After the Syrian Baathist coup d’état of 1966 and subsequent rise to power of Hafez al-Asad and his family in 1970, closely coinciding with the stinging Arab coalition defeat in the 1967 war against Israel, political discourses among intelligentsia experienced a focal shift. Earlier themes of revolutionary optimism quickly became supplanted by disillusioned rhetoric. This was particularly evident in the short-form “lyrical” prose of Zakariya Tamer and in the poetry of contemporaries Nizar Qabbani and Muhammad al-Maghout. Across these varied styles, the use of techniques such as allegory, parody, surrealism, violent imagery, and the passage of time invoke the lived realities of political repression and the apparent futility of previous forms of social and ideological engagement. Three particular works from these authors, Haw?mish ?al? daftar an-naksa (Qabb?n? 1967), Al-Fara? laysa mihnat? (al-M?gh?? 1970), and An-Num?r fil-Yawm al-??shir (Zakariyy? T?mir 1978) forms the basis of this review. The overall significance of how each of these authors’ literary texts in differing modes frame the interplay between sociopolitical dynamics and the individual and national psyche lends itself to an in-depth analysis highlighting the features of sound, structure, diction, and repetition found in their works. Careful attention to the rhetorical detail of each text reveals a commonality in perspective on the harsh realities of modern Syria. In Qabb?n?’s poetry, time stands still for thousands of years as a nation lies dormant in the crypts. In al-M?gh??’s, a single day seems to take a lifetime as a revolution comes to pass, or perhaps does not come at all. And in T?mir’s prose, ten days is all it takes for all dignity to be taken away by the state. Throughout the differences in form and structure, each innovative and effective in its own way, connections to the social and political context remain readily discernable, as does the association with the dominant literary and philosophical discourses of the era. While clear-cut attempts to “curate” the literature of the post-iltiz?m period under a single classifier remain elusive, the overall importance of literary development during the period cannot be ignored, nor can the prominence of Syria and Damascus among the Arab literary centers be understated.

The swift takeover of North Africa and al-Andalus by the Almohads in the twelfth century has been referred to as a “revolution” by some scholars. The new regime was rooted in a Berber-led politico-religious movement that claimed the caliphate after a single generation. The Almohads sought to distinguish themselves from the preceding Almoravid dynasty in every respect, waging holy war against all those who opposed them and their doctrine of tawhid, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Almohad sources certainly depict their conquests as momentous, and in some cases explicitly as resurrections, as in the Almohad scribe and chronicler Ibn Sahib al-Sala's Al-mann bil-imama. He describes how entire Andalusi cities were destroyed and depopulated by the Almohads in the face of rebellion, then miraculously revived as news of the Almohad victories spread. In Al-mann bil-imama, the power of both the written and the spoken word is asserted at every turn, and harnessed by the Almohads. We are told that letters relating military conquests were circulated throughout the empire, poets praised the caliphs at length, and officials traveled the countryside to report new decrees. In each of these cases, the chronicler is careful to note the eloquence and power of the language used, and its ability to unite people of al-Andalus under the Almohad banner. Thus, for Ibn Sahib al-Sala, the written and spoken expressions of Almohad success are rendered more influential than the deeds themselves, a productive force to overcome a destructive one. And by collecting and recording them all, Ibn Sahib al-Sala perpetuates an Almohad imperial “wordscape” in which language not only communicated Almohad power but embodied and effected it. As a scribe himself, Ibn Sahib al-Sala would naturally have respected the power of words as a tool of legitimation. Nonetheless, his account in fact mirrors much of what we know about Almohad administrative practices, suggesting that the self-sustaining “wordscape” is not merely a rhetorical device in his text, but a key component of the Almohad imperial program.

The takeover of San‘a’ in September 2014 by Ansar Allah, also known as the Huthis, prompted the interference of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) led by Saudi Arabia. What began as “Operation Decisive Storm” in March 2015 has since become a far-reaching military campaign and blockade. While the Huthis have been pushed out of parts of Yemen, they cemented their grip on San‘a’ in December 2017 after killing former president ‘Ali ‘Abd Allah Salih, with whom they shared a tenuous alliance. Since 2014 the Huthis have controlled San‘a’ and created a new “wordscape” through the composition and spread of the zamil, a genre of Yemeni poetry in which they address the righteous nature of their cause. The zamil pervades San‘a’, from its performance at weddings and political rallies to its broadcast on loudspeakers on the street and military checkpoints. However, the zamil is not limited to San‘a’. It has also crossed borders, most notably through social media, and garnered responses by Saudi poets. In many of these poems, the apparent religious discourse is of particular interest. One poem that has prompted Saudi retaliations is “The Gates of Najran,” a zamil so widespread that a search on Youtube results in recordings with a million hits. While the Yemeni conflict and the zamil as a genre have received separate scholarly attention, the Huthi zamil’s religious discourse and the Saudi responses have not. Scholars have associated the zamil with tribalism and have understood its composition as an act of persuasion and assertion of honor (Caton 1993). In the case of “The Gates of Najran,” religious rhetoric is a primary tool of persuasion. This paper analyzes “The Gates of Najran” and the response of Saudi poet Nayif Husayn al-Ka‘bi. The response of al-Ka‘bi challenges the zamil’s message while utilizing similar religious rhetoric. These two poems demonstrate the potency of the zamil in the current conflict, a new “wordscape” that crosses borders, posing a threat to Saudi intervention by laying claim to Huthi justice and Saudi tyranny.