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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Obituary
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Rushdi Fakkar (1930-2000)
The renowned Egyptian Islamic thinker and scholar, Rushdi Fakkar, passed away last Saturday in Morocco of a heart attack at the age of 70.Fakkar had occupied several teaching positions, the last of which at Morocco's Mohamed V University.
Born in Qena, Upper Egypt, in 1930, Fakkar studied law, earning his first PhD from the Sorbonne in 1956 and the second from the University of Geneva in 1967. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. In 1990, President Hosni Mubarak awarded him the State Order of Merit
A scholar in both Western and Muslim civilisations, Fakkar championed cross-cultural dialogue and attempted to bridge the misconception gaps between Islam and the West. He was the president of the Odeon Society for East-West Dialogue.
Fakkar was a strong believer in the intrinsic values of Islam and Islamic civilisation. He argued that present-day Muslims can only hope to pull out of their backwardness and under-development by truly embodying the spirit and values of Islam. Fakkar was also a strong supporter of inter-Muslim cooperation.
Fakkar authored the seminal, three-volume work, Towards an Islamic Theory of Dialogue. In it, he expounded his conviction that Muslims can prove the worth of their civilisation and system of beliefs through dialogue. The work also contained an analysis of the modern Muslim predicament and his views on how Muslims can overcome it.
Amina Elbendary
