Salih Ahmed Al Ali

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Salih Ahmed Al Ali
Born	1918 Mosul
December 25, 2003 (aged 84–85)December 25, 2003 (aged 84–85)
🏳️ Nationality	Iraqi
🎓 Alma mater	University of Oxford
💼 Occupation	Professor, historian, researcher, thinker
🏅 Awards	King Faisal International Prize in Islamic Studies

Salih Ahmad Al-Ali (1337 AH / 1918 AD – 25 December 2003) was an Iraqi historian and academic.

Biography

Salih Ahmed Ali Muhammad Othman Bey Al-Anzi was born in Mosul in 1918; he finished his primary education and Al-Adnaniyah Intermediate School. He graduated from the elementary teachers' school in 1937 with obtaining a bachelor's degree from the High Teachers' House in Baghdad in 1943. Salih joined the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, and received a BA in History in 1945. During his years of study in Egypt, his colleagues were the Coptic Patriarch (Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria) and among his teachers: Hassan Ibrahim Hassan and Abbas Ammar. He is closely related to the dearest people he is closely associated with are Shakir Mustafa, Abdullah Abd al-Daim, and Abd al-Hay Sha'ban, whom he is told by kinship. His grandfather "Shaaban" was an Iraqi merchant from the city of Mosul, where he settled in Egypt and died there. He joined Oxford University and studied there for four years. His supervisor was the well-known English orientalist Sir Hamilton Gibb, at the end of which in 1949 he obtained a doctorate in Islamic history. His doctoral thesis was on "Social and Economic Organizations in the First Century AH 1954," published. He also published a book entitled: "Lectures on the History of the Arabs," It has remained a methodological and auxiliary book in Iraqi universities since 1955.

Salih taught at the University of Baghdad and served as the head of the history department for several years. He was appointed Dean of the Institute of Higher Islamic Studies at the same university (1963-1968 AD). Salih was president in the Center of the Revival of the Arab Scientific Heritage (1980-1982) and for the Iraqi Scientific Academy, president from 1978 to 2001. Also, Salih was a member of multiple academies and councils, including the Baghdad University Council, the Arabic Language Academy in Damascus, and the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo.

Salih taught in many Arab and international universities, including Harvard University (1956-1957), and edited in international encyclopedias, including the British Encyclopedia and the Department of Islamic Encyclopedia, and wrote many articles in these two encyclopedias, including the articles (Arif), (Al-Bataeh), (Deir Al-Jajim) and (Awana Ibn Al-Hakam).

He participated in many committees formed in Iraq to discuss the affairs of teaching and writing history.

He also participated in many conferences and scientific symposia on history and what is related to it.

Approaches

Dr. Salih is one of the great historians who were preoccupied with the idea of ​​history, that is, how to extract the view from a specific event. He says: The Arabs were this their intent or goal to accomplish something, to do something. The following elements characterize his historical research method:

• He provided the image that the sources portrayed in that past.
• Organizing the material, presenting it, analyzing it, and finding the connection between them.
• Correlation of analyzes and their dialectical highlighting with incidents and other institutions.
• Introducing the material that he believes is correct or closer to the truth.

Thus, he neglected to mention matters or opinions that (he believes) that his general information, thinking, and the logic of events do not support their validity. An example of this is that he neglected the research (The Extinct Arabs) because the news about them is not accurate or reliable. Based on these elements, his research was limited to the detailed description on the one hand and discretionary analysis on the other.

The historian Al-Ali excelled in highlighting the role of the Arabs in civilizational achievement without a misleading summary or misleading detail. Therefore, the traces of the civilization of every Arab country that became extinct are traced, according to his well-known saying: “The fall of any state does not mean the annihilation of its people or the extinction of its civilization.”

The most prominent term in Saleh al-Ali's historical language was: the idea of ​​history. It is intended to: highlight the historical continuity and its development, which helps to shed light on the roots and foundations of many of its ideas, our culture, our systems, and our institutions.

Perhaps the topic of (the Semites), and whether the Arabs are from their roots, is one of the most historical topics that preoccupied those interested in the historical affairs of the Arabian Peninsula and its surroundings. On this subject, the Highest makes his opinion. It discusses the Italian orientalist’s (Guide) theories on the origin of the Semites. He criticized several places in his research on them, especially on the subject of languages. In his study on the Semites, Dr. Al-Ali continues the human migrations to the island and the Fertile Crescent, and the development of languages there, and concludes that the Arabs carried the original Semitic characteristics and customs, and their language is the closest and purest of Semitic languages to the original.

