Ali Al-Jarim

We heard demands from one of the distinguished members of the National Assembly to include the subject of the Holy Qur’an in kindergarten. Despite the importance of this proposition, I have a question: is it sufficient to teach the Holy Qur’an at any stage of education with the presence of weaknesses in the curricula and pillars of teaching the Arabic language and with a clear absence of the subjects of history and national education? Our honorable member, have you not noticed the weakness of high school students in Arabic language reading and writing? Many of them do not know how to write even their names, and you know very well that the loss of language is the loss of religion, Arab and Islamic culture, and identity as well. This is considered an abhorrent alienation of our children, and all of this is a result of the weaknesses of our curricula. My dear National Assembly member, I believe that the solution lies in reconsidering the school curricula in a complete, integrated, scientific, and studied manner by educational specialists who are far from politics and sectarianism. We also need specialists of a high literary and scientific level to accomplish this task, especially with regard to the Arabic language, such as the writer Ali Al-Jarim, who of course is not well known to many. But since I read a lot of his poems and writings, my acquaintance with him began in my high school days, when one of the novels in the Arabic language courses, "Call from Andalusia," was written by him, and that novel had a great impact on my attachment to reading. In honor of this man, I mention part of his biography, which had a great role in developing the curricula in Egypt, perhaps through which I can convey the message: "Our topic today is about a period of time that immortalized with it pioneering names and figures in the history of the Arabic language and its origins. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Arab world witnessed the formation of a new generation of scholars in all fields who were able to lead the cultural life for a period of time. Among these scholars was the writer Ali Al-Jarim, who was born in 1881 AD in Egypt and died in 1949 AD.  The writer, Ali Al-Jarim, began his life as a writer and memorized the Holy Qur’an under the auspices of his linguist father, the writer Muhammad Salih Al-Jarim, who was then the Mufti of the Directorate. Then he joined Al-Azhar, where he studied language, literature, and mathematics and was ranked as the top student among his colleagues. He maintained his superiority throughout his years of study until he graduated in 1908 AD, and his inclination for literature, language, and poetry appeared early, so he read a lot from his father's library, which helped him write poetry at the age of fifteen. Then he was sent on a fellowship to England to complete his educational studies. After his return to Egypt, he worked as a teacher in Dar of Science for the subjects of education and school health. After that, he was transferred to the Ministry of Education as an educational inspector. Then  promoted to the position of chief inspector of the Arabic language, after which he was appointed as a member of the Fouad I Academy for Arabic Language. The writer Ali Al-Jarim is considered one of the undisputed figures of the renaissance of Arabic literature, as a writer, poet, linguist, grammarian, storyteller, and a pioneer of education in our Arab world. If one reads his writings and books, he will discover that the majority of them are educational in nature, owing to his job as an Arabic language inspector, and he was interested in developing books for primary and secondary school students in grammar, morphology, rhetoric, and literature.  What is remarkable in the biography of the writer and poet Ali Al-Jarim is the effort and role he played in order to simplify grammar for students and young people after the Arab culture in the Middle Ages deteriorated greatly. Here, he worked on writing a book that facilitates the study of grammar for students. He also co-authored a number of educational and cultural books, including: "Clear Grammar in Arabic Grammar" for secondary schools, "Clear rhetoric", "Explanation of Al-Baroudi Diwan", "Kitab al-Bakhla" by al-Jahiz, "Al-Mu’jam Al-Waseet," and many others. In poetry, he has "Ali al-Jarim Diwan." He also started in translation, translating "The Arabs in Spain" and many other books. The writer and poet Ali Al-Jarim was one of the most prominent poets in Egypt. After Hafez Ibrahim and Ahmed Shawky, he preserved Egypt's literary and poetic status. He was called the poet of Arabism at the time after he organized dozens of his poems on national occasions, carrying the banner of authentic Arabic poetry that preserves meter, rhyme, and narration. By returning to his poems, we clearly notice the depth of meanings and grandeur in the pronunciation, as if you are reading to one of the princes of ancient poetry, such as Al-Buhturi, Al-Mutanabbi, and many others". May Allah’s mercy be upon you, my friend, whom I did not meet except through your writings and poems. I hope that we will find someone who will advance the Arabic language and its pillars in our country, as Al-Jarim and his companions did in Egypt.

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