What do I say about a man I had, where death took him away? What do I say about a work colleague who has invested his soul in his deeds and God resolved he will live no more? What do I say and I am so struck, the words have turned saddening and weak? I knew the friend and doctor, Mohamed Hafez Diab, the Sheikh of Anthropological studies in Egyptian and Arab Universities for many years. I had known him through his words before we met. My main battle was and still is to oppose religion merchants and nation traders of Islamist groups whom I have dealt with sufficiently. I sought for finding any line that would reveal their ideology and lies, hoping it would help with my battle I vowed not to abandon. This man's writings were always before my eyes while I am having an intellectual battle against the terrorist group. Doctor Hafez Diab shattered their master in his book, "Sayed Qotb: Speech and Ideology" through a full study for Qutb's speech. I always had an uneasy feeling for the lack of spotlights around this man, as he was a remarkable researcher who never had the appreciation he deserves. The only thing that would take that feeling away is the fact that he was awarded the State Prize in the Social Sciences for 2013, and the Order of Arts from the first class in 2013. When I thought of establishing the Arab Institute for Research and Islamic Politics' Studies, along with Doctor Sayed Yassin, Diab was the first one that came to my mind. He was by far the most prominent sociologist in the Arab world as he provided more than 50 books in anthropological studies. His journey was so giving. Diab was born on January 3rd, 1938 in Menyat Samanoud village, Al Dakahliya governorate and got his PhD in sociology at Cairo University in 1980, in the Algerian migrants' lives in the French city of Marseilles. Academically, he had his own shares, moving between universities in Algeria, Riyadh and Libya. He was the supervisor to many Master's and PhD theses in Anthropology, Folklore, and Theology and some of his works are being taught in Tunisian, Algerian and Moroccan universities as materials for sociology, religion and culture. The Arab library is full of his writings around Sociology, Political Islam, Egyptian Political history. Here at Al-Bawaba, we chose to setting up a marquee of papers for a colleague and a master in a commemoration that does not equate what he has done for this nation, and he should be commemorated by having a salon or a prize in his name.
