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Editorial of novembre 2000 «Then,
when he appeared from Nothing, By these words Ahmedê Khanî finished his major work, «Mam and Zîn».
Four centuries later, Ahmedê Khanî came. He is certainely the jewel of Hakkari and one the greatest poets in the world. His deep knowledge of sufism and Muslim philosophy combines an elegant and rich poetical language, in which the beauty reminds Jalal ad Din Rumi or d’Omar Khayyam. But he was not only a great poet. Ahmedê Khanî was a viosionnary thinker of the Kurdish question. Though at the XVIIth century, the concepts of « nation » and « cultural identity » were quite confused, he senses in advance a Kurdish specificity over a basic tribal membership. At his time, he could just use some terms like, « netewa », « milet », but that designed just some ethnical or religious groups and he was not satisfied of these. Then, in « Mam and Zin », in the part untitled «The Kurdish Question », he used the word « kurdiya » (« kurdism » ?) that is near to what we understand nowadays by « nation » : the feeling that a people have about its own identity. He was visionnary too when he analysed the Kurdish society and its problems, and wondered about the "innate misfortune" of his people and about its unability to gain its independence. Khanî seemed moreover to distrust the political powers and many verses are lucid attacks against tyranny and arbitrary actions. At the countrary, he praised in an very modern way a real state policy, education, patronage… At last, it is a very humanist poetry, with precious – and often delightful – informations about the daily life in a Kurdish capital during the XVIIth century. The festivities of Newroz, feasts, music, wine, hunting, poetry, all these things show us how much this feodal society was bright and refined. At the same time, it did not care to practice a devote and austere life and sufis’ ideas seemed more influent than religious orthodoxy. «Why, in this world All the Kurds are afflicted ? Why they are all condemned ? With their sabre, they took the City of Fame, They subdued the lands of Effort. Each of them is as generous as Hatim Everyone are warriors like Rostam . Look ! From Arabia to Georgia, The Kurdish nation is a citadel. Between the Rums and the Persians, The Kurdish tribes defends all its places, And the both make them the target With their mortal arrows.» Sandrine Alexie
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Ahmedê Khanî was borned in 1650/51, in the land of
Hakkari. From that Kurdish
region were issued many eminent characters who enriched the Muslim
civilisation : the Hakkariya, for example, a powerful tribe that
fought against the Turkish atabeg Zangi but supported the Ayyubid
dynasty. One of them was even a famous Cadi who judged all the Near
Eastern.