I could not stop the flow of family Beirut memories when seeing the vast reactions and influential scenes as soon as the death of Ziyad Rahbani, whose momentum increased the rare appearance of his mother, and her majestic presence overwhelmed his memorial and bids ceremony.
As usual, nothing emanates from the Rahbani House, and it is associated with an organic and automatic in the Lebanese Arab identity, to occupy its own position as a cultural symbol in the national conscience, leaving unforgettable fingerprints on the arenas of artistic creativity, and on the collective memory that the turquoise throat takes to the most beautiful times.
I think, the secret of the success of the Rahbani project lies in its understanding of the true meaning of creativity and respect for tastes, and its high -end artistic translation of human feelings. Add to this the huge spiritual and lyrical energy that the “Six Fairuz” possessed, the bright face of the Rahbani Technical School, which today has become an authentic “Lebanese sign” with a global glow.
The constant in this Arab artistic phenomenon is its huge balance and its sober production, which is upgraded to the rank of “national wealth”. Consequently, it is not possible in any way to be separated from Lebanon’s cultural and creative springs, which have been aware of those who grew up on its banks, and the contemporary climates that motivated excellence in everything, especially the pre -civil war period; The post -war Lebanon is no longer the same, and its ancient role was taken from it as a factory for human knowledge and as an indispensable Arab depth.
As for me, the Beirut memories that I referred to at the beginning of the article are not just passing moments, but can be considered observations of a personal reading of the strength of the cultural and intellectual tide of Lebanon on its people from the scholars, who, in turn, presented their own copy of the Lebanese Renaissance movement, which preached its gradual and premature development in the face of the future, had it not been for the contradiction of the political events.
In Bahrain in particular, there is a complete generation who opens its early awareness on the Beirut squares and its ancient universities, and invested the opportunity to send to it to affect and be affected by the renewed Lebanese life. What is remarkable about these people is that, regardless of their political affiliations, they all have a high culture and confident performance, thanks to what was provided by the intellectual environment in Lebanon, which at that time provided them with high doses of health intellectual freedom, to prevent the viruses of religious extremism and the ideology of the ideology that was waving on its horizon.
This is an aspect that I found in the thought and personality of my father in particular, and I monitor the depth of the twelve years of the effects of the twelve years that he lived in Lebanon as a scholarship to study at the American University of Beirut, where he obtained all his scientific degrees, and even practiced the teaching profession in it.
It is noteworthy that the effect of the experience remained accompanying him throughout his life, and he left no opportunity except and praised the influence of its free academic system and its cultural atmosphere open on his intellectual career, which was freed as much as possible from alignments and cramps in visions and positions. It also remained loyal to her, because she is the crane that she rose to the worlds of scientific and academic research from the restrictions of administrative work and the darkness of partisan and ideological intolerance.
And if the Arab capital, Beirut, was one of its most important life stations, then the American University is considered as the “great forum”, which was given the first lessons in the curriculum of reconciliation between intellectual opposites in our Arab and Islamic heritage.
There, learn about its most famous thinkers and literature, such as Khalil Hawi, Constantine Zureik, Nadim Naima and Kamal Al -Yaziji, and other personalities who were collected by one concern, which is how to save the Arab reality from its problems.
The bottom line, that Lebanon, which we knew through the eyes and deeds of all of these, carries in its civilized core the factors required to restore its position as an incubator that generates the most beautiful and deepest experiences … form and content. We may be on a date soon for such a desired return, and as the leadership of the two countries has recently seen it, to work under the horizon of a renewed humanitarian partnership and in the shadows of the comprehensive peace that we are waiting for on the hottest of embers.
