On January 17, 1905, the literary mentor Yahya Haqqi was born in the “Darb Al-Meidah” alley, located behind the “Mosque and Tomb of Sayyida Zeinab” in Cairo. He was of Turkish descent from both his parents, who spoke Turkish and Arabic and were devout Muslims committed to the teachings of their faith.
From early childhood, Yahya was endowed with a talent for writing. However, it was his distinctive and fertile life path that turned him into a mentor for Arab creatives, especially in the field of short story writing. He was one of the founders of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture in the 1950s, where he served as the Director of the Arts Administration for three years and later as the Editor-in-Chief of “Al-Majalla” magazine for eight years from 1962 to 1970.
The magazine transformed into a school for teaching the literary arts to Egyptian creatives. The studies published within it became a school for Arab creatives in both the East and West. Haqqi was the last ‘creator’ to hold cultural positions without a Doctorate degree. His assistant at “Al-Majalla” was Dr. Shukri Ayad, a well-known academic and critic. His successor as the magazine’s editor was Dr. Abdel Qader Al-Qitt, also a renowned critic.
Advancing the Arabic Language
In the same period, Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz was an employee under Haqqi’s leadership in the Arts Administration. When Hassanain Heikal chose his team of creatives for “Al-Ahram” newspaper, Haqqi declined the offer, opting instead to write for “Al-Taawun” newspaper, distributed among “Agricultural Societies”, because he knew it would reach educated farmers’ children directly, thus delivering his message without clashing with the censor – Heikal, the official spokesman for Gamal Abdel Nasser and his co-ruler.
For those examining Haqqi’s social journey, two points stand out. Firstly, although of Turkish ethnicity and culture, he cherished Arab culture, reading its origins and works by pioneers from Al-Jahiz to the historian Abdul Rahman Al-Jabarti. He played a significant role in advancing the Arabic language to keep pace with the times, following Taha Hussein. This earned Haqqi the informal title of “the second mentor,” as the generation of Taha Hussein, Ali Abdul Razek, and Mustafa Abdul Razek transitioned Arabic from the “museum of Al-Azhar” to the hustle of political and cultural life. An example is Taha Hussein’s notable article where he mourned Mustafa Lutfi Al-Manfaluti’s era, criticizing his use of ornate language that relied on ancient rhetorical flourishes.
In the Heart of Upper Egypt
Secondly, Haqqi’s ingress into Egyptian society was multifaceted. He began with education in private schools, then the School of Law, and thereafter the Public Prosecution and legal practice. Refusing to remain constrained by these spheres, his family – boasting high-ranking officials – appointed him as an administrative assistant in 1927. This position placed him at the heart of Upper Egyptian life in Minya near Asyut until the end of 1929.
His legal position required him to legally characterize the violations and crimes committed by peasants, aiding the work of the district attorney and judges, especially since the police officers of that era were not law graduates. Such experiences were seminal for the young Turkish ‘Effendi,’ born in “Darb Al-Meidah,” acquainting him with donkey-riding, seeding seasons, diseases plaguing peasants, and the intricacies of agricultural landowners versus laborers. He witnessed the peasants’ cunning methods of dealing with the harsh government, which had been the Egyptian peasant’s arch-enemy since the brutal Mamluk tax collectors.
The Theory of Lexical Necessity
Haqqi observed all this heritage of hatred and documented it in his short stories, visible in his collections like “Umm Al-Awajiz” and “Damaa’ wa Teen.” Prior to these collections, Upper Egyptian society was unknown to writers and readers alike. Even Taha Hussein’s autobiography “Al-Ayyam,” which depicted his life in Northern Upper Egypt, failed to capture the intricacies of Upper Egyptian life.
Haqqi’s stories however, were European in their polished portrayal of scenes requiring narration and dialogue. Throughout his creative project, he championed what he called “the Theory of Lexical Necessity.” He elaborated on this in his critical essays, arguing that the word capable of conveying the author’s intention is inevitably the most appropriate, regardless of its origin, be it Classical or Colloquial Arabic. This was a significant step that emboldened Arab creative minds to respect and incorporate local dialects as natural evolutions of the language.
Nurturing the Gifted
In his human capacity, Yahya Haqqi throughout his life (1905-1992) embodied the ideal of the intellectual mentor, guiding young creatives, discovering talents, and valuing them as society’s true wealth. He discovered Dr. Gamal Hamdan, the renowned political geography scholar, and brought him into the fold of “Al-Majalla” magazine writers. Haqqi nurtured talents from the sixties generation, including names like Abdel Wahab Al-Aswani, Yahya Taher Abdullah, Ibrahim Aslan, Mohamed Roumich, Abdel Hakim Qasem, and Gamal Al-Ghitani. Beyond direct teachings conducted on the balcony of “Al-Majalla” magazine’s premises, he published essential reference books for aspiring short story and novel writers, such as “Anshudat Al-Basata” (A Song for Simplicity).
His commitment to preserving folk arts led to initiatives like the operetta “Ya Leil Ya Ain,” with spontaneous artist performance being the precursor to the “Nile Group” for Folk Musical Instruments and the founding of the Folk Arts Institute at the Academy of Arts. He was pivotal in the government’s adoption of the “Reda Troupe,” which painstakingly documented and stylized inherited dances into performances that represented Egyptian popular culture around the world.
Retirement
Haqqi didn’t just fulfill his pioneering and educational roles through books and articles; after having said all he felt he needed to say, he retired from literary writing – an unprecedented move. He explained in media interviews that an intelligent writer should not repeat themselves and withdraw when they feel they can add nothing new.
In a final act of generosity, he donated his valuable library, containing thousands of critical books, to Minya University in the 1980s. At that time, the university was resource-poor, and his intention was to support its students by providing necessary references for their studies. This act reflected Haqqi’s love for the people and his dedication to disseminating knowledge. The library represented over a quarter century of his life spent searching, studying, and acquiring books from reliable sources while working abroad in Egyptian foreign service, rising to the rank of “Minister Plenipotentiary” for the Egyptian monarchy in Libya and Saudi Arabia. After marrying a French visual artist, he was relieved from his foreign duties according to Egyptian law, and he returned home to serve his country tirelessly until the last day of his life.
