George Al-Rassi: Issam Mahfouz, the city’s guard

2023-06-18 15:13:35

If you hear a giggle on Al-Hamra Street in Beirut, know that her son and bodyguard, Issam Mahfouz, has settled down behind his usual table in the Wimpy Café at the intersection of Hamra with Abdel Aziz Street…

It’s 10:00 a.m. and it’s time to catch up on the town… and catch up. What he might have missed from yesterday’s news… Who got married, who divorced, who quarreled with whom and why, who reconciled with whom and how that happened, and what awaits us tomorrow while we live in a city hour by hour. And day by day, and the rest we have no power over…

The news of the city, big and small, and the people of the city, men and women, rich and poor, nourish his spirit and literature…

On the day I sat with him, one thing had occupied his mind since the incident: What is the story of Onsi Al-Hajj with Mrs. Fayrouz? Yesterday’s incident was that a single car brought us together by pure chance with Onsi… and under his arm was a hook “nagging him”. An-Nahar newspaper, forget, with Mrs. Fayrouz, our ambassador to the stars…

It was only because of my anger that he got angry and got out of the car, “smashing” the door violently…

And Forget is a great poet. We will not forget his creations, to which my friend, the poet Paul Shawl, devoted his dissertation to… But it was common at that time that some of the writers of “An-Nahar” newspaper and a large number of them were personal friends, considered himself the “Don Juan” of the era, and of course, Onsi El-Hajj The dear Ghada Al-Samman published his letters to her as part of a series that restores the spirit of those days…

Such stories Essam was eager to hear because they enriched his theater and literature… and he was ready to provide the necessary “chocolate mo” which is popular these days to hear it…

From politics to literature… and from poetry to theater

Issam Mahfouz is from southern Lebanon, specifically from Jdeidet Marjeyoun, and the origin of a traditional study ended in Paris, where he obtained a certificate from the Institute of Graduate Studies. He worked in the cultural press in Beirut, and became involved with the “Poetry” magazine group, which was led by Captain Youssef Al-Khal… The group, which included Adonis, was intellectually and politically close to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Essam emerged as a playwright through some successful works such as “The Zinzelacht” (1968), “Carte Blanche” (1970) and “The Dictator” (1972). He also published a number of poetry collections, most notably “Dead Things” (1959), “Summer Herbs” (1963), and “First Death” (1973).

In addition, by virtue of his journalistic work, he had numerous literary texts and writings, as well as criticizing the highest levels, such as in “Aragon the Poet and the Case” (1974), “The Vanguard Arabic Novel” (1981), “The Arab Theater Scenario” (1981), and “Dialogue with Pioneers.” The Arab Renaissance in the Nineteenth Century” (1988), “Theatre, the Future of Arabia” (1991), “Rambo the Red” (2002), and “Paris of the Seventies” (2018) were published following his death in 2006. Among his distinguished works are also: “Dialogues with Atheists in Heritage”, “With the Great Sheikh Ibn Arabi”, “With the Heritage Rebels”, “With the Pioneers of the Renaissance”, and “With the Culture Rebels”… and he had a likable presence in many meetings and conferences…

Searching for “Popular Standard”…

Essam’s main concern was to reach what he called “Al-Fusha Al-Shaabi”, that is, a simple language that people might understand, without the price of that being a drop in level or sacrificing sound grammar. Sometimes it came to the use of journalistic critical language. Some directors have worked on Issam’s scripts, such as Lina Abyad, who presented “The Dictator” and “Al-Zanzalakht”… Others have also worked on other scripts such as: “Why did Sarhan reject what the leader Farajallah Al-Helou said”… and he had a practical experience with “A Professional Beirut for theatre”, which was promoted by the duo Roger Assaf and Nidal Ashkar, who excelled in the experience of “The Storyteller” and in presenting “Carte Blanche”.

In fact, Essam met in his attempts with many Arab playwrights, such as Kateb Yassin in Algeria, Al-Siddiqi in Morocco, Al-Farid Faraj in Egypt, Saad Allah Wannous in Syria and other pioneers of the Arab theater who did not find anyone to succeed them until today.

Sicily… and the mafia

This is some from Issam Mahfouz. The writer, poet, and playwright.. As for Issam al-Siddiq, he has another matter. It happened that we met once more in Paris in 1976 following the outbreak of the “events.” He was accompanied by his girlfriend, the brilliant journalist Huda al-Husseini (a Maronite Hussaini) who is still a columnist for the newspaper. Asharq Al-Awsat, which is issued in London (and there is no doubt that it has a lot of work these days, because it follows the news of Sudan since the days of Jaafar Nimeiri).

