TIJANI 169also fond of reading classical Arabic literature, particularly the works of Sufi
writers like al-Ghazali.^136
In the opening poem of his Collected Works Tijani describes his poetry as
flowing from 'the world of beauty and love, the heart, its passions and its
longings'. The majority of his collection is of a subjective character, with
very few poems dealing with public matters, and also a number of elegies.
It is not that the poet lacked an awareness of the social or political problems
of his century, as is clear from poems such as 'The World of the Poor' in
which he showed his sensitivity and compassion for the poor, or 'Rebellion'
which attacked the economic exploitation of the Sudanese by foreign busi-
nessmen such as the Greeks and Armenians.^137 But on the whole in his poetry
Tijani dealt with what he clearly regarded as more suitable subjects: his feel-
ings about God, nature, love and poetry. He was aware that the poetry he
wrote, so different from the traditional neoclassical imitations dominant in
the Sudan in his time, was 'the poetry of life and noble feelings' and the fact
that it was lost on his people who were not only incapable of understanding
it, but who attacked him for his obscurity and even heresy, naturally caused
him much suffering, as we can see in his poem 'The Lost literature' (p. 59).
Nevertheless, considering that he actually suffered expulsion from school,
Tijani's reaction was not as violent as that of Shabbi, and was even free from
bitterness. This may be due to his mystical outlook which generally results in
an attitude of ultimate acceptance of the world. It is also noteworthy that
Tijani was singularly free from self-pity, despite his fatal illness. Only in one
poem do we find him complaining of the disease and giving an account of
his physical suffering, and this in a poem addressed to his friend and fellow
poet Mahmud Anis, which has the tone and character of a private letter
(pp. 110-11).
It is not that Tijani's acceptance was a facile attitude, mechanically or
thoughtlessly maintained all the time. On the contrary, there are a number
of poems which record states of doubt, some of which must have been the
source of the false accusation of religious heresy or lack of faith hurled at
him by his enemies. But the doubt is only momentary and is followed by
certainty and firm belief in a benign providence which is the source of all
beauty. This is true of poems such as 'Yesterday I Bade Farewell to my Faith',
'My Doubt Gives me Pain' and Uncertainty'. His poem on God, which adopts
as epigraph one of the most famous verses of the Koran for its use of the
image of light, is resplendent with light imagery, and expresses the poet's
faith in God's power and beauty and His omnipresence. Tijani's mystical
position was in fact very close to pantheism. His poem 'The Philosopher's
Heart' ends with this thought: