Among his more important contributions was an anthology of seminal texts in pre-modern Islamic political thought as well as an
Among his more important contributions was an anthology of seminal texts in pre-modern Islamic political thought as well as an edition of the memoirs of Emir Adil Arslan, a Pan-Arabist political figure of considerable importance in the first half of the 20th century.Ibish, however, was at heart a peripatetic teacher, a professor/fl?ur who did his teaching outside the classroom as much as inside it. Opposite the main gate of the American University there stood until recently the famous Faisal Restaurant. It was here, in Beirut’s equivalent to the Parisian Les Deux Magots, that one could find almost any Arab intellectual, native Beiruti or passing through, whom one hoped to encounter, and here where Ibish held court.At the centre of a circle of students, colleagues or friends, Ibish would hold forth on almost any subject that took his fancy, from Damascene traditional crafts to American foreign policy in the Middle East. There was hardly any subject in Middle Eastern studies to which he would not contribute a shaft of light, a footnote, an interesting new source, an anecdote. He was immensely generous with what he knew and ready to help anyone reach his very wide circle of acquaintances in the Arab world or beyond.He was often the first person that film makers or festival organisers would contact when embarked on major Middle Eastern projects and it was largely because of Ibish that the World of Islam Festival held in London in 1976 was such a memorable success.
It is a matter much to be regretted that he did not live to write his memoirs.His exile from Beirut led him first to the United States but eventually back to London. In 1991 he had been invited on to the board of a new cultural organisation set up by the Yamani Cultural and Charitable Foundation and in 1999 he took over its directorship. In many ways, al-Furqan was Yusuf Ibish’s natural home: an Islamic cultural foundation housed in a beautifully restored Jacobean house, a non-profit-making institute with global reach working to preserve Islamic manuscripts, a research institute laying the bibliographic and lexical groundwork for a longed-for resurgence of Arab creativeness in science, an embassy, almost, hosting the local community to events on diverse topics – al-Furqan was perfectly suited to benefit from his wide knowledge, rigorous scholarship, aesthetic sense and professorial guidance.A great raconteur, he delighted both friends and students with his dead-pan delivery and his stock of stories. Forgiving much, the one injustice he could not forgive was that done to Palestine. To the end of his days, Palestine was central in his mind and heart.Tarif Khalidi. It is all a little far removed from the average Big Mac or Whopper.
According to the Prince of Wales, speaking on an official visit to Paris: “This wonderful piece of beef is not just a delicious lump of meat that we enjoy eating – no, it is far more than that, for it represents an entire culture.. the ancient tapestry of rural life… the struggle with the natural elements, the love of landscape, its childhood memories, the knowledge and wisdom learnt from parents and grandparents… the hopes and fears of succeeding generations.”
It is all a little far removed from the average Big Mac or Whopper. the hopes and fears of succeeding generations.”
Quite a mouthful. We can but hope that Prince Charles’s paean for what was once a proud symbol of British strength, and often featured as such in anti-French cartoons during the Napoleonic wars, will restore a reputation destroyed by mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth.