I had spoken in several previous articles about the late Mahmoud Al-Jarrah, one of the pioneers of the intellectual and cultural movement in Kuwait, and he is one of the personalities that rose up in foreign countries and left a scientific and literary imprint in every place he landed, which prompted me to call him “a traveler of science and literature.” Perhaps the most prominent thing that prompted me to talk about this subject is my book that I prepared on the late Al-Jarrah, which will be issued soon, in which I dealt with his scientific and intellectual journey that began with his detachment to Cairo with a group of Kuwaiti men who showed genius and excellence, which prompted the Education Council at that time to detach them to Egypt to complete their academic and scientific achievement. I won’t conceal from you that what I have seen and still see of the intellectual and scientific regression of the younger generation and the subsequent weakness in the educational curricula that led to this deterioration, in addition to the current reality opposite to what Kuwait was in before, is one of the reasons that prompted me from time to time to address this issue in an attempt to revive the legacy of those founders of the intellectual and cultural movement in Kuwait, reminding this generation of the importance of that field for the future of the country. Since the founding of Kuwait, Kuwaitis have been proving their love for science and knowledge to the entire world. The group of the late Al-Jarrah and his colleagues who detached to Cairo was called the detachment of 1945, and it included many men of thought and culture, whose number was approximately 60 students who had completed the general secondary stage and below and traveled from Kuwait to Cairo over land. This fellowship included each of the distinguished professors: Mahmoud Al-Jarrah, Hamad Issa Al-Rajeeb, Hamid Shuaib, Nouri Shuaib, Yaqoub Al-Qatami, Abdullah Al-Ayoubi, Mojeb Al-Dosari, and many others. It must be noted that this fellowship was not the only one from Kuwait. Based on the sources that talked about these fellowships, including the fellowship bulletin that was reissued by the Kuwaiti Research and Studies Center in its raw form, it states: “It was the first fellowship sent to Egypt, consisting of four students who were sent to study at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in 1939 AD, and other fellowships were sent in 1943, consisting of 17 students to join schools, and then in 1945 AD, a larger fellowship was sent that included 37 students. Among the names that shone in those missions and that had a remarkable opinion in the world of writing, authorship, and contribution to cultural life were Professor Abdulaziz Hussein, Professor Abdul Razzaq Al-Basir, Professor Ahmed Al-Adwani, and many others. The presence of Kuwaiti students there did not stop at the limits of academic and cognitive achievement; they strived to create an intellectual and literary publication known as a link between Kuwaiti students in Egypt and their families in Kuwait, dubbed “Al-Ba’thah”. This magazine, which was founded by a group of the first generation of the people of Kuwait in unity with the geniuses of some of the brotherly Arab countries, to carry it on their shoulders, advance it, and form an era of cultural and scientific renaissance. The first issue of the magazine was issued in December 1946 AD. It was not meant for financial gain but rather as an intellectual channel that spreads culture and literature in all their forms. It was sold for eight annas, which was equivalent to half a rupee at the time. Its first and main goal was to introduce Kuwait to the Arab countries, so it paved the way for the pens of the rising Kuwaiti youth to write in literature criticism, literature, and prose as a prelude to the social renaissance that usually follows the intellectual renaissance. In this regard, I would like to point out to those in charge of the current educational curricula that we should introduce our students and our emerging generation to the first pioneers of Kuwait and their intellectual publications so that they may follow their example. In future articles, we will have notions about one of the pioneers of science, thought, and literature who founded and shaped Kuwait’s cultural and intellectual history.
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