Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad ( ar, عباس محمود العقاد, ; 28 June 1889 – 12 March 1964) was an
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
journalist, poet and literary critic,
[ʿAbbās Maḥmūd al-ʿAqqād]
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...
. Accessed 22 December 2015. and member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo. More precisely, because "his writings cover a broad spectrum, including poetry, criticism, Islamology, history, philosophy, politics, biography, science, and Arabic literature", he is perceived to be a
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
.
Biography
Al-Aqqad was born in
Aswan
Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate.
Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the ...
, a city in
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient ...
, in 1889. His father was a money-changer originally from the
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
ian rural city of
Damietta
Damietta ( arz, دمياط ' ; cop, ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ, Tamiati) is a port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt, a former bishopric and present multiple Catholic titular see. It is located at the Damietta branch, an easter ...
while his mother had
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
roots. He received little formal education, completing only his elementary education; he later supplemented his learning by buying books and reading on his own.
[ Unlike his schoolmates, he spent all his weekly allowance on books. He read about religion, geography, history and many other subjects. He was known for his excellent ]English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
. He was also particularly well-read in German literature
German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy a ...
.
Al-'Aqqad was also an outspoken political thinker, and was jailed for a time between 1930 and 1931 for criticizing the country's government.[ In 1942 when the forces of ]Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
advanced on Egypt, al-'Aqqad fled to Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
due to fear of reprisal for his criticism of Hitler.[ At the height of Hitler's military advances, al-'Aqqad wrote his scathing work ''Hitler in the Balance'' in June 1940 in which he lambasts ]Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
as the greatest threat to freedom, modernity and the very existence of man.[Israel Gershoni]
Liberal Democratic Legacies in Modern Egypt: The Role of the Intellectuals, 1900–1950
, Institute for Advanced Study, Summer 2012 issue. Retrieved 22 December 2015 In addition to his general opposition to both fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, al-'Aqqad was also both a member of the Egyptian parliament for a time as a member of the Wafd Party
The Wafd Party (; ar, حزب الوفد, ''Ḥizb al-Wafd'') was a nationalist liberal political party in Egypt. It was said to be Egypt's most popular and influential political party for a period from the end of World War I through the 1930s ...
, and later a member of the Chamber of Deputies.[
He wrote more than a hundred of books about philosophy, religion, and poetry, along with a philosophical study of the ]Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
and various biographies of historic Muslim leaders.[ He founded a poetry school with ]Ibrahim Al-Mazny
Ibrahim Abd al-Qadir al-Mazini ( ar, إبراهيم عبد القادر المازني, ; born August 19, 1889 or 1890; died July 12 or August 10, 1949) was an Egyptian poet, novelist, journalist, and translator.
Early life
Al-Mazini was born in ...
and Abdel Rahman Shokry
Abdel Rahman Shokry ( ar, عبد الرحمن شكري; 12 October 1886 – 16 December 1958) was an Egyptian poet from the Diwan school of poets.
Early life
He was born in Port Said and he travelled to England where he got his Bachelor of Arts f ...
called Al-Diwan.
Romantic relationships
Al-Aqqad experienced two major romantic relationships in his life. The first was whom he called "Sarah" in his novel of the same name.[ The second was with the famous Egyptian actress ]Madiha Yousri
Madiha Yousri ( ar, مديحة يسري; née Hannouma Habib Khalil Ali ( ar, هنومة حبيب خليل); 3 December 1921 – 29 May 2018) was an Egyptian film and television actress. She starred in dozens of classic Egyptian films over th ...
. This relationship was ended by al-Aqqad himself, because of Yousri's career as an actress. Al-Aqqad wrote a poetry work about this relationship called ''Cyclones of a Sunset'' (''A-Asiru Maghrib'' in Arabic).
It was reported by prolific Egyptian author Anis Mansour
Anis Mansour, also transliterated as Anīs Manṣūr ( ar, أنيس منصور, ) (18 August 1924 – 21 October 2011) was an Egyptian writer.
Biography
Mansour was born in Al-Mansoura on 18 August 1924. He obtained his BA in philosophy at Cair ...
and various other attendees of Al-Aqqad's famous 'lounge' that he kept a painting in his bedroom that displayed a beautiful cake with cockroaches crawling over it. Supposedly, Al-Aqqad kept this in his room as 'the first thing he looked at in the morning and the last thing he saw in the evening'. It symbolized beauty and purity (the cake) that is wasted to the glamor of spotlights (the cockroaches) as was the case (as he perceived) with actress Madiha Yousri.
Death
Al-Aqqad died on the morning of 13 March 1964. His body was transported to his hometown, Aswan, for burial on the same day.
In the early 1980s, an Egyptian television series was produced about the life of al-Aqqad, which was titled ''The Giant'' (''Al Imlaq'' in Arabic). It starred Egyptian actor Mahmud Mursi.
There is a street in the Nasr City
Nasr City ( ar, مدينة نصر ) is a district of Cairo, Egypt. It is located to the east of the Cairo Governorate and consists mostly of condominia. It was established in the 1960s as an extension to neighboring settlement of Heliopo ...
district of Cairo named after al-Aqqad.
Works
Abbās al-Aqqād was "a prolific writer, he authored over a hundred books and several thousand articles",[F. Peter Ford, Jr., "Preface" in Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad, ''The Genius of Christ'', Global Academic Publishing (2001), p. viii] and he is most famous for his Abqarīyat series which consists of seven books cover the life of seven of the most important Sahabah
The Companions of the Prophet ( ar, اَلصَّحَابَةُ; ''aṣ-ṣaḥāba'' meaning "the companions", from the verb meaning "accompany", "keep company with", "associate with") were the disciples and followers of Muhammad who saw or m ...
like Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
and Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
. His works include:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* ''The genius of Christ'' (2001) translated F. Peter Ford, .
See also
* Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar
Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar ( ar, أحمد عبد الغفور عطار, translit=ʿAḥmad ʿAbd al-Ghafūr Aṭṭār; 11 October 1916 – 1 February 1991) was a Saudi Arabian writer, journalist and poet, best known for his works about 20th-ce ...
References
External links
Biography
at ''Philosophers of the Arabs''
at ''Arab World Books''
Mahmud Abbās al-Aqqād statue in Aswan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aqqad, Abbas Mahmoud al
1889 births
1964 deaths
Mujaddid
People from Aswan
Literary critics of Arabic
Egyptian male poets
Egyptian male writers
Egyptian literary critics
20th-century Egyptian writers
20th-century Egyptian poets
Egyptian people of Kurdish descent
20th-century male writers
20th-century non-fiction writers
20th-century Egyptian politicians
Male non-fiction writers
Egyptian magazine founders
Wafd Party politicians