'Spiritual person with a Sufi soul'
Baghdad honors late author Jumaa Al-Lami following burial in Najaf
BAGHDAD — Prominent Iraqi writer and journalist Jumaa Al-Lami was laid to rest Sunday in Najaf’s Wadi Al-Salam cemetery following his death on April 17 in the United Arab Emirates at the age of 77.
The Union of Writers and Authors in Baghdad held a funeral ceremony attended by a large gathering of poets, writers, and cultural figures, paying tribute to Al-Lami’s decades-long literary and journalistic legacy.
Al-Lami, who left Iraq in 1979, was remembered as a pivotal figure in Iraqi literature. Deputy Minister of Culture Fazel Al-Badrani called his passing “a great loss and a blow to culture,” praising Al-Lami as a writer whose influence endures.
“As representatives of Iraq’s Ministry of Culture, we are participating in this condolence gathering because Jumaa Al-Lami is a great loss, and we remember his works and poetic writings,” Al-Badrani said. “The late writer left Baghdad a long time ago, but his cultural, journalistic, and poetic works remain.”
Ali Al-Fawaz, head of the Writers Union, described Al-Lami as “a witness to the transformations and developments in Iraqi culture,” saying his body of work represented “a ring of freedom.” Al-Fawaz also announced plans to publish a book dedicated to the late author.
Writer and poet Zaeem Nassar reflected on Al-Lami’s literary beginnings in the 1960s, placing him among the country’s most acclaimed storytellers alongside Mohammed Khudair and Fahd Al-Asadi.
“He was a warm, kind and spiritual person with a Sufi soul,” Nassar said.
