Marouf Al Rusafi

Iraq history is full of men who need more light to be shed on their dark forgotten image there in the shadows of the forgotten, if not of, ignorance.

I searched the interent for something about Marouf Al Rusafi in English and I found only one site:
http://www.saadiyousif.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=505&Itemid=39

from which I took the lines talking about Marouf Al Rusafi
“There is a very important tradition in Iraq of the poet as a symbol. For example, Marouf Al Rusafi was a poet who was seen by the Iraqi people as a national hero, because he was publicly against the British-imposed regime, against the monarchy. He went from being a member of parliament to a very poor man, selling cigarettes in Fallouja, being in need, without privileges.”

Her is my post

He took the book from my hands murmuring with interest: “what is this?”. He was a man sitting next to me in the bus. He started looking at the title and the picture.


I didn’t feel annoyed. He gave me back the book. Smiled. then he examined my face, as if wondering if I am angry at his movement. I was smiling. He said: “he was about to be the president of Iraq” . “and what happened?” I asked. “the English didn’t accept that”. I nodded my head with a sign which also means “I appreciate what you have told me”.

Marouf Al Rusafi lived in Baghdad in the first half of the 20th century. Between 1933-1941 he lived in Al Felluja in which he wrote his controversial book “Mohammedian Biography”.
He is known as a poet with a sardonic writing style. King Faisal refused to accept Al Rusafi to be a member of what was called as “first establishment board” of the early Iraqi government and the causes were, as King Faisal said: “…..due to his sexual perversions and living with prostitutes….”.

In this book I just bought entitled “the Iraqi message: in politics, religion and sociology” he talks about many things but what surprised me was his trial to show us the good side of some of those who are famous of not entering Islam at the time of the prophet Mohamed. They are regarded as “bad” and “evil” persons, but he was trying to show us some positive characters in them. On the other hand he was trying to show us the “bad” aspects of those early persons who accepted Islam as their religion at the time of the prophet Mohamed. These are holy people, but Al Rusafi did criticize some aspects of their behavior. And to my surprise no body hurt him much. It seems that people were respecting him in spite of that. I hope that there comes a day when we start again, in Baghdad, and in Iraq as a whole, to respect people’s views and ideas, whatever they would be, like our fathers and mothers were doing.