Ihsan Abbas (December 2, 1920 – January 29, 2003) was a
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
professor at the
American University of Beirut, and was considered a premier figure of Arabic and Islamic studies in the East and West during the 20th century. The "author of over one hundred books", during his career, Abbas was renowned as one of the foremost scholars of Arabic language and literature and was a respected literary critic.
[ Suheil Bushrui, "Jubran Khalil Jubran." Taken from "Essays in Arabic Literary Biography: 1850–1950," p. 184. Vol. 3 of Essays in Arabic Literary Biography, Band 17. Eds. Roger M. A. Allen, Joseph Edmund Lowry and Devin J. Stewart. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010. ] Upon his death, Abbas was eulogized by
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
historian
Lawrence Conrad
Lawrence Irvin Conrad (born 1949) is a British historian and scholar of Oriental studies, specializing in Near Eastern studies and the history of medicine. He currently serves as historian for the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine i ...
as a custodian of Arabic heritage and culture, and a figure whose scholarship had dominated the Middle East's intellectual and cultural life for decades.
Lawrence Conrad
Lawrence Irvin Conrad (born 1949) is a British historian and scholar of Oriental studies, specializing in Near Eastern studies and the history of medicine. He currently serves as historian for the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine i ...
, "Ihsan Abbas: Custodian of Arabic Heritage and Culture." Al-Qantara, vol. xxvi, iss. #1, pp. 5–17. 2005.
Life
Abbas was born in the former Palestinian village of
Ayn Ghazal
Ayn Ghazal ( ar, عين غزال, "Spring of the Gazelle") was a Palestinian Arab village located south of Haifa. Depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as a result of an Israeli military assault during Operation Shoter, the village was ...
near
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
on December 2, 1920,
[ though the village's population was forced to leave in 1948 at the time of the 1948 War, and was subsequently destroyed during Operation Shoter. As a child, the only books in his family's impoverished home were 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.: , s ...
and a famous 15th-century Arabic encyclopedia known as ''Al-Mustatraf''; Abbas would often sadden at the mention of the latter due to the memories it brought him.[Ulrich Marzolph, "Medieval Knowledge in Modern Reading: A Fifteenth Century Arabic Encyclopedia of ''Omni Re Scibili''." Taken from ''Pre-modern Encyclopaedic Texts: Proceedings of the Second Comers Congress, Groningen, 1–4 July 1996.'', pg. 407. Ed. Peter Binkley. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997. ] Growing up in Palestine, Abbas completed high school in Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
and Acre before attending the Arab College in Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
from 1937 to 1941.[Ihsan Abbas]
. Hosted at Visit Palestine; information provided courtesy of AllforPalestine. Copyright © 2013 Alternative Business Solutions ABS. Accessed 4 June 2013. Abbas then spent the next four years teaching at a college in Safed and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree in Arabic literature
Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...
from Cairo University
Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...
in 1950; for the next ten years, Abbas traveled between his study at Cairo where he earned a Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
and Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
, and his work at Gordon Memorial College or, as it became known during his tenure, the University of Khartoum
The University of Khartoum (U of K) ( ar, جامعة الخرطوم) is a public university located in Khartoum, Sudan. It is the largest and oldest university in Sudan. UofK was founded as Gordon Memorial College in 1902 and established in 195 ...
.[ Abbas' master's thesis focused on Arabic literary culture in ]Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, while his doctoral dissertation was on the subject of religious asceticism and its influence in Umayyad culture.[ At the end of his tenure in Sudan, he was appointed to a professorship position in the Arabic literature department at the American University of Beirut, a post which he held until his retirement in 1985. Abbas remained active, performing post-retirement research projects for the ]University of Jordan
The University of Jordan ( ar, الجامعة الأردنية), often abbreviated UJ, is a public university located in Amman, Jordan. Founded in 1962 by royal decree, it is the largest and oldest institution of higher education in Jordan. ...
, especially on Andalusian Arabic
Andalusi Arabic (), also known as Andalusian Arabic, was a variety or varieties of Arabic spoken mainly from the 9th to the 17th century in Al-Andalus, the regions of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) once under Muslim rule. It b ...
literature and the translation of world literature
World literature is used to refer to the total of the world's national literature and the circulation of works into the wider world beyond their country of origin. In the past, it primarily referred to the masterpieces of Western European lit ...
to the Arabic language
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
.[
Abbas was often at the center of intellectual life wherever he was living, and camaraderie with his colleagues was an important part of his life. Abbas was an avid participant in the cafe gatherings of ]Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha ( arz, نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. M ...
in Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
during the 1950s and 1960s.[ In the midst of the ]Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
in 1981, perhaps the primary intellectual activity in Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
which continued despite the conflict was a weekly meeting of intellectuals and academics at Abbas' house.[
Abbas died in Amman, ]Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
on January 29, 2003, at the age of 82 after a prolonged illness. On December 14, 2005, a day-long seminar was held at Birzeit University in Birzeit
Birzeit ( ar, بيرزيت), also Bir Zeit, is a Palestinian Christian town north of Ramallah, in the central West Bank. Its population in the 2007 census was 4,529. Birzeit is the home to Birzeit University and to the Birzeit Brewery.
