Interview by Ali al-Amiri (Sharjah)
The Ring of the Dove crowns the Turkish Arabist with the Turjuman Award
The Arabist, researcher and translator Dr. Mehmet Hakkı Suçin is described as “the ambassador of Arabic literature in Türkiye” for his major contributions to building a bridge between Arab and Turkish cultures, and for a passion for Arabic that began early and reached, in his own words, the level of a “beautiful obsession.” He has never stopped voyaging through classical, modern and contemporary Arabic literature, and has published many translations, among them The Ring of the Dove by the Andalusian Ali ibn Hazm, which took him to the podium as winner of the Sharjah Translation Award, “Turjuman,” at the 43rd Sharjah International Book Fair.
In an interview with Al-Nashir al-Usbu‘i, Suçin says that “this award is not only a personal honour, but also a recognition of the importance of cultural communication through translation, and a deep appreciation of Arabic literature and its rich history.”
The author of The History of Translation into Arabic holds that “good texts are anti-ageing and resist oblivion: a creatively good text never grows old, whether new or old.” The Turjuman Award confirms his words once again: The Ring of the Dove, written a thousand years ago, still pulses with life, still open to reading, interpretation, study, translation and reflection — and each time the book becomes more alive.
What does winning the Sharjah Translation Award, “Turjuman,” at the 43rd Sharjah International Book Fair, for your translation of Ali ibn Hazm al-Andalusi’s The Ring of the Dove from Arabic into Turkish, mean to you?
Winning the Sharjah Translation Award, “Turjuman,” is a great honour for me. This award is not only a personal honour, but also a recognition of the importance of cultural communication through translation and a deep appreciation of Arabic literature and its rich history. My translation of Ibn Hazm’s The Ring of the Dove is an attempt to bring Arabic literature and Arab culture closer to Turkish readers, and to build a bridge linking two civilisations that share a long history of interaction and mutual influence.
On this occasion I extend my sincere thanks to Sharjah, capital of culture and the book, and to everyone who contributed to launching and realising this great award, foremost among them His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Book Authority, and the members of the jury. I congratulate the Turkish Alfa publishing group, which won this major award through my translation of The Ring of the Dove, and thank its director, the writer and translator Saadet Özen, and her team for their care in publishing my translations of Arabic literature and distributing them throughout Türkiye so that they reach a wide readership. I believe this important award will encourage the winning publishing group and other publishers to bring out more literary and cultural works translated from Arabic into Turkish.
The Ring of the Dove reflects an important side of Arab culture — love, intimacy and affection. As its Turkish translator, how do you see the importance of this book?
Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi’s The Ring of the Dove is not only an Arabic classic; it is a world classic, like Plato’s Symposium and Ovid’s Art of Love. It is a unique book, multidimensional in terms of genre. On the one hand it is a kind of autobiography of Ibn Hazm; on the other a semi-narrative work in which prose and poetry interweave side by side, the prose itself often having a poetic flavour. The book’s opening, a letter addressed to a friend, adds to its appeal by removing the barrier of time and place between writer and reader, making it easier to sympathise with an author who lived a thousand years ago. This makes it a “hybrid” text that we can read as narrative or poetry, as a literary or historical work, as a psychological or ethical work. It also offers, in a striking way, an encounter with the aesthetics of pleasure and the body in that Andalusian period, with a psychological analysis based on the author’s experiences and observations — yet these aesthetics are cleverly balanced with the grace of love, ethics and religion. One of the things that makes the work unique is that it was written by the leading jurist of his age and one of the theorists of the Zahiri school of law. Contrary to what some might expect of a jurist, Ibn Hazm treats love in its various dimensions — not only spiritually, but also approaching human feelings and desires analytically and courageously, and offering real-life examples of people who fell in love, which reflects his boldness in raising such subjects. He treats love not merely as an emotional state but as a philosophical and psychological subject requiring analysis and study. His boldness shows in his dissection of complex human emotions and his interpretation of them without regarding them as mere desires to be suppressed. This approach reflects his deep understanding of human nature.
In the context of the love, affection and intimacy of The Ring of the Dove, what would you say about humanity’s need, now and always, for such lofty values, at a time of multiplying wars and rising injustice against entire peoples?
