Personal Info
- Country of residence: Egypt
Information
Born in Jerusalem in 1882; educated at the Frères College in Jerusalem and the Patriarchal School in Beirut, where he was tutored by the notable Arabic language expert Al-Bustani; expressed opposition to Zionism as early as 1909 in his literary work As-Sahir wa Al-Yahudi (The Wizard and the Jew); returned to Jerusalem and occupied himself with literature and philosophy until the end of WWI; taught Arabic language, among others at Sahaliyyah College in Jerusalem; was known as Adib Al-Arabiya (Scholar of Arabic Language); became Director of Ar-Rashidiyah School in Jerusalem after WWI; was a leading founding member of the Muntada Al-Adabi (Literary Club) in 1918; built himself a palace in Jerusalem that also housed a special book collection frequented by many visiting scholars (today the palace has been transformed to the Is’af Nashashibi Cultural Center, located in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah); served for nine years as educational inspector for the British Mandate authorities, contributing to the improvement of the curriculum and textbooks; moved to Cairo in 1947, planning to return to Palestine once the situation improved there but passed away; was described as ‘Walking Arabic Dictionary’; was a member of the Arab Scientific Society in Damascus; was a prolific essayist and has authored several books, incl. An Arab Heart and European Mind (Arabic, 1923) and The Correct Islam (Arabic, 1935); died on 18 Jan. 1948 in Cairo; his unique book collection was looted by Jewish forces in the course of the 1948 Nakba.
Source
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
: From
To