As much as the saying of Dr. Taha Hussein angered the poet-physician Ibrahim Nagi, describing him as: "a physician among poets, and a poet among physicians," it motivated him to create more and insist on the poetic manifestation that reached its peak in many of his works, most notably: Behind the Clouds, The Return, and Al-Atlal, which was sung by the artist Umm Kulthum.

What prompts a doctor to be a writer, poet, and storyteller despite being busy with a sophisticated human profession that requires a lot of time and follow-up?

We may be facing a global phenomenon, that relationship that arose between literature and medicine. Since ancient times, historical figures have emerged who practiced both: medicine and literary writing, most notably: Ibn Sina, Al-Farabi, Ibn al-Badhukh, Ibn al-Kattani, Zayn al-Attar, Diya al-Din al-Nakhshabi, John Locke, Edward Jenner, Oliver ldsmith, and Anton Chekhov.

Medicine is a valuable profession, heading towards treatment, recovery and healing as a human profession in the first place, while literature may turn into a craft, and it may be unpopular in some times, as happened in the eras of isolation that the Arab world passed through between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, and here the famous saying describing the miserable state of writers is circulated: "The craft of literature caught up with him."

In our contemporary Arab literature, there are many physician-writers, including: Yusuf Idris, Mustafa Mahmoud, Mohamed Al-Makhzangi, Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi, Ahmed Issa Bey, Khalil Saadeh, Ahmed Khaled Tawfiq, Nabil Farouk, Mohamed Al-Mansi Qandil, Abdelsalam Al-Ujayli, Alaa Al-Aswany, Haifa Bitar, Ahmed Arwa and others. Due to the recurrence and spread of the phenomenon, a number of dictionaries that monitor physician-writers were authored, including: Lexicon of Physician Writers, and Physician Writers by Fakhri al-Dabbagh, and Lexicon of Physician Writers, by Siddiq al-Hakim.

Hobby and Sense:

In the Saudi literary scene, we find many doctors who engaged in the world of literature, while continuing to practice the profession of medicine, including Essam Khoqir, Abdullah Manna, and the poet Ali Balghith Al-Quzi, who is a consultant physician in cardiology and interventional catheterization. He has many poems in classical Arabic, and he defines his relationship with poetry by saying: "Poetry is my hobby and tasting it is part of my sense that I am proud of."

From his poetic samples:

And longing for you precedes me .. and longing has robbed me of patience

And life in your eyes was spacious .. and life narrowed when you left me

And separation ignited the sorrows of my heart .. and I was joy with you and you are from me

The letters of finding comfort in you entertain me .. and my soul has nothing but wishing

Poetic and Narrative Diversities:

Among the doctor-writers is also Dr. and novelist Mundhir Qabbani, who published his first novel in 2006 titled "vernment of the Shadows." He also issued a series of novels with intertwined threads full of puzzles, excitement and mystery, following "vernment of the Shadows" with "The Return of the Absent," and then pushing the reader to face the trilogy "Knights and Priests" in 2012 and "Qutuz" in 2014, which is the second part of the series, then "Qarin" in 2016. Many of his readers believe that Qabbani took the Arab novel to another path towards science fiction, physics and Islamic history.

As well as Dr. and short story writer Tariq al-Jared and the psychiatrist and poet Mutab Hamid al-Anzi, who believes that "literature is linked to psychiatry specifically, a very close link. Literature primarily deals with human feelings, describes them and expresses them, as well as psychiatry, which attempts to understand, deconstruct and analyze them on a deeper level based on science and theories."

As for Sharif Baqna, a graduate of the College of Medicine and Surgery at King Khalid University, and an internal medicine specialist at the Armed Forces Hospital in Khamis Mushait, he is a poet and translator.

Among his most prominent poetic publications: "Fragments of Resonance" and "Cities of Isolation" and "Selections from American Poetry: A Translated Poetic Anthology."

Sharif Baqna believes that the poet has a cosmic and human task. Poetry summarizes the beauty of existence and peels off the hidden truth of things. It is the link between soul and body, between the one and the group, between earth and sky. If we consider that the doctor heals the wounds of the body, then the poet heals the wounds of the soul and more.

As for the Saudi dentist Hanoof Al-Deghaisham, she moved between the German city of Freiburg and Riyadh and wrote about alienation and nostalgia for the homeland under the title: "Freiburg: The Tenderness of Isolation."

The doctor novelist Saud Al-Shaalan issued four novels: "The Body Died and All Tales Ended," "Muhl," "Falak," and "Autumn of the Nobles."

The doctor specializing in family medicine, Shaima Al-Sharif, first issued a novel titled: "After the Dream," in which she mixes science fiction and medical facts, then she issued the novel: "Halves of Madmen." Al-Sharif says: "Your mind must expand to all possibilities if you want to write." According to her talk to "Al-Arabiya Net," she wanted every person in her novel to be inspired by the personalities of a number of patients whose cases she stood on.

References:

• https://poetsgate.com/poet.php?pt=5768

• https://www.moc.v.sa/ar/news/11867

• https://aafaq.kku.edu.sa/news/

• https://www.alarabiya.net/saudi-today/2016/12/19/