Saadi Foundation held a 12-day Persian language course for students and instructors from Egyptian universities, in line with the policy of the foundation to hold programs for enthusiastic Persian language learners from all around the world.
The students were scheduled to visit tourism attractions, cultural centers and universities, as well as the Iranology Foundation and the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia (CGIE) in Tehran, Mehr news agency reported.
The aim of the tour was to make them familiar with the resources available in the libraries as most of the visitors are preparing their dissertations in programs related to Persian language.
Persian language is quite popular in Egypt, said Mehran Afshari, director of the literature department at CGIE, adding that “some Egyptian universities like Ain Shams, Cairo, and Al-Azhar have been offering Persian language and literature programs for years.”
Valuable Research
Contemporary Egyptian writers and scholars are also conducting research in fields related to Persian language, he said, adding that they have made a valuable contribution.
“Abdul Majid Badawi, for example, got his PhD from the University of Tehran, choosing to revise ‘Qabus-nameh’ of Keikavus for his thesis, with Mohammad Moein (prominent Iranian scholar of Persian literature and Iranian Studies) as his advisor,” he said.
It was only after Badawi that Iranian scholars came to revise ‘Qabus-nameh,’ he added.
Another present-day Egyptian scholar of Persian language is Ibrahim Desuki Sita, who has translated many works of Iranian literature to Arabic language, among which ‘Masnavi’ (by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi), ‘Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi,’ ‘The Walled Garden of Truth’ (by Sanai), ‘The Blind Owl’ (by Sadegh Hedayat), and the Ali Shariati books can be named.
Afshari said his organization welcomes essays written by Arab scholars in the field of Islam and the literature of Islamic countries.
