible without the detailed explanations, generous research undertaken by Muna and her colleagues.
Possible Approaches
As suggested in Uncle Abdur-Raheem 1/3, you might like to listen to Nancy Ajaj’s version with your eyes closed and try to visualize the scenes and imagery evoked and just enjoy the sound of the words and note the rhymes and poetic rhythms you can catch.
How many different scenes or phases of the poem do you notice? What is the atmosphere and emotional tone created? What does the poem reveal about the poet and his cultural and political ideals? Which verses resonate most with you and why? How do you predict Abdur-Raheem’s story will unfold?
Alternatively, you might like to make notes of all the specifically Sudanese turns of phrase, syntactical features, such as assimilation of possessive suffixes and word order, and cultural references you hear. If your Sudanese Arabic is of advanced level, you might enjoy comparing the original text with Adil Babikir’s translation and explore the choices made by the translator.
After you have worked through the poem, why not try learning a section by heart or reciting it in time with the subtitled version?
If you would like specific comprehension questions then consider the following:
What regrets and sadnesses haunt Abdur-Raheem? How do we know his circumstances have changed? How are Sudan’s governments and her people’s reactions to them described? Can you make a note of all the occupations mentioned in this section? Why do you think the poet mentions so many? What is the poet saying about the nature of poverty in Sudan?
In this section you will hear many examples of the conditional in informal Sudanese Arabic. Perhaps make a note of all the ones you can catch. What is the poetic impact of these conditionals?
Khartoum, near Baladiyya Street, pre-war.
Lexical Focus
If you would like pre-listening orientation, then consider the following:
What words might you expect to hear for “shame”, “harm”, “worry / anxiety”, “poverty or hardship” and “to toil / labour”, also as a noun for drudgery? Which words are used for “lie fallow”, irrigation pump”, and “dates” (fruit)?
What words do you predict will be used for these occupations and their irregular plurals; dockworkers, sugarcane cutters, cotton pickers, and rope hawker?
You will hear expressions for “come to the surface” (of an object, especially in water), “become distracted / daydream”, colloquial verbs for “pull /drag”, “gush / pour / leak”, “spit” and “frown”. What verb might be used for “to spur on / nudge a donkey”? How would you say “drowned man”, “sink / subside”; “folktales”, “medicine men”, “charlatans /imposters”, and “bully”. How would you say “sweat, n/v”, “burrow / hole”, “brow / forehead”, “pearls”, and which verb would you use for “clothe someone?
When would you use theses forms of address: yaa fanjeri! And yaa Sabii! What protective exclamation is often used when someone feels they are in the presence of danger?
What meanings do you associate with these words; Ų·ŁŁ and ŲŗŲØŲ“? What religious term is used for godlessness / unbelief in God?
Zubier Basha Street, Khartoum
Listen Here:
Nancy Ajaj
Subtitled Version
Transcript, 5 Pages
Annotated Transcript
1 perhaps here, “Are you really free?” Note the rhetorical construction maa-kaa; and the use of yaa rayt / yaa reet; if only, I wish; the dates; at-tamr, would (yield) every three months
2 and if only the old days hadn’t passed; tamurr; to pass; the poem here is wistfully evoking happier times
3 Had shame / humiliation / degradation but also extreme poverty; hawaan, a feeling of shame or great embarrassment, condition of being looked down upon or despised (al-ma`any), not come to you.
