كتب وأدباء يهود اليمن في أدب علي المقري

Abstract

The novelist, poet and journalist, Ali al-Muqri, native of Ta‘izz (b. 1966), is known for expressing his views on religious and social minorities of Yemen.  A powerful expression to this effect has been given in his four novels (2008–2014). Al-Muqri was compelled to self-imposed exile from his native country on account of threats to his life, arising from his harsh criticism of the Yemeni society, and due to its religious conservatism. Without intimidation, and by making very bold statements, he ruthlessly attacks the negative attitude towards minorities, the more vulnerable elements of society: the Akhdām (a socially marginalized sect), women and Jews.

The article treats the prominent presence of Judaism and of the Jews in two of al-Muqri’s novels:

• The novel, which bears the provocative and challenging name, Al-Yahūdī al-Ḥālī (“The Handsome Jew”) (2009). It is the story of a love affair which happened in the 17^th century between a young and educated Muslim girl, the daughter of the local mufti (high religious personality), and a very handsome young Jewish boy. The background is set against the infamous Headgears’ Decree (1667) and the Mawza’ Exile (1679).

(b)        Bukhūr ‘Adanī (Adeni Incense) (2014), a very comprehensive novel wherein al-Muqri lays out in detail his cultural and humanitarian perspective that spans the world, by means of a utopian perspective of mutual co-existence between the adherents of different religions and faiths in the cosmopolitan city of Aden. The first disintegration of this social framework, which stands at the very center of the novel’s plot, comes actually with the immigration of Yemenite Jews to the land of Israel, an event that al-Muqri views with great understanding. Thus, based on al-Muqri’s literary fiction which reflects therein, in accordance with his mimesis, a true reality, the end of the homeland Aden is ushered in: the end of individual freedom, the end of Jewish communal life in the city, and above all, the end of universal human equality