Muhammad Kurd Ali

Hailing as he did from Zuqaq Burghul (Bulgur Alley), by this logic he would have for the rest of his schooling been linked to dried cracked wheat.

Kurd 'Ali afterwards left for Cairo and remained there for ten months during which he worked as the editor of Al-Ra’ed Almasri (the Egyptian pioneer) newspaper.

While there, he was introduced to many scientists, literary men and thinkers, which further broadened his horizon and increased his fame so much so that his name in Egypt became no less known than the most famous writers and the very best scholars of that time.

He returned to Damascus only to find himself a victim of a slander that lead to orders by the Turk ruler to have Kurd 'Ali's house searched, but he was later found innocent.

Citing from Western magazines, he used to report the latest news on science, civilization, invention and development; in addition to that, he translated a number of rare manuscripts.

These forms of harassment continued to haunt him until Kurd 'Ali finally handed the responsibility for the daily newspaper to his brother Ahmed and dedicated himself to the magazine.

He became increasingly more apprehensive after the declaration of the First World War and the start of a revenge campaign by the Ottoman rulers against the ‘free Arabs’, who sought more political freedoms; so he closed the magazine and the newspaper.

So, he presented the idea to the military ruler then Rida Pasha al-Rikabi, who agreed to convert the Court of knowledge into an Academy of the Arabic Language in Damascus.

It is characterised with bland expression and verbal eloquence; and it uses words loaded with semantic power, and sentences varying in length.

Muhammad Kurd 'Ali assumed several jobs and positions in the press, in the university, in the Ministry, in the Arab Science Assembly in Damascus, and in the language Council in Egypt.