Min Hadith al-Nafs
- Author died
- 1420 AH
- Editions
- Dar Al-Manarah للنشر والتوزيع
Min Hadith al-Nafs (From the Talk of the Soul) is an essay collection by the Syrian scholar and writer Ali al-Tantawi (1327–1420 AH / 1909–1999 CE), bringing together personal reflections, subjective literary prose, and autobiographical contemplative essays written across different periods of his life .
Composition and Context
The essays in the collection were composed over several decades of al-Tantawi's journalistic and literary career, with about half of the volume's articles originally written between 1931 and 1939 CE . Many of these pieces were initially published in periodicals such as Fata al-Arab, al-Muqtabas, al-Qabas, Alif Ba', al-Ayyam, al-Yawm, al-Nasr, al-Naqid, and al-Jazirah during the era of the French mandate in Syria .
Al-Tantawi completed the preface to the book in Damascus on 21 Jumada al-Akhirah 1379 AH (22 December 1959 CE), noting that he had been publishing essays in newspapers and magazines continuously for thirty-two years . The book was published in 1960 CE, with later editions published in 1981 CE and subsequently edited and annotated by the author's grandson, Mujahid Ma'mun Dayraniyyah, and published by Dar al-Manarah in Jeddah .
Contents and Literary Approach
The central subject of the book is the author's inner self and subjective experiences . In his preface, al-Tantawi urges the reader to take note of the date of composition attached to each chapter, explaining that the persona reflected in any given essay is not identical to the one writing the preface, but rather represents "a group in one" whose viewpoints and emotions shifted over time . He noted that although he no longer shared or accepted many of the earlier sentiments and opinions upon reviewing them for print, he chose to preserve the essays as they were without altering or modifying their text .
The volume opens with the essay "Ana" ("I"), originally published in 1937 CE, in which he reflects on early childhood memory, identity, the passage of youth, and personal transformation . Al-Tantawi originally contemplated turning the book's introduction into a full autobiography, but chose instead to reserve that undertaking for a broader work he planned under the title Dhikrayat Nisf Qarn ("Memoirs of Half a Century") .
Across his writings, al-Tantawi maintained three enduring principles that he highlighted in the introduction: opposition to colonialism, the defense and glorification of the Arabic language and its classical eloquence, and adherence to Islamic ethics and tenets, while remaining independent of all political parties and factions .
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