Location
...
in honor of and to discuss Abbas' lifetime achievements and contributions to the fields of Arabic and Islamic studies; attendees included visiting scholars from Hebron University, Bethlehem University
Bethlehem University ( ar, جامعة بيت لحم) is a Catholic university in the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank, Palestine. It is the first university founded in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
History
Established under Israel ...
and An-Najah National University
An-Najah National University ( ar, جامعة النجاح الوطنية) is a Palestinian non-governmental public university governed by a board of trustees. It is located in Nablus, in the northern West Bank. The university has 22,000 stude ...
.
Views
Abbas was a critic of the focus on the North–South divide, emphasizing improvement of quality of life in the Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
rather than conflict between the north and the south. Abbas was also distinguished as a Palestinian figure who defended contributions to Arabic and Islamic studies by Israeli scholarship, on one occasion reacting angrily to when a student claimed that Israeli academia was unable to master the Arabic language, a claim that Abbas found to be racist.[
Abbas, like most other historians of Arab literature, held the view that classical biography and autobiography in the Arabic language tended to reduce the subject to a type rather than an individual. He also echoed the sentiment that in Arabic poetry, the description of the city as a genre and the details of urban life revealed the writer's ideological biases. Abbas was also a defender of ]Kahlil Gibran
Gibran Khalil Gibran ( ar, جُبْرَان خَلِيل جُبْرَان, , , or , ; January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran (pronounced ), was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist ...
's maligned ''Al-Mawakib'', considering it a measuring stick for the literature produced by the Arabic renaissance in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.[
]
Work
Abbas was a celebrated man of letters and a prolific writer during his lifetime. He republished Ibn Bassam
Ibn Bassām or Ibn Bassām al-Shantarinī (; 1058-1147) was an Arab poet and historian from al-Andalus. He was born in Santarém (sometimes spelled Shantarin or Xantarin) and hailed from the Banu Taghlib tribe. He died in 1147.
Ibn Bassam desc ...
's 12th-century biographical dictionary of the Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
's intellectuals, editing it into eight "mammoth" volumes. Abbas' analysis of Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayati
Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati (December 19, 1926 – August 3, 1999) was an Iraqi Arab poet. He was a pioneer in his field and defied conventional forms of poetry that had been common for centuries.
Biography
He was born in Baghdad, near the shrine o ...
's poetry and the significance of Bayati's references to Sisyphus
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος ''Sísyphos'') was the founder and king of Ephyra (now known as Corinth). Hades punished him for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense boulder up a hill ...
and Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...
was criticized as Shmuel Moreh
Shmuel Moreh ( he, שמואל מורה; December 22, 1932 – September 22, 2017) was a professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a recipient of the Israel Prize in Middle Eastern studies in 1999. In ...
; Abbas saw the references as being philosophical allegory, while Moreh tied them to the fall of the Iraqi Communist Party. Abbas contributed significantly to the history of Arabic literature and writers, and was responsible for collecting and compiling the work of Abd al-Hamid al-Katib in 1988, uncovering archived letters between the Umayyad secretary and the empire's last caliph which shed light on the inner workings of the dynasty in its last days. He was also one of the few writers to critically analyze the Kharijites, a now extinct sect of Islam. Though reserved in revealing his own beliefs, Abbas adhered to Sunni Islam and leaned toward the Zahiri
The Ẓāhirī ( ar, ظاهري, otherwise transliterated as ''Dhāhirī'') ''madhhab'' or al-Ẓāhirīyyah ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī in the 9th century CE. It is chara ...
school
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...
of Islamic jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
. He was responsible for reviving the works of Ibn Hazm, one of the main philosophers of the school and of Islam in general, editing and republishing many of them and even uncovering previously unpublished works on Ibn Hazm's legal theory from various archives; Abbas' 1983 edition of Ibn Hazm's book on legal theory ''Ihkam'' is considered a key moment in Arab intellectual history and the modernist revival of Zahirite legal method.
Abbas also participated in a number of collaborative projects during his career. He served, alongside Clifford Edmund Bosworth
Clifford Edmund Bosworth FBA (29 December 1928 – 28 February 2015) was an English historian and Orientalist, specialising in Arabic and Iranian studies.
Life
Bosworth was born on 29 December 1928 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire (now ...
, Jacob Lassner
Jacob Lassner is an American writer and Jewish studies academic. He is the Philip M. & Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish civilization Emeritus at Northwestern University and former Director of the Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies. Lassn ...
, Ehsan Yarshater
Ehsan Yarshater ( fa, احسان يارشاطر, April 3, 1920 – September 1, 2018) was an Iranian historian and linguist who specialized in Iranology. He was the founder and director of The Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Profe ...
and Franz Rosenthal
Franz Rosenthal (August 31, 1914 – April 8, 2003) was the Louis M. Rabinowitz professor of Semitic languages at Yale from 1956 to 1967 and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Arabic, scholar of Arabic literature and Islam at Yale from 1967 to 1985 ...
