The just person has no choice but to stand

Out of respect for the experience of media pioneer Ali bin Muhammad Al-Rabighi, which spanned nearly seven decades, it began with an early passion for reading and reading, then journalistic writing and publishing, followed by a rich radio experience, then television, and continued with the newspaper column, until two or three years ago.. “Abu Marwan” is a memory Alive, vibrant with love, goodness, and beauty, and his fragrant biography won the trust of statesmen, intellectuals, and symbols of creativity.. Perhaps here we place readers in front of a historical document, whose source is an eyewitness, who saw, heard, lived, and narrated to us what we present to you in this space..

• Karma places us in the space, time and circumstances of birth.

•• I was born in Amir Rabigh neighborhood in 1939, and it was a space between the village and the city, and my mother was a child, but fate used to snatch her children from her, and the school started in Rabigh, and because of a large hole they were afraid of for us, they transferred us to a school in the middle of the market, then my father’s work moved to the barracks. The military school in Jeddah (Al-Qashla). My father’s opinion was that I should repeat the year I studied in Rabigh at Al-Waziriya School in Al-Kandara with my brother Kamel. Then we moved to Al-Mansouriya School in Al-Alawi, and its director, Hassan Abu Al-Hamayel, is one of the most generous personalities.

• What are the most prominent features of this stage?

•• My father used to give me three piasters and two piasters to my brother Kamel, and we would join them together, and we would walk to school, and at noon the big recess would begin, and next to Al-Attar Al-Shalabi was a shop that sold cutlets and soup, so we would have lunch with the five piasters, which would be enough for me and my brother and provide us with lunch.

Then we returned from Al-Alawi to Al-Kandara on foot, and I continued until six, then we moved to the Saudi school, whose director is Sheikh Nimat Allah, and I stayed there for three months.

• Did you recognize King Abdulaziz?

•• Yes, King Abdulaziz used to spend half the year in Hijaz, and half of it in Najd. Life was simple, and the capabilities were modest. Souq al-Nada and Qabil Street were lit by lanterns. We moved to Taif and it was a different life, with electricity, and there was no electricity in the western region. Al-Juffali began experimenting with electricity in Taif.

• Where did you start studying in Taif?

•• I entered the Saudi school in Taif and its director was Muhammad Saeed Kamal (may God have mercy on him). There was a genius teacher named Hussein Kamal who assigned us construction topics, including sunset. I wrote a topic that caught attention, and the professor wrote it on the blackboard. In the summer, I lived in the house of Professor Abdullah Al-Jafari. We had with us Muhammad Saleh Bakhtama, Nouri Kashmiri, Mahmoud Safar, Amin and Hassan Musa. They asked me to participate in the magazine (The Place of Revelation), which Al-Jifri was editing, and the topic was the focus of attention and interest, until they thought it had been plagiarized. Then comments came in, and then they sent my topic to a critic in Egypt. He wrote a strange comment on it, and he considered it a remarkable article, and it represented a turning point in my life.

• Which libraries provide you with the books you need?

•• I was following the Culture Library, owned by Abdul Razzaq Kamal, and the Culture Library in Mecca, owned by Saleh and Ahmed Muhammad Jamal. Especially since they offer an offer on books every summer, they set a day for culture, and they sell any book for one riyal, so we save money to buy books by Youssef Al-Sibai, Naguib Mahfouz, Tawfiq Al-Hakim, Anis Mansour, and other writers.

My approach to writing was innate, and thanks to my colleagues I began, and the book was the means of transformation.

• What was your first published article in the press?

•• (Al-Nadwa) published a topic for me about a psychiatric hospital, and I was surprised the next day that my article reached the school. Professor Hamid Mir asked the Arabic language teacher to present me to read my topic on the school radio. They were proud of me in the secondary stage, and among the outstanding colleagues was Dr. Bakr bin Abdullah Bakr asked me for competency cards, so I gave him. He excelled over his peers and was sent abroad. He became director of King Fahd University of Petroleum. Dr. Bakr’s sense was critical, but he did not continue.

• What after you get high school?

•• I went through a strange situation. My father was working with the good Tunisian team (may God have mercy on them all), so he received a recommendation from him for Professor Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Wasi, to join me in a study mission abroad, so I entered his office. He took the letter, explained it to me, and gave it to me. I walked two steps and opened it to see what he had written. He was nervous and said, “Why can’t you be patient until you go out and read the explanation?” So I understood that he did not respond to Al-Tunisi’s intercession and wrote according to the system, so the answer is from his address.

• Where did you complete your university studies?

