Constantin Zureik

Constantin Zureik

Constantin Zureik or Zureiq ( Arabic قسطنطين زريق Qustantin Zuraiq ; * April 18, 1909 in Damascus , Ottoman Empire ; † 11. August 2000 in Beirut , Lebanon ) was a famous and influential Syrian - Arab intellectuals, the pioneer of Arab nationalism counted. Together with Georges Habache , Zureik founded the Arab Nationalist Movement in the 1950s.

Life and academic career

Constantin Zureik was born in 1909 into a Greek Orthodox Christian family. He received his primary and secondary education in the Orthodox school systems and was considered inquisitive and intelligent. He continued his education at the American University of Beirut ( université américaine de Beyrouth ) and received his PhD from Princeton University in 1930 . Immediately afterwards he started teaching and became a professor of history at the American University of Beirut.

In August 1933, he founded the League of National Action with Faride Zeineddine , Darwisch Miqdadi and about 50 others in Quara'il in the Lebanese mountains , which fought against French colonial influence . The political establishment in Syria at that time was dominated by landowners and politicians trained in the Ottoman Empire. The League of National Action was run by professors, lawyers and civil servants who did not live on their parents' estates but tried to develop independent careers. Its members had all studied in Europe and the US universities in the Middle East. Zureik was involved in this league, which also included Sabri al-Asali , Zaki al-Arsuzi and Munir al-Adschlani. It gained a certain popularity in 1933, but it ended with the death of the charismatic leader Abdul Razzaq al-Dandaschi (1899-1935).

After receiving his PhD, Zureik focused his teaching and political goals. Together with his work in the professorship, Zureik also served as First Advisor to the Syrian Legation in the United States in 1945 and was a delegate to the UN Security Council and to the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1946. From 1945 to 1952, Zureik was a professor and later President at the Damascus University . He resigned from all posts after Adib al-Shishakli used the army to arrest student dissidents on campus. He then went to Beirut and worked there as acting president and university professor from 1954 to 1977. Together with Walid Khalidi Burhan Dajani and Sami Al-Alami the Institute for Palestine Studies . He served as director of the IPS from 1963 to 1984. In 1965 and 1977, Zureiq was visiting professor at Columbia University and Georgetown University .

Developer of Arab nationalism

Constantin Zureik was one of the first to express the need for Arab unity and stress the urgent need to change stagnant Arab society through rational thinking and to radically adapt methods of thinking and trading. Zureik developed various ideas, such as the “Arab Mission” and “National Philosophy”, which became key concepts for Arab nationalist thinkers. In the last years of his life he was a strong advocate for intellectual reform of Arab society, emphasizing the importance of rationalism and an ethical revolution.

Publications (selection)

• Al Wa'i al Qaumi ( National Consciousness ), 1939

• Ma'na an-Nakba ( The Significance of the Disaster ), 1948

• Nahnu wa at-Tarikh ( We and the Story ), 1959

• Nahnu wa al-Mustaqbal ( We and History ), 1980

literature

• Atiyeh, George. Arab Civilization: Challenges and Responses: Studies in Honor of Constantine K. Zurayk , State University of New York Press (Aug. 1988).
• Charif, Maher. Rihanat al-nahda fi'l-fikr al-'arabi , Damascus, Dar al-Mada (2000).
• Kassab, Elizabeth Suzanne. Contemporary Arab Thought: cultural critique in comparative perspective. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. 65-73. Print.
• Khashan, Hilal. Arabs at the Crossroads: political identity and nationalism. 1st ed. Ed. 1 Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2000. Print.
• Patai, Raphael. The Arab Mind. 1st Ed. 1 New York City: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973. 259-262. Print.
• Rejwan, Nissim. Arabs Face the Modern World: religion, cultural, and political responses to the West. 1st ed. Ed. 1 Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1998. Print.
• The International Who's Who of the Arab World. 2nd ed. Issue 1 London, England: International Who's Who of the Arab World Ltd, 1984. Print.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [وفاة الكاتب والمفكر اللبناني السوري الأصل قسطنطين زريق | البوابة www.albawaba.com]
2. ^ ^{A b} The International Who's Who of the Arab World.
3. ↑ Sami Moubayed: Steel & Silk: Men & Women Who Shaped Syria 1900–2000 . Cune Press, 2006, ISBN 1-885942-41-9 , pp. 204-205 .
4. ↑ Sami M. Moubayed: Steel & Silk: Men & Women Who Shaped Syria 1900-2000 . Cune Press, 2006, ISBN 1-885942-41-9 , pp. 464-466 .