The Ring of the Dove is a unique work that gives people the opportunity to understand themselves and their emotions more deeply and truthfully. In this book Ibn Hazm does not offer us merely a psychological, philosophical or ethical study of love; he enters the very heart of human experience, revealing its complexities, strengths and weaknesses. He seeks to analyse and understand every detail of love and passion, showing that a person may feel jealousy, regret, joy and pain, and even weakness in the face of emotions or behaviour that may seem irrational or unexpected. Through his precise description of these feelings, Ibn Hazm allows readers to recognise their own emotions and to try to understand the motives of their behaviour and the reasons for their actions and reactions, making them more self-aware. When individuals understand their feelings and recognise their weaknesses, they become more empathetic towards others and avoid passing harsh or hasty judgements on their behaviour. So The Ring of the Dove can be considered a practical guide that helps people deal with their emotions in a balanced way. Through the stories and experiences of lovers, Ibn Hazm invites readers to learn from the experiences of others and to benefit from them so as not to fall into the same mistakes. The book thus serves as a mirror reflecting human feelings, through which one gains a deeper wisdom and understanding of one’s own feelings and those of others. The Ring of the Dove therefore offers an alternative perspective, showing that lofty values such as love, affection and intimacy are the foundation on which a society free of hatred can be built — a society of inner peace and harmonious coexistence, which strengthens human bonds and reduces conflict. For the book carries, in one of its aspects, a humane message of harmony in the face of injustice, oppression and war.
How do you see the role of Sharjah and its cultural project — especially the Turjuman Award — in strengthening cultural exchange between peoples?
I am familiar with two cultural projects sponsored by the Emirate of Sharjah with the personal attention of its ruler, the author and intellectual His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qasimi. The first is the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language, undertaken by the Arabic Language Academy in Sharjah, whose completion was announced after seven years of work: a vast dictionary of 127 volumes. While His Highness was delivering the opening address of the Congress of Arabic Studies in Europe, in which I was a participant, I saw how much interest he takes in this civilisational project. The second is the network of Arab Cultural Institutes that Sharjah plans to launch in a number of countries; the first opened at the end of last August at the Catholic University in Milan, Italy. I believe this network will play a strategic role as a soft power in spreading Arab and Islamic culture around the world.
Many working in literary studies and translation believe that Arabic literature — classical, modern and contemporary — has not yet taken its due place on the map of world culture. What do you think? And what should be done to strengthen its presence globally?
When we speak of Arabic literature we are in fact speaking of a vast literary geography, diverse in culture and in dialect. So it is difficult to encompass this great space of literature and culture. Even the Arabs themselves cannot do it — so what of the “lost” Arabists? The question is: how much do Arabs read one another? Does a reader in Sudan, for example, have the means to follow the major works published in Algeria, Bahrain or the Emirates? Amid these obstacles, “everyone sings to his own Layla.” So Arab readers’ access to the literary production of other Arab countries must be made easier — and this is where the importance of book fairs lies. The second point is that we must look at Arabic literature fairly, because good texts are anti-ageing and resist oblivion: a creatively good text never grows old, whether new or old. Moreover, the new and the old are in constant close interaction. How, for example, can someone who has not read the “modernists” of the pre-Islamic, Umayyad or Abbasid periods penetrate the texts of the “modernists” of our own time? Someone who has not read The Ring of the Dove will not be able to read Mohammed Bennis’s The Book of Love, for instance, as a new text written upon an old one. In short, I believe Arabic literature needs to strengthen its presence “at home” before strengthening it globally. We have the example of Latin American literature: it spread globally only after it had spread in its own native environment.
The relationship between Arab and Turkish cultures goes back a long way, but it seems the old literary bridges now need restoring. How can this be done?
You are right. Classical Turkish poetry developed as a mirror of Persian and Arabic literature. It was marked by inspiration from the Qur’an, the Sunna and the stories of the prophets, as well as by its Sufi character. We know that Ottoman poets rewrote Arab stories such as Majnun Layla and produced poetic works blending Arab, Persian and Turkish influences. In the twentieth century, nationalist movements affected relations between Arabs and Turks, especially after the repressive policies pursued by the Committee of Union and Progress. I think we must be bold in confronting history in both its positive and negative faces, and deal with historical questions in an open spirit. With this vision we can build a better future, not limited to literature and the arts but extending to the sciences, philosophy, Sufism, music, cinema, cuisine, folklore and more. Translation between Arabic and Turkish literature also has a vital role in achieving this goal.
You play a great individual role as an ambassador of Arabic literature in your country, through your outstanding achievements in bringing books by major figures of classical and contemporary Arabic literature into Turkish. What are the sources and motivations of this passion?
