Celebration of the 850th anniversary of the departure of al-Saharwardi in Aleppo

Aleppo, ST- In commemoration of the 850th anniversary of the departure of the Sufi philosopher Shehab Eddin al- Sahrawardi, the city of Aleppo hosted a variety of activities, including a tour in Aleppo castle, the old city. An intellectual and cultural meeting was also held to commemerate the event. All of these activities are part of the event “Aleppo, the capital of Syrian culture”.

The event which was organized by the Syrian Secretariat for Development, the Ministry of Culture and the National Commission for UNESCO included a visit of a Syrian-Iranian tourist delegation to some of the castle’s archaeological monuments as evidence of cultural integration. The delegation also visited the “Blood Prison” where al-Sahrawardi was prisoned and died.

Dr. Abdullah Hajjar, a researcher in heritage, told SANA that this archaeological site was a watertank in the Byzantine era and became  later a prison  named “The Blood Prison”  to signify death and bloodshed. Inside this prison, al-Sahrawardi suffered greatly from torture and oppression.

Dr. Hazar al-Abram at the University of Aleppo spoke about the most important names of Orientalists, who talked through their literary works about the philosophical thought of al-Sahrawardi. Paul Krause and Hani Corian were among those writers who revealed many aspects of al-Sahrawardi genius and they published many books on him.

The ceremony concluded with the speech of the Iranian Ambassador in Syria Javad Turk Abadi, who stressed that al-Sahrawardi tried to free his mind and thought as a manifestation of the truth and hope.

M.Wassouf