Muhammad Salim Barakat

Muhammad Salim Barakat was an Arab writer, translator and teacher of Arabic language. He was born in Damascus in 1930 and died in it in 1999. He came from a religious background and his father was an imam and preacher of a mosque in old Damascus. He moved to Cairo in Egypt and graduated from the Department of Philosophy and Oriental Languages in Ain Shams University, then obtained two post-graduate diplomas in pedagogy and psychology from the High Institute of Pedagogy at the same university. He returned to Damascus and worked as a teacher of Arabic language. He was a member of research and studies association. He worked in the French Institute for Arabic Studies in Damascus from 1970 to 1999. He was sent as a professor of Arabic literature and Orientalism to the INALCO in Paris, which is a Sorbonne institution, from 1991 to 1994. He translated several works from French into Arabic and published articles on Arabic literature and culture. He was a member of the Arab Writer's Union. He trained outstanding French university teachers of Arabic and Orientalist scholars at the end of the 20th century such as Jean-Yves L'hopital, George Bohas, Lidia Bettini, Anne Regourd, and Thierry Bianquis. He was awarded the "Chevalier dans l'ordre des Palmes Académiques" in 1978 and the "Officier dans l'ordre de Palmes Académiques" in 1995. He is not to be confused with his homonym, the Kurdish-Syrian novelist and poet Salim Barakat.