{"id":3352,"date":"2024-11-11T18:57:14","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T18:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/amman\/en\/?p=3352"},"modified":"2024-11-11T18:57:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T18:57:14","slug":"mustafa-wahbi-tal-the-school-prankster-who-became-the-symbol-of-jordanian-bravery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/amman\/en\/latest\/mustafa-wahbi-tal-the-school-prankster-who-became-the-symbol-of-jordanian-bravery\/","title":{"rendered":"Mustafa Wahbi Tal: The School Prankster Who Became the Symbol of Jordanian Bravery"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a small valley in Irbid around 1899, just as the 19th century was about to come to a close and the 20th was about to begin, a mother lay in a small house about to give birth. Her husband waited by her side as his mother and the townswomen helped his wife through the trials of childbirth. The father, Abu Mustafa as he would later be called, was not worried, as his wife was described as “blasphemously stubborn” according to her child’s close friend and biographer Ya’qoub Al-Oudat many years later.<\/p>\n

Finally, on the 25th of May 1899, Mustafa Wahbi Tal was born to an illiterate father and a stubborn mother. This young child would go on to become the most celebrated Jordanian poet and political commentator in history.<\/p>\n

\"Mustafa<\/p>\n

Childhood<\/h2>\n

From a young age, Mustafa suffered from rhotacism, a speech impediment characterized by the inability to pronounce ‘r’ sounds. His family, Bedouins descended from the Bani Zaydan tribe, had migrated from Najd in Arabia to the Levant around the 18th century. They were called \u201cTal\u201d because the family had made their home under the Citadel in Amman, which was built on a hill, or in Arabic, \u201ctal.\u201d Three decades later, they relocated to Irbid and decided to stay there.<\/p>\n

Not much is known about his childhood, but we do know that in 1911 Mustafa finished his primary school education, and in 1912 he headed to Damascus to complete his studies, where he almost immediately got into trouble. He and his classmates led a strike against the Ottoman administration in the city. During the strike, the Ottoman governor of Damascus, Ismail Faz\u0131l Pasha, and the Turkish Education Principal came to visit the school. In a show of his true Jordanian heritage, the young Mustafa \u2013 in the middle of the principal’s speech, mind you \u2013 walked right between his classmates, pointed his finger at the governor, and loudly shouted, \u201cThis man is a charlatan liar!\u201d<\/p>\n

This was the start of Mustafa\u2019s constant trouble with authorities, and the school administration took notice, calling him by his new nickname \u201cfield mouse\u201d due to his constant challenging of authority and the pranks he led.<\/p>\n

Young Adulthood
\n\"Mustafa<\/h2>\n

It had been two years of constant war in Europe as the \u201cwar to end all wars\u201d continued to rage, but in the small city of Irbid, a young Mustafa was coming back home for his summer vacation, and his mother’s stubborn genes were starting to come out in full force. So stubborn was Mustafa described during that short summer vacation that his father decided his son had a little too much of the freedom of Damascus and forced him to stay in Irbid and work at the local private school called the Ottoman Salihhya School. Of course, Mustafa got bored quickly and decided that a change of scenery was in order. So, on 20 June 1917, Mustafa and his friend Mohammad Subhi Abu Ghnaimeh headed to the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul, for a visit \u2013 but he never got there.<\/p>\n

Adventures of the Youth
\n\"Mustafa<\/h2>\n

As Mustafa and his friend made their way to the capital, they passed by a small village hidden in the Anatolian mountains called Arapgir, where Tal’s uncle and his friend\u2019s brother lived. Instead of heading to Istanbul, he stayed there and decided to marry Munifa Baban, a Kurdish woman from the area. Looking to settle down a little, he began working for Eski\u015fehir, a small local magazine.<\/p>\n

But as we know, that’s not the end of the story. In true fashion reminiscent of his chaotic youth, he became bored after five months of working at the magazine and resigned in March 1919. He left his wife at his uncle’s house and returned to Irbid in April. He spent the summer there and convinced his father to send him back to Anbur School in Damascus to complete his high school education.<\/p>\n

Run-in with the Law<\/h2>\n

\"damascus
\nWhile studying to complete his education, in 1919 he published a joke in the Damascene Brotherhood Magazine:<\/p>\n

\u0628\u064a\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u062e\u0631\u0627\u0628\u064a\u0634 \u0644\u0627 \u062d\u0631\u0635 \u0648\u0644\u0627 \u0637\u0645\u0639
\n\u0648\u0644\u0627 \u0627\u062d\u062a\u0631\u0627\u0628 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0641\u0644\u0633 \u0648\u062f\u064a\u0646\u0640\u0627\u0631
\n\u0628\u064a\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u062e\u0631\u0627\u0628\u064a\u0634 \u0644\u0627 \u0645\u0640\u0627\u0644 \u0648\u0644\u0627 \u0646\u0633\u0628
\n\u0648\u0644\u0627 \u0627\u062d\u062a\u0631\u0627\u0628 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u062d\u0631\u0635 \u0648\u0625\u064a\u062b\u0627\u0631
\n\u0648\u0644\u0627 \u0647\u064a\u0640\u0640\u0627\u0645 \u0628\u0623\u0644\u0642\u0640\u0627\u0628 \u0648\u0623\u0648\u0633\u0645\u0640\u0640\u0629
\n\u0648\u0644\u0627 \u0627\u0631\u062a\u0641\u0627\u0639 \u0648\u0644\u0627 \u062e\u0641\u0636 \u0628\u0623\u0642\u0640\u062f\u0627\u0631
\n\u0627\u0644\u0643\u0640\u0644 \u0632\u0637 \u0645\u0633\u0640\u0640\u0627\u0648\u0627\u0629 \u0645\u062d\u0642\u0642\u0640\u0640\u0629
\n\u062a\u0646\u0641\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0641\u0648\u0627\u0631\u0642 \u0628\u064a\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u062c\u0627\u0631 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u062c\u0627\u0631<\/p>\n

\u2013 So our friend is sick?<\/em>
\n\u2013 Yes, he has kidney stones.<\/em>
\n\u2013 It appears his heart has made its way to his kidney.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mustafa was promptly arrested, as his joke was very clearly directed at Ali Rikabi, the Military Governor of the Arab Kingdom of Syria, a kingdom established in the Levant following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire towards the end of World War I. Shortly after being released from jail, and in another episode of Mustafa\u2019s rebellious and stubborn temperament, he and the students at Anbur demanded that the school principal provide them with military training to fight the French authorities in Syria. The principal told them that those who wanted to join the military should volunteer, while those interested in science should stay in school. Mustafa told him he wanted to make the school a military training camp, to which his principal replied, “You want it to be a military training camp with a cigarette in your mouth?”<\/p>\n

Mustafa promptly threw the cigarette right at him, burning the principal’s pants.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Turkish Travels<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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A post shared by Lovin Amman | \u0644\u0648\u06a4\u0646 \u0639\u0645\u0651\u0627\u0646 (@lovinamman)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n