Sheikh Sharif Salim Al-Azhari, pioneer of educational sciences.

The scientific value of Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim lies in the fact that he was the first to author in the sciences of education among the scholars of religion and the Arabic language, and he was also the first to be concerned with the curricula of an important branch in language education, which is spelling. Parallel to the Qur’an, which used to rely on a kind of innate education related to listening music and the distinctive melody to sing to the crowd. When elementary schools came, there was a need to set rules for teachers to guide in educating children, and for these rules to have a scientific and linguistic basis that does not deviate from the learned language from its origins. This is the essence of the interest in the spelling branch, and this of course preceded another stage of educational sciences and education related to language, which is the teaching of spelling in which language professors excelled until we reached a great scholar, namely Professor Mustafa Anani, whose book was like “Calendar”, meaning the fixed or inevitable thing. It was in every pocket and every desk, and it was called “The result of dictation, which is equivalent in the English language: a pocket book, a pocket guide, or a standard book that must be present in every classroom of education.

His upbringing and education

Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim was born in the Al-Darb Al-Ahmar district in Cairo, and when he reached the age of 11 he had completed memorizing the Holy Qur’an, but he did not join Al-Azhar directly. In a well-known school that was famous for teaching languages ​​is Sheikh Saleh School.

At that stage, Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim Zamel, the great scholar Hassan Tawfiq al-Adl, learned the French language together in that school, and in 1883 he joined the Dar Al Uloom School and graduated in February 1888, in the first class that also included his colleague Sheikh Ahmed Al-Hamalawi, which is the next batch For the class of Hassan Tawfiq Al-Adl (graduated in 1887) and the previous batch of Mahmoud Bey Al-Nasr, Head of the Lawyers Syndicate (who graduated in 1889).

Delegated to teach in France for 6 years

It was the good fortune of Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim that after his graduation he was assigned to teach Egyptian students on a mission to France, and he traveled from Alexandria at the end of March 1888, and he stayed there for a full 6 years. The famous 1889 that was held in the Eiffel Tower on the occasion of its holding, i.e. the exhibition, and that as we have detailed the history of that exhibition in our book “Vital Paris: Parisian Echoes in Our Modern Literature.”

His French rehabilitation and manuscript journey

Sheikh Mohamed Cherif Selim took advantage of his presence in France and enrolled in the teachers’ school, and obtained a teaching license. Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim recorded his journey in 7 volumes that are still manuscript. I pray to God to fulfill my wish that it will soon be published within the scope of the 19th century treasures project.

His work after his return

After his return, Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim worked as a teacher of the art of education (i.e., the sciences of theoretical and practical education) in the Department of Arab Teachers (this was the name of Dar Al Uloom at that time) for a period of 3 years (1895-1898).

Pioneering Arabic authorship in psychology

According to the dated writings of the scientific movement, he was the author of the first book on psychology in the Arabic language, which included his lectures that he gave and dictated, but the book was not printed until 1911.

Selected for inspection in the ministry

When Egypt adopted the policy of paying attention to inspection in order to achieve quality and entrusted Hussein Rushdi Pasha (later Prime Minister) with this task, Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Selim was chosen to be one of the inspectors (1889), and he was promoted as an inspector for higher education in 1902, and he continued to exercise this supervisory and directive task And the technology until November 1916, when he put the practical touches on the teaching of the Arabic language in public education.

He was chosen as the Principal of the House of Sciences

In November 1916, Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim was chosen as the superintendent of Dar Al Uloom, and he remained in this position until he died (October 1925), meaning that he held it for 9 full years, and in his tenure this position was analogous and parallel to Fathallah Barakat Basha al-Dirami, who was succeeded in Graduation who took the glasses of the School of Forensic Judiciary.

Sheikh Sharif was serious in his treatment of the students of Dar Al Uloom, but he was happy with his fellow teachers, and he had good humor, a narrator of history, and was familiar with the general culture.

His notable contribution to the Primary Education Conference

Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim was one of the most prominent participants in the first scientific conference for elementary education, which took place from 11 to 16 July 1925 during the reign of Ali Maher Pasha.

His representation of Egypt in the orientalists conference in Italy

Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Selim was assigned to represent Egypt at the Orientalists Conference in Rome (October 1899). In this conference, he presented a lengthy paper entitled The Future of the Arabic Language, which was published by Dar Al Uloom newspaper 10 years later (1910).

His membership in the old linguistic complex

Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim was a member of the old linguistic complex (1919) that included a number of exotic languages, and which we are still doing our best to collect its lost history, and whose members were Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Reda, Idris Ragheb, Ibrahim Ramzi, Chancellor Salih Jawdat, Muhammad Ali Desouki and Professor Sadiq Anbar.

His membership in the Dar Al Uloom Club

Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Salim was with Professor Hanafi Nasif, one of the most prominent members of the Dar Al Uloom Club and the editors of its first newspaper.

His artistic talent is in calligraphy

Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Selim was a great calligrapher, and he is said to have copied his European voyage in fine handwriting.

His poetic and literary production

He is best known for his poetic and literary production, his poem The Lament of his colleague Hassan Tawfiq, and he has a representative novel entitled The Jahil, represented in 1884.

And from his poem in the lament of his colleague Hassan Tawfiq al-Adl: Sadness prevailed when his Lord answered “Hassan Tawfiq”, and the pain and sadness intensified when his obituary came from “a tower” on the wing of lightning, and the tears of tears flowed.