Name Hussein Mahfouz | Role Scholar | |
Died January 19, 2009, Baghdad, Iraq | ||
Hussein Ali Mahfouz (3 May 1926 - 19 January 2009) was an Iraqi scholar in the field of Semitic languages.
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Early life
Mahfouz was born in Al Kadhimiya, Baghdad into a Muslim Shia religious family. His father died when he was a child, leaving him an orphan. He was raised by his mother and his father's brother. In elementary school he began writing poetry in elementary school and translating texts from English to Arabic.
Academic career
After graduating from high school Mahfouz was accepted at Dar Al-Maualemen (the House of Teachers) college in Baghdad; he graduated in 1948. Then he received his Ph.D. in Comparative literature from the University of Tehran in 1952. After returning to Iraq in 1956 he was appointed as a professor in Dar Al-Maualemen Al-'Aali (the House of Teachers for higher studies) and an inspector of Arabic language in the ministry of knowledge.
In 1961 Mahfouz moved to the USSR to teach Arabic language and literature at Leningrad State University. In 1969 he established the department of Oriental studies at the College of Literature of the University of Baghdad.
Later career
Mahfouz retired from teaching in the late 1990s. He kept a position as a judge of Masters and Ph.D. candidates, until the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. He died in Kadhimiya hospital at the age of 83 with a bibliography of almost 1500 books and articles.