Muzahem al-Ukeili: The Forgotten Bachelor

Muzahem al-Ukeili is an eminent Ummayyad poet, but is unfortunately not famous. This is so probably because he abhors fame, as he continues staying in the desert with his peers, leading a simple, tranquil life that is distant from the noise of centers of literary and political activities during the Ummayyad reign. However, in the desert, and at the time Muzahem was far from fame and its appearances, he was too close to life pulses. Life in desert had availed him reasons for deep meditation of nature, and crystallized his sensitivity that made him feel its beauty. This had had an obvious impression in his poetical images, especially toward women, to the extent that his stand toward women is inseparable from his stand toward nature—the virgin nature that no human hand had ever touched!