"If it weren't for you, I would have collected bread. A cloud of intimate bilge Annie"
(Abdullah Al-Tayeb in his dedication to his book "The Lesser Enthusiasm" by "His Best Wife" Grizelda Al-Tayeb)
Sitting among the crowds speaking in eloquent Arabic, meditating on the verses of the Qur'an or talking about teaching Arabic in Africa, this is the first thing that fascinated him, and therefore it is no wonder that her story begins, it is not complete except with his biography, and the biography of the Sudanese scholar and poet Abdullah Al-Tayeb is not complete except in Grizelda, his companion who came from Britain to complete her life next to him, his Arabism was the first thing that drew her attention to him while he was speaking at the University of London, where their first meeting was after the war The second world, was represented by the magic of the East and the tales of the Thousand and One Nights, there began the story and in Sudan was the conclusion of a love story does not repeat brought together the Sudanese scholar Abdullah Tayeb artist and anthropologist Grizzelda Tayeb. (1)
Immigration to London
Abdullah al-Tayeb and Grizelda in the garden of their home at the Institute of Education in the Bakht al-Rida area of the White Nile. (Social Media)
Abdullah al-Tayeb (1921-2003) was one of the first generation who left Sudan to receive his education in London, at a time when a group of carefully selected Sudanese youth were sent to go to the University of London, under the British colonization of Sudan, to come into contact with society and live their stories. There he met a British art student at the University of London in 1945, and it seems that the first meeting was the beginning of a long companionship, as his presence caught her eye, and his conversation attracted her ears. (2)
"You sheltered me when there is no kinship or lineage. Except Wydad and love is not in colors"
(From the poetry of the good in Grizelda)
The marriage of the Sudanese scholar "Abdullah Al-Tayeb" to the artist and anthropologist Grizelda Al-Tayeb. (Social Media)
Marriage seemed difficult to achieve, Valtayeb takes care of his brothers, and Grizelda will not find acceptance from her family, so the meeting between them remained out of the sight of the family, before she tells them of her desire to marry him, Grizzalda tells how her mother told her when she saw him coming: "He looks like killers", and how her father went towards the agent of the government of the British Sudan, in search of a radical solution by exile the young Sudanese outside the country, but the government agent told him that the man is from a large family in Sudan (Al-Majzoub), and that he has a bright future, Thus, the father was relieved a little about the marriage that took place in 1948, and in 1960 the father's heart will be more reassured when he recognizes the great status of Tayeb in his country.
Moving to Sudan was exhausting for the English girl, remember how it took days across the ship to Port Sudan, and then via the train from Port Sudan to Damer (the city of Al-Majadeeb relative to Sheikh Al-Majzoub, grandfather of the scholar Abdullah Al-Tayeb), she remembered the first time she saw fans in a hotel in Port Sudan, she also remembered the food that did not appeal to her, and how her husband agreed with a specialized cook to serve her the dishes she knew, and she tells about her shock at the gatherings that sometimes imposed - according to customs - the separation between Men and women, she found herself alone, despite the gentle smiles of the welcoming women. (3)
Soon the ice will melt, and Grizelda will master the Arabic language, merge into the Tayeb family to become one of them, integrate into the larger ocean in Sudan and have unforgettable imprints and efforts.
He writes and she draws.
During Al-Tayeb's journey, which he contributed to in the fields of thought, literature and the Arabic language, Grizelda, who does not know much about Arabic, interfered in her opinion in matters of distinction, not only by surrounding him with care and helping him organize his time to devote himself to his writings in poetry, literature and language, as she was the one who advised him to learn French, as I thought when he completed one of his most important books "The Guide in Understanding Arab Poetry and Industry" that Dr. Taha Hussein would write the introduction to him, which is what actually happened, so they moved Together to Cairo to meet the Dean of Arabic Literature and present the book to him. (4)
When his book Sudanese Riddles was translated into English in 1965, Grizelda painted illustrations of red cane, ghouls and other legends that grandmothers told children in the evenings to stimulate imagination and entertain the little ones, as well as the illustrations of his book "The Train Window" and some other plays.
"And surrounded me with beautiful kindness from you, for it has ... I have risen with the blossom of contentment and righteousness in my branches."
Grizelda's love extended from Abdullah al-Tayeb to the whole of Sudan, so she wrote many articles documenting the heritage of Sudan, in which she lived for decades, in her book "Traditional Clothing in Sudan" she wrote and painted Sudanese costumes that are almost extinct today, the book that was part of her master's thesis in folklore and painting. (5)
Grizelda's book "Traditional Clothing in Sudan" has not been translated into Arabic to this day. (Social Media)
The book was the result of field research in which Grizzelda collected the customs and traditions of a number of ethnic groups in the north and east of the country on various social occasions, and included in it a comprehensive and illustrated record of the Sudanese national costumes; "Al-Qurbab", "Al-Fado", "Al-Zammam" and "Al-Higabat", and she monitored the change in fashion since its arrival over the years.
Grizelda studied ethnology, and during her long life in Sudan, she had cultural and artistic community activities, in addition to her teaching work in the art departments that she helped establish, and sought to develop the presence of art in Sudanese culture and introduce major Sudanese artists, especially since most of them lived outside it. (6)
Grizzlda. gem
The story is complete with the passage of years, and she said in one of her interviews that she was lucky to marry the good man. In 1974, after a long life of learning about the Arabic language and Sudanese culture, Grizelda was accompanying Al-Tayeb to Nigeria to establish the Faculty of Arabic Language at Abdullah Bayro University in Kano, Grizelda declared her Islam on a Ramadan night in which her loved ones from the family and students of Al-Tayeb gathered with the Grand Mufti of Nigeria, Dr. Hassan Guarzo, who called her "Jewel", and his gift was two travel cards for the husband to Mecca to perform Umrah.
Hadiya al-Tayeb was an elegant house in one of Khartoum's upscale neighborhoods, which they lovingly made together, and Grizelda put artistic touches in it, although their main residence remained in the professors' residence of the University of Khartoum. (7)
"Greetings to you, I dedicate it and honored. From the heart and the time of my weights"
In 2003, Abdullah Al-Tayeb died, and Grizelda lived after his death about 20 years as a faithful guardian of his heritage, narrating his biography, and keeping his writings, and Grizzalda fought during those years legal battles to restore his book "Guide to understanding Arab poetry and industry", where she found replicas of it, and stated that some of his books were stolen, and sought to see all the books of her late husband the light, as he had two collections of poetry has not yet been printed. (8)
The book "The Guide to Understanding Arab Poetry and Industry". (Social Media)
The poet and journalist Jaafar Hamid al-Bashir anticipates events as he consoles her, telling her: "The Sudanese people will not let you leave Sudan," to assure him that she did not think about it in the first place: "How can I leave my country, in which I have lived for more than seventy years?" When asked about her staying in Sudan after Tayeb's departure, she was talking about her family responsibilities towards her grandchildren – the children of his nephews, as Tayeb and Grizelda had no children – and her love for the country where she made friends, and she stresses that her presence in it is the origin, and she appreciates that they care for and respect the elderly. (9) (10)
Long life for kindness
On the eleventh anniversary of his death, Dr. Abdul Qadir Mahmoud Abdullah, professor of critical studies, wrote his book "Abdullah Al-Tayeb and Grizelda: Finding the Other Self", stressing that his book is not about Al-Tayeb alone, and that he heard their story from Mrs. Grizelda mainly, and then from the biography of Al-Tayeb and from his poems as well, perhaps Gryzelda was closer than that Al-Tayeb writes about it in his biography "from the bag of memories", as all those around him know, appear in his poems and writings engraved without being Her name is mentioned. (11)
The years she lived after his death will seem to be an extension of Abdullah Al-Tayeb's life and biography, so she stayed to tell the story of their oceanic love, receive visitors to their home in a Sudanese dialect distinguished by an English accent, and tell about the heroes of Tayeb Saleh's novel "The Season of Migration to the North" who resemble some of those she saw in that era. (12)
Grizzlada categorically denied that anyone she knew resembled the protagonist "Mustafa Said" who went to London loaded with a desire for revenge against colonialism, and refuted how the period in which Tayeb Saleh's generation went in the fifties differed from the first period covered by the novel in the twenties, but she tells a historian of that period about names whose stories intersect with the protagonists, albeit in small parts of it; Ahmed Al-Tayeb, who was preparing for a doctorate in Arabic literature, and Dr. Saad Eddin Fawzi The first Sudanese to specialize in economics at the University of Oxford, and her husband, the scholar Abdullah Al-Tayeb.
Her writing shows the extent of knowledge of Sudanese society and contact with the intellectual elite in it, as she narrates stories similar to what was stated in the most famous novel by Tayeb Saleh, and emphasizes his ingenuity in mixing all these characters and events to produce a wonderful work of art from them. (13)
Before her departure last May (2022), Grizelda recommended that she deliver his gift to her on the occasion of her Islam, Villa No. 12, in Block 12 east of the extension Khartoum, buildings Street 17, to his "second home" with which he has not been interrupted, Faculty of Arts at the University of Khartoum, so that the biography does not disappear among students who will get to know him, perhaps before reading his books, from the name engraved on the building that Grizelda took care of, with his belongings, references, works, and paintings. (14)
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