Muhammad Bahjat al-Athari (Arabic: محمد بهجة الأثري) was an Iraqi Muslim scholar, jurist, and historian. He was a student of Mahmoud Shukri Al-Alusi.^[1]

Life

Muhammad Bahjat al-Athari was raised in the city of Baghdad. He came from a family of merchants who were skilled in trade.^[2][3]

His great-grandfather, Ahmed, moved from Diyarbakir to Erbil and married a woman from an Iraqi family. Zainab, the mother of Muhammad Bahjat al-Athari, was an Iraqi Turkmen, originally from Kirkuk, and she learned Turkish, in addition to his mother tongue, in the Arabic language.^[4]

Muhammad Bahjat al-Athari died in 1996, in the city of Baghdad.

Education

One of the finest Iraqi scholars who professed their sciences and literature, he took the licenses of science, literature and calligraphy from sheikh Mahmoud Shukri Al-Alusi, who died in 1923 AD, and sheikh judge Ali Ala Al-Din Al-Alusi, who died in 1921 AD. He studied at the hands of Baghdad scholars at his time. Among the scholars influenced by the scholar Numan Al-Alusi, who died in 1899 AD.

He excelled in the art of calligraphy, and his handwriting was similar to his teacher Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi in drawing and tuning. He has written many books for himself and his professor. His writings include the Book of Flags of Iraq. It contains the biographies of the people of Iraq, and it is rare of its kind in casting and forging.^{[citation needed]} He improved poetry systems and has two huge collections that include noble poems, and he collected a large library that is today one of the largest libraries in Baghdad that contains many scientific and literary manuscripts that have not yet been printed.^[5]

Religious views

Creed and doctrine

Muhammad Bahjat al-Athari was an Athari in his creed (aqidah). There was an incident where he was studying the book Maraki al-Falah from his teacher, Ala al-Din al-Alusi, but he did not like the book and requested that his teacher stop studying it. So his teacher said to him, "What do you want to read?" To which Muhammad Bahjat replied, "I want to get to know the true Islamic jurisprudence." So the professor told him, "Then, you are an Athari." Muhammad Bahjat asked him about the meaning of the word Athari, so his teacher said to him, "The Athari is the one who follows the teachings of the Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him, in word and deed."

Works

He wrote several books on history and religion, the latter being influenced by his teacher Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi's religious views and the Salafi movement.

• Flags of Iraq
• Outline in the history of Arabic literature
• Muwaffaq in Arab history
• Muhdhab the history of Baghdad mosques and their monuments
• The tragedy of the poet Waddah Al-Yaman
• Recent trends in Islam
• Mahmoud Shukri Al-Alousi: His Life and Linguistic Views
• Cosmic phenomena in the Qur’an
• Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, a proponent of monotheism and renewal in the modern era

Athari was among the contributors of Lughat Al Arab magazine in the mid-1920s.^[6]

Positions

• Director of the Baghdad General Waqf Directorate.^[7]
• Head of the scientific complex in Iraq.
• Member of the Arabic Language Academy in Damascus, Jordan, and Cairo.

Honors

• King Faisal Prize for Arabic Literature in 1406 AH / 1986 AD
• Saddam Hussein International Prize.