Activities

Dr. Salih A-Ali contributed to the projects of the Iraqi Ministry of Culture and Information during the eighties of the last century, which was concerned with History, including: “Iraq in History,” “Iraq’s Civilization,” “Iraq in Facing Challenges,” and “Army and Weapons.” He has many articles and research on the importance of rewriting History and mechanisms. He wrote an article about him in the Mosul newspaper Fata Iraq (Issue 35, June 25, 2004) entitled “Dr. Salih Ahmed Al-Ali and Writing History.” He said: That Dr. Al-Ali served, through History, his country, his nation, and all of humanity. He was a member of many academies, bodies, magazines, and scientific institutions, including his membership in the Spanish Arab Institute in Madrid and his membership in the Archaeological Society in India. Jamal Al-Din Faleh Al-Kilani says: Dr. Salih Ahmed Al-Ali is one of the founders of the modern, pioneering and creative Iraqi historical school, and his works and research have been translated into several languages and most prestigious international universities accredit it.

Works

The works of the Iraqi Arab historian, Dr. Salih Ahmed Al-Ali, are 19 books, the most prominent of which are:

• "Tareekh Alrab Alkadeem Wa Albitha Alnabawiya" (Ancient Arab History and the Prophet's Mission)
• "Dirasat Fi Tatawor Alharaka Alfikriya" (Studies in the Development of the Intellectual Movement in Early Islam) (1983);
• "Aldawla Fi Ahd Alrasool" (The state during the era of the Prophet Muhammad)
• "Imtidad Alarab Fi Sadr Al Islam" (The extension of the Arabs in the early days of Islam)
• "Almaalim Almimariya Fi Makka" (Architectural landmarks in Mecca)
• "Baghdad Abr Alusoor" (Baghdad through the ages)

Five books have been reviewed, including:

• "Kitab Albuldan" (The Book of Countries) by Al-Jahiz

He has also translated 12 books, including:

• "Ilm Altareekh Ind Almuslimeen" (History of Muslims) by Rosenthal
• Professor Stephen Runciman's lectures on "Byzantium"
• "Alhuroob Alsalibiya" (Crusades).
• “Young Turkey” by Ernst Ramsauer

He presented 16 research papers and studies in Arabic, including: "Basra Plans," "Baghdad Plans," "Provisions of the Messenger Muhammad ﷺ in the Open Lands" and "Arab Settlement in Khorasan" and "What the Arabs Contributed in the Last Hundred Years to Studying the History of Arabic Literature."

Six studies have been published in English.

Awards and honors

He won the King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies in 1409 AH, 1989 AD. The awards for awarding him stated that Dr. Salih Al-Ali deserves recognition for his remarkable superiority over all Arab and Muslim historians in the abundance and quality of the pioneering and accredited studies he produced.

His attributes

Researcher Jamal Al-Kilani describes him by saying, "Dr. Saleh Ahmed Al-Ali has great qualities. He is benevolent, does not get angry quickly, is courteous, patient, and diligent, respects science, reveres scholars, and is keen on sitting with them and debating with them to reach the truth. He is also a good novelist who attracts listeners to him and captivates their doors with surprising speed. He is respected, admired, and admired by everyone and for his efforts."

His position

Hisham Djait answered a question regarding what the Arabs accomplished in the twentieth century, saying: "The only achievement is in the field of Arab historical studies and research, and in this field, we find only a few good historians, including Abdel Aziz Al Douri and Saleh Ahmed Al Ali, followed by Farouk Omar Fawzi and the writings of these historians, all of whom are Iraqis, are almost the only ones in all Arab productions in the field of human sciences that are universally recognized as serious research that dominates their subject matter.

External links

• كتاب: "محاضرات في تاريخ العرب" للدكتور صالح أحمد العلي pdf
• كتاب: التنظيمات الاجتماعية والاقتصادية والثقافية في البصرة في القرن الأول الهجري "أطروحة دكتوراه من جامعة أكسفورد" د.صالح أحمد العلي pdf.

References

1. المؤرخ صالح أحمد العلي ـ تأليف: حميد المطبعي ـ منشورات بيت الحكمة ـ بغداد ـ 2002

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