Nizar Qabbani

Early life

Nizar Qabbani was born in Damascus, the capital of Syria, into a middle-class merchant family of Syrian-Arab origins. Nizar Qabbani's mother Fayza was of Turkish origin. One source reports that the Qabbani family had earlier origins in Konya, Anatolia. He was raised in the Old City of Damascus and attended the National Scientific College School from 1930 to 1941. Qabbani later studied law at Damascus University, then known as the Syrian University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in law in 1945.

The family name Qabbani is derived from the Arabic word Qabban (قبان), meaning "steelyard balance."

While studying at university, Qabbani published his first collection of poems, The Brunette Told Me, in 1942. The collection’s inclusion of sexual themes generated considerable controversy. In response, Qabbani presented the manuscript to Munir al-Ajlani, then Syria’s minister of education and a prominent nationalist figure. Al-Ajlani expressed his approval of the work and wrote the preface to the collection.

Diplomatic career

Following his graduation from law school, Qabbani joined the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving as consul or cultural attaché in several major cities, including Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, Madrid, and London. In 1959, after the formation of the United Arab Republic, he was appointed vice-secretary for the union’s embassies in China. During his diplomatic postings, Qabbani continued to write prolifically, producing several works considered among his finest, including poems inspired by his time in China. He remained in the diplomatic service until his resignation in 1966.

At the age of fifteen, Qabbani’s older sister, Wisal, died under disputed circumstances. Reflecting on his literary approach, he once stated: “Love in the Arab world is like a prisoner, and I want to set it free. I want to free the Arab soul, sense, and body with my poetry. The relationships between men and women in our society are not healthy.”

In 1981, Qabbani’s wife, Balqis al-Rawi, was killed in the 1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. Her death had a profound impact on his life and work, inspiring the elegiac poem Balqis, in which he expressed both personal grief and political anger, holding Arab regimes responsible for her death. In the poem, Qabbani described her life as “a sacrifice” and lamented that “after you, poetry will cease and womanhood is out of place,” portraying her loss as a metaphor for the suffering of the Arab people in the Levant.

The city of Damascus remained Qabbani’s most enduring muse, inspiring numerous works, most notably The Jasmine Scent of Damascus. While deeply connected to his native city, he also expressed a pan-Arab identity, portraying the Arab world from Mauritania to Iraq as a single community united by a shared history and struggle.

In his poem Umm al-Mu'tazz, Qabbani described every Arab city as part of his “family tree,” evoking images of maternal care, childhood memories, and shared pain, and affirming his solidarity with the people of each city.

Qabbani was a vocal critic of colonial and imperial projects in the Middle East, as well as of the corruption, oppression, and hypocrisy he saw among Arab leaders. His political verse often employed direct and confrontational language. In his poem Sultan, he addressed authoritarian rulers, accusing them of silencing dissent and persecuting those who spoke out.

Family

Qabbani had two sisters, Wisal and Haifa, and three brothers, Mu'taz, Rashid, and Sabah. The latter, Sabah Qabbani, became the director of Syrian radio and TV in 1960 and served as Syria's ambassador to the United States in the 1980s.

His father Tawfiq Qabbani had a chocolate factory. He also helped support fighters resisting the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and was imprisoned many times for his views, greatly affecting the upbringing of Nizar into a revolutionary in his own right. Qabbani's grandfather, Abu Khalil Qabbani, was one of the leading innovators in Arab dramatic literature.

Marriages

Qabbani married twice in his life. His first wife was his cousin Zahra Aqbiq; together they had a daughter, Hadba, and a son, Tawfiq. Tawfiq died due to a heart attack when he was 22 years old when he was in London. Qabbani eulogized his son in the famous poem "To the Damascene Prince, Tawfiq Qabbani". Zahra Aqbiq died in 2007. His daughter Hadba, born in 1947, was married twice, and lived in London until her death in April 2009.

His second marriage was to an Iraqi woman named Balqis al-Rawi, a schoolteacher he met at a poetry recital in Baghdad; she was killed in the 1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War on 15 December 1981. Together they had a son, Omar, and a daughter, Zainab. After the death of Balqis, Qabbani did not marry again.

After the death of Balqis, Qabbani left Beirut. He moved between Geneva and Paris, eventually settling in London, where he spent the last 15 years of his life. In exile, Qabbani continued to write poems and raise controversies and arguments. Notable and controversial poems from this period in his life include When Will They Announce the Death of Arabs? and Runners. On 30 April 1998, at the age of 75, Qabbani died in London of a heart attack. In his will, which he wrote in his hospital bed in London, Qabbani wrote that he wished to be buried in Damascus, which he described in his will as "the womb that taught me poetry, taught me creativity and granted me the alphabet of Jasmine." He was mourned by Arabs all over the world, with international news broadcasts highlighting his illustrious literary career.

• 1992–1993 Al Owais Award for Cultural & Scientific Achievements.
• On 21 March 2016, Google celebrated his 93rd birthday with a Google Doodle.