Emirati author Shaima Al Marzooqi on the importance of learning Arabic
Ask Shaima Al Marzooqi why she is an avid supporter of teaching Arabic in schools, and she’ll cite the highest authority.
“Arabic is important,” she said at the 2017 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature “because Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave us the responsibility to learn it.”
The 28-year-old, who has fast established herself as one of the UAE’s most prominent Arabic-language authors, was motivated to do something about the issue she says is “affecting the entire region” at the moment.
“One of my books is titled Challenges Facing Arabic Language in Today’s World. The idea for the book came about following a number of visits I had made to schools where I had found the absence of Arabic.”
A certified social worker who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education at Zayed University, Shaima was passionate about reading and writing from a very young age, and she was encouraged to pursue that passion.
“Writing is the form in which I like to express my thoughts that I normally wouldn’t be able to communicate to someone like my mother or a friend,” she explained. “After I received a commendation for my writing at school, I felt that this was a sign that I was going in the right direction. And then I won school competitions, and [this] gave me the drive and determination to continue what I was doing.”
“I wanted to know more and improve my skills, so I started to read more. The more you read, the more you can improve your imagination, knowledge and thoughts. Alhamdulillah, I'm now able to explore different forms of writing, such as opinion pieces, stories and children’s stories.”
Her first children’s book was supported by the government. “My first book was released via [what is now known as] the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development. One of the initiatives they have is to support Emirati youth in the field of literature.”
“So when my first book came out, I found that I was being welcomed and supported by the media. So I was encouraged to produce my second, my third, and so on.”
ON A MISSION
Now, with more than 25 children’s books to her name in addition to many short stories and novels for teenagers and adults, Shaima is on a mission to promote Arabic and increase the number of local literary works.
“The region in general lacks locally produced books for children, if you compare it to publications in the West,” says Shaima. “But children’s books are something I am very interested in; I've always been interested in the way they’re written.
“And now they’re being used in schools thanks to the support of the Ministry of Education; that makes me very happy. It makes me happy to see children’s reactions.”
To make sure she’s on the right path and producing the right content, she has help in the form of her very own mini reviewer: her six-year-old daughter Hafsa.
“When she was younger, I would show her my new stories and ask for her opinion on the endings. If she liked it then I knew it would appeal to children [in] general, but if she said it was boring or didn't make sense then I’d be confident that would be the opinion of other children as well.”
And Shaima has passed on her talent; Hafsa, publicly known as Hafsa Sorour, is one of the UAE’s youngest published writers.
“I never thought Hafsa would begin writing right now, but this hasn’t come from her just being bored. She’s surrounded by it.”
A PARENT’S RESPONSIBILITY
But their close relationship proves that Shaima practices what she preaches. “Parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children learn Arabic,” she said. “At the end of the day, a child would always turn to the easier language, and that’s English. Arabic is not difficult, but it requires more effort for the child to take on.”
“So provide Arabic books for your children, choose the right school for your children—where they treat Arabic as equally important as other languages. It’s also down to the child being encouraged to read.”
That’s not to say that Shaima wants to neglect other languages. She has pretty big ambitions for 2017, in fact.
“I think the dream of any author is to see their work translated into other languages, and so I’d love to see my books around the world. More effort should be made in this region to showcase and promote Arabic publications globally so that more are translated and available in other territories. I would love to see Emirati works available around the world.”
Karim Mansour