The body of the Egyptian intellectual Anwar Abdel Malek who died 12 days ago in a Paris hospital arrived on Wednesday to be buried in Cairo on Thursday. Malek lived in Paris during his final years and contributed articles to the weekly newspaper Al-Ahram.
“His funeral will be on Thursday at the Virgin Mary Church in Zamalek,” Diaa Rashwan, director of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Reuters.
Abdel Malek’s writings focused on issues in Egypt and the Arab world. He was quoted by Edward Said in the introduction to his immensely influential book “Orientalism.”
Abdel Malek was born in Cairo in October 1924, studied philosophy at Ain Shams University, earned a doctorate in sociology from the University of Sorbonne in Paris and worked for the Egyptian National Research Center. He was also a visiting lecturer at several Arab and foreign universities and a member of several Arab and international scientific organizations.
He received the Gold Medal of the Nasser Military Academy in 1976, the Franco-Arab Friendship Award in 1970 and the State Incentive Award in Social Sciences in 1996, the highest Egyptian award at the time.
He published his first book “An Introduction to Philosophy” in 1957, followed by many other books, including “The Army and the National Movement,” “The Egyptian Society and the Army 1952-1970,” “Arab Thought in the Battle of the Renaissance,” “Egypt’s Renaissance,” “East Wind,” “Changing the World,” “China in the Eyes of the Egyptians” and “Patriotism is the Solution.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
