In 1981, the poet Rashid Salim Al-Khoury, known as “Al-Shaer Al-Qarawi”, visited the Sheikh of Mujahideen, Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash, at his home in the town of Al-Qurayya in Jabal Al-Arab. It was the first meeting between the two, as both had surpassed the age of ninety.
The meeting was intimate and moving between Al-Shaer Al-Qarawi, who celebrated the heroism of the rebels, and Sultan Al-Atrash, who is considered one of the most important major expatriate poets.
When the General Commander of the Great Syrian Revolt welcomed him, Al-Qarawi said: You are Al-Atrash... you are Sultan?.
Sultan Al-Atrash replied: Yes, I am he, and you are the patriotic, Arabist, and militant Al-Qarawi. They embraced each other, the hug lasted long, and tears fell.
Then Al-Qarawi said, “Are you Sultan, the one for whom I composed my most beautiful poems and crafted my verses for over sixty years? The time has come, O Sultan, and here we are in the late autumn of our lives, but I thank the Lord who allowed my eyes to be graced by your sight before I die. It was my dearest wish to meet a hero I immortalized in my poetry... and who immortalized me through his struggle before I part with life. And here I have come with a white head, let us say I have come to bid you farewell.”
Al-Qarawi had composed many poems about Sultan Al-Atrash whenever news of the rebels in Jabal Al-Arab reached them. Among them was a poem following the Battle of Tell Al-Hadid to liberate Adham Khanjar from French captivity in the As-Suwayda Citadel in 1922, where he composed a poem titled “Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash and the Tank”.
You rushed to the aid of the oppressed quickly, furious, and had the lion seen you, it would have been terrified.
Around you were the sons of Ma'ruf, a group, with or without whom the masses sing.
And what shield could protect a blade that was accustomed to obey your right hand?
Did your enemies not wear (the tank) as armor? So ask them, did it protect their ribs?
And when you reached the heart of the enemies, to where you made them taste bitter poison.
You leapt onto the top of the (tank) with a leap, a wonder that taught the eagle how to descend.
So the soldiers fell dead upon the (tank), and the (tank) fell dead beneath them.
What a raid, had our enemies not broadcast it, we would have called the announcer a liar.
And what an Atrash (deaf) you are, when we were called for revenge, you were the one who heard us all.
Al-Shaer Al-Qarawi also praised Sultan Al-Atrash with this poem:
Sultan, O sword of protection and sharpest arrow
Live for the struggle, and may your auspicious memory live forever in history
Far be it for someone like me to belittle your standing, a thousand times far be it
If you are a Sultan, how is it permissible for me to call you Pasha?
It is noteworthy that Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash passed away about a year after meeting Al-Qarawi, on March 26, 1982, while Al-Shaer Al-Qarawi passed away in 1984.