Note the name Um Rahoum, present in Adil Babikir’s translation, is missing from the text. It appears the poet Uncle Abdur-Raheem is speaking regretfully about her (his wife’s?) suffering;
Had harm / injury; Durr, Darra; to harm, damage (u), not befallen you; literally; met / found you
4 Had not straightened circumstances (Diig), stifled / constricted you, from Daaga, (i); in some versions of this line might be rendered as tasted; Dugti; to taste; Daaga (u), Diig; anxiety / distress, also discomfort
itghaghar; literally, we have a form of the verb to gargle, so perhaps here the idea is “if poverty hadn’t risen bitterly / repeatedly into your throat (?); al-fagr; poverty
5 laa shaabayt ghariig; nor, literally; the bobbing up and down in the water, coming to the surface, shaabayt; of a drowning / drowned man; ghariig; drowned; again the desperation of trying to keep one’s head above water is evoked here
TawaH fagr; literally the passive of the verb to fling; had poverty not been flung at you;
6 Had what had been not been, kaan aksiiki durr; I would have clothed; kiswa, plural, kasaawi; garment, especially when new, also the cover of the Kaaba, you in pearls; durr; synonym of luulii
7 literally; and governments sink; taghur; ghaar, (u); sink, descend, become sunken, also subside for land; the poet now explores the cycles of government in Sudan and ordinary people’s way of coping with them:
8 taHkum bi-; (sometimes), they rule by Hujii; variant plural of Hujwa; -aat, aHaaji,Huja; folktales, fairy tales
bi-ddajal al-kajuur; dajjaal; imposter, charlatan, quack, the quackery of the kujuur, plural kajara; medicine man / diviner; Sometimes the military rule –
9 kasaar aj-jabuur; (spirit-)breaking bully / bullying, from kasar, to break; kassar; to smash / break into pieces; jabur; force, compulsion, coercion; bi-j-jabuur; by force; the idea here is of the cruel bully; jabbaar; ruthless
10 (and at other times) they rule by the name of the Prophet and the tombs; gabuur; referencing the sway of shiekhs, religious leaders, the weight of the past
11 you know, young man; yaa Sabii; plural; Subyaan; a (brave) young man
12 sometimes you (just) turn away and turn round; talif; taduur; meaning here you reject them
and you say “barii”; an interjection used when you wish to be kept safely away from danger; bariyya; invocation to God for protection from any kind of evil (also said when someone is ill)
13 or you burn incense; taHrig bukhuur; again to ward off evil as a protective rite
14 hiim yaa fanjari; haana; to arise / stand up; as in guum! yaa fanjari, this form of address is used for a man deemed to be of good character and chivalrous behaviour, who offers service to others
jerif aS-Sabuur; to be updated
15 all you have left are dates; tamuur, as, previous line, “All the seeds you had sown died.” Adil Babikir
16 and your lands lie fallow; buur; ariD buur; fallow land
17 laa tiiraab waSal; the seed provisions provided by local government didn’t arrive
laa baabuur yaduur; and no irrigation pump turns / runs
18 wa-lmaahiyya uff; and the wages; are nothing; uff, (dissolving away like bubbles; bubble)
`iisha haak wa kuff; a possible translation; to live from hand to mouth; ka /uff, palm of the hand; the idea is your wages are almost snatched away from your palm as soon as you receive them
19 tuff ya dunya tuff; literally spit; tufaaf; spittle; “Spit on you! / Miserable of a world”, Adil Babikir; it is as if the world spits upon the poor
20 yaa `abd-ash-shagii; oh slave / bearer of hardship / misery; shagyaan; miserable
maa it`awad shakii; unaccustomed to complaining; shaka (i), shakwa, shakiyya, (min), complain / grumble
21 lakin al-kafaaf; but al-kafaaf; extreme poverty / destitution; perhaps here instead of “but”, even though
upon you / over you is leaning; muntakii; to lean heavily, also to lean back in a chair; intaka
22 here the poet is reminding us of the merciless power of the market for people like Abdur-Raheem; and the market trades against you / you are traded / at the mercy of the market, also many demands are made of you
haal-aa maa tasurr; literally, their condition / situation doesn’t please; perhaps here doesn’t smile (on them)
faayiitaak bi-S-Sabr; exceeding; from faata; exceed / outdistance, you in patience; but there are others who surpass even you in patience
23 saakiniin bi-iijaar; living in rented (homes)
laa Tiin laa tamr; without (their own agricultural) land or dates (or any income from agriculture)
24 maa laagiin juHar / jaHar; (some people not even finding) a burrow; JuHar; hole / burrow
25 sila`-tum aD-Duraa`; literally; your wares / goods are your arms; your bodily labour, you sell your labour;