•• We moved to Riyadh, King Saud University, and the days passed and Abdul-Wahhab Abdul-Wasi was visiting schools and was treated poorly by some of the “Al-Ma’arif” employees. They asked me to raise his morale, so I conducted an interview with him in (Al-Bilad) newspaper, which was published on two pages, then an interview on the radio. And on television, he was at the peak of decency and gentleness, and the mission succeeded and it was the turning point in the relationship between me and Abdul Wahab Abdul Wasi, and then we became colleagues on the board of directors of “Okaz” newspaper.

• When and where did journalism begin?

•• I started in (Al-Bilad), during the time of Hassan Qazzaz, and with colleagues, Saeed Mansour, Muhammad Al-Tuaimi, Abdul Razzaq Bakr, and the director Sadiq Al-Awadi, and Jamil Mansour was the administrator of the sports page in “Okaz,” and his brother Saeed said to me: Your chance.. Jamil left the page Okaz Sports, and you could work with Al-Attar. I used to live in Ruwais, and Okaz is in Kilo Seven, and my colleague Ibrahim Al-Aqili is the Deputy Director of Education, so I went to Al-Attar and presented it to him, and he said I don’t need a sports editor, but take these press releases and edit them so we can share. It was on the anniversary of King Saud’s accession, so I returned it to him with six pages, and when he saw it, he said: From tomorrow you will be responsible for “Okaz” sports, and my colleague Al-Uqaili is a proofreader.

• Why did you leave working with Ahmed Abdel Ghafour Attar?

• Three months passed and Al-Attar did not pay us a single riyal. He was asking me for coal and “dry whale” from Rabigh, and I did not hesitate to write him a letter in which I expressed my regret that you were dealing with the editors with clear free exploitation. He became upset with me and complained to a number of friends. Subscribers, and he responded to me with a letter confirming that it was a school for me and people like me, so I went to Hassan Abdel-Hay Qazzaz, and showed him Al-Attar’s letter, and he said: I don’t need (a sports editor), but I need you to move around on your bicycle in the streets and monitor any accident, problem, or speculation, document and transmit to us, Al-Azza made me feel guilty, even though he promised me a reward of 800 riyals.

• What about your radio experience?

• I was reporting to the radio from Rabigh, so I was appointed assistant broadcaster, and I had six programs between radio and television, and one of my colleagues said: Minister Jamil Al-Hujailan is not satisfied with the large number of your programmes, so they assigned Mr. Ahmed Qandil to my program (Our Popular Arts), and he apologized and said: Your production is special and I will not be able to do it. I will bring something like it, so Al-Jifri published Qandil’s words.

• Did you meet Al-Hujailan at that time?

•• I invited his office manager, Othman Al-Qarawi, for lunch. He was the acting president of Al-Hilal Club. He said: I will have lunch with you on the condition that I train from the office and we will move to your house. I was avoiding meeting the minister because he was not satisfied with the large number of my programs, as some reported. I came to the minister’s office and asked Al-Qarawi for permission to bid him farewell, and lo and behold, the minister He came back and when he saw me, he praised my work, and when I informed him of the envious people’s words, he said: There is no truth to all of that. Your programs are qualitative and good, and they are accepted, and we need you to write a daily political commentary for the radio. He asked Al-Qarawi to remind him if he arrived in Riyadh to issue a decision appointing Ali Al-Rabighi as director. According to the news on Dammam Radio, and at the beginning of Ramadan, a decision was issued to transfer me to Dammam.

• Did you implement the decision?

•• I turned to Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal, and he wrote to the Minister of Education, Sheikh Hassan Al-Sheikh, and Al-Shobokshi wrote to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information, Muhammad Al-Shaibani, and said: It is difficult for us to cancel the minister’s decision, but we will transfer you to the Ministry of Education. Then I was appointed in “Jeddah Education” as director of the “Youth Welfare” office.

• How are you influenced by ideas and trends?

•• I was not far from ideas, and I was interactive, and Aziz Diaa chose me as secretary of the Literary Club, and because some of his ideas were extremist, I apologized to him sincerely, as I, by nature, do not accept extremism.

• What do you remember from the tournament finals in the capital?

•• I remember when Riyadh Radio was opened, and there was a final match, so we moved to Riyadh, and we were received by Turki Al-Sudairi, Khaled Al-Malik, and Suleiman Al-Osaimi. We attended at the invitation of Yousef Al-Taweel, with orders for boarding, hotel accommodation, and a car. We conducted an interview on Riyadh Radio, and we met Minister Al-Hujailan, and he said : Your programs fill the radio and television, so I said to him: I left radio and television six months ago, and he said: Our media work reveals the essence of competence, so I said, “It is certain, and the proof is that you do not know about me that I was quoted!” He said: Cooperation with you is open as you wish.

