Elias Shoufani

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Elias Shoufani
Born
Elias Shukri Shoufani

1932
Mi'ilya, Mandatory Palestine
Died26 January 2013 (aged 80–81)
Damascus, Syria
Alma mater
Years active1960s–1980s
Political partyFatah (until 1983)
Academic background
ThesisAl-Riddah and the Muslim Conquest of Arabia (1968)
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Sub-disciplineHistory of Islam
Institutions

Elias Shoufani (

Arabic: إلياس شوفاني; 1932–2013) was a Palestinian author and historian whose studies were mostly about the history of Islam and the Israeli affairs. He was one of the leading Arab scholars in the latter topic.[1] He was a member of the Fatah movement until 1983 when he joined the dissident group in Damascus, becoming part of the Fatah upraising
.

Early life and education

Shoufani was born in Mi'ilya in the Galilee in 1932.[2][3] His father, Shukri, was a community leader in Mi'ilya which was a Christian Arab village.[4][5] Elias had two brothers, Naim and Muhanna.[6] The family owned a flour mill in the Wadi al-Qarn stream.[5][6]

Their home in Mi'ilya was demolished by the Israel Defense Forces in 1948.[4][6] The Israeli soldiers killed Nimr, the dog of the family, who was trying to protect the house.[6] Elias and his family had to leave Mi'ilya after this incident on 30 October 1948.[5]

Shoufani graduated from the Teachers' Institute in Jaffa in 1949.[7] He received a degree from the Hebrew University in 1962.[7] He obtained a master's degree in 1965 and a PhD in Islamic studies in 1968 from Princeton University.[7]

Career and activities

Shoufani worked as a teacher from 1949 to 1951.[7] He worked at the Georgetown University and then at the University of Maryland, College Park as a faculty member between 1967 and 1972.[7][8] In the latter he worked as an associate professor of history.[1][9] He left his teaching post and settled in Beirut in 1972.[2] There he worked at the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) as a translator and was named as the head of the IPS's research department in 1973 which he held until 1982.[7] He also worked for the Palestine Liberation Organization Center in Beirut.[10] He became a member of the Fatah's Revolutionary Council in 1980.[7]

Shoufani left Beirut in 1982 when the Palestinian revolutionaries was forced to leave Lebanon.[2] He settled in Damascus, Syria, and continued to work for the IPS.[7] He became a member of the dissident group, known as Fatah Intifada, against the Fatah leadership.[7] However, he left the group and focused on his studies.[7]

Work

Shoufani is one of the Palestinian scholars who analysed the causes and outcomes of the Nakba.[11] He published books and articles on the history of the Middle East and Palestine. One of his books is Al-Riddah and the Muslim Conquest of Arabia (1973) which was an extended version of his PhD thesis.[8][12] He published an autobiography in Arabic in 2009.[13] He translated Mudhakkirāt Simsār Arāḍı̄ Ṣuhyūnı̄ (Arabic: Memoirs of a Zionist land broker) in 2010.[12]

Personal life and death

Shoufani was married to an American woman, and they divorced before he left the US.[14] He later married Yasmine, an American woman of Palestinian origin.[14][15] They had two daughters.[14]

Shoufani died of a heart attack in Damascus on 26 January 2013.[7]

Legacy

His daughter, Hind Shoufani, produced a documentary, Trip Along Exodus, in memory of Elias Shoufani. It was premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival in December 2014.[14][16]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1080/0377919X.2022.2050630
    .
  2. ^ a b c Rashid Khalidi. "In Remembrance: Elias Shoufani". Institute for Palestine Studies. Retrieved 8 November 2023. Citing Journal of Palestine Studies 42(3), Spring 2013
  3. JSTOR 2535666
    .
  4. ^
    JSTOR 3012398
    .
  5. ^
    doi:10.1525/jps.2016.46.1.20
    .
  6. ^
    doi:10.1080/13530194.2016.1273091
    .
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Elias Choufani". all4palestine.org. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  8. ^
    ISBN 9781487579920
    .
  9. JSTOR 2535661
    .
  10. ^ Clovis Maksoud (31 January 2013). "Remembering Elias Shoufani". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  11. doi:10.3366/hls.2014.0077
    .
  12. ^
    JSTOR 48599892
    .
  13. doi:10.3366/hlps.2018.0184
    .
  14. ^ a b c d Afshan Ahmed (9 December 2014). "Filmmaker Hind Shoufani captures many faces of her father in Trip Along Exodus". The National. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  15. ^ Karim Traboulsi (25 May 2016). "Portrait of the Palestinian revolutionary as a Shakespearean character". The New Arab. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  16. ^ "Trip Along Exodus". Hind Shoufani. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2024.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elias_Shoufani&oldid=1219244363"