Asad Al-Shududi (1826-1906)

(Service to AUB 1867-1873)

A Lebanese mathematician, writer, linguist, educator, and poet, born in Aley, Mount Lebanon, he received his primary education at Kafr-Shima School, then joined the Abeih Seminary for Boys. He worked as a teacher in the Daoudiyah School, Souq Al-Gharb School, Kaftin English School, and the Patriarchal School in Beirut. He was one of the first instructors at the Syrian Protestant College, where he taught mathematics and natural philosophy.

Al-Shadudi was an editor of the al-Nashra Weekly newspaper of the American Missionary and wrote in contemporary newspapers. He was one of the pioneers of the modern Arabic renaissance or al-Nahda. Few “men of the pen” of his time studied under him, including Yaqub Saruf and Faris Nimr. He had remarkable scientific activity that he pursued for forty years. He also had an interest in music and composed Arabic melodies. He authored books and articles on different subjects.

A scholarly poet, his poems reflected his scientific training, so his vocabulary was scientific and religious in nature, and his poems were simple in style that facilitated memorizing and repeating his hymns. He was honored by King William II of Germany who ordered the printing of “The Argos of Government” at his own expense after Al-Shadudi offered him a manuscript copy during his visit to Beirut. Assad al- Shadudi died in Beirut, Lebanon in 1906.