Imam Abdel-Fattah Imam, the Arabic reader's gateway to Hegel's philosophy, dies at 85

Mohammed Saad , Wednesday 19 Jun 2019

Imam's work on Hegel is seminal resource for the Arabic reader looking to understand the German philosopher, added to over 70 books introducing philosophers in a simple, illustrated way

Imam Abdel-Fattah Imam
Imam Abdel-Fattah Imam

Renowned Egyptian professor of philosophy Imam Abdel-Fattah Imam, died Tuesday, 18 June, at the age of 85.

Imam was a prolific writer and translator. He authored and translated tens of philosophy books, mainly on the work of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

His works on Hegel are a must read for anyone who studies Hegel in Arabic.

Imam earned his PhD for his thesis “The evolution of the dialect after Hegel.”

He also translated parts of Hegel’s The Phenomenology of Spirit

Imam was born in Egypt in 1934 to an Islamic scholar at Al-Azhar. He earned his MA in 1968 and then his PhD in 1972.

The late professor was a student of Egyptian philosopher Zaki Naguib Mahmoud.

With Naguib Mahmoud, Zakaria Ibrahim, Abdel-Rahman Badawi, Abdel-Ghaffar Mekkawi, Mahmoud Ragab and Zakaria Ibrahim, Imam was part of what is considered a golden generation of philosophy professors in Egypt. Most of the philosophy books translated and authored in Egypt were produced by this generation.

Imam translated over 70 books of the bestselling series “Introducing Philosophy”, which addresses the average reader with simple and illustrated summaries.

Imam taught in many Egyptian universities, including Ain Shams, Zagazig and Mansoura. He also taught philosophy outside Egypt at the University of Kuwait, and in Tripoli, Libya.

Imam authored books on the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, and on Søren Kierkegaard.

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