Secularism, Spirituality and Reform – Ya‘qub Balbul

BY ORIT BASHKIN

Ya‘qub Balbul (1919-2003) was a Baghdadi-Jewish author and poet. He graduated from the Jewish Baghdadi Alliance Israélite Universelle school (established in 1864), which offered a French education to its Jewish and Muslim students. His knowledge of French and other Western languages later enabled him to find employment in the French Embassy as a translator. Concurrently, he published works of poetry and prose in the Iraqi and Egyptian press. In 1938, his collection of short stories, al-Jamra al-ula (The First Ember) appeared in Iraq. In 1936, a story in the Najafi cultural journal al-Hatif (edited by Ja‘far al-Khalili) recognized his literary talents, noting, sadly, that he had to ask for his father’s financial help in order to print his works.1 Balbul’s style and his thematic choices placed him at the forefront of Iraq’s writers at the time.Youthful and angry, the undaunted Balbul tackled many taboos in Iraqi society: honor killings, the failed settlements of Bedouins in villages, and women’s rights (or rather their absence). His poetry and short stories, moreover, reflected Balbul’s patriotism and his mastery of the Arabic, and particularly Islamic, literary canon. Later in his life, Balbul edited the yearly journal of the Baghdadi Chamber of Commerce (Majallat ghurfat tijarat Baghdad), of which he was a member.2

176 BANIPAL 72 – AUTUMN/WINTER 2021