On July 18, 2021 Matem Muhammed Taha Al-Janabi, one of our dearest partners and close friends, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of the History of Philosophy Department of the PFUR, passed away.
M. Al-Janabi was a unique and productive scholar of Arabic descent, had a perfect command of both Russian and Arabic, and had a very cheerful and optimistic personality.
Matem Al-Janabi began his journey in the field of philosophy at the 8th grade. His first book was the biography of Jean-Jacques Rousseau written in Arabic. His willlngness to study philosophy led him from Iraq to Moscow, where he entered the Philosophy Department of the Moscow State University. He has since become a Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, and academic director of the Centre for Arab Studies at the PFUR, and a well-known scholar in classical Arabic-Muslim philosophy and contemporary philosophy of the Muslim East.
M. Al-Janabi’s legacy includes over 3000 publications, including 40 monographs. With the assistance of the Foundation, he prepared 8 works as an author (“The Philosophy of Modern Muslim Reformation”, 2014; “Islam: Civilization, Culture, Politics”, 2015), compiling editor (“Islamophobia: Collection of Articles”, 2016; “Islamic Civilization. History and Modernity: a collection of articles”, 2016; “Ideological Processes in Iran”, 2017; “The Story about Hayya ibn Yaqzan”, 2018; “Mortaza Motahhari – The Intellectual of Action, 2020”), academic editor (“Contemporary Iranian Culture”, 2016), executive editor of the “Contemporary Philosophical Discourse” book series (2016-2017).
Matem Al-Janabi had an extraordinary literary gift. He owned numerous phenomenal skills, had a perfect memory and a vivid mind. He had no plans to stop, since he had many other creative ideas. But the destiny had a different plan…
On behalf of all employees the Ibn Sina Foundation conveys sincere condolences to M. Al-Janabi’s family and friends.
