Casablanca – Emirati Poet Saoud Al Muzaini’s recent ode dedicated to Moroccan women has seemingly stirred up a polemic among Emiratis on social media.
The Emirati poet dedicated his lyrical poem “Bent Marrakech” (the girl from Marrakech) to the beautiful women of the Moroccan Southern Pearl. Muzaini’s poem has been received unfavorably by some Emiratis, especially insofar as it draws a comparison between Moroccan and Emirati women.
According to Moroccan news portal Hesspress, Emirati poets and journalists not only harshly attacked Muzaini, but have now gone beyond that to sue him for “insulting Emirati women and praising Moroccan women instead.”
A vocal segment of Emiratis on social media also denounced Muzani’s poem. A comment posted by an Emirati woman, quoted byHesspress, read, “Anyone who appreciates Muzaini’s poem, which defames Emirati women, has disrespected his fellow Emirati citizens.” “Moroccan women are a source of trouble,” another Emirati commented, according to Hesspress.
According to Le360, the bulk of reactions to Muzaini’s poem in the United Arab Emirates was negative, mainly because of the poet’s“defamatory” description of Emirati women as “materialists.”
According to the same source, the Emirati poet was accused of “encouraging Emirati men to marry Moroccan women” through his poem on Marrakchi women.
The controversial poem seemingly brought two Emirati camps into dissension on twitter: those who reject the allegations leveled at Muzaini and deem them baseless and dramatized, and those who levied harsh criticism on the poet and lashed out at Moroccan women.
Edited by Elisabeth Myers