, on the editorial board for William Montgomery Watt
William Montgomery Watt (14 March 1909 – 24 October 2006) was a Scottish Orientalist, historian, academic and Anglican priest. From 1964 to 1979, he was Professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Watt was one ...
's book ''Muhammad at Mecca
''Muhammad at Mecca'' is a book about the Islamic prophet Muhammad, specifically about the first phase of his public mission, which concern his years in Mecca until the hijra to Medina. It was written by the non-Muslim Islamic scholar W. Montgome ...
'', itself a partial translation and summary of Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
's History of the Prophets and Kings. From 1951 to 1952, Abbas assisted fellow scholar Ahmad Amin
Ahmad Amin (Arabic: أحمد أمين), (1954-1886) was an Egyptian historian and writer. He wrote a series of books on the history of the Islamic civilization (1928–1953), a famous autobiography (''My Life'', 1950), as well as an important ...
and his student Shawqi Daif Shawki (also spelled Shawky, Shawqi, Shawqi, Shoghi) ar, شوقي, french: Chaouqui or tr, Şevki), is a masculine Arabic given name and surname.
It may refer to:
Given name
*Shawqi Aboud, Iraqi football manager
*Shawki Awad Balzuhair (born 1981 ...
in editing and republishing an anthology of Egyptian contributions to Arabic poetry during the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, which had previously been thought to be minimal or non-existent.
Abbas earned the King Faisal International Prize
The King Faisal Prize ( ar, جائزة الملك فيصل, formerly King Faisal International Prize), is an annual award sponsored by King Faisal Foundation presented to "dedicated men and women whose contributions make a positive difference". T ...
from the King Faisal Foundation
The King Faisal Foundation ( ar, مؤسسة الملك فيصل الخيرية; ''KFF''), is an international philanthropic organization established in 1976 with the intent of preserving and perpetuating King Faisal bin Abdulaziz's legacy. The fo ...
in 1980.[ He was also a significant contributor to the cultural magazine '' Al-Arabi'', and was the Arabic translator of ]Herman Melville
Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); ''Typee'' (1846), a rom ...
's Moby-Dick
''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...
.
Edited and republished works
*Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Maqqarī al-Tilmisānī (or al-Maḳḳarī) (), (1577-1632) was an Algerian scholar, biographer and historian who is best known for his , a compendium of the history of Al-Andalus which provided a basis for the scholar ...
, ''Nafh at-tibb min ghusn al-andalus al-ratib''. Beirut: 1968.
*Al-Baladhuri
ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī ( ar, أحمد بن يحيى بن جابر البلاذري) was a 9th-century Muslim historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and e ...
, Ansab al-Ashraf. Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
: 1979.
* Ibn al-Kattani, ''Kitab al-Tashbihat''. Beirut: 1966.
*Ibn Bassam
Ibn Bassām or Ibn Bassām al-Shantarinī (; 1058-1147) was an Arab poet and historian from al-Andalus. He was born in Santarém (sometimes spelled Shantarin or Xantarin) and hailed from the Banu Taghlib tribe. He died in 1147.
Ibn Bassam desc ...
, ''Dhakhira fî mahâsin ahl al-Gazira''. Beirut: 1979.
*Ibn Hazm
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...
, ''al-Ihkam fi usul al-ahkam''. Beirut: Dar al-Afaq al-Jadida, 1980.
*Ibn Hazm, ''Al-Taqrib li Hadd al-Mantiq bi al-Alfaz al-`Ammiyya''. Beirut: 1959.[Sarah Stroumsa, ''Freethinkers of Medieval Islam: Ibn Al-Rawāndī, Abū Bakr Al-Rāzī and Their Impact on Islamic Thought'', p. 243. Vol. 35 of Islamic philosophy, theology, and science: Texts and studies. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1999. ]
*Ibn Hazm, ''Rasa`il Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi''. Beirut, 1981.[
*Ibn Hazm, '' Ṭawq al-Ḥamāmah''. Cairo: Dar al-huda lil-thaqafah wal-nashr, 2002.
*]Ibn Khallikan
Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān) ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أبي بكر ابن خلكان; 1211 – 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a 13th century Shafi'i Islamic scholar w ...
, ''Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-anbāʾ abnāʾ az-zamān''. Beirut: 1968–1977.[Clifford Edmund Bosworth, p. 347.]
References
External links
Bibliography
at Alibris
Alibris is an online store that sells new books, used books, out-of-print books, rare books, and other media through an online network of independent booksellers.
History
Martin Manley founded Alibris in 1997 with the team behind early o ...
Bibliography
at BookFinder.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbas, Ihsan
1920 births
2003 deaths
Palestinian writers
20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
Literary critics of Arabic
American University of Beirut faculty
Palestinian expatriates in Lebanon