Issam was continuing to correspond with “An-Nahar” newspaper, and I was a correspondent with some Arab and foreign newspapers. We took what was available, and there was no room for “indulgence” and we do not know our fate…

By virtue of our work, we were invited to cover many events and events… In the year following our arrival, our friend Naji Abu Khalil invited us to attend an important conference organized by UNESCO on the island of Sicily on a topic. Antiquities that were stolen from third world countries, whether by the old colonialists, or by smuggling mafias. The Arab presence was limited to us only, even though all Arab countries suffer from this problem…

The important thing is that following the end of the conference, we gave a “holiday” day to those who wished to visit the city… It was not possible for us to miss this opportunity while we were in Palermo, the capital of an island bearing the weight of its Phoenician and Arab history.

We have already demobilized and entered the catacombs of the city. Perhaps we will meet a Phoenician sailor who has fallen asleep, or an Arab poet still lamenting the fall of Granada, but what we encountered was something completely different. In Zaroub, Issam decided that we should check it out. We found a shop that sells all kinds of glassware: cups, saucers, vases, kitchen utensils, etc.

The store is spacious, deep and dark… Essam entered among the crowded and adjoining shelves, and he encountered what was forbidden. As he hit one of the shelves, a vase fell to the ground and broke. In the shop there was an old woman sitting behind a rickety table. Essam thought that she would not notice anything because of the darkness and the spaciousness of the shop. As soon as we took a few steps outside the shop, we looked behind and saw four men following us and walking in the “line”, not one behind the other…Issam turned to me in panic, and I said to myself: Here you go sir, you want Phoenician sailors and Arab poets…The mafia has come to you…Have you not heard of the Sicilian mafia? ? Haven’t you seen the movie “The Godfather”? And what did Marlon Brando do?

There was no way out…we stopped and paid the blood money…

Tunisia… and Syria

As for Tunisia, we were already in the lands of Phenicia… I think we were invited either on the occasion of a book fair or to attend a conference of the Constitutional Party.. They dropped us off at a nice hotel in the tourist suburb of “Hammamet” so that you might imagine yourself on a recreational trip… Things went well and the atmosphere was wonderful… Until one morning, Issam came to me with a sullen face, knocking on the door of my room…

– Good Essam… what regarding me?

The Syrian intelligence followed me

…(It was not long following the Syrian forces entered Lebanon)

– Why what are you doing?

– What are you doing?

Is it possible that the Syrian intelligence followed us to the bathrooms?

How did you know, Essam, that she followed us?

– A hotel worker came in the morning, knocked on my door and asked me: Do you want to specify Syria?

– What happened?

– You told him to solve it for me… I don’t want to limit anyone… I am not once morest Syria…

Then the mouse played in my head… and it made me anxious..

I said we would go to the hotel manager and tell him regarding it…

Indeed, we went down to the reception hall and asked for the manager, and his arrival was not late, especially since we were among the invited…

– Issam asked him: What are the Syrian intelligence doing with you…and he told him the incident…The director burst out laughing and said to him: He is asking you if you want to iron your shirt that you washed yesterday…

iron for ironing..natural…

And “Syrian” is the name used in Tunisia and throughout the Maghreb for fabrics during the past centuries, because they were imported from the Levant!

Drawing Arabic language academies…

fired from work…

Some time ago, my friend (and relative) Ramzi Al-Rassi visited me in Beirut, the son of Salam Al-Rassi, a prominent writer of popular literature, and his family is also from Marjayoun. He resides in London and specializes in producing documentaries. He was accompanied by Issam’s brother, a doctor who owns a clinic on Hamra Street. The purpose of the visit was They are working on producing a documentary film regarding the life and work of Issam, and they wanted me to provide them with the photos and memories I have due to my closeness to him… Indeed, I presented them with the photos I had in particular… I am still waiting for this tape to be released…

But the good news that they told me is that the Zinzelakht tree, from which Issam inspired one of his works, is still standing in the middle of the family house in Marjayoun…

In the late sixties of the last century, Issam began his journalistic work as an editorial secretary in the women’s magazine “Al-Hasnaa”, which was bought by “Dar Al-Nahar”. Which yielded his first book, “Beirut Lovers of the Sixties”…

In the year 1966 he devoted himself to the journalistic article… After thirty years, he was dismissed from his job and left alone without salary or compensation, as most of the honorable people of this nation leave, until illness made him incapacitated and God decreed a matter that was in effect in one of the university hospital rooms…

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