| Mohammed Abdul-Hayy | |
| Native Name: | محمد عبد الحي |
| Native Name Lang: | ar |
| Birth Date: | 1 January 1944 |
| Birth Place: | Ad-Damir, Sudan |
| Death Place: | Khartoum, Sudan |
| Occupation: | poet, literary critic, academic |
| Language: | Arabic, English |
| Nationality: | Sudanese |
| Spouse: | Aisha Musa el-Said[1] |
| Alma Mater: | Khartoum University University of Leeds University of Oxford |
Mohammed Abdul-Hayy or Muhammad Abd al-Hayy (1 January 1944 – 23 August 1989, Ad-Damir, Sudan) was a member of the first generation of post-colonial Sudanese writers and academics. Together with Ali El-Mak and Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, he is regarded as a pioneer of modern poetry in Sudan.
Abdul-Hayy was born in Ad-Damir on 1 January 1944. His father worked as an architect, and his mother was the daughter of an architect.[2] Abdul-Hayy accompanied his father on his travels, which provided him with an understanding of the diverse and multiracial culture of Sudan. These experiences later had a great influence on his poetry, which focuses on the question of identity in Sudan.
Abdul-Hayy initially studied medicine, but his interests led him to change his area of study to the arts. Abdul-Hayy entered Khartoum University in 1962. Already as a student, articles by Abdul-Hayy were published in Sudanese newspapers, such as Al-Rayaam.
Mohammed Abdul-Hayy was awarded a Bachelor of Arts from Khartoum University in 1967, and then appointed as teaching assistant in the English department. He then got a scholarship and was sent to England, where he was awarded a Master of Arts degree in English literature from Leeds University in 1970. Abdul-Hayy's thesis focused on the Scottish poet Edwin Muir. In 1973, he was awarded a PhD in Comparative Literature from Oxford University. His PhD thesis dealt with the influence of American and English romantic thinking on Arabic poetry. After obtaining his PhD, Abdul-Hayy returned to Sudan, teaching English and comparative literature at Khartoum University. He also served as head of the Department of English from 1978 to 1980.[2] He died at the early age of 45 on 23 August 1989 in Soba University Hospital, Khartoum.
In 1973, Abdul-Hayy released his poem Al Awada alla Sennar (Return to Sennar). It focused on the question of Sudanese cultural identity, and used the historical Kingdom of Sennar as a symbol of African and Arabic coexistence. Upon its publication, Al Awada alla Sennar gained widespread acclaim within the Arab speaking world.[2]
Together with other writers of the early 1960s, such as Ali El-Makk, Al-Nur Othman Abkar, Yusef Aidabi, and Abdullah Shabu, Mohammed Abdul-Hayy is considered as one of the founders of the literary "Forest and the Desert School", where forest refers to the rainforests of the South and desert to northern Sudan.[3]