Khalil al-Hindawi

Khalil Al Hindawi (1906, Sidon – 1976, Aleppo) was a Syrian writer and poet.^[1]

Early life

Hindawi finished his studies at Al Makasid Islamic and Charitable Association in Saïda in 1924, and started teaching there when he was only 17 years old. He was exiled from Lebanon by French authorities after delivering a poem in a national ceremony, welcoming Riad as-Solh, who was coming back from his exile for the first time in 1928. He was sent to Syria, and he stayed in Damascus during the First World War.

Career

In 1929, he worked as a teacher at Deir ez-Zor high school in Syria, and started writing in Al Risala and Al Muktataf magazines. In 1939, he moved to Aleppo at the request of Saadallah al-Jabiri (later to become Prime Minister of Syria in 1943). He taught in Aleppo high schools until his retirement in 1966.

Hindawi is considered by the Syrian Ministry of Education to be the first teacher who knew the value of the text and was interested in analyzing it and offering insights into the form of a literature review. He did that in the 1930s, when people were only repeating the translation of the writers at that time, and totally depending on literary historians' provisions.

His book Studied Texts is a peek in the world of Arabic literature, teaching and criticism.

He was appointed Director of the Arab Cultural Center of Aleppo in 1958. He was chosen as a member of the United Arab Republic delegation to the Asian-African writers' conference that was held in Tashkent in 1958. He was chosen as a member of the Syrian delegation to the first Arab writers conference that was held in Beit Mery, Lebanon in 1954. He was chosen as a member of the Syrian delegation to the Asian-African writers' conference that was held in Beirut in 1967. He was chosen as a member of the Syrian delegation to the Arab writers's conference that was held in Damascus in 1971. He held the presidency of the Arab Writers Union in Aleppo until his death in 1976. A ceremony in the honor of Khalil Al hindawi was organized by the Arab Writers Union and the faculty of Arts at Aleppo University in March 1974. The occasion was, half a century of his literary work. In 27 November 1976, he was granted the Honor Medal of Syrian Merit, First Class. His work is rich and varied in multiple genresin terms of story, novel, article, Arabization, poetry, biography, plays, literary criticism and interpretation. He reconciled both cultures, Arabic and French, and translated many French masterpieces into Arabic. He translated the autobiography of Charles de Gaulle into Arabic. The Syrian Ministry of Culture has published some of his work in two volumes. His literary and educational books published are about 30 books, and there are about 20 books' manuscripts. A lot of his literary production can be found in the literary press and Arabic magazines. A master's thesis in literature on Khalil Al Hindawi; his life and literature was approved by the Lebanese University in 1978. His wife, Maria Al Hindawi, was a great inspiration for him during his giving life. And she consistently took care of his affairs even after his death in 1976; the establishment of his statue in particular, and publishing some of his work, with close collaboration with his son, Kamal Al Hindawi. The Directorate of Education in Aleppo has called one of the schools after Khalil Al Hindawi. Aleppo's City Hall also named a main street in the city after khalil Al Hindawi, where his home is located. The Syrian Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with Aleppo's City Hall have set up a statue of Khalil Al Hindawi in the Public Park of Aleppo. In addition, the reading hall at the Arab Cultural Center in Aleppo was named after him as well. In 1991, the Cultural Center of Research and Documentation in Sidon, Lebanon in cooperation with the Arab Writers Union in Damascus, Syria and under the patronage of his excellency Prime Minister Dr. Selim Al-Hoss, organized a ceremony in the honor of Khalil Al Hindawi in his city, Sidon.

Works

• Abū al-ʻAlāʼ al-Maʻarrī, 973–1057. Tajdīd Risālat al-ghufrān [taʼlīf] 1965
• Yawm al-Yarmūk 1974
• Mukhtārāt min al-aʻmāl al-kāmilah / Khalīl al-Hindāwī ; iʻdād ʻUmar al-Daqqāq, Walīd Ikhlāṣī. 1980
• Min ajwāʼ al-Sharq : Hārūt wa-Mārūt 2008
• Tajdīd Risālat al-ghufrān. 1965
• Ḥāfiẓ Ibrāhīm, shāʻir al-Nīl.
• Damʻat Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn. 1958
• Yawm Dāḥis wa-al-Ghabrāʼ. 1974
• Ayyām al-ʻArab. 1974
• Ayyām al-ʻIrāq. 1974
• Maa̕ al-imām ʻAlī. 1962
• Yawm al-Basūs. 1974
• Yawm al-Qādisīyah. 1974
• Muntakhab min al-Aghānī. 1967
• Taysīr al-inshāʼ.^[2]

References