Youssef Ziedan

Professor Youssef Ziedan (Arabic: يوسف زيدان) (born June 30, 1958) is an Egyptian scholar specialized in Arabic and Islamic studies. He works as director of the Manuscript Center and Museum affiliated to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He is a university professor, a public lecturer, a columnist and a prolific author (more than 50 books). The study of Arabic and Islamic manuscripts has been always his most cherished interest, and a swift look at his bibliography would show that the cataloguing, editing and publishing of these manuscripts constitute the greatest bulk of his work. He worked as a consultant in the field of Arabic heritage preservation and conservation in a number of international institutions: UNESCO, ESCWA and the Arab League. He also directed a number of field work aimed at the delimitation and preservation of Arabic manuscript heritage.

Biography

Ziedan was born in upper Egypt in 1958. He moved with his grandfather to Alexandria when he was still a child and was raised and taught in this unique Mediterranean metropolis. He joined the philosophy department at the University of Alexandria and graduated "summa cum laude". His postgraduate studies focused on Sufism and its philosophical underpinnings. He obtained his PhD degree in 1989 for his dissertation on "The Qadiri Sufi Order, with a study and edition of the poetical works of Abdul Qadir al-Jilani". He lives in Alexandria, and has a son and two daughters.

The Study of Sufism

Ziedan’s work on Sufism underscores not just the mystic introspective lineaments of Islamic Sufism, but more importantly the philosophical underpinnings of that most intricate and subtlest of Islam’s intellectual patrimony. A proof of that is his continual emphasis on studying Ibn Arabi and Abdul Karim al-Jili – the two figures represent an acme of philosophical Sufism in the history of Islam. His work on Abdul Karim al-Jili is seen by many as the most authoritative work in the field.

The Study of Islamic Philosophy

The most distinctive feature in Ziedan’s study of Islamic philosophy is his attempt at uncovering the origins of a type of Islamic philosophical thought that, he thinks, had not been influenced by Hellenistic philosophy. He thinks that the parable of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, for instance, and its many versions and interpretations by such grand names as Avicenna, Ibn Tufayl, al-Suhrawardi and Ibn al-Nafis is an unmistakable well of Islamic philosophical thought that anyone, if seeking to understand Islamic philosophy "per se", should draw at. That explains his re-editing of the complete philosophical parable of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan in his "Hayy Ibn Yaqzan: the Four Texts and their Authors".

The Study of the History of Islamic Medicine

This is another dimension in Ziedan’s work that brings him near the scientific realms of, "inter alia", medicine, mathematics, astronomy and chemistry. Of course, the emphasis here is on the immense scientific heritage left by the Arabs throughout history. His contribution, however, is particularly visible in medicine. He is, as evidenced in his studies, very much preoccupied with the Arabic translations, commentaries and annotations on Hippocrates and Galen. On the other hand, his studies on Ibn al-Nafis and his critical edition of his grand medical encyclopedia (30 volumes) "al-Shamil fil Sina’a al-Tibbiyya" catapulted him as an Ibn al-Nafis scholar.

Cataloguing and Preservation of Arabic Manuscripts

Manuscript cataloguing is inextricably linked to any attempt at understanding, studying and explaining of the content of these manuscripts. Any heritage specialist should be well-versed in the intricate arts and techniques of manuscript cataloguing, for it is so basic and so fundamental that it can never be obviated. Ziedan sees cataloguing as an "ars maior", that did not receive the attention it deserves. According to him, cataloguing is the key to have a panoramic view of a particular manuscript heritage. With this in mind, Ziedan produced some 20 manuscript catalogues using detailed descriptive cataloguing techniques rather than skimpy uninformative bibliographic records. His catalogues are mostly thematic, i.e. they are not general catalogues, they handle each theme of knowledge separately.

Literary Criticism and Fiction

Apart from all the previous interests which seem quite coterminous, Ziedan writes on literary criticism not as a professional, of course, but as an amateur with a flair to literature. That also led him to publish a novel called "Zil al-Af’a" (Shadow of the Serpent). The novel treats the notion of the sacred female through a contemporary setting with humdrum personae in the first part, the second part of the novel contains letter fragments from a female anthropologist to her daughter, the heroine of the first part, explaining how the role of the female has been utterly misshapen, abused and diabolically transformed throughout history. The novel has been criticized for its abnormal structure and superfluous intellectualism. Notwithstanding, Ziedan wrote his second novel, now in press, and it is said to be a historico-theological work with an eponymous title "Azazil".

Web-based Contribution

With such an immense and multifarious output Ziedan thought of making all his works available to everybody through the world wide web, a project that, later, was transformed into a portal for Arabic and Islamic manuscripts in digital form, and it now arguably contains one of the largest original manuscript collections in digital form on the Web. It is worth mentioning that the website is totally free and requires no prior registration.The website can be accessed at [http://www.ziedan.com www.ziedan.com]

Bibliography

N.B. This is not an exhaustive bibliography of Y. Ziedan’s works. A complete and exhaustive list of publications can be found on his website [http://www.ziedan.com www.ziedan.com]

Sufism:

-"Anonymous Sufi Poets"

-"Al-Mutawaliyat: studies in Sufism"

-"Sufi Orders and al-Qadiriyya in Egypt"

-"A Prologue to Sufism by al-Sulami: a study and a critical edition"

-"The Poetical Works of Abdul Qadir al-Jilani"

Islamic Philosophy:

-"Hayy Ibn Yaqzan: the four texts and their authors"

History of Arabic Medicine:

-"A Commentary on the Hippocratic Aphorisms"

-"Treatises on Body Parts by Ibn al-Nafis"

-"Rediscovering ‘Alaa al-Din (Ibn al-Nafis) al-Qarashi"

-"Treatise on Gout by Rhazes"

-"Al-Shamil fil al-Sina’a al-Tibbiyya in 30 volumes"

Manuscript Cataloguing:

-"Rare manuscripts in the Alexandria Municipality Collection"

-"Catalogue of the Alexandria University Manuscript Collection"

-"Catalogue of the Escorial Monastery Manuscript Collection"

-"Catalogue of the Religious Institute of Sumuha"

Literary Criticism and Fiction:

-"Iltiqa’ al-Bahrin: essays in literary criticism"

-"Zil al-Af’a: a novel"

-"Azazil: a novel (forthcoming)"

References

-"Amin, K (1999) Enamoured of Manuscripts: a study in the works and thought of Youssef Ziedan. Cairo"

- [http://www.ziedan.com www.ziedan.com]

- [http://www.islamonline.com www.islamonline.com]

- [http://www.bibalex.org www.bibalex.org]