Hassan, Yahya

Hassan’s childhood was difficult: beating his children by his father, theft from infancy, fights, street gangs, drugs ^[2] . From the age of 13, Yahya dropped out of school and regularly ended up in correctional facilities for theft and wild temper ^[3] . Until 2013, he was under investigation in connection with an attempted robbery, in 2012 he was expelled from school for the theft of three mobile phones. Yahya began to write poetry at the hip hop community school ^[4] . The teacher managed to interest him in poetry, then Yahya took courses in writers and, inspired by the work of the Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgård ( Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgård ) began to write poetry in 2012 (the poem "Childhood").

On October 17, 2013, Danish publisher Gyldendal published a collection of his poems. 100 thousand copies were sold. The author of the poems criticized the older generation of immigrants in Denmark, their religious views, their hypocrisy and criminal behavior, unwillingness to integrate and parasitism on the country's social system, intolerance to criticism.

Hassan’s atheistic attitude towards the religion of his ancestors provoked a protest among the Muslims of Denmark, outraged by his opinion: “Something is wrong with Islam . This religion refuses to be updated. She needs “reformation." ”One of the local politicians in Aarhus, Mohamed Suleban, even sued the poet for racism at the end of 2013:“ He says that everyone in the ghetto is like Vollsmose and Gellerup ) they steal, do not pay taxes and cheat for the sake of receiving a pension, ”Suleban was indignant in the newspaper Politiken. “These are very general statements and they offend me and many other people.” ^{[5] [6]} The poet responded to this on December 1, 2013 on the Danish DR2 television program 'Deadline', rejecting the allegations of racism. “I’m not worried about the accusation of racism,” he said and added that the police should be aimed at combating social fraud and ghetto crimes ^[5] . Such a reaction from the Muslims did not surprise Yahya, since he knew his critics and their arguments from childhood. “They cannot tolerate criticism ... They are not interested in dialogue.” ^[3]

Hassan was the first among immigrants from the immigrant ghettos who explicitly pointed out in his verses and repeated in many interviews the extremely harsh point of view on hypocrisy among his immigrant community: “There are many Arabs - Muslims - who commit crimes on a large scale. They steal things, they sell stolen things, or they sell hash. But how can you call yourself a Muslim if all this is forbidden [by the Quran]? "" I'm talking about the lowest, poorest class, about the ghetto. "" Huge hypocrisy lives in this lower class of ours. We have so many ghettos in Denmark, where 80% of the residents, to put it mildly, are problematic and they either steal, or are engaged in the resale of stolen goods, or fraud. The local Danish lower class is also doing this, not really justifying itself. But when this people of ours from the ghetto goes to the mosque, and then says that since they pray 5 times a day, then they are good Muslims - then this is simply hypocrisy, and this is precisely the problem. ” ^[4]

• On November 18, 2013, Hassan was attacked at the central station of Copenhagen when he escorted his girlfriend to the train and received several blows to the head ^[7] . The attacker shouted that the poet is unfaithful and must die. The 24-year-old offender was detained by railroad workers and handed over to the police ^[8] . According to police, the malefactor was a Palestinian-born Abdul Basit Abu-Lifa, who changed his name to Isaac Meyer after leaving prison after serving three years from the seven-year sentence for participating in the preparation of terrorist attacks in Europe (the so-called Glostrup Terrorists Case - the arrests of four terrorists took place on October 27, 2005 in Gloustrup, Denmark). Abdul Basit Abu-Lifa, aka Isaac Meyer, was found guilty of assaulting the poet ^[9] and received 5 months in prison ^{[10] [11]} .

Due to the constant threats ^[12] from radical Islamists (especially after speaking on television) ^[13] and the attack, Yahya is under the supervision and protection of the local internal security and intelligence agency, Politiets Efterretningstjeneste (PET), as stated by him. publisher ( Gyldendal ) to the Jyllands-Posten ^[8] .

• In June 2014, Hassan visited Palestine. At about 1 a.m. on June 3, the poet returned from gatherings with his Palestinian friends in Ramallah , the West Bank ^[14] . When he passed a car in which 4-5 adult men were sitting, one of them asked in Arabic: “Are you Yahya from Denmark?” Hassan answered in the affirmative and began to tell that his parents were refugees from Lebanon . But the man jumped out of the car and immediately stabbed him in the face. Yahya Hassan rushed to run, while he heard how the car was started and over his shoulder he saw the same man running after him with a knife, cursing and calling him unfaithful. The poet managed to escape from the man and his friends in the car ^[15] .

• Short stories Et godt sted at dø (A good place to die) in the anthology Vi er herinde (We are inside here) , Brønderslev Forfatterskole, 2011, ISBN 9788799353736
• Yahya Hassan: Digte (Yahya Hassan: Poems) , Gyldendal Publishing House, 2013, ISBN 9788702153521

• Yahya Hassan does not regret anything