Ra'ouf Mus'ad
Encyclopedia
Ra’ouf Mus'ad is a playwright
, journalist
and novelist who was born in Sudan
to Egypt
ian Copt
ic parents. He moved to Egypt as a teenager and lived in various countries, both in the Middle East
and in Europe
, during the past 30 years. He has now settled in Amsterdam
with his Dutch wife and their children and has taken Dutch nationality.
Christian background. Although his father's family was Coptic, the father was converted to Protestantism
and became a Protestant minister. This religious, and more specifically Christian, background is an important part of the struggle with identity and belonging which becomes apparent in much of Mus'ad’s writing.
He was born in Port Sudan
in 1937 and lived the first years of his life there, before moving with his family to Wad Madani
, to the south east of Khartoum
on the Blue Nile
. From here he was sent to boarding school in Asyut
in Middle Egypt, from where he returned to Wad Madani for the summer holidays before his father’s work prompted the family to finally relocate to Luxor. He studied journalism at the University of Cairo and graduated in 1960. It was in Cairo
in 1954 that he first joined a small underground Marxist organisation initially called ‘The Vanguard of the Workers and Fellaheen’ and then later renamed ‘The Party of the Workers and Fellaheen’.
In Cairo, the family moved around various areas, including al-Fajjala and Deir al-Malaak, in increasing poverty because his father had fallen seriously ill and could no longer work.
In Nasser
's Egypt, Communist organisations were illegal and political activity was a dangerous pursuit punished with imprisonment. During the Suez Crisis
of 1956 Mus'ad was arrested whilst handing out leaflets urging popular resistance to the foreign occupation of the Suez Canal Zone. He and his comrades were held for one night and then released. In December 1960 he was again arrested at the family flat in Deir al-Malaak after a naïve attempt to escape and disappear. He was held for seven months before being brought before a military court in Alexandria
and sentenced. He spent another seven or eight months in custody in Alexandria before being moved to the oases prisons where he stayed until the mass releases of 1964. It was in prison that he met and befriended the writers Sonallah Ibrahim
and Kamal al-Qalash, with whom he co-authored his first book.
After his release, in 1964, he started to work as a journalist and began his literary work: plays, stories and reportage. In 1970 he moved to Warsaw
, where he studied theatrical production and got married.
He lived in Poland
for five years, during which time he visited many Soviet Block countries. This was the start of a long period of self-imposed exile which saw him establish himself in Baghdad
and Beirut
before returning briefly to Egypt. In Baghdad he worked in the Cinema and Theatre Foundation and met the woman who would become his next wife. In Lebanon he worked as a journalist for the newspaper as-Safir, and lived in Beirut through the Israeli siege of 1982, which is what eventually forced him to leave Beirut and return to Egypt.
He moved to the Netherlands
in 1990, where he has lived and worked since. He has, in his own words, ‘attained a certain amount of fame’ and has been active in the media, contributing to cultural and political debates, such as the consequences of the war in Iraq and taking part in a televised debate on censorship alongside the celebrated Arab poets Mahmoud Darwish
and Adunis.
In 2004 he established a small publishing house, in collaboration with a number of other Arab writers living outside the Arab world. Named ‘Muhajiroun’, the publisher is intended to print the works of Arab writers free from the difficulties of publishing in the Arab world, which Mus'ad sees as being beset by problems engendered by ‘the state of decline in the Arab political scene’.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and novelist who was born in Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian Copt
Copt
The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....
ic parents. He moved to Egypt as a teenager and lived in various countries, both in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, during the past 30 years. He has now settled in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
with his Dutch wife and their children and has taken Dutch nationality.
Biography
He comes from a CopticChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
Christian background. Although his father's family was Coptic, the father was converted to Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
and became a Protestant minister. This religious, and more specifically Christian, background is an important part of the struggle with identity and belonging which becomes apparent in much of Mus'ad’s writing.
He was born in Port Sudan
Port Sudan
Port Sudan is the capital of Red Sea State, Sudan; it has 489,725 residents . Located on the Red Sea, it is the Republic of Sudan's main port city.-History:...
in 1937 and lived the first years of his life there, before moving with his family to Wad Madani
Wad Madani
Wad Madani is the capital of the Al Jazirah state in east-central Sudan.Wad Madani lies on the west bank of the Blue Nile, nearly 85 miles southeast of Khartoum....
, to the south east of Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
on the Blue Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
. From here he was sent to boarding school in Asyut
Asyut
Asyut is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt; the ancient city of the same name is situated nearby. The modern city is located at , while the ancient city is at .- Etymology :...
in Middle Egypt, from where he returned to Wad Madani for the summer holidays before his father’s work prompted the family to finally relocate to Luxor. He studied journalism at the University of Cairo and graduated in 1960. It was in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
in 1954 that he first joined a small underground Marxist organisation initially called ‘The Vanguard of the Workers and Fellaheen’ and then later renamed ‘The Party of the Workers and Fellaheen’.
In Cairo, the family moved around various areas, including al-Fajjala and Deir al-Malaak, in increasing poverty because his father had fallen seriously ill and could no longer work.
In Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
's Egypt, Communist organisations were illegal and political activity was a dangerous pursuit punished with imprisonment. During the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
of 1956 Mus'ad was arrested whilst handing out leaflets urging popular resistance to the foreign occupation of the Suez Canal Zone. He and his comrades were held for one night and then released. In December 1960 he was again arrested at the family flat in Deir al-Malaak after a naïve attempt to escape and disappear. He was held for seven months before being brought before a military court in Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
and sentenced. He spent another seven or eight months in custody in Alexandria before being moved to the oases prisons where he stayed until the mass releases of 1964. It was in prison that he met and befriended the writers Sonallah Ibrahim
Sonallah Ibrahim
Son'allah Ibrahim is an Egyptian novelist and short story writer and one of the "Sixties Generation" who is known for his leftist and nationalist views which are expressed rather directly in his work...
and Kamal al-Qalash, with whom he co-authored his first book.
After his release, in 1964, he started to work as a journalist and began his literary work: plays, stories and reportage. In 1970 he moved to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, where he studied theatrical production and got married.
He lived in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
for five years, during which time he visited many Soviet Block countries. This was the start of a long period of self-imposed exile which saw him establish himself in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
and Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
before returning briefly to Egypt. In Baghdad he worked in the Cinema and Theatre Foundation and met the woman who would become his next wife. In Lebanon he worked as a journalist for the newspaper as-Safir, and lived in Beirut through the Israeli siege of 1982, which is what eventually forced him to leave Beirut and return to Egypt.
He moved to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in 1990, where he has lived and worked since. He has, in his own words, ‘attained a certain amount of fame’ and has been active in the media, contributing to cultural and political debates, such as the consequences of the war in Iraq and taking part in a televised debate on censorship alongside the celebrated Arab poets Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author who won numerous awards for his literary output and was regarded as the Palestinian national poet...
and Adunis.
In 2004 he established a small publishing house, in collaboration with a number of other Arab writers living outside the Arab world. Named ‘Muhajiroun’, the publisher is intended to print the works of Arab writers free from the difficulties of publishing in the Arab world, which Mus'ad sees as being beset by problems engendered by ‘the state of decline in the Arab political scene’.