New Delhi: Glowing tributes were paid to the world renowned Turkish historian, scientist and Islamic scholar, Dr Fuat Sezgin at a symposium organized by the Islamic Fiqh Academy India at its headquarters here. Sezgin, who made unparalleled contribution in bringing the Muslim world’s scientific inventions and contributions to the fore, and made the West to recognize this fact, died on June 30 at the age of 95 in Istanbul, Turkey. The symposium’s topic was “Turkey’s World-Famed Scholar, Intellectual, Dr Fuat Sezgin and his Academic Contribution.” It was presided over by Dr Razi-ul-Islam Nadawi, secretary Tasnifee Academy ( Jamaat Islami Hind). Sezgin was not only a par excellence, distinguished, and great scholar of Turkey, but also of the Muslim world who was born in 1924 in Bitlis province in eastern Turkey. He intensively and extensively researched the scientific works of Muslims and spent his whole life writing about the history of science in the Islamic world. He also set up a museum in Istanbul to showcase Muslim world’s inventions. Inspired by his German teacher and orientalist, Helmut Ritter, Sezgin did also work for 17 hours daily and produced his masterpiece “Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums” (History of Arabic Sciences) or in Arabic “Tarikh Alturas-i- Alarabi”. This great work, which has been a detailed history of the Arabic-Islamic scientific works between the 7th and the 14th centuries, rewarded him the King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies in 1978. Speaking on the occasion, Prof (Dr)Waris Mazhari, Department of Islamic Studies, Jamia Hamdard Delhi, highlighted the distinguished features of Dr Sezgin’s academic works. He said his German teacher Ritter had played a major role in shaping the personality of Dr Sezgin. Islamic Fiqh Academy will hold a two day international seminar on Dr Sezgin in 2019 in New Delhi.
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