Abdul Aziz charts path of success
Early influences help shape pioneer’s life
This is the second in a series of articles on Dr Abdul Aziz Saud Abdul Aziz Al Babtain, a poet, tycoon and a unique personality among Kuwaiti pioneers.
— Editor
Intellect
Aziz’s happy family surrounding and early training not only speeded his mental and emotional development, they were instrumental in effecting his poetical vein and his phenomenal success in life.
His father, Saud Abdul Aziz Al Babtain, was a renowned Nabatian poet and a religious man.
In everything he did, whether by direct encouragement or through his example, he endeavored to inculcate in his children the higher principles of their cultural heritage and of Islam.
At the same time, being a man of the world, a merchant by profession, he wanted to instill in his sons the basic principles of a successful business-man whether in the market or in a distinguished gathering of men.
In his diwaniya gathered merchants and the great poets of the day, hence he was very keen at having his boys attending it, though they were very young; for he regarded the gathering a powerful influence in the development of their intellect and personality.
The thoughts of maturity are grave thoughts, which when absorbed by the mind of a child spur his mental development to a quicker tempo, encouraging him to behave and think more like a grown-up ,than a child of his own age.
Indeed as Dr Abdul Aziz Saud Al Babtain recalls - the intellectual atmosphere of his father’s diwaniya taught him how to behave among important people, how to sit in their midst, when and how to talk and how to listen.
As he grew up, by drawing inspiration from those early influences, he was able to cultivate those special qualities that became the key to his success in life, in business and in everything else he set his mind to accomplish.
While the intellectual atmosphere of the diwaniya inculcated in him those essential norms of behavior that made him welcomed in any gathering, the knowledge and wisdom he absorbed spurred the development not only of his poetical propensity but also of his ingrained passion for commerce and trade.
Success in anything is enhanced by mastering the art of dealing with people. His father while allowing him to play with other kids, he always sought to keep him in his shop as long as possible to train him to observe what was going on around him.
Like all youngsters of his age Abdul Aziz was always looking for an escape, but was also absorbing everything that was going on in the market.
He was particularly keen in observing how people behaved, the way merchants were talking or discussing business, how they were selling or buying.
Communication
In other words he was training himself to recognize, appropriate and assimilate those principles in human communication that proved of great help for him later on. Under the watchful eyes of his father any subtle change in his behavior did not go unnoticed. One day Saud decided to put his little boy to a test; he gave him some money and watched his reaction.
Abdul Aziz was about nine or ten years old then; he took the money his father gave him and bought some cucumbers to sell.
Impressed, his father gave him a sack on which to display them. In no time Abdul Aziz sold his cucumbers at a profit, returned the money his father gave him and keeping the rest he bought more cucumbers to sell.
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Abdul Aziz Al Babtain feeling for business that grew into a passion as he got older.
As most children of his days Abdul Aziz began his schooling with a Mullah, learning reading and writing the Arabic language, the rudimentary of math and memorizing some passages of the Holy Koran; he then engaged in formal education, but was not satisfied with what he was taught in school.
Seeking to expand his knowledge and develop his poetical gift, he turned to books, delving into the thoughts of the great poets of antiquity and of the most outstanding contemporary poets.
Reading those books expanded his mental horizon and spurred his propensity for probing into the soul of things.
Born into a family of poets, poetry was in his blood. In his early childhood sitting quietly in the diwanya of his father, listening to the Nabatian poets, he fell passionately in love with poetry.
As he grew older and began delving into the great classics of Arabia, he discovered the beauty and deeper portent of classic poetry and began dreaming of being able to compose in pure Arabic one day.
Nabatian poetry is the spirit of the desert, it echoes the soul of the Arabian people, though it is charming and of considerable importance because of the light it throws upon the life and manners of the people of a certain period, it is limited to its place of origin.
Literature
By contrast pure Arabic poetry has no frontier; it is understood throughout the Arab-speaking The Embassy of the Kingdom the Netherlands in Kuwait and Kuwait Chamber Philharmonia present ‘New Blues For Piano’ performed by Marcel Worms at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Hashemi Ballroomzaal on March 7, at 08:00 pm.
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In the wild conditions of the desert, where every effort is centered on the problem of survival, no other forms of higher culture could develop other than poetry and literature for which the Arabic language is superbly endowed.
Poetry has become the ultimate form of aesthetic expression, as well as the vehicle of spiritual inculcation by which to excite admiration in the noble trends of the race expressed in lyric form. For, the main purpose of poetry is to create a state of mind that ennobles the human spirit.
When eloquence is expressed in beautiful poetical form it lends a powerful emotional uplift that stimulates the imagination and gives pleasure. Hence even an illiterate Bedouin will spend his leisure time listening or reciting poetry or retelling stories of desert life handed down from generations!.
Poetry in the Arabia peninsula has been further encouraged by the fact that from Pre-Islamic times poets had been revered not only for the beauty of their poetry whose rhythm and rhymes could drive crowds to hysteria; through their poems they were supposed to have the power of inflicting evil upon an enemy and of bringing luck to their own people.
Hence Poetry and literature for the Arabian people are more than a mere indulgence, they are the language of their soul, the history of their people and the medium that draws the individual closer to the roots of his noble bearing. It is the reflection of ideas, passions and dreams of a nation.
Abdul Aziz Saud Al Babtain’s first attempt in developing his poetical skill was in Nabatian verses, because they came easier to him. He was then eleven years old, but his dream was to gain enough knowledge in regard to euphony and grammatical structure, as well as of vocabulary to compose freely in pure Arabic.
Voluminous reading gave him the knowledge he needed, while his love for the pristine wilderness of the desert and the noble principles of his cultural heritage became his inspiration. Radisson Blu Hotel, Tel 25673000. For more information: www.kuwaitcp.com PGA Coaching Course: The new six week P.G.A. Everton Coaching
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