• When did you decide to write the article?

•• The article I started with Abdul Razzaq at night in (Al-Bilad), a school that builds competencies, but he did not care, and opened the door to participation for us. In the days of Hassan Qazzaz, (Al-Bilad) had a glow. When Al-Qazzaz left it, the glow faded, and (Al-Madina) was burning with its weekly supplement, so I cooperated. With them, however, I did not leave my position in “Youth Care” in Jeddah, and I worked as an editor on the art page of (Al-Madina) newspaper, along with Badr Karim.

• When did you return to Okaz?

•• Abdel Majeed Shobokshi asked me to be a supervisor of the sports department in “Okaz.” Then Reda Lari took over the presidency, and he had his own style of presidency. On Friday, we attend the stadium and then return to the newspaper. My colleagues said: Professor Reda wants you. I was happy for him, and he said to me: In it. A picture on (the last one) needed a comment, and he asked me to write a comment on the picture, so I wrote, “They insist on distorting the bride’s face, so who will protect it?” The comment was published, and it caused a stir, and Reza Lari was upset because it was published without his knowledge.

• And then, where did you set off?

•• Abdullah Al-Jafri started in (Asharq Al-Awsat), so I moved to work in (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat), and the publishers, Hisham and Muhammad Ali Hafez, met all demands, and did not force you to need anything, and my work with them was a turning point in my journalistic life.

• What about your memories with Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal?

•• Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal was searching and communicating, and I was on the radio, and it was in Al-Kandara, and the Al-Ahly club headquarters was nearby, and suddenly in the final of the season of various games, he saw me and asked for me and said: You need to give up your brother, the player (Kamel) from the Thaqif Club, so go to Taif tomorrow and negotiate with them. 15 thousand riyals, so I said: Tomorrow I have a morning slot on the radio, and he said: Abdullah Al-Faisal is asking for you and you say radio? So I took my time, and noon came the next day until I was present with him with the concession, so I handed him the concession, and he said: They took the 15 thousand, and behind him Al-Isfahani was shaking his head, meaning, say yes, so I said: No, they did not take nor a riyal, they are my friends, and you deserve all our appreciation, so I became stronger. Our relationship.

• What about the Paris invitation?

•• Jacques Chirac decided to celebrate Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal at a major event in Paris, and the prince assigned me to be his Minister of Information, and said give each editor-in-chief $10,000, and they all accepted except Irfan Nizam al-Din.

• What are the most prominent articles that disturbed the peace?

•• There are many articles that tired us. My colleagues asked me for Abdullah Al-Faisal’s intercession with Prince Khaled Al-Faisal when he was responsible for “youth care,” because he was upset with his colleagues because of fanaticism, and he gave me an envelope containing four thousand riyals, and we entered Prince Khaled’s house in the house of Muhammad Surur Al-Sabban. He was at the lunch table, and after we had arranged our roles, Abdullah and I said “Bajbir” together, and the Prince laughed, addressed us in a polite tone, and complained about his colleagues in “Youth Welfare” who were biased towards the Minister of Labor. Abdul Majeed Shobokshi spoke to me and said, Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal wants you to go to him, so I went and met the Prince. Khaled Al-Faisal was with him, so they took my hand and said, “You are the son of Faisal, not the son of Al-Rabaghi.” So I left them and wrote a response in which I was victorious for Prince Khaled. It seems that the wording and the title angered King Faisal, and he expressed his censure against (Dayem Al-Saif), and he remained absent from his council for a month.

• I heard that Prince Muhammad Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal asked you to head Al-Ahly Club?

•• Muhammad Abdullah Al-Faisal tried to become president of Al-Ahly Club, but I refused because I am a unionist.

• Is sports fanaticism old?

•• Yes and still is, and this is neither sport nor its morals. Sports fanaticism is reprehensible and evidence of weak awareness of the national achievement.

• Are you satisfied with your experience?

•• My experience is fraught with success, and I am not confrontational, and far from unfair competition. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal adopted an award for the best journalist, and I was the first editor to win it.

Journalism enriched my experience through “Okaz,” especially the dialogues with Ahmed Rami, Abdel Halim Hafez, Mohamed Abdel Wahhab, Pele, Mohamed Ali Clay, and Prince Abdel Mohsen bin Abdel Aziz.