Lebanon: Death misses the poet Muhammad Ali Shams al-Din

Today, Sunday, the Lebanese poet Muhammad Ali Shams al-Din passed away at the age of 80, leaving readers and intellectuals treasures from collections rich in the philosophy of avant-garde poetry.

Shams El-Din was born in the village of Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon in 1942, and grew up and lived in the town of Arabsalim, near Nabatiyeh.

He wrote poetry as a young man, and later dived into Islamic history and literature, graduating between lawyering and knowledge of French poetry.

He holds a doctorate in history from the Lebanese University.

He also held a degree in law and worked as director of inspection and monitoring at the National Social Security Fund in Lebanon, but his passion was the poem wherever he went in his job or cities.

In his poetry, he belonged to the earth, man and woman, and southern Lebanon was his permanent kiss. He was classified as one of the most prominent poets of Jabal Amel.

He previously expressed his attachment to the south in press interviews, and told Al-Jumhuriya newspaper: "My affiliation with the south is like a wound to a stab wound... the south carried me, then I carried it in my poetry far beyond the geographical area."

The Lebanese Writers Union mourned him and described him in a statement as “the beautiful poet, with deep thought, far-sighted, renewed in poetry and renewed with sophistication of the word, the poet who occupied the world of the homeland and the Arabs with his distinguished poems.”

He added, "The national and intellectual loss is heavy, and the loss of the Lebanese Writers Union is great with the departure of this great stature, but what we are saddened is that his impact and heritage will remain an asset for generations and a beacon for poets and pioneers of creativity."

Shams al-Din left a library full of publications and a collection of books, including “Smuggled Poems to My Beloved Asia,” “Stone Winds,” “The Clouds in the Suburbs,” “Shiraziat,” “The Tour Book,” “The Loneliness Circles,” and others.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news