w-al-`arig al-yakhurr; pouring; yakhurr; from kharra,(u), to leak, gush water; sweat; al- ` arig
kilaat al-mawaanii; dockhands, plural of kila; al-muwaanii; plural of miinaa’; port
26 al-ghubush at-ta`aanii; al-ghubush; very poor people / miserable people (Dictionary of Sudanese Colloquial Tamis / Persson) but this word is also often used by Sudanese to refer to the ordinary man of modest means; note the verb ghabbasha; to cover or pollute with dust or mud; al-walad de ghabbash nafs-o; the boy got himself really dusty ghabsha; at-ta`aanii; suffering
27 baHHaarat-as-sufun; baHHaar, plural; baHHaara; sailors (of ships)
Hashshaashat-al-quSuub; Hashshaash; a person who has the job of cutting, etc; Hashsha; to cut grass / weed; al-gaSuub; sugar cane
28 ligaaTat-l-guTn; cotton pickers, plural noun from laggaTa; (u), to pick cotton (or flowers)
al-jaalib al-Hibaal; from jalaba, (i); to bring for sale, hawker of rope; Habil, Hibaal
29 al-fiTn al-furun; Adil Babikir; “bakers: fused by oven flames”; fiTn; (within) the belly / stomach in Sudanese colloquial, especially Shaygia, as in dakhal fiTn al-bayt; al-furun, plural afraan; furnace, oven, bakery
their work is at the fire (of the furnaces / ovens)
30 furg-aan shata bayn; expression used to express the idea that something is completely different from something else; furga; gulf / gap
31 majruura wa tajurr; from the verb jarra (u); to pull or drag; dragged along (by circumstances) or dragging
32 takdaH bil-ajr; from the verb kadaHa; to toil, labour, drudge slave, grub, so perhaps here, slaving away or toiling for wages and sometimes for no wages at all
33 wa daysh-n haan gadar; here we have the Sudanese colloquial variant pronunciation for “army”, jaysh; the poet is referring to the many mouths the poor must provide for, like an army; “And look how many mouths on their feed list”; Adil Babikir renders the previous line as “look how much they get?”
34 and there are other people whose situation / condition; Haal-(haa) zayn; fine / beautiful; (they are;) Adil Babikir; “And here are the well-heeled:”
35 (owners of) a factory; maSna`, a factory or two factories, (dual), (or more); emphasizing they have property / business interests
36 here Tiin has the idea of land, especially agricultural land; the poet is emphasizing that there are people who have so much land that if you were looking out at it, stretching away into the horizon, you couldn’t see where it ends; Tiin also means mud or clay.
37 maa maraa-baa murr; to be updated
38 baarid hamma-(haa); literally their (of an-naas) cares are cool; they have few worries
laa ya`rig jabiin; no sweating brow;
ya`rig; to sweat, `irig,
`argaan; sweating; jabiin, brow / forehead
39 laa wushsh-(haa) yaSurr; no frowning face; Sarra (u), frown; Sarra washsh-o; frown / screw up one’s eyes
40 `ayn `ayn; there are two possible interpretations; the exclamation look, look! (at their good fortune) and also possibly implied reference to envy and the evil eye, as the expression is also used to ward off the evil eye;
The poet then goes on to contrast the worldly heaven of the fortunate and Abdur-Raheem’s impoverishment in this life, knowing that only after death will he enjoy heavenly ease: “Little these fortunes weigh, be assured,/ against the eternal bliss of paradise – / and heavenly mansions”, Adil Babikir
41 wa `izza-haa haan gadar; to be updated
42 dii aj-janna umm na`iim; literally, Mother of Bliss; perhaps here Heaven abode of bliss
aj-janna umm gaSr; heaven / paradise of palaces / mansions
43 literally, behind, perhaps here, beyond, the grave; al-gabr; grave / tomb
44 yalkid fii-; spur on / nudge his donkey; Sudanese colloquial
perhaps here; don’t become too distracted / inattentive (because of your worries); tasraH; saraHa, (a), sarHa; to become absent-minded / daydream / distracted by thoughts; sarHaan; inattentive, absent-minded, daydreaming. This warning will take on great significance later in the poem. “Don’t give free rein / to your mind’s eye” (Adil Babikir)
45 for indeed / verily; Inn kaan, poverty; al-fagr
resembles; ashbah bi-; lkufr; unbelief, the state of being an infidel; kafara; to be godless, be an atheist; the poet is saying those ground down by extreme poverty can come to / appear to come to rejection of faith; as in the proverb; aj-jaw` kaafir; literally hunger is infidel. “Surely, Abdur-raheem, / poverty whittles away faith, / from the boldest of hearts.” (Adil Babikir)
Below, this section in Adil Babikir’s Abdur-Raheem, Modern Sudanese Poetry, An Anthology
Sudanese Arabic Documentary Transcripts with English Notes 