Ahlan, Arabic fans! Today, I am going to tell you about a very famous and influencing Arab and Saudi figure. I am going to tell
Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal By Alahli (www.alahlisc.com) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
you about a poet, a politician and public figure; Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal.
Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal الأمــيــر عــبــد الله الــفــيــصــلwas born in Riyadh الــريــاض– the capital city of Saudi Arabia – in 1922. Till the age of five, Prince Abdulla lived there under the patronage of his grandfather and founder of Saudi Arabia; King Abdul-Aziz الــمــلك عــبــد الــعــزيــز. Then at the age of five, he moved to Makkah مــكــة to live with his father; King Faisal الــمــلـك فــيــصــل.
Prince Abdullah went to Al-Faisaliyah Elementary School and got the Elementary Certificate which was the highest educational stage at the time. He continued to educate himself as he was interested in reading literature الأدب, history الــتــاريــخand politics الــســيــاســة. Poetry الــشــِّــعــْــرwas his passion.
Prince Abdullah held many government positions. He started his political career in the late 1940s as deputy of the Prince نــائــب الأمــيــر of Hijaz الــحــجــاز and then the Prince of Hijaz one year later. He attended with his father King Faisal the conference of establishing the United Nations الأمــم الــمــتــحــدة in the USA in 1945. From 1949 to 1950 he was appointed the Minister of Health وزيــر الــصــحــة. In 1951, he was the first Minister of Interior وزيــر الــداخــلــيــة. In 1959, he resigned and devoted himself to business and cultural activities. In 1970, he founded Al-Faisaliah Group which was established in Jeddah. He also founded the Saudi Investment Group and Marketing Company (SIGMA) in 1979.
Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal via Asharq AL-Awsat Newspaper
Prince Abdullah was a very active public figure. He played a very important role in the rise of the Saudi sport movement. The year 1952 witnessed the launch of the first formal National Saudi Tournament in football. In 1954, he participated in the foundation of the Arab Saudi Football Union الإتــحــاد الــعــربــى الــســعــودى لــكرة الــقــدم. Thanks to his efforts, his country was a member of the The Fédération Internationale de Football Association الإتــحــاد الــعــالــمــى لــكــرة الــقــدم (FIFA) in 1955 and a formal member in 1956.
Book by Abdullah Al-Faisal via goodreads.com
Prince Abdullah had a special passion for poetry. He read so many Arab poets like Torfah Ibn Al-Abd طــُــرفــة ابـن الــعــبــد, Imr’o Al-Qais اِمــرؤ الــقــيــس, Antarah Ibn Shaddad عــنــتــرة ابـن شــداد, Al-Mutanaby الـمــتــنــبـى, Ibrahim Naji ابراهيم ناجىand Ahmad Shawqi أحــمــد شــوقــى. He wrote about five volumes of poetry. His first Fus’ha volume وحى الحرمان(Revelations of Deprivation) was published in 1953. His second Fus’ha volume حديث قلب (A Heart’s Talk) was published in 1980 and was translated into English, French and Russian. His third volume مشاعرى (My Feelings) was published in 1985. Prince Abdullah wrote also many colloquial poems in the Saudi dialect. His poems were sung by so many famous Arab singers like Om Kolthoum أُمّ كــلــثــوم, Najat Al-Sagheerah نــجــاة الــصــغــيــرة, Abdel-Haleem Hafiz عــبــد الــحــلــيــم حــافــظ, Fayzah Ahmad فــايــزة أحــمــد, Talal Maddah طــلال مــداح, and Mohammad Abdo مــحــمــدعــبــده.
Prince Abdullah got many national and international awards during his life. He got the Honorary Doctorate in Humanities الــدكــتــوراه الــفــخــريــة فـى الــعــلــوم الإنــســانــيـــة, San Francisco 1981. He also got the Saudi National Award in 1985. He was honored by Chirac شــيــراك in Paris 1985. Moroccan King Al-Hassan II الــمــلــك الــحــســن الــثــانـى granted him the membership of the Moroccan Royal Academy الأكــاديــمــيــة الــمــلــكــيــة الــمــغــربــيـــة as one of the most prominent Arab writers and poets. He also got another Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Shaw University, North Carolina in 1989.
Read and Listen to a poem by Abdullah Al-Faisal here
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Peace ســَـــلام /Salam/