In fact it is a spontaneous passion that took hold of me when I was a student in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at Ankara University. But after a while I felt that the Turkish and Arab peoples, despite being in the same “cultural and civilisational basin,” did not know each other deeply in cultural and civilisational terms. I began translating texts by Khalil Gibran to improve my Arabic, and found readers among my fellow students. Then I sent one of these translations to a literary magazine, and it was published. That is how my journey with Arabic literature began. When I became a university teacher, I did not stop translating short stories and poems and publishing them in Turkish literary magazines — so much so that some of my colleagues reproached me for translations that brought neither money nor academic promotion. But I have never regretted this beautiful “obsession” with which I was “afflicted.”
How do you see the reception by Turkish readers who, thanks to your translations, are reading the Seven Muʿallaqat, The Ring of the Dove and The Song of Man, a selection of al-Mutanabbi’s poems, in their own language for the first time?
In fact I now have a wide readership that follows me and reads almost all my publications, translated or authored. There are talks, groups and reading clubs that discuss these publications, and I take part in some sessions when my circumstances allow. We can see how these translations have been received from the number of their printings, their circulation in online and in-person reading groups, and the many articles critics, poets and writers have written about them. The works have attracted great interest in Türkiye’s literary world. For example, my translation of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish’s I Don’t Want This Poem to End was listed among Türkiye’s eleven best books of 2016. After my translation of his other collection, Like Almond Blossoms or Farther, was published, PEN Türkiye named Mahmoud Darwish its “Writer of the Month” in August 2020. And a committee of 23 poets and novelists chose my translation of the Seven Muʿallaqat among the fifty best translated and original literary books published in Türkiye in 2020 — an unprecedented achievement for Arabic literature in Türkiye.
From your cultural and translation experience, what are the main challenges facing a translator of classical and contemporary Arabic literature into Turkish? And how do you see your experience of translating al-Mutanabbi, for example?
The biggest problem facing translators from Arabic into Turkish is that they do not know Turkish with literary knowledge. If you are not a good reader of literature — stories, novels and poetry — in your own language, how can you translate well? And beyond that, being a good reader is not enough: you must be a creative writer in your mother tongue in order to recreate a literary text in your own language. As for my translation of the great poet al-Mutanabbi, I believe — on the testimony of Turkish poets — that I recreated the poeticity of his text at a high level in Turkish. In my translations of Arabic poetry I take care to strike a fine balance between preserving the content and embodying the poetic rhythm, without either overpowering the other. In translating classical Arabic poetry I seek to recreate the poetic text in Turkish, using internal rhythm and fluid rhymes, avoiding any artificiality that might harm the structure and content of the poem. My aim is to create a text that is modern yet carries a classical character. I set myself the goal of presenting al-Mutanabbi as a world poet whom Turks would receive as they receive the great classical poets of the world.
As an Arabist, how do you see the Arabist movement in Türkiye — its role, its main features and landmarks, and its particularity?
In the Ottoman period, Arabic and its sciences were taught as part of Islamic studies in traditional madrasas. But with the founding of the Turkish Republic, the teaching of Arabic moved to non-religious institutions of higher education such as faculties of letters. In 1938 a department of Arabic and Persian was opened at Istanbul University; it was followed by Ankara University, which established a Department of Arabic Language and Literature in 1940, becoming the second university in Türkiye to offer the field. Orientalists played a prominent role in developing Arabic studies in Türkiye, foremost among them Hellmut Ritter, the founder of Arabic and Persian studies in modern Türkiye. Ritter helped establish the Institute of Oriental Studies, launched the journal Oriens and the Bibliotheca Islamica project in cooperation with Turkish scholars, and contributed to founding the International Society for Oriental Research in Istanbul in the 1940s. After Ritter, other scholars such as Ahmed Ateş, Muhammad al-Tanji and Nihat M. Çetin contributed to the development of the field. Today Arabic studies in Türkiye are pursued in three kinds of departments: departments of Arabic language and literature, which focus on theoretical studies of the Arabic language and literature across the ages; departments of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers; and, finally, the relatively recent departments of Arabic–Turkish translation and interpreting. Of these departments, in which I am one of the teachers, it can be said in brief that the quantity is there, but the problem is quality.
Originally published in Arabic as “Muhammad Haqqi Suçin: Good Texts Are Anti-Ageing”, interview by Ali al-Amiri, Al-Nashir al-Usbu‘i (Sharjah Book Authority), Issue 74, December 2024. Translated into English for this site. Magazine pages (PDF) ↗