Question 538: Assalam o alikum. Sea of knowledge, I have important question from you, I listen the name of “Shibli Shumayyil”, I only just name that name of philosopher ,who was materialist but he attracted from ali a.s. Did Shibli Shumayyil Praised the Holy Prophet and Imam Ali (pbuth)?
Please tell about the biography or pic any some data about him please?
Answer 538: Shibli Shumayyil was a controversial Greek Catholic doctor, scientist, journalist, philosopher, poet, social reformer and polymath educated at the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut. He was born in Kafr Shima (Syria).
Shymayyil studied and taught medicine at the College, then traveled to Paris and Istanbul to complete his studies. He practiced medicine in Egypt for about ten years, and founded Al-Shifa Magazine in Cairo in the year 1886 in order to publicize medical advances.
In addition, he lived in the Europe for a short period of time then traveled to Egypt and settled in Alexandria, Tantar and finally in Cairo.
Shumayyil also wrote the program of the socialist party in Egypt. He was the foremost popularizer of Darwinism in the Arab World, considering science the hey to the secret of the universe. Apart from his works on Darwin’s theory of the Evolution, he published many articles on science, history, literature, criticism and politics; a work of Hippocrates; a treatise on the plague; a book on the urgent need for science and liberty in the Ottooman Empire (1895); a novel al-Hubb ‘ala al-fatra; ‘Human Society or Civilization’ that was published in 1885 in Al-Muqtataf, ‘The history of natural society’ (Tarikh al-ijtima al-tabi’i), ‘Physiology of groups’ (fisiologiyat al-ijtima’at). Shumyyil also translated Racin’e Iphigence, and wrote a play on Work War 1. [1] It is said that Shumayyil had consciously adapted Ibn Khaldun to the intellectual framework of his time and had bent his concepts of society and political authority in significant ways.[2]
It is most noteworthy that although Shumayyil was a Christian and the Arab atheist, but he composed some poetry in praise of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Imam Ali (as).
Shumayyil said about Imam Ali (as): “The leader, Ali bin Abi Taleb, the greatest of the great, is the only exemplar that neither the East nor the West, has never seen the likes of, neither in the past nor the present.[3]
One of the good poetry he composed in praise of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Quran which is available in Arabic language is as follows:[4]
أنی و إن أک قد کفرت بدینه *** هل أکفرن بمحکم الآیات
أو ما حوت فی ناصع الألفاظ من *** حکم روادع للهوی وعظات
و شرائع لو أنهم عقلو بها *** ماقید العمران بالعادات
نعم المدبر و الحکیم و إنه *** رب الفصاحه مصطفی الکلمات
رجل الحجی رجل السیاسه والدها *** بطل حلیف النصر و الغارات
ببلاغه القرآن قد غلب النهی *** و بسیفه انهی علی الهامات
من دونه الأبطال من کل الوری *** من غائب أو حاضر أو آت
[1] . Haroun, G, Sibli Sumayyil, Une Pensee Evolutionniste arabe a l’epopue a’an-Nahda, Beirut (1985) which is available in French language; Hourani, A., Arabic Thought in the liberal age, 1798-1939, London (1962), 248-53; Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Volume 2, Pg. 716.
[2] . Muhammad Ridha Hakimi, Adabiyyat wa Ta’ahhud dar Islam, Pgs. 250-252.
[3] . George Gordaq, Sawtul-Adalah al-Insaniyyah, pg. 19 (quoted by the translation and commentary of the Nahjul-Balaghah, Jafari, Muhammad Taqi, vol. 1, pg. 171).
[4] . Muhammad Ridha Hakimi, Adabiyyat wa Ta’ahhud dar Islam, Pgs